What are the great Aussie ads of the 21st Century so far?

IMHO

“not happy jan” and the carlton draught o fortuna ad are the best by miles. telstra ad comes 3rd.

a couple of the beer ads are lucky to get a look in – the “beer chase” for instance was lame and didn’t measure up to previous campaigns. the boag’s ads where the guy pushes his girlfriend into the river was better.

“¿Porque no los dos?” for old el paso/GM was shot in australia, can we claim that one? cracking ad, memorable & memeable with the tagline still in wide usage online.

i personally didn’t think dumb ways to die was such a great campaign but it won a billion awards so probably deserves its place.

not surprising that there are 0 bank ads and 0 car ads – both industries spend massively on advertising and yet will never be brave enough to make a good ad. local rollout of “bought a jeep” is probably the pick of those categories.

**addendum

i just remembered the recent Toyota Hllux Unbreakable campaign focused on “driver testing” by Saatchi&Saatchi – that is one exception to the no good car ads rule, probably not quite good enough for best of the century lists though.

5 out of 16 are beer ads – does this say something about Australian culture?

Yes Rebecca, it does say something about our culture – We make damn good beer ads.

Where’s the AIDS ad? Effectivness scale, yeah should be there…..

These are the best??? A fair reflection of how far standards have plummeted

Carlton DRAUGHT not DRY!!

Apologies Ex DM, that’s changed now. A slip with so many beers on there.

Cheers,

Alex – editor, Mumbrella

If I had to choose just one it would be Boag’s ‘Pure Waters”. Brilliantly directed by Steve Rogers. It was a perfect example of how to turn a product truth into a rational and emotional benefit. It provided a brilliant ‘ownable’ platform for all Boag’s beer marketing to come. The Big Ad, as much as I like it, never did that for Carlton draught. Carlton Draught had the Big Ad. Boag’s had the big idea.

Rabbits

I’ve never understood why so many people refer to the Carlton “Big ad” as great advertising – it lacks an idea and any advertising that has to refer to itself as advertising is mostly just speaking to people in marketing and advertising

Work that genuinely connects with consumers is what should matter and the Carlton “Big ad” doesn’t achieve that, whilst other Carlton Draught work since then has.

Most of the other work above does connect, and its worth remembering that Yellow Pages’ earlier work through George Patts (remember “Goggomobile” and “Broken Lamp”, before Patts Sydney took on Optus and Patts Melbourne had to resign Pacific Access – Yellow & White Pages – as a result?). That established the strategy and brand essence and campaign idea Clems’ benefitted from with “Not happy Jan” and other work.

“Dumb ways to die” is also questionable, as its impact was minimal at best (outside of advertising media) – with the impact of the “rhinoceros” work for Melbourne trams being far more effective.

Bah humbug!

Tab with Elle

I’ve always disliked the Toohey’s “tongue” ad. It is weird and off putting IMO. How would want to buy a beer with a tongue crawling around your house?

Barbara from Bank world / ANZ ads were pretty good.

Guys, they’re talking about ads from this century, not the last.

Although it’s hardly ‘Australian’ in its feel, Doug Pitt wins for me. Bloody funny.

Emperor Nasi Goreng and the rabbits wins for me, hands down. Closely followed by Not happy Jan.

Both Boag’s and Kekovich deserve to be on that list.