Which Brands Made The Best Feelgood Ads Of The Year?
Can an advert really make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? You know the sort: clips which make you smile, bring the odd tear to the eye, make you feel inspired or restore your faith in humanity. We certainly think so – and to prove it, we have come up with the 10 best examples from 2012.
In fact, the only problem we had was chopping the list down to just 10. That’s because 2012, of all the years, is the one that has seen these commercials dominate the Unruly Viral Video Chart. And with good reason.
Recent research from the Ehrenberg Institute of Marketing Science, based at the University of South Australia, has found that the most successful video ads are those which elicit the strongest positive emotional responses.
According to Unruly’s research in its Social Video Lab, these emotions range from ‘Amusement’, ‘Exhilaration’, ‘Warmth’ and ‘Inspiration’. Feelgood ads particularly focus on the ‘Warmth’ and ‘Inspiration’ triggers.
So brands can concentrate on rousing these emotions in their video content, and use them to connect with the audience. An emotional connection will encourage viewers to share the clip online and with friends.
But what made 2012 so special? Well, thanks to events such as the London Olympics/Paralympics and Felix Baumgartner’s space jump for Red Bull, this was the year that saw many cast aside their cynicism and gather around the online global water cooler. This was the year that many celebrated human achievement rather than mocking it.
Certainly, London 2012 was at the heart of it, providing brands with an incredible opportunity to use these triggers to bolster the impact of their big buck sponsorship deals. Taking the gold medal was P&G, who did an incredible job with its ‘Thank you Mom’ campaign, especially its ‘Best Job’ commercial, which has racked up almost 2.5 million shares to date. The brand wholly deserves our No. 1 spot in this chart. Channel 4 also did exceptionally well with its inspirational ad for the Paralympics.
Experiential ads have become a popular advertising technique in recent years. Flash mobs have always been a frequent visitor to the Unruly Viral Video Chart chart, thanks toT-Mobile’s Life’s For Sharing series and Alphabet Photography‘s uber-successful Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, which, although 2 years old, still sits at no. 7 in Unruly’s All Time Global Ads Chart.
Pulling off a successful experiential ad can be a hard nut to crack. But this year,Kenco and Ultimat Vodka have well and truly smashed that nut, and have made their way on to Unruly’s Top 10 Feelgood Chart.
But, which other brands have made us feel good this year at Unruly? There are so many to choose from, but here are our top picks…
10. Kenco: Kenneth The Talking Vending Machine
9. Chipotle: Back to the Start
8. Ultimat Vodka: Stop Working. Start Drinking
7. Volkswagen: It’s Not The Miles, It’s How You Live Them
6. Google: Coffee
5. Red Bull: Stratos – Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall
4. Channel 4: Meet the Superhumans
3. Nike: Make It Count
2. Coca-Cola: Security Cameras
1. P&G: Best Job
