The Unruly Blog

UK retailer’s tale of community spirit and seasonal goodwill is most moving of this year’s festive ads; Ads from Sainsbury’s, Barbour, ASDA and Dogs Trust also make top 5 Very’s ”Get More Out Of Giving” is the most emotionally-engaging Christmas ad of 2019. That’s according to our new research, where we’ve ranked the festive campaigns most likely to move viewers. The animated ad, which tells the story of a community coming together to give Sidney, a lonely man, a Christmas he’ll never forget, finished top of our Christmas tree—just ahead of John Lewis and Waitrose’s first-ever joint campaign, “Excitable Edgar”, in second spot. In joint third was Sainsbury’s epic tale, “Nick The Sweep”, and Barbour’s animated “Thanks Mrs C”. A tear-jerking campaign from The Dogs Trust and ASDA’s

Our new research finds festive campaigns are much more moving than other ads We all know that Christmas is an emotional time of the year. But it’s not just family overtime, schmaltzy movies and fights over the Christmas Day washing-up that make the Yuletide period such an emotional rollercoaster.  Festive ads also play their part in making the Christmas holidays a particularly emotional time for a lot of people around the world.  According to our new research, Christmas ads are much more likely to make people smile, feel nostalgic or reach for the tissues to wipe away the tears. Our new study, which analysed ads shown in the UK from the last five years, looked into the effect Christmas ads have on viewers and how they compare with

Dig out that festive jumper, dust off the light-up reindeer and get sharpening the Turkey knives, the Christmas ads have arrived! November marks the beginning of the Christmas season in Adland, and what a start to the month it’s been! Like snowflakes, once one falls, they all begin to arrive in a flurry. While the John Lewis ad hasn’t made an appearance just yet, there’s plenty to keep us entertained so far. In this week’s top 10, you’ll see the return of the Queen of Christmas herself, and the resurrection of the ‘Book of Dreams’. Also, keep an eye out for the return of everyone’s favourite animated carrot and a new animation from The Snowman’s Raymond Briggs. We’re running all these ads, as well as the new one

London’s publisher players were out in force last week at this year’s Association For Online Publishers (AOP) Digital Summit, and while industry leaders shared thoughts about the transformation of our trade, it all sounded very familiar. Building authenticity in a distrusting world The AOP Digital Summit is an annual event, held in London, which brings together the digital publishing industry to share the latest ideas and solutions that will drive profitability for digital publishers This year, in his opening speech on the ‘The Post Truth Business’, researcher and author Sean Pilot de Chenecy spoke of the challenges brands face when it comes to building trust in a post-truth world. He said: “In an era of scandal, fake news and disillusionment, marketers need to work harder and smarter than

Campaign from 2013 tops our list of UK retailer’s best festive ads; ranking shows ads are becoming less appealing, with most recent campaigns at the bottom of the chart “Bear And The Hare” is the most effective John Lewis Christmas ad of all time. That’s according to our new research, which ahead of the launch of the retailer’s highly-anticipated festive campaign this month, ranks the best John Lewis Xmas campaigns ever. Our Christmas Ads Chart was ranked using our proprietary metric EQ Score — a composite score based on the intensity of emotions viewers felt while watching, plus a campaign’s ability to drive brand metrics such as brand favorability and purchase intent.  The animated 2013 campaign, which features a hare buying her bear friend an alarm clock so

An ad by former mobile phone retailer Phones4u featuring a wraith-like little girl is the scariest ad of all time, according to our new research. In the build-up to Halloween, we’ve used our content testing tool, UnrulyEQ to rank the ads which generated the most intense feelings of fear. Phones4u’s “Little Girl”, in which a woman walking back to her car is haunted by an apparition of a girl offering her a good deal on her phone, had the biggest fear factor after leaving almost a quarter of viewers (23%) quivering behind their fingers while watching.  The commercial—which attracted 600 complaints from upset viewers, the highest of any UK campaign in 2011, when it was first broadcast on British TV—is 11X scarier and 7X more shocking than the

Over the past few weeks, the Unruly APAC team has been busy jetting around Australia and New Zealand for the Modern Marketing Summit (MMS). During the series of programmatic summits Down Under, the team met up with clients, hosted panels and presented Unruly’s programmatic solutions and insights to the country’s leading brands, advertisers and publishers. But for those who couldn’t make it to any of the events, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Here’s a round-up from Sinéad Canny, Unruly’s APAC Marketing & Communications Lead: While Unruly’s MMS 2019 topic of discussion was ‘Sound Off Is The New Black’, the sound was most certainly on as we took to the stage in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. We kicked off MMS in Melbourne, where our AUNZ MD Ricky Chanana

This Sunday marks an important milestone in the history of online advertising. That’s because 25 years ago this weekend, the first-ever banner ad was launched. It’s a format that certainly divides opinion, but as it enters its 26th year, its impact on digital advertising since first appearing as a boxy, clickable ad at the top of the pages of HotWired.com is without question. But what was it like to be there? Well, Unruly’s CEO Norm Johnston, who worked for the agency who created the first banner 25 years ago, looks back at the impact it had, and the monumental journey the ad industry has been on ever since. Q. Back in 1994, the first banner ad was set upon the world, marking the start of a whole new