It’s quite difficult to get excited about paint – hence the English expression that describes a boring pastime as “Like watching paint dry”.
Brazilian paint brand Coral (known as Dulux in most parts of the world) wanted to promote its premium decoration line, “Decora” and encourage people to be experimental with the colour of their walls at home. Traditionally, paint brands sell small quantities of paint as colour samplers, so that people can apply small swatches on their walls to compare different potential colour schemes.
However, it is hard to envisage the effect of an entirely new wall colour from a foot-wide square patch of paint. Coral therefore created a range of light bulbs in Coral colours, which when illuminated and pointed towards a white wall would show people what their room would look like if painted in that colour. These were packaged up to look like mini paint tins and distributed and demonstrated in various shops.
"Here we see a humble promotional giveaway creating a really valuable consumer experience which truly highlights the benefits of the product in a way that doesn't require consumers to get their hands and clothes messy."
Royal Mail was a company dangerously close to becoming unnecessary. Liberalisation of the monopoly markets meant it had new competitors able to provide customers discounts that it was barred from offering, whilst email and online activity had become the far more popular means of written communication than posting a letter.
However, another significant aspect of Royal Mail business is the assistance it gives to SME owners (Small Medium Enterprise), helping them to grow their companies. Although SME owners are the most receptive target audience to growth messages, as they have a personal commitment to their business, they are also the most difficult to engage with for that very same reason.
To generate publicity, Royal Mail ran an extensive TV ad campaign designed to shift attitudes about what its brand stood for. The TV ads directed people to royalmail.com where they could answer questions and generate a bespoke growth print, including case studies and product recommendations. To further promote the service, Royal Mail integrated its brand with MSN Office space, distributing content through special reports and channels within Growth Business and Fresh Business Thinking.
It also sponsored The Sunday Times’ Fast Track – an annual league table of the UK’s Fastest Growing Private Companies – and their Best Customer Service category. In addition, Royal Mail created a ‘Helping Hands’ channel within The Guardian online, a bespoke area containing case studies and commissioned content in the form of Q&As with business luminaries.
Overall, appeal for the Royal Mail brand has grown from 38% to 55%. SME owners claiming that Royal Mail is ‘providing new information’ grew from 20-47%, ‘better than other suppliers’ from 26-37% and ‘can help businesses grow’ 36-41%. There have been 216,000 visits to the website and, just 5 months into an 18 month campaign, revenue in the sales pipeline is already in excess of the media investment to date.
Nortel wanted to expand as an organisation but found its core telecoms business was shrinking. Determined to achieve growth it decided to instead focus its efforts on the entertainment networking sector, dominated by Cisco Systems.
With a 74% market share - in comparison to Nortel’s 4% - and an ad spend several times larger than any of its competitors, Cisco could out-manoeuvre and out-muscle the competition. Cisco’s key strategy was to ‘rip and replace’ companies’ existing systems, thereby providing an easy all-in-one solution for the busy decision-makers responsible for the purchase. Nortel discovered, however, that Cisco’s all-in-one solution was ‘energy expensive’, costing considerably more to run than its own offering, and creating a larger carbon footprint.
Its launch took place in the form of side-by-side comparisons at tradeshow Interop, where energy consumption meters were used on both Nortel and Cisco switches. Nortel’s product advantage was accentuated by the strategic placement of Nortel’s booth right next to Cisco’s. Print and TV ads asked provocative questions such as: “How much is your network costing you?” But rather than drive people to a website, consumers were encouraged to enter ‘Cisco Energy Tax’ into search engines. Optimised results would bring up a raft of blogs, IT Papers and Videos discussing the issue. An online energy efficiency calculator allowed IT staff everywhere to determine the potential cost savings of Nortel over Cisco.
The results of the campaign were emphatic. A $2 million order for Cisco was pulled and instead invested with Nortel – and this became the trend rather than an anomaly. The campaign resulted in a 46% in sales, over three times the stated goal of 15%, taking Nortel’s baseline from $722,000,000 to $1,055,000,000.
