Kantar Millward Brown announces South Africa's Top 20 Best Liked Ads of 2017

In number-one spot for a second year in a row is Samsung, this time with their Knox-Seagull ad. The ad is part of a global campaign that was made to “travel”, telling a funny universal story that consumers around the world can relate to. The brilliant creative communicates the features of the phone without leaning into technical jargon, instead rather telling a story to show you and engage you.

“We know that if an ad delivers an explicit functional message, it’s unlikely to benefit the brand to the same degree as an ad focused on building impressions. When there is a need to reinforce functional benefits, deliver the message in a creative way. In general, ‘show’, don’t ‘tell’. People tend not to remember explicit messages without lots of repetition and a creative demonstration will help improve memorability,” says Natalie Botha, creative development director at Kantar Millward Brown South Africa.

Johnny Watters and Angus George, the creative team from Ogilvy London behind the winning ad, said, "People keep asking us how we got the seagull to perform such an amazing trick! But on a more serious note, business people are still just people, so while these are ads for a business audience, we wanted them to feel as human as possible. That's why we used 100% real footage. To demonstrate the real things people do with their work phones. The ads were made to work as TVCs first, but they ran more frequently online. However they followed some of the key principles of online video, for example, grabbing attention in the first five seconds with an arresting image (the seagull's feet, the vertical format); separating footage and titles to make the message easier to absorb; and optimised for no sound, but better with sound.”

In second spot is the beautiful ad from Consol and Grey Advertising, "The Best Things Come in Glass". It’s an emotional ad that tugs at your heartstrings with the story appealing to a wide audience. “We know that people feel first and think second, so if you can make them feel something instantly, you’re already halfway there!” says Natalie. By working with (and not against) people’s brains engaging advertising can seed ideas, associations and feelings that are triggered during the purchase process, even long after the ad was seen. And the story centers around real human moments and values of caring that any parent would love to see from their kids. The brand (and the bottle) was central to the story, making the ad easy to recall in the name of Consol with the cute kid enhancing the moment.

Emotional relevance and creative engagement in advertising are critical to success. Kantar Millward Brown’s database shows that, when compared with ads that focus on a key message, ads with creative impact, driven by branded, emotional engagement, have a much clearer relationship with in-market sales effects. And people love a good story - it’s worth noting that that a good majority of the winning ads use storytelling laced with local flavour and humour to engage their viewers.

In the same way, the Toyota Hilux ad, "Tougher-er my Son", from FCB Joburg at number three, also reflects a slice of life with great South African moments, real human moments – things that really do happen. The ad also demos the product in use, showing it not saying it.

Congratulations to the brands, marketers and agencies on their stunning achievement in creating the ads that South Africa loves! Check out the winning ads: