The Top Screen Ads of 2012
In this roundup from the Encore and Mumbrella Annual, we look at the year’s best screen ads.
1. Telstra – Land Down Under
Launched ahead of the 2012 Olympic games, DDB Sydney’s spine-tingling rendition of Men At Work’s Land Down Under was a fitting tribute to the Australian athletes competing in London.
The band’s lead singer and guitarist Colin Hay directs groups of Aussies in a rendition of the anthem, including a school choir and an AFL team inspiring a feeling of patriotism rarely found outside the sports arena.
2. Foxtel – London Olympics
A well-crafted ad that sums up the determination and sacrifice athletes put in to get Olympic gold. Created by Clemenger BBDO Sydney, a range of high-profile Australian athletes are shown training in the lead up to the games.
3. Nestle Purina – Fancy Feast
A sushi train style of dining for cats makes a refreshing change from the abundance of other pet food ads. Well executed and beautifully shot, it did well locally but went particularly well in the Japanese market. “It appears we have inadvertently latched on to the Japanese love of cats and sushi,” said Ryan Barlow, brand director at Banjo Advertising who made the spot.
4. Toyota Corolla – Feels Good Inside
A love struck cat that risks every one of its nine lives to ride in a Toyota Corolla stars in this comedic ad from Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. From creative directors Corey Chalmers and Guy Roberts, it’s a great example of high-calibre Kiwi work. The tagline ‘feels good inside’ says it all.
5. Tourism South Australia – Kangaroo Island
Inspired by Maurice Sendak’s popular kids’ book Where the Wild Things Are, this ad for South Australia’s Kangaroo Island is described as ‘the best work we have ever done’ by ad agency KWP! Adelaide’s managing partner, John Baker.
6. Transport Accident Commission Campaign
Historically, TAC ads are designed to shock. Gory, sickening, turn-away-from-your-TV type creative, there’s little censorship here. But there’s only so many times you can show a car smash before it loses its shock factor, so this time agency Grey Melbourne took a different angle, replaying in reverse slow motion a motorcycle crash as forensic police officers explain the contributing factors. Superb graphics and special effects make this one a stand out.
7. AAMI – Rhonda and Ketut
What began as a rather pedestrian ad for insurance company AAMI, from Oglivy Melbourne, featuring safe driver the ginger-haired Rhonda has grown into a cult-like phenomenon. With a series of ads following Rhonda as she holidays in Bali, the campaign attracted a huge audience on social media. But it’s the latest offering involving Rhonda’s holiday romance with local Ketut that has caught the public’s imagination with many viewers trying to guess what will happen in the next installment.
There’s even a Facebook page dedicated to ‘the sexual tension between Rhonda and Ketut’ which has clocked up more than 115,000 likes so far.
- This list first appeared in the Encore and Mumbrella Annual available in the App store and on Google Play.
I hated that Telstra ad: too much AFL and rugby. League FTW!!!!!
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Just a shame that TAC ad basically blames the motorcycle rider (accidentally or otherwise).
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Are you people serious on that appalling Telstra ad? It was a turkey.
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