A Continuous Focus on the Ideal Visitor Experience
Summary
In this paper we show how account planning kept a continuous focus on visitors’ needs, helping Volkswagen.co.uk reach its highest share of visitors for automotive manufacturers’ websites. By 2007, the Volkswagen.co.uk website was six years old and needed a redesign. Besides, customer behaviour online had changed. Visitors had become more demanding of their online experiences as more of them got online; the web had become more sophisticated and so had visitors’ skills. In the automotive category, more people than ever were researching what car to buy online and manufacturers’ websites, to a degree, had taken on the role of dealerships. We identified insights for each of the key stages most people would pass when buying and owning a car. Our website had to help people progress to a further stage by addressing unmet needs. Through a continuous focus on the visitor experience and a planning effort to remain involved throughout the eighteen months of the project, we ensured that the website delivered at the end was aligned with our initial vision. Every part of the site is built around the ideal experience that online car buyers would expect from Volkswagen and makes every stage of buying a car more intuitive.
Introduction
In this paper we will show how account planning kept a continuous focus on visitors’ needs over eighteen months of website development, helping Volkswagen.co.uk reach its highest share of visitors for automotive manufacturers’ websites (from 9.2% in 2007 to 10.4% in 2008).
Making the case for a new website
By 2007, the Volkswagen.co.uk website was six years old and ancient by web standards. It was time for a redesign. While the current design had been efficient at delivering information to visitors, it didn’t provide a brand experience and didn’t help move people towards purchase as much as it could.
The first thing we had to do was to make a case for why Volkswagen should go to the expense of creating a new website from scratch rather than keeping the one they had.
The business case was largely already made: we had just finished writing an IPA award paper in 2006 showing how a more engaging experience for Volkswagen’s Golf GTI resulted in more profitable configurations for Volkswagen; we forecasted a similar improvement in profitability for other models if we were to build a new, more engaging website.
More compelling, however, was the evidence that buyer behaviour had changed in the six years since the last design. The arrival of the web had transformed the car buying environment. More people than ever were researching what car to buy online.
In fact, by 2007, the Internet was the first source used to research cars. 57% of all buyers tried online research before using other media. 80% of consumers used the Internet as an information source during the vehicle buying process. Prospects spent more time online with the brand than in any other medium; of an average nineteen hours researching their next car purchase, eleven of them were spent online.
As a result, visitors knew what they wanted, how they wanted it, and what they were prepared to pay for it. Manufacturers’ websites, to a degree, had taken on the role of dealerships. Rather than visiting a selection of dealerships, people visited a selection of websites; according to a study published by Network Q, the average customer visited less than three showrooms before buying in 2007 (compared to six in 2001).
How the competition reacted
Despite an opportunity to address these issues, most manufacturers’ websites simply continued to use their websites as a confusing hard sell environment. A typical competitor’s website bombarded visitors with hundreds of choices, thousands of pages and cluttered imagery, with small cars fighting large cars and luxury cars for page space, with navigable items and links inserted for fear of what might happen if customers weren’t told to do one thing or another.
Understanding people and modelling their behaviour
Similar to the process that Volkswagen takes when building its cars, building the new Volkswagen.co.uk site started with a thorough understanding of people. By modelling the behaviour of different customers, we were able to build a website that makes every stage of buying a Volkswagen more intuitive.
Even though people had changed their research methods, the stages of the buying process itself remained similar. We visited dealerships and interviewed people. We also drew on New Car Buyer Survey results and 39 years of agency experience of speaking with car buyers.
This allowed us to identify thirteen key stages of purchase and ownership. These were not a linear journey that all people took, but were rather important stages most people would pass when buying and owning a car.
The brand experience had to help people progress to a further stage, particularly through bridging the gap between consideration and purchase. Having customer insights for each of the key stages helped us to come up with features that would address unmet user needs.
We also looked at the shopping experience on other websites outside of the automotive category. Visitors had become more demanding of their online experiences as more of them got online; the web had become more sophisticated and so had visitors’ skills. Though mainly driven by other industries, innovation was on the rise.
Our strategy, therefore, considered three major behavioural frameworks: the shift in the car buying process towards online research; the 13 stages of car purchase and ownership; and increasingly sophisticated user expectations.
Planning the ideal experience
Based on our research and insights, we created a video briefing to inspire our team by outlining how we could take an approach different to that of our competitors. This was our challenge to the team:
Our idea was to put the customer, not the brand, at the centre.
This was translated into an overall conceptual model for how we wanted people to experience the site.
Keeping the focus on the visitor
The true value of account planning was shown in the eighteen months between the development of the vision and delivery of the website. Planners sat amongst user experience architects, creative teams and developers throughout.
Making the video briefing and creating the conceptual model had been vital steps towards designing the right experience on the website. We knew, however, that the project would take at least a year to complete, so we translated the vision and conceptual model into a set of user experience principles, which allowed us to remain involved throughout the project. In this way we would ensure that the website delivered at the end was aligned with our initial vision.
These were the five user experience principles we set for the broader team:
The site will be a destination for anyone interested in buying a car and become the most visited automotive website in the UK with its new features and functions as the main attractions.
The car models are the heroes of the Volkswagen brand, each with its own features, benefits and personalities. Each will be given a separate pedestal to stand on, even though the site is not about creating model-based campaigns.
The site will become the hub of Volkswagen; bringing together the brand, their retailers and customers, and strengthening the relationship between the three parties.
The site will reflect the brand essence by demonstrating Volkswagen’s better thinking in all business areas and through all page details.
The site will recognise the distinct needs of different audience groups. We will not try to be all things to all people.
From these principles came a wall of briefs.
Every corner of the website experience was subject to planning scrutiny; each stage of the visitor’s journey was issued a flexible brief. The cascading nature of the different experiences created dependencies between each brief that required day-to-day attention.
An added benefit to having the living wall of briefs came during measurement phase. When it was time to work with the website measurement technology provider, we knew exactly how we wanted each part of the site to be measured because we knew how visitors would ideally behave.
The creative result
After eighteen months, the result is a site that looks and behaves in a markedly different way. Right from the homepage you can see that the experience is designed around visitors’ needs. We don’t bombard our visitors with hundreds of choices; instead we highlight the five most important ones.
Another example of our visitor focus is the model search and selection function. Where our competitors ask you to select models for inspection simply by model name and shape, the Volkswagen site allows people to find a car suitable for their needs using a series of easy-to-understand filters based on key criteria such as shape, size, price, engine type, performance, or fuel efficiency. As you change your criteria the relevant models appear or disappear, leaving you with only the Volkswagens that are right for you.
Once you’ve selected a model, the website presents you with a bit of the ownership dream. During our research we found that people need to imagine what it might be like to own a GTI, or in this case, a Touareg 4x4. Within the thirteen stage buying process, this is our opportunity to build additional consideration and desire for a model.
The true heart of the website experience, however, is the configurator. The configurator smoothes out the complexity of buying a Volkswagen and presents the customer with a personalised, enjoyable experience. A fully animated interview process allows you to watch your dream Volkswagen being built, from getting the chosen paint colour sprayed on to finding the right finance package.
Finally, we knew that if the website was really replacing showroom visits, the following stage would be buying a Volkswagen. It was therefore important for us to allow visitors to find a retailer, choose one based on location or other customers’ recommendations and book a test drive, all directly on the website.
In the end, the creative result was a predictable outcome of our process. Every part of the site (of which we’ve only shown a portion) is built around the ideal experience that online car buyers would expect from Volkswagen. On launch Volkswagen.co.uk looked and behaved like no other manufacturer’s website. The constant focus on visitor experience has paid off.
The results, so far (2007 vs. 2008)
Despite car sales being down by 11% year over year in the UK, we have seen noticeable improvements since launch. With visitors up by four percentage points, Volkswagen.co.uk became for the first time the most visited automotive manufacturer’s website in the UK in November 2008, beating industry sales leaders Ford and Vauxhall.
The people who used the site are now more likely to buy: the ratio of online test drive requests to retail sales went up by 8%.
According to Psyma, a cross manufacturer website survey, between October 2007 and October 2008 overall satisfaction was up by six percentage points (from 70% to 76%). The number of people agreeing with the statement “The website makes me feel positive towards the VW brand” increased by five percentage points (from 68% to 73%) and the number of people agreeing with the statement “The site has exactly the information and function that I require” was up by seven percentage points (from 54% to 61%).
