Everyone loves talking about the Christmas ads, but which one does The Grocer think is the best? Let’s not ignore the rest of the year either

Top campaigns

Everyone loves talking about the Christmas ads, but which one does The Grocer think is the best? Let’s not ignore the rest of the year either. 2016 was a vintage year and we celebrate the very best food and drink campaigns over the next few pages. These Top Campaigns are not limited to TV ads, with winning entries including experiential events, Facebook campaigns, a Twitter whisky tasting, event sponsorship, even a pop-up café. Only one campaign can win the editor’s pick, however. Read on to find out which one it is…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alcoholic Drinks: Lager

stella

Be Legacy – the History of Sebastian

Brand: Stella Artois

Launch date: March 2016

Agency : Mother

Lush cinematography, gorgeous sets and a soundtrack crafted by blues musician Jamie Commons – what more could you ask for from Stella Artois as it celebrated 600 years in March? Produced by French director François Rousselet, the lager brand delved deep into its past for this TV campaign drawing on both the legacy of silent film and its colourful Belgian roots as it chases a young Sebastian Artois through Leuven on his quest to buy the original Den Hoorn brewery. It’s a story worth telling and the ad tells it well. The brand drew engagement on social media under #BeLegacy and followed up with beautiful stills shot by British photographer Richard Burbridge.

 

Alcoholic Drinks: Spirits

The Glenlivet Cipher

Glenlivet

Brand: Glenlivet

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Richmond Towers

To cut through the noise of the crowded whisky NPD sphere, Glenlivet took talk of its new single malt Scotch digital with a Twitter tasting of influential bloggers, delivering 4.7 million social media impressions and driving 700-plus uses of the hashtag in one hour. Coupled with an experiential launch event, the push reached two million trade personnel and 1.5 million discerning customers.

 

Alcoholic Drinks: Wine

Aldi Wine

aldi wine

Brand: Aldi

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: Clarion, McCann & Weber Shandwick

Launching Aldi SKUs online while simultaneously convincing wine snobs a discounter tipple is cheap but far from nasty was a daunting task. But the retailer delivered with aplomb in January. With its futuristic Aldi wine store, tasting events and TV sponsorship, the multimedia campaign reached 90 million-plus people, and delivered a revenue uplift of 35%.

 

Alcoholic Drinks: 
Ale & Stout

Find Your Mountain

Find your mountain

Brand: Wainwright

Launch date: May 2016

Agency: Vital Marketing, OMD, Butcher & Gundersen

Delivering an injection of muddy energy into the brand after its 2015 acquisition by Marston’s, Wainwright cleverly pitched its Northern ale as official sponsor of the notorious Rat Race in 2016. Part of its ongoing Find Your Mountain campaign, the mix of experiential, digital and social helped boost sales by 26%.

 

Alcoholic Drinks Cider & Perry

Let’s Own It

Own it

Brand: Strongbow

Launch date: July 2016

Agency: Adam & Eve, DDB

Fuelling patriotic fervour in the run up to the Rio Olympics, Strongbow delivered this high-energy TV campaign crammed full of Union flags, British bulldogs and brimming pints of cider. Kicking off a series of six “stirring” 30-second shorts all under the rousing ‘Let’s own it’ slogan, the brand went all-out to bring back the excitement of London 2012.

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Biscuits: Savoury

belvita

Good Mornings

Brand: BelVita

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: Hey Human

With fewer than half of us (47%) partial to a biscuit for breakfast, BelVita took to the streets to change hearts, minds and stomachs in April. Literally. Visiting 26 city centres, 52 forecourts and 26 train stations over 13 weeks, the team handed out two million ‘Good mornings’ to bleary eyed Brits heading to work. Coupling these samples with tuneful tinkles on its canary yellow Good Morning Piano, the legwork paid off. More than half (55%) of those handed samples over the campaign had such a Good Morning with BelVita they rushed out to buy their own pack at least once in the four weeks following. The flurry of new shoppers helped lift BelVita’s sales a significant 24%. Not a bad morning’s work at all.

 

Biscuits: Sweet

The Sweeetest App. Ever

McVities

Brand: McVitie’s

Launch date: February 2016

Agency: Grey London

Everybody loves cats. And everybody loves apps. McVitie’s launched this latest iteration of its Sweeet campaign in 2016, allowing younger shoppers to point their iPhones at packs and watch a virtual kitten roll around the room as they munched on Chocolate Digestives. Months before Pokémon Go even arrived in the UK, this campaign was brilliantly ahead of the curve.

