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The World’s Best Ads & Why They Work | SVP @ System1 | Marketing Effectiveness
One of the best WiFi ads ever made. What fantastic work. Virgin Media's latest campaign is a brand-building masterclass. That's not my opinion. System1 has tested it with a crowd of UK consumers, measuring their emotions to understand its effectiveness. We do this with every UK TV ad and have shown that emotions predict how an ad will grow a brand. It's in the top 1% of broadband ads released in the past 7 years. This campaign will sweat every pound of media spend. Here are 5 things it clearly does which make it a winner. And the full testing results for free. 1. It's not shouting messages at you. It doesn't focus on product features. It's not trying to give you cash back for switching. It's not grasping at a sale. Instead, it's creating a brand personality. It respects the viewer's intelligence. The ad is grateful to have made it into your house and, in return, is trying to charm you. 2. The strategy is emotional, focussing on how Virgin WiFi makes you feel. Laddered up from a brand truth. This use of positive emotions will rub off on the brand and last for years. When it comes time to switch, and Virgin comes to mind, it will feel good and like the right choice. We call this the Affect Heuristic. 3. It's entertaining, not boring. New research from Peter Field, Adam Morgan and Jon Evans shows UK brands spend £10mil more on media to get dull ads to work as hard as interesting ones. Comment below, and I'll send you 'The Cost Of Dull' white paper if you've not seen it. Only 29% felt nothing while watching this ad, which is HALF the average for campaigns in the UK. 4. It's distinctive without being garish. I hope there were never any questions about putting the logo at the start. Instead, we see the brand peppered into the story. When you use your famous and distinctive brand assets at high attention points and weave them into the story, they get so much more attention than "blanket branding". 91% of viewers knew this was for Virgin. 5. It's consistent. The dark art of marketing. Change is a drug, it feeds our egos, makes us feel like we made a difference. This creative idea is the same as their Highland Cow ad in 2022 and last year's Mountain Goat Glider. In research we are about to release with the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising), we show that consistency is an effectiveness superpower. Let's not forget the use of right-brain creative features, excellent craft, and the music choice brilliantly integrated into the story. No notes VCCP. Consumers love it. Here's the full Test Your Ad report to prove it: https://lnkd.in/gS4A62Mf I share #advertising and #marketing insights daily, follow for more. Biscuit Filmworks Jonathan Parker Chris Birch
"So here's my idea...a walrus driving a speedboat". "Nah it'd never work". "How about a gorilla playing the drums to Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight"'? "Nah, never work".
Nothing is perfect. I am told that a lot. One thing I do know is that this ad will amuse people for 30 seconds. It has some wit to it. It has some ‘awww’ about it. It’s entertaining. (I haven’t seen other executions on other media yet, but who cares). It’s likely that consumers will remember it. Advertising and advertisers have taken themselves far too seriously for years. It is ok to have some fun. To have some humour. In fact, it’s balls-to-the-wall crucial. While it interests me what advertisers and agencies think about it, that matters not a jot commercially. Having sat both sides of the fence, I only really care what consumers think. It appears to be made for them and not the critics (nothing too purist and nothing shrouded in purpose) - and I celebrate that. Well done the client & VCCP.
I've only read a few comments here but so far I've not found what I hoped. The question that precedes what I sought to know: "Did it sell more WiFi than it cost to make and distribute?" And I mean that ad specifically.
“The strategy is emotional, focussing on how Virgin WiFi makes you feel.” I’m not sure I’ve ever felt anything about my WiFi. Perhaps I’m weird.
The message I got was "overweight mammals like boats". The feeling was "huh?".
Really like it. But do you not think it could be a bit shorter/30' and therefore effective?
91% brand recognition from just a few key assets? That’s very well played. Love this one Andrew Tindall 👏
Brilliant👌🏼 A perfectly executed application of The Von Restorff Effect if ever I’ve seen one.
Creative Director
1moHow does “fantastic” get used to describe this work? As again here is yet another instance of an empowered animal. How many times has this non-idea been repeated now? I have lost count the sickening amount of times we have been presented with another CGI animal picking up some human trait or activity to raise its fortunes. There isn’t a LinkedIn post with the capacity to take the comments of what are examples of empowered animals running loose in advertising over the last few years. So it is now brand building to copy the same worn out execution every other brand lazily uses too? No, this is not fantastic by any means whatsoever and another lost opportunity of what should be brand building masterclass. Because imagine the alternative of an original idea that is different, stand out and surprising backed with a resonant campaign thought behind it? Now compare this shallow generic tripe. Get on point Andrew and look around