The initial results are encouraging despite the current economic climate. But what excites us most is that we have established a visitor-focused planning process that will continue building on this early success.
One of the antecedents to ‘Web 2.0’ people were given the facilities to produce content online, in the form of reviews for products. This little application would change the way that people would buy products and the way that marketers communicated their products.
2. Friendster March 22 2002 The launch of the first of the big social networking sites, the site was modelled on dating sites and lost its popularity when they started banning music bands and fictional characters from creating profiles. Myspace encouraged bands to create music and the fans moved with the decision. 3. Technorati 20th November 2002 Technorati launched and helped to create a metric that goes beyond traditional measure of effectiveness of media channels (reach measures). They help to measured the influence of a media channel (blogs) through how many people were speaking about a person ideas (Authority), a very BIG step in the right direction. 4. Mysace Fox Interactive Media pays $580 million for Myspace July 16th 2005 Booyah, Social Media is worth money! ... or is it? 5. The first viral Youtube clip - Evolution of Dance April 06 2006
6. Jaffe Juice holds Curry to ransom September 7th 2006 Jaffe Juice holds Adam Currie to ransom for not giving any link love to Jaffe after Adam appeared on his show and made no mention of the episode in his own podcast. Only Joseph Jaffe could peform such a stunt and get away with it. Read story here 7. Transmedia Planning: Idea Propagation October 3rd 2006 Not really about the content (which is an amazing piece) but through the propagation of the message, he published the idea on his blog in the form of a post and it spread across the internet like wildfire! October 3rd 2006 8. Dove Evolution Viralwins Cannes Ocotber 7th 2006 Dove Evolution helped to show that social media was valued by the old advertising heads picking up the Grand Prix Cyber Lion. 9. The first flog:Fake McDonalds Monopoly winners blogOctober 31st 2006 One of the first cases of abuse of Social Media by a Advertising Agency. The interesting thing was not that marketers would do such a thing but the punishment that was dealt to McDonalds at the hands of real bloggers. People now have more power to make your mistakes visible. 10. Dell Ideastorm launches February 16th 2007 Dell capatalised on the power of masses to help innovate and develop new ideas for Dell products. Social Media is now seen to change the research and development stage for businesses. The product was a creation of Salesforce who created the platform for themselves first with Salesforces Ideas 11. The Age of Conversation March 22nd 2007 The post between Drew McLellen and Gavin Heaton which was the catalyst for the book The Age of Conversation. Taking the Dell Idea one step further and created a product from the collective content of social media participants. 12. Power 150 ranking moves to Ad Age August 7th 2007 Todd And Power 150 moves to AdAge and boasts over 700 blogs now, a huge step in connecting the Marketing Community.
01 Silver Tequila announced its first-ever contest on 9/01 at 9:01pm on www.901.com via a video call-to-action engaging consumers to come up with The Big Idea... Is it a major ad campaign? The next breakthrough promotion? A viral video? To kick off the 901at901on901 promotion and to celebrate the day and time of the brand's namesake, 901 CEO and founder, Justin Timberlake, and President, Kevin Ruder, toasted the crowd at LAVO at the Palazzo Las Vegas at 1:09am Pacific time this morning.
To apply for the job as the Executive Vice President of Big Ideas for 901 Silver Tequila, applicants are asked to submit their big idea for 901 Silver and a photo or video to support their concept via www.901.com. The applicant selected as Executive Vice President of Big Ideas will receive a VIP trip to Las Vegas, including roundtrip airfare for two, hotel stay, two tickets to the Justin and friends concert, and VIP access to any and every party, an annual salary of $0 with a one time bonus of $25,000, the opportunity to get coffee for the other 901 employees and of course, bragging rights about being the Executive Vice President of Big Ideas for 901 Silver Tequila. "We like to incorporate consumer feedback as part of our normal business practice at 901 Silver.
We've turned that premise into a contest," said Kevin Ruder, President of 901 Silver. Official rules of the 901at901on901 Contest are available at www.901.com. No purchase is necessary to participate and the contest is void where prohibited. Participants must be 21 years of age and legal residents of the United States or the District of Columbia. From September 1, 2009 through November 30, 2009, all entries submitted during the 90.1 day promotion will be reviewed by a panel of experts, who will choose the winner on December 4, 2009. For more information about the 901at901on901 Contest, visit www.901.com.