 

Bagged snacks: popcorn

Institute of Flavour

popcorn

Brand: Propercorn

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Bompas & Parr

A sensory explosion of “sniffing, spraying and sprinkling” in the heart of Soho, this immersive foodie tour sold out in two days. It guided 256 guests to their signature popcorn seasoning, while 12,500 more submitted taste concoctions to a virtual flavour factory. The campaign created the brand new Twisted Honeycomb flavour and reached 5.6 million across social media.

 

Bagged Snacks: crisps

Doritos A or B

dritos

Brand: Doritos

Launch date: July 2016

Agency: OMD, Jaywing, and Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO

Artfully engaging snackers in the creative process, Doritos called on fans to dream up wacky scenarios for eliminating their least favourite flavour. No fewer than 50,000 obliged, with the best turned into animated shorts and broadcast across social media. This prompted a 25% uplift in sales and reached nearly three quarters of 16- to 34-year-olds.

 

BabyFood

Veg for Victory

veg for victory

Brand: Ella’s Kitchen

Launch date: May 2016

Agency: Mischief PR, PLMR and Havas Worldwide London

Even swaying PHE to review its advice, this Ella’s Kitchen campaign to wean babies on to veg ticked all the right boxes. Combining an industry roundtable with an agenda-setting white paper and a whimsical Winston Churchill-inspired ad, the brand successfully lobbied both government – and 1.5 million parents – to feed their little ones more veg.

 

Cereals

Better Your Breakfast

better for breakfast

Brand: Flahavan’s

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: Richmond Towers

The most important meal of the day perhaps, but compelling content on breakfast can be challenging. A fact that makes this integrated PR and social media campaign from family-owned Flahavan’s more impressive. Urging consumers to jazz up their porridge oats with seriously Instagrammable creations reached 500,000 across social media and generated 32 pieces of coverage.

 

Canned goods: Fish

Fridge Pack

john west

Brand: John West

Launch date: August 2016

Agency: Cheetham Bell

John West didn’t ditch its token bearded fisherman, ferocious ocean waves or rickety fishing boat for this latest NPD-inspired campaign – but it did add just the right amount of humour. With the crew’s chef deftly knitting bright woollen hats and steering wheel warmers thanks to the brand’s new resealable fridge packs, the campaign conveyed all it needed to in 30 simple seconds.

 

Canned goods: Beans

Can Song

Heinz

Brand: Heinz Beanz

Launch date: August 2016

Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Talk about health and safety gone mad. This catchy TV campaign launched by Heinz, perfectly pitched to its young family audience, was unceremoniously canned in November after the ASA ruled that kids might slice open their fingers performing the Can Song by drumming on an open tin. A fact that only made us hum along more.

 

Cake

An Exceedingly Good Distraction

Kipling

Brand: Mr Kipling

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: McCann, Carat and Cirkle

Don’t fix what ain’t broke. Never truer than for ‘Exceedingly Good’ branding that still rolls off the tongue 40 years after launch. Dusting off this pithy and powerful brand asset and bringing it into the 21st century with a mix of witty TV adverts and sponsorship, Mr Kipling sent sales of French Fancies up 10%, with 4% overall growth across the brand.

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Bread

Bagel

Build Up Bagel

Brand: The New York Bagel Co.

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: Richmond Towers

Joining forces with Instagram star Joe Wicks, the New York Bagel Co tackled our annual post-Christmas carb fast in 2016 by pitching stacked bagels – or #Buildupbagel – as the perfect post-workout snack. With an exclusive and exhausting HIT (high intensity training) fitness session hosted by Wicks himself, and a series of turkey, chipotle chilli and poached egg bagel creations shared across his phenomenally successful social media channels, digital reach for this new year campaign hit five million. Coupled with 20 pieces of national coverage and the movers and shakers of the blogging world attending Wicks’ HIT workout, NYBC saw its own Instagram following surge an impressive 1,000% as a result of the partnership.

 

Dairy: Fresh Milk

Astonishing Milk

A2 Milk

Brand: A2 Milk

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Aesop, Rocket Network and Bondy Consulting

Frothy, fatty, delicious milk has been given a bad rep of late, but A2 Milk successfully switched the narrative in 2016. It headed off common complaints with hand-painted imagery, reviews from the influential Mumsnet, and video-recorded praise from consumers. Simple but effective, the campaign reached three million across social media and doubled penetration.

 

Dairy: Cheese

Mini Cravings

mini cravings

Brand: Laughing Cow

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: RKCR/Y&R

Hunger pangs are reimagined as cute, fluffy cubes bumbling and bouncing after us on our way home from work in this colourful TV campaign from Laughing Cow to launch its Mini Cravings snack cheeses. Light and playful, the 30-second slot by Bafta-nominated directors Jonny Sabbagh and Will Harper pitches both its consumer message – and its puppets – perfectly.

