Best-liked ads: Kids, laughs, old times

For a second straight year Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg has produced SA’s best-liked ad in the Millward Brown annual “most-liked” ranking (2015).

The ad called “Wedding”, extolling Vodacom’s data offering — a tardy priest in a remote location appears on a tablet device to marry a couple — edges out a second telecoms sector ad, “The Works for Business”, made for Telkom by DDB.

Another Ogilvy ad, for KFC, is placed third, ahead of one by Mullen Lowe Johannesburg for Rama Margarine and FCB for Coca-Cola.

Millward Brown tracks 2,000 television ads each year and asks respondents to score them out of 10. The research agency surveys an ad about two weeks after its first flighting; respondents are from all major metropolitan areas and representative of both the developed and developing SA demographic.

In the top 20 winners list for 2015 there is a distinct combination of humour and nostalgia; children feature in many of them.

Unlike in previous years, only one global ad, for Coca-Cola by McCann Madrid, makes the list.

Natalie Otte, head of Millward Brown SA, says most of the ads on the 2105 list have a local flavour, appealing to target consumers’ emotions. “Many tell a story reflecting the brand’s purpose beyond just functionality.”

The Coca-Cola ad, “Distance”, is a good example of a “glocal” ad that resonates with consumers worldwide, in all walks of life. “But for every ad that travels well our data suggests many do not; finding one that suits all markets is rare.”

Vodacom has won four times since the ranking began in 1984. Otte says the brand’s formula has remained true over decades, “striking an emotional chord with relevant local humour”.

Bucking the trend in 2015 was the absence of car ads — only one, for the Toyota Aygo, is in the top 20. Almost three-quarters of the list is made up of fast-moving consumer goods brands.

While the average liking score has risen over time, the number of people who can correctly recall an ad has declined, which is likely due to media clutter. In 1984 around 500 new ads flighted annually; in 2015 there were around 2,500.

“In the increasingly cluttered and fragmented media landscape, the ability to measure the effect and efficiency of different media activity is paramount. For the ones that do cut through, agencies and marketers are clearly working harder at their creative output.”