According to its brand identity, Mercedes-Benz’ stands for business people with success and leadership. The problem is that this demographic, usually hardworking with little free time, are often difficult to reach by traditional means.
The perception that these executives never use digital media, however, Mercedes-Benz found to be incorrect. Its research showed that business leaders are voracious consumers of digital media. 30% read blogs on a regular basis and 72% said they were tech-connected by necessity, knowing that keeping up with the latest technology is vital to the success of their businesses.
Partnering with social networking site, A Small World – which offers membership on an invitation only basis – the car manufacturer provided users with exclusive information, content and competitions, at the same time being careful not to interrupt the user’s online experience or bombard them with too many advertisements. Offers were mainly related to activities already sponsored by Mercedes-Benz; its Fashion Week, for example, or opportunities to join its Formula One race team for a day out.
67% of those surveyed after the campaign said the advertising had impacted on their perception of the Mercedes-Benz brand positively. Nearly 40% of respondents said the campaign had made them want to find out more information about Mercedes-Benz in general. In addition, 30% said that the advertising would cause them to recommend the brand to someone else.
It is imperative for car companies to be associated with cutting-edge technology, but at the same time avoid anything potentially seen as superfluous. So, Mazda’s announcement that it was using augmented reality in its latest campaign came as something of a surprise.
Augmented reality has, until now, been rather gimmicky – 3D lapdancing girls appearing out of 2-D paper, and the like. However, JWT’s new augmented reality application – Layer – is something different, something potentially very useful. By integrating Google maps into its service it allows users to see what is happeningaround them by displaying real-time digital information on top of reality.
Mazda has built the first ‘layer’ on the new network. Through a combination of QR codes and barcode technology consumers can scan special Mazda ads in the traditional press with a smartphone and find all available Mazda dealers within the vicinity. The tagline on the video demonstrating the new service is: ‘From magazine to Mazda in 80 seconds’.
And where Mazda lead, it looks like others will follow. 10,000 applications were downloaded in the first two days and JWT says it has clients wanting to build ‘layers’ in Amsterdam and Russia.
Healthcare is big business, particularly in the US. Kimberly-Clark wanted to reposition itself as the leading global provider in Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) solutions and information. To do this, it needed to prove its knowledge to the people who would gain most from it.
Each year, over one million people worldwide acquire an infection in a hospital facility. Many of these infections could easily be prevented if the right training and equipment was provided to hospital staff, but hospital staff are notoriously busy and can’t afford time off for training and conferences. Kimberly-Clark’s solution - bring the training to the clients.
It took to the road in its HAI Education Mobile Classroom - a 45-foot customised coach – designed to bring the classroom setting to the door of healthcare partners. Equipped with 12 laptops, a server that ran multiple programs at multiple stations simultaneously, a speaker platform with large TV screen and a specially designed Kimberley Clark toolkit, the mobile classroom had all the elements necessary for healthcare facilities to implement their own internal HAI campaign. Two websites supported the healthcare tour, giving testimonials from those that had participated, tour locations and dates and media resources.
The tour was covered by 20 major medical publications giving Kimberly-Clark exposure to its target market. 6,500 Continuing Education Certificates were issued at over 70 locations. Overall perception of the tour was very positive: 99% of clinicians who participated strongly agreed/somewhat agreed that they felt more empowered to do their part to prevent HAIs; 79% of clinicians viewed Kimberly-Clark as a provider of Education and Information and 81% of clinicians agreed that Kimberly-Clark products and services help them do their job better.
John West Salmon...bear ad voted funniest of all time
Perhaps surprisingly, a few names cropped up a number of times, and, from these, we produced a shortlist of nominations.
Some of the ads on the list, such as the John Smith's spots featuring Peter Kaye, were part of a campaign consisting of a number of executions.
In some cases, there was little to choose between the individual ads in each group. In these instances, we picked what we judged to be the funniest and most representative of each group.
Visitors to the Campaign website have been voting on this list for the past two months, and today we can reveal our top ten funniest TV ads of all time.
As you can see from the list, UK TV ads dominate, with classic US spots managing a couple of places.
There is a fair spread of dates, and the fact that four are from the 80s perhaps shows that the creative from that golden age of advertising is standing the test of time.
Or maybe it's because a large number of voters were children during that decade.
Website users were also invited to submit their own suggestions for the ads they thought were the most funny.
Sadly, none of these gained enough nominations to make it to our shortlist, but a few of them are worthy of honourable mentions.
Among those nominated are Holsten Pils "Marilyn Monroe", Grolsch "blue movie", Egg "guinea pig" and the Abbey National ads starring Alan Davies.
As with all such subjective lists, it is more than possible you disagree with our choices and those of the voters.
1. John West Salmon 'bear'
Our top funny is one of two in the list to come from the combination of Paul Silburn and Danny Kleinman.
The ad became so popular that it turned into one of the world's first internet virals.
It starts, tamely enough, in the style of a nature documentary, showing a group of bears catching salmon at the mouth of a river.
But things take a turn for the downright bizarre when a John West fisherman enters the fray and starts fighting one of the bears, kung-fu style.
The entertaining bout ends when the fisherman distracts the bear by pointing to an imaginary eagle and kicks his adversary in the balls.
The ad was viewed online by more than 300 million people by 2006 and Leo Burnett picked up the BTAA Commercial of the Year in 2001 for the ad.
Agency Leo Burnett Date 2000 Writer Paul Silburn Art director Paul Silburn Director Danny Kleinman Production company Spectre
2. Blackcurrant Tango 'St George'
This delightfully over-the-top spot for Blackcurrant Tango starts in corporate video-style, with Tango's "spokesman" Ray Gardner reading out a letter from a disgruntled French exchange student named Sebastien.
Fired up, Gardner leaves the office, followed by a retinue of Tango employees.
As he walks, he strips off to reveal a pair of purple boxing shorts, and ends up in a boxing ring at the edge of the White Cliffs of Dover, with Harrier jets hovering overhead.
To a cheering crowd, Gardner maniacally offers to take on France, Europe and the rest of the world.
The ad appears to be shot in one take, although it was actually done in three.
It picked up a number of awards in 1997, notably a Cannes gold Lion and a silver Pencil from D&AD.
Agency HHCL & Partners Date 1996 Writer Chas Bayfield Art director Jim Bolton Director Colin Gregg Production company Eclipse
3. Hamlet 'photo booth'
Collett Dickenson Pearce's series of ads for the Hamlet cigar brand stand as some of the most iconic in UK TV history.
Perhaps the most famous of the lot, this 1989 spot features Gregor Fisher (later to star in Rab C Nesbitt) sitting for a picture in a photo booth.
The ad plays on the familiar feeling that the photo booth camera always captures you when you are least expecting it.
After carefully straightening his comedy comb-over, Fisher's character wastes his three chances at capturing his mugshot.
After his chair collapses, Fisher's bald pate is seen poking above the bottom of the screen with a puff of smoke rising above it.
The ad won more gold awards for CDP than almost any other, and was voted the ad of the century by a special jury at Cannes in 1997.
Credits
Agency Collett Dickenson Pearce Date 1989 Writers Philip Differ, Rowan Dean Art director Garry Horner Director Graham Rose Production company Rose Hackney Barber
4. John Smiths 'wardrobe monsters'
After the difficulties surrounding Jack Dee's last days as John Smith's No Nonsense man, it would have been understandable if the beer brand had chosen to avoid using another celebrity in its TV ads.
However, the introduction of Peter Kaye in a series of 2002 spots was inspired.
In this ad, Paul Silburn's marvellous script sees Kaye enjoying a meal down his local Indian restaurant with his wife and a couple of friends.
The occasion is interrupted by a call from his daughter, who has gone to bed and become frightened of the "wardrobe monsters" in her room.
Matter-of-fact, Kaye tells her that "it's the burglars that break in through the windows" that she needs to be worried about.
Agency TBWA Date 2002 Writers Paul Silburn, Chris Kelly, Rob Webster Art directors Paul Silburn, Chris Kelly, Rob Webster Director Danny Kleinman Production company Spectre
5. Carling Black Label'dambusters'
This affectionate spoof of the 1955 World War II movie The Dam Busters continued the successful "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label" campaign.
The black-and-white spot was one in a line of patriotic ads aimed at highlighting the beer's UK origins - often at the expense of our German friends.
Carling ad regulars, the comedy duo Mark Arden and Stephen Frost, play two RAF pilots delivering bouncing bombs to a German target.
As their payload splashes off the surface of the lake, a worried-looking German sentry steels himself to defend his fortress.
When the spherical missiles reach their target, the soldier turns goalkeeper, leaping like a salmon to keep out the bombs.
Agency WCRS Date 1989 Writer Kes Grey Art director Jonathan Greenhalgh Director Roger Woodburn Production company Park Village
6. Fedex Fast Paced World
Perhaps more clever than side-splittingly funny, "fast-paced world" consistently appears in best ads lists.
It features John Moschitta Jr as Mr Spleen, an executive who speed-talks his way through his business day.
Talking at more than 450 words per minute, he manages to conduct a board meeting, hire a new employee, complete a deal over the phone and eat his lunch.
It finishes with a voiceover, which says: "In this fast-moving, high-pressure, get-it-done yesterday world... aren't you glad there's a company that can keep up with it all?"
The spot boosted Moschitta's career, and he went on to star in more than 80 ads with ad agency Ally & Gargano.
Agency Ally & Gargano Date 1981 Writers Patrick Kelly, Mike Tesch ? Art director Mike Tesch Director Joe Sedelmaier Production company Sedelmaier Productions
7. Orange 'snoop gold spot'
We could have picked any number of ads from Orange's series of Gold Spots, which run before films in UK cinemas.
However, Snoop Dogg's appearance, earlier this year, managed to make the regular film executives look more out of touch than they ever had before.
Mr Dresden and his assistant Elliot interrupt the rap star in his recording studio and ask him to consider changing the theme of his lyrics to focus less on sex and more on phone calls.
After a brief stand-off with Snoop Dogg's posse, Dresden decides the only option is to record the vocal himself.
Cue toe-curling rapping from the ultimate suit. The ad is one of the last Gold Spots to be produced by Mother - Orange transferred the account to Fallon in August.
Agency Mother Date 2008 Writer Mother Art director Mother Director Brian Buckley Production company Hungry Man
8. Budget Rent a Car 'jet propulsion'
"Jet propulsion" is part of an award-winning series that opens with a bunch of marketing executives indulging in a spot of blue-sky thinking.
One suggests a new gimmick to help customers reach their cars quicker - a jet pack.
The ad cuts to a shot of a renter, who lifts off and shoots straight into an overhead power line.
After a brief pause, the marketers decide to ditch the idea.
Agency Cliff Freeman & Partners Date 2000 Writer Steve Doppelt Art director Jason Gaboriau Director Dante Ariola Production company Propaganda Films
9.Heineken 'majorca'
This 1985 reversal of the Pygmalion story depicts a bepearled Sloane Ranger receiving an elocution lesson at the School of Street Credibility.
Her dismal attempts to shed her posh accent provoke growing frustration from her tutor.
It is only when assistant Del arrives with a six-pack of Heineken that the pupil starts getting the hang of things.
Within seconds of taking a swig of the lager, she is sounding as Cockney as Barbara Windsor.
Agency Lowe Howard-Spink Date 1985 Writer Adrian Holmes Art director Alan Waldie Director Paul Weiland Production company Weilands
10. Castlemaine XXXX 'wife'
"Wife" was one in a series of Saatchi & Saatchi ads that did little to dispel the stereotype of the hard-drinking, misogynist male from Down Under.
This spot depicts two mates transporting crates of XXXX, which are guarded by the wife of one in the back of their ute.
When the truck gets stuck over a ravine, the wife calls out: "I reckon we'll be alright if we lose some weight off the back."
The man in the passenger seat turns to the driver and says, dryly: "She's a good sport, your missus."
Agency Saatchi & Saatchi Date 1991 Writer James Lowther Art director Peter Gibb Director John Marles Production company RSA Films
"Here we see a humble promotional giveaway creating a really valuable consumer experience which truly highlights the benefits of the product in a way that doesn't require consumers to get their hands and clothes messy."
