My Favorite Ads of 2009
As 2009 draws to a close, I wanted to list a few of my favorite ad campaigns. These ads stand out to me for a number of reasons. In no particular order:
Ford: One More Reason
This is a well done campaign and a bright spot in what has been a terrible year for American auto manufacturers. Traditionally, auto ads focused on features and value: “With stow and go seating, dual differentials, and the best towing capacity in its class, the Super Mobile is now a superior value with 3.8% financing for 48 months.” Some have deviated with a focus on other factors like “sportiness,” but few have ventured into the territory of real people who actually drive real cars. Instead, most auto ads are a never ending parade of either feature lists or people driving 100 mph on roads that you aren’t allowed to use in real life.
Ford’s new campaign breaks that mold with a whole series of 15 second ads featuring real individuals talking about the things they care about with their cars. The people in the ads were told they were participating in a focus group, and only after participating were they asked if the video could be used in the ads. The results show: the ads are honest and highlight features in a way that matters to people on a personal level.
HTC: You
Cellular phone maker HTC has a bit of a quandary. Outside of the US they’re well known, but inside the US they’re relatively unknown. Which isn’t to say they don’t do a lot of business in the US – it’s just that most of their phones are rebranded and sold by other companies.
HTC has another problem: Apple and Motorola. Apple is obvious – because of the iPhone. But Motorola has been winning accolade after accolade for the Droid, a smartphone powered by Google’s Android operating system. But guess who made the first Android phone? HTC, except it was rebranded as the T-Mobile G1 (see above).
HTC wants to start selling phones and needs to be taken seriously as a smartphone manufacturer, but to do that they need to be taken seriously as a brand. It would be all too tempting to produce an ad that dives right into feature comparisons (why the Droid doesn’t