Dairy: Flavoured Milk

FRiij

The Urjiii

Brand: FRiij

Launch date: September 2016

Agency: VCCP Blue

Facing double-digit sales decline, this former titan of the flavoured milk aisle was souring fast. Desperately looking to reconnect with its young target audience (as well as steal sales back from rival Yazoo), VCCP Blue took this quirky brand back to basics with a television and social media campaign built around an awkwardly mooing bottle that highlighted our ‘Urjiii’ for a milkshake. Simple, funny and bang on message, this series of commercials featuring three 20-somethings paid dividends with a phenomenal 60% increase in sales month on month as a result, and great traction on social media too – with one young couple even going so far as to recreate the advertisement themselves.

 

Confectionery: Sugar

Alfie Boe

fishermen friend

Brand: Fisherman’s Friend

Launch date: February 2016

Agency: Fox Kalomaski Crossing

Tasked with reinvigorating unfashionable Fisherman’s Friend lozenges FKC scoured its tiny Lancashire birthplace for a thoroughly modern brand icon. Turning up Fleetwood-born opera hero Alfie Boe was a stroke of genius. With his rousing rendition of Verdi’s Rigoletto the brand saw a whopping 80% sales uplift across the UK, the effects of which carried on long after the singing stopped.

 

Confectionery: Chocolate

Kinder Joy Easter Egg Hunt

Kinder

Brand: Kinder

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: Cirkle

Combining NPD with immersive Easter ‘Joy’ proved a winning formula for Ferrero as it created industry excitement for the recently launched Kinder Joy. Offering retailers the chance to win bespoke kits to create their own Easter Egg Hunt landed the brand 47 mentions in trade media and accelerated traffic to the website by 135% as well as a win at The Grocer’s own New Product Awards.

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Desserts

Ambrosia

A Taste of Happy

Brand: Ambrosia

Launch date: May 2016

Agency: McCann, Cirkle

Putting £3.2m behind the launch of its new premium custard in May, Ambrosia was at pains to leave its consumers jumping for joy with this bright, catchy TV commercial. Awash in yellow and gold, the brand recruited London’s Hackney Colliery Band (also decked out in vivid gold) to play out a jazzy rendition of ‘Give it Up’ by KC and the Sunshine Band – spreading a touch of happiness with every pot while strategically leaving viewers stuck with the tune running in their heads all day long. Coupled with print advertising, money-off vouchers and an array of in-store sampling across the brand’s biggest retail customers, the campaign paid dividends, with sales growth of 32% achieved across the range.

 

Frozen Food: Pizza

The Ultimate Pizza Hit

pizza

Brand: Chicago Town

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: Life

It might be as cheesy as the pizza it dishes up, but this bright, energetic TV ad from Chicago Town is fun, catchy and makes a welcome change from back-to-back close-ups of melting cheese. A nod to 1970s musical Grease, with a touch of Justin Bieber pop and a carful of pizza to dance around, this ad stuck happily in the heads of the brand’s young target audience.

 

Fresh Meat

This is My Soul

black farmer

Brand: The Black Farmer

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: Big Eyes

Selling the British banger becomes a surprising feast of visual art, poetry and black history in this tour de force from The Black Farmer. Directed by Hollywood eccentric Tony Kaye, this first TV ad from the brand might detour from your average sausage sell, but it sticks in the mind all the more because of it. No wonder it drove brand awareness and extensions to lucrative supermarket listings.

 

Fresh Veg

It’s Pepper Time

peppers

Brand: Flora / EU

Launch date: July 2016

Agency: Richmond Towers

This health campaign backed by both Flora and the EU successfully lifted the humble pepper out of obscurity. The campaign spread its small budget a long way, targeting all the right people and executing a simple strategy well. It devised the Pepper Pot, a recipe that puts the neglected veg centre stage. It also recruited esteemed chef Bruno Loubet to dream up his own pepper-centric menu.

 

Free From

Make Over Your Morning

alpro

Brand: Alpro

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: Richmond Towers

Small changes can transform mornings. Yoga. Music. Or a passionfruit and pepper coconut milk smoothie, according to this PR campaign from Alpro, launched in time for new year’s resolution season. With a ‘Make Over Your Morning’ guide, aspirational breakfast creations and a survey to drive coverage, this early bird delivered a return on investment of 1,700 consumers reached per £1 spent.

 

Hot Beverages: coffee

Nespresso Kidnap

Nespresso

Brand: Nespresso

Launch date: September 2016

Agency: McCann Worldgroup

Silver fox George Clooney might be married now but he’s still breaking hearts and selling Nespresso pods by the truckload. No wonder he “wouldn’t change a thing” in this latest escapade, which sees Clooney bundled into a car boot by two heavies after flirting with the wife of a mobster (Ian McShane) and then refusing to hand over his coveted coffee by way of an apology.

 

Hot beverages: sweet

Make Winter Wonderland

cadbury

Brand: Cadbury

Launch date: November 2015

Agency: Mc2

The highlight among a flurry of limited edition labels, sampling, personalised consumer emails and ads via supermarket apps and websites for this cocoa campaign was the thermal-activated digital screens erected outside shops and cafes, which lit up at low temperatures to highlight the perfect moment for a cup of steaming hot chocolate. Cadbury gained three points of share.

 

Frozen Foods: Pastries

Macaron Manicure

brioche

Brand: Brioche Pasquier

Launch date: February 2016

Agency: Come Round

Artfully handing the hard work over to its consumers, Brioche Pasquier asked 102 volunteers to host Macaron Manicure parties in early 2016. Armed with a box of macarons and pastel nail polishes to match, hundreds sampled the brand’s new line of patisserie, with a whopping 1.2 million spotting the #macaronmanicure hashtag on social media – sparking 90,000 conversations offline.

 

Frozen Fish

Cod Save the Queen

birds eye

Brand: Birds Eye

Launch date: May 2016

Agency: Mischief

With brands left right and centre launching limited editions in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday, Birds Eye knew it had to go big or go home. Building the fanciest fish finger sandwich ever made, complete with caviar, edible violets, and gold-encrusted fish fingers, was a stroke of genius. Inspired Brits went fish finger-mad as a result, with the brand’s limited edition selling out.

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Hot beverages: tea

top campaigns winner

Truthful Green Tea Shop

Brand: Clipper

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: Exposure, Big Fish

At a pop-up tea shop in London’s Stoke Newington, 
real (and unsuspecting) customers were offered ‘bitter’, ‘mean’, ‘chemically enhanced’ and ‘unfairtrade’ green teas by a bubbly girl behind the tea counter. Filming her deadpan sales patter and customers’ horrified reactions, the commercial spoke directly about the qualities and characteristics of Clipper tea, but with a clever and humorous twist, in which it presented the reverse. Coupled with a heavyweight outdoor campaign with print ads plastered on London transport, the short film posted on YouTube capitalised on the annual New Year sales uplift for herbal teas and successfully reached 90% of adults across the capital and the South East.

 

Ice Cream: Handheld

Release the Beast

magnum

Brand: Magnum

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: LOLA MullenLowe

A sensational piece of work. Nature at its finest, from lions and tigers to the great white shark, all make an appearance in this ad for choc ices. The campaign cost a whopping £13m, with the TV ad to promote Magnum Double Chocolate, Magnum Double Caramel and new Magnum Double Peanut Butter backed up by outdoor, digital, search, social and experiential activity.

 

Household: Aircare

Airwick Scented Oil Warmers

airwick

Brand: Airwick

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: Droga5, Iris

Brits love a good poke around other people’s houses, a quirk Airwick made the most of for this colourful aesthetic TV ad. Showcasing poky pensioner bungalows, lavish mansions and minimalist chic décor, it takes nosy viewers on a journey behind closed curtains, with a Scented Oil Warmer plugged into each the only thing that links them all.

Household: Surface Care

cilit bang

Goodbye Barry Scott

Brand: Cillit Bang

Launch date: July 2016

Agency: Virgo

Less campaign, more homage to longtime shouty ad hero Barry Scott, this retro video mash-up from Reckitt Benckiser won more attention for Cillit Bang than its stain-removing credentials ever have. A fond look back on bellowing Barry’s finest TV moments, from riding rollercoasters to driving a digger and Olympian ‘phwoaring’, the playfully nostalgic ad proved a big hit with news sites and social media all around the world, with surprising outcry at the pensioning off of veteran brand ambassador Scott. Fans were even more outraged at his replacement, a smouldering mechanic that breaks into dance as he cleans up grease, and it was a wise move when the brand left the door slightly ajar for Scott’s future return.

 

Household: Auto Dishwash

Who Cleans the Cleaner?

Finish

Brand: Finish

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: Wieden & Kennedy

Thank God for dishwashers. Gravy-encrusted plates piled high, dregs of tea sitting in mugs, breakfast bacon grease welded on to frying pans and more empty wine glasses than you care to count – where would be without a machine to do all the hard work for us? Capturing that sentiment, this short and sweet ad from Finish reminded millions to keep their dishwashers happy.

 

Household: hand dishwash

How fair is your home?

Fairy

Brand: Fairy

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: Grey London

On average, according to Fairy, women in the UK spend 117 minutes more doing household chores every day than men do. If that’s true, it isn’t fair. So it produced a special bottle with the ‘Y’ missing from ‘Fairy’ to encourage couples to be kind, unselfish, and share the washing up. It didn’t make the bottles commercially available, but encouraged people to discuss the ad online.

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OTC: Allergy Remedies

Sudocrem

Sudocrem Saves Christmas

Brand: Sudocrem

Launch date: December 2015

Agency: Orbital Media

This campaign was based around using a smartphone-friendly Facebook game that gave away instant win prizes and, according to Sudocrem, delivered a “subtle, yet clear subconscious message in that ‘nappy rash can be treated with Sudocrem’”. More than 11,000 discount vouchers were given away after the campaign hit a total reach of more than 17 million people on Facebook and Twitter (over 10,000 tweets used the hashtag #SaveChristmas), and the game was played more than 100,000 times. Sudocrem says the campaign was an “epic hit, smashing all KPIs including reach, engagement, entries, amount of plays and most importantly, drove extensive social commerce through coupon distribution”.

 

Oils

Borderfields Is Better

Borderfields

Brand: Borderfields

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: Richmond Towers Communications

Borderfields had a problem. How to explain the difference between oils, as well as the pros and cons of each? And to grow the cold-pressed rapeseed oils category. This campaign drew up a ‘10 reasons why Borderfields Is Better’ guide, rolled out the #isBetter hashtag on social media and returned a 20% increase in value and a 15% in volume sales.

 

Laundry

Free the Kids

Persil

Brand: Persil

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: MullenLowe London

Who spends more time outside, a child… or a maximum-security prisoner? Using shocking new research that found young children now spend less time exploring outdoors and getting dirty than prison inmates, this riveting ad swaps the hard product sell for a far more powerful and provocative piece of work set in a US prison. It leaves viewers with something to really think about.

 

Jams & Spreads: Spreads

Flipping Fun

Nutella

Brand: Nutella

Launch date: February 2016

Agency: Krow

If you were under the impression that the only suitable topping for pancakes on Shrove Tuesday was lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar, you’d be quite right. But Nutella is on a mission to make us more open-minded and it spent some £1.4m on a multimedia campaign in the process. And when you see the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread slathered over a hot pancake, it’s almost convincing…

 

Ice Cream: Tubs

Remeo vs Johanna Konta – A Battle of Obsession

gelato

Brand: Remeo Gelato

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Bompas & Parr

Bompas & Parr are famous for their experiential marketing activities but they display the same creativity with this foray into film-making, serving up a beauty that shows how Johanna Konta, the top ranked tennis player in the UK, and Remeo Gelato are both obsessed with achieving perfection. It’s a lush production, wonderfully edited, and the ice cream looks lush.

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OTC: Paediatric Analgesics 

Calpol

Bounce Back

Brand: Calpol

Launch date: October 2016

Agency: Vital productions

No one likes it when their children are poorly, even though they do tend to quieten down for a bit, which is often a blessed relief. Just as all parents know this to be true, they also know the power of a dose of Calpol, which is a little miracle worker that kills temperatures stone dead. But rather than emphasise this fact, Calpol cleverly focuses on the best part of your child being unwell, which is when you realise they are full of beans and all better again –aka the ‘Bounce Back’ time. Full of kids charging around, sword fights with baguettes and funny face.

 

Personal Care: 
Shower Product

Soft & Gentle: Totally Happy

Soft and gentle

Brand: Soft & Gentle

Launch date: July 2016

Agency: FKC London

The delicate and pretty campaign to drive this brand extension – Soft & Gentle Body Balance – was specifically targeted at women who don’t usually buy feminine hygiene products, to encourage them to give it a try. It worked – the product launched exclusively in Boots and generated a sales uplift of 300%.

 

Personal Care: Deodorants

Body Sprays

Yardley

Brand: Yardley London

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Chapter and 7 Stars

This £650,000 campaign was launched to support the brand re-launch in 2015. The plan was to help secure listings and create awareness of the brand, but also change the perception of the brand and target a 40-plus customer. A series of print ads in monthlies, women’s weeklies and nationals reached 9.6 million women. After the campaign, Yardley was selling 10 times as much as before.

 

Paper Products: Nappies

Mamia

Aldi

Brand: Aldi

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: McCann & Weber Shandwick

To try and disrupt the stable nappy category, Aldi teamed up with Netmums to create a baby club offering samples. Some 56,000 were sent out, and 96% of those that used them said they would recommend Mamia to friends. Aldi also took a stand at the NEC baby show and sponsored the changing rooms. As a result, Aldi is now the fastest-growing baby retailer in the UK.

 

Paper Products: 
Toilet Tissues

Feel as Clean as a Man Called David

Andrex

Brand: Andrex

Launch date: November 2016

Agency: JWT

You won’t find a stranger name for a campaign in these pages, or possibly anywhere. This ad asks kids to find out how clean Andrex makes us feel after going to the loo, so they ambush adults when they exit the bathroom and ask them. Then the kids volunteer some suggestions. It’s odd. But it does reinforce Andrex and cleanliness.

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Personal care: Mouthwash 

CB12

Show Stopping Confidence

Brand: CB12

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: Virgo Consumer Health & Wellbeing

Inner confidence can be an elusive thing. CB12, which claims to have a “unique formula that neutralises unpleasant breath for an instant confidence boost” wanted to be positioned as an easy way for people to find it. It began by hiring former TOWIE star Ferne McCann, famous on the show for being unafraid to speak her mind. The campaign secured more than 30 pieces of coverage in publications like the Mail Online and the Daily Star, with a combined reach it says hit 600 million. Virgo also utilised CB12’s social media channels to deliver behind-the-scenes spin-off films with short soundbites containing Ferne’s personal confidence hacks. The content has reached more than seven million people to date.

 

Personal care: Toothbrushes

Interactive Electric Toothbrush

oral B

Brand: Oral B

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Publicis NY

No one comes out of a dentist without being ordered to buy an electric toothbrush these days, but there are a bewildering array of prices and types out there. So the brief must be to clearly convey why this model should be the choice of the smart brusher. And what better way to do that than to point out that this one interacts with your smartphone? Clever ad.

 

Personal care : Toothpaste

Captain Aquafresh

Aquafresh

Brand: Aquafresh

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: TBWA London

The toothpaste brand reached for Captain Aquafresh to freshen up its ad strategy in 2014 and he flew back again in 2016. The red white and blue colours of the toothpaste itself suit a superhero perfectly and his special power – impressive foaming – is perfect to save teeth from the danger of decay. It also taps into the apparently never-ending popularity of superheroes.

 

Personal care: Shampoo

Savage Cuts

FKC

Brand: Wash & Go

Launch date: October 2016

Agency: FKC and DIG

Ex-footballer Robbie Savage is a good fit for a shampoo ad because he was always better known for his long blond hair than for his talent on the field. Although, admittedly, the dirty sod had no talent on the field. The campaign ran until the end of November 2016, but had already delivered more than 20 million impressions and over 35,000 page views on savagecuts.com after four weeks.

 

Personal Care: skincare

Xtra Hydra Energetic

Loreal

Brand: L’Oréal

Launch date: May 2016

Agency: McCann Erickson Paris

‘You won’t look more buff, but you will look less rough’ is not a strapline that would work for a brand aimed at women, but for any lads still resisting their metrosexual tendencies, it’s a reminder that taking care of your skin doesn’t mean you’re a girl. And in Lewis Hamilton they have a great ‘face’ for the brand, an unconventional performer who is prepared to defy direct orders to win.

 

Petcare

The Flea Reveal

Clear

Brand: Bob Martin Clear

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Good Relations

Entering a house done up to resemble a crime scene, the eccentric Aggie MacKenzie does her Queen of Clean shtick to perfection on the hunt for fleas. But she is overshadowed by the real star of the show, a dog so cute you stop caring that he’s riddled with the little buggers. And it worked: there was a 12.3% year-on-year increase in Bob Martin household flea products sold in July 2016.

 

Ready meals: Chilled

80 Years of Torment

Rustlers

Brand: Rustlers

Launch date: November 2016

Agency: Droga5

A brilliant piece that makes a Rustlers burger look appealing. Taking us through 80 years of hell, our hero starts life as a chimney sweep, lives through the Great Depression, World Wars, binman strikes, yuppies and raves until old age strikes, leaving him thoroughly depressed. Then the ping of a microwave brings him back to life. And the final shot of the product looks delicious.

 

Ready Meals: Ambient

The Back To Work Warrior Packs Lunch Wisely

kabuto

Brand: Kabuto Noodles

Launch date: September 2016

Agency: In-house

Kabuto has always enjoyed blending a mix of surreal, tongue-in-cheek and serious tones with its marketing, and the strapline for this noodle ad – ‘prepared with the skill, dedication and discipline of a samurai warrior’ – is no exception. There are no jokes, no dialogue. But you’re left in no doubt that Kabuto takes its noodles very seriously. Which is reassuring.

 

Rice & Pasta: Rice

Ben’s Beginners

Uncle Bens

Brand: Uncle Ben’s

Launch date: August 2016

Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO

There is an enormous amount of rubbish talked by people when it comes to obesity. But Uncle Ben’s understands the importance of teaching children to cook from an early age to instil healthy habits for their futures. This latest iteration of its ‘Ben’s Beginners’ campaign does just that, teaching simple skills like stirring, chopping, peeling, pouring and measuring.

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Personal care: 
feminine hygiene 

Bodyform

Blood

Brand: Bodyform

Launch date: May 2016

Agency: AMV BBDO

Men might start to sweat at the mere mention of it, but women do bleed. Flesh is ripped from their knuckles as they scale rocky crevices, they bash kneecaps sprinting through forests, and give each other bloody noses, all visceral images a ballsy Bodyform put front and centre of its latest campaign. Building on the momentum of Sport England’s viral masterpiece This Girl Can, the brand packs the 90-second ad with uncompromising shots of sweaty bleeding women, from surfers to ballerinas and boxers. Backed up by the brand’s collaborative research into how women can keep playing sport during their period, the campaign packs a punch. A bloody one at that.

 

Sauces: Cooking

Love At First Taste

Knorr

Brand: Knorr

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: MullenLowe

From nowhere, watching people on a first date has become a smash hit TV show – and this campaign hops on to the bandwagon. But it does so very well, with the dates ranging from hopelessly awkward to tear-jerkingly romantic. It’s a charming campaign that extends into a multimedia effort by offering consumers a chance to discover their individual flavour profile by taking an online quiz.

 

Sauces: Condiments

Grow Your Own

Heinz

Brand: Heinz

Launch date: October 2016

Agency: We are Social

A great social media led campaign by Heinz, which posted thousands of tomato seeds around the country and launched a competition on the Heinz Facebook page that challenged the UK to grow their own tomatoes, with the winners turned into a personalised bottle of ketchup. A simple idea, brilliantly executed, it also encompassed print, in-store, TV and digital activations.

 

Sauces : Table Sauces

Grilltopia

Hellmans

Brand: Hellmann’s

Launch date: May 2016

Agency: Ogilvy

One of the most arresting images in the world is raw meat being grilled over a naked flame. So, unsurprisingly, Hellmann’s has stuffed its ‘Grilltopia’ campaign with big fat steaks doing just that. It also delves into the science of BBQ (even finding a ‘wood whisperer’ to conjure up flavour in the smoking chips). Then it cooks up an enormous ribeye. What’s not to love?

 

Meat Snacks

Snacker Hacker

mattesons

Brand: Mattessons

Launch date: October 2016

Agency: Cirkle (PR), Saatchi (advertising)

Mattessons Fridge Raiders has been targeting gamers for a while now, for the simple reason that research says 91% of teens play video games after school and two thirds of them eat while they play. This campaign hit more than nine million views on YouTube and garnered 99,012 comments, demonstrating strong engagement with the campaign and the brand.

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Soft Drinks: Bottled Water

Highland spring

Anywhere for Tennis

Brand: Highland Spring

Launch date: April 2016

Agency: Wildcard, Whitespace and Story

Anyone for Tennis became ‘Anywhere for Tennis’ in this £3m combination of a TV ad, a marketing/PR campaign which amplified Highland Spring’s long-term partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association and its grass roots initiative Tennis for Kids, and an on-pack promotion, which offered thousands of tennis sets as prizes. Fronted by Judy Murray, Andy’s mum and a former pro herself, the aim of the campaign was to “inspire British families to spend more time together and get active” after research by Highland Spring revealed we spend under an hour of face-to-face time together each day without a screen nearby, resulting in 68% of the public feeling technology has negatively affected family life.

 

Soft Drinks: Sports and Energy Drinks

Traffic Jam

red bull

Brand: Red Bull

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: Kastner & Partners

‘Red Bull Gives You Wings’ isn’t the newest slogan on the block but it’s endured to this day, simply because it’s perfect. In this ad, a man stuck in a traffic jam chugs a can of Red Bull, sprouts wings, and floats up out of the traffic and into the sky. Ignore the fact that the last thing anyone should do in a traffic jam is neck a load of caffeine – this ad works anyway.

 

Soft Drinks: Carbonates

Thrive On

purdeys

Brand: Purdey’s

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: Shine North and Green Door

‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ sounds like a strange question to pose to an adult, but the point of this campaign, featuring British Hollywood star Idris Elba, is that people never stop growing. And (with the aid of a bottle of botanical drink Purdey’s) they can achieve whatever they set out to do. This is a thoughtful and well-made campaign.

 

Soft Drinks: Juice 
Drinks & Smoothies

Little Glass ‘Size’

Tropicana

Brand: Tropicana

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: AMV BBDO

Peep Show star David Mitchell provides the quirky voiceover for this campaign, which does an unusual thing for an fmcg product by insisting that we don’t need to consume a lot of it to enjoy the benefits. It stars a cute little animated glass who loves it when 150ml of Tropicana is poured into it – because it contains vitamin C, B9, and one-and-a-half oranges.

 

Soup: Ambient

The Love Of Soup

heinz

Brand: Heinz

Launch date: October 2016

Agency: BBH

Soup is right up there with the greatest of comfort foods and, with the cold winter nights drawing in, this is a perfect ad. Featuring lots of everyday people leaning in for what looks like a kiss, it turns out they are about to sip soup from a spoon instead. Then we see them polishing off their various bowls before a loving close-up of the daddy of all canned soups, Heinz Cream of Tomato.

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Soft Drinks: 
Squashes & Cordials 

Ribena

Colouring Café

Brand: Ribena

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: Brass

Thanks to 2016, nothing should surprise any of us any more. Even so, the rise of adult colouring in books is a mystery. Anyway, it’s definitely now a thing. And agency Brass launched a pop-up colouring café in Convent Garden this summer and crammed it full of adults (and a whole load of bloggers) who all do colouring in for fun. They were all given a single tile to colour in, which they did, trying not to go over the lines (while drinking Ribena from jam jars, obviously). The tiles were then joined to create a wall of colour. The ad is full of colour, laughter, humour, quirkiness and an admittedly fabulous display of colouring in. ‘You Can’t Get Any More Ribenary’ is the strapline.

 

Food-to-go campaign

Never a Dull Cup

Costa

Brand: Costa

Launch date: October 2016

Agency: 101

No one puts up with rubbish coffee anymore. Costa, as the biggest coffee operator in the UK, knows this better than anyone. So it wants us all to know its baristas are the best in the business – magnificent in fact! This ad puts a refreshing spin on staff training sessions, as coffee beans are roasted with flamethrowers – and laptops containing PowerPoint presentations are smashed to pieces.

 

Convenience campaign

Summer of Sport

Spar

Brand: Spar

Launch date: June 2016

Agency: i-movo

This 19-week push built on the success of the previous three. Customers uploaded details of their Spar receipts online to win prizes (while Spar analysed the resulting data, the first time it was able to do so across the entire estate). The results showed almost 200,000 shoppers took part, and average basket spend jumped by 38% thanks to the promo, generating £1.5m of incremental sales.

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Christmas campaign 

marks and spencer

Christmas with love from Mrs Claus

Brand: Marks & Spencer

Launch date: November 2016

Agency: RKCR/Y&R

If Mrs Claus ran Christmas she’d do things a little differently. Gone would be the sleigh, reindeer and ill-fitting red suit, in their place a chopper fit for James Bond and tailored jacket straight off the catwalk. The secret glamorous life of Mrs Claus was told by M&S this year as it looked to connect emotionally with its consumers for Christmas. And it worked. Beautifully shot, the tale of little Jake, his long suffering sister and a pair of glittery red shoes was festive without too much syrupy sweetness, and sprinkled with just the right amount of humour. A truly memorable last spot for agency RKCR/Y&Y after it was unceremoniously dropped by the brand in August.

 

Tobacco

Wear the Crown

chersterfield

Brand: Chesterfield

Launch date: March 2016

Agency: Mercieca

Cigarettes are having a tough time at the moment, the poor things. To fight back, Chesterfield launched a B2B campaign to highlight its price point – Chesterfield is the cheapest on the gantry at £5.99 for a pack of 20 –and profit opportunities. The campaign doubled Chesterfield’s market share, up from 2.1% to 4% on the previous year, and a second phase is planned for 2017.

 

Supermarket campaign

Team GB

Team GB

Retailer: Aldi

Launch date: January 2016

Agency: McCann and Weber Shandwick

The first UK supermarket to sponsor Team GB, Aldi plastered the Union flag everywhere it could. But it also used the deal to promote its fresh food. Sales rocketed by 20%, as did perceptions of Aldi as a fresh retailer, and it was unique among traditional Olympic sponsors for being praised by the Children’s Food Campaign for promoting healthy food.

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