| Rank | Advert | Agency |
| 1 | Spur - 'Sign Writing' | Haas Advertising |
| 2 | Wimpy - 'Missing Lunch' | Draftfcb |
| 3 | Vaseline Total Moisture Body Lotion - '3 Layers' | The Hardy Boys |
| 4 | Volvo S60 T3 - 'Wolf' | The Arnold Team, Boston |
| 5 | Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - 'Creativity' | Cheil USA |
| 6 | MTN - 'Lullaby' | Metropolitan Republic & Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg |
| 7 | Nando's - 'Reason 2 (Anthem)' | Black River FC |
| 8 | Debonairs Pizza - 'Master Piece' | Morris Jones |
| 9 | Romans Pizza - 'School Kids with Barry Hilton' | Blue Planet |
| 10 | Pantene Pro V - 'Mends Instantly with Liv Tyler' | Grey |
| 11 | Bells Whisky - 'The Search' | King James |
| 12 | Samsung Galaxy Notebook - 'New Way' | Cheil USA |
| 13 | Nando's - 'Reason 15 (Fire)' | Black River FC |
| 14 | South African Reserve Bank - 'New Bank Notes (Nelson Mandela)' | The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg |
| 15 | Johnsons African Nurture Products - 'Beauty Secret' | 140 BBDO |
| 16 | BMW - 'Connected Drive E-mails' | Kirschenbaum, Bond, Senecal & Partners |
| 17 | Lexus RX 300 - 'Amazing' | Draftfcb |
| 18 | Castle Lite - 'New Cold Rush' | The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg |
| 19 | Nando's - 'Reason 24 (Close to Europe)' | Black River FC |
| 20 | Wimpy - 'Grand Grillster' | Draftfcb |
2012 appeared to be 'the year of the fast food outlet/quick service restaurant (QSR)', with eight out of the top 20 ads falling within this category, and five out of the top 10. Looking at 2009 to 2011, only one QSR ad made the top 10 list each year.
Could the huge increase in the number of QSR ads on the list be a sign of the times? The economic environment is still quite tight post the 2009 recession, and consumers are searching for small, affordable treats for their families - relevance is therefore key in engaging the South African public and some categories are more relevant than others.
Regardless of the category, some of the key ingredients in great advertising that we see are humour, kids, animals and celebrities. Of all the QSR ads on the list, humour is the common thread - something that the South African market tends to resonate with quite strongly. TV ads are increasingly seen as 'entertainment' and if you can make us smile or laugh, you are entertaining us. And if you entertain us with a brand that is very relevant, you may just have a winning combination...
One way to ensure relevance is to 'localise' the ad - all of the QSR ads on the list had a distinct South African flavor. MTN, Bells and Castle Lite were also very strong in this regard. This isn't to say that locally produced ads are better than internationally produced ads, we just need to caution the importance of the ability of the ad to 'travel'.
Congratulations from Millward Brown to the marketers and their agencies on this great achievement!
Footnote: Adtrack™ is Millward Brown's proprietary advertising testing system, evaluating the impact and liking of all brand advertising in South Africa over the last 29 years. The resultant database stands at almost 75,000 TV adverts tested, and more than 1.1 million interviews conducted, making this database one of the largest of its kind in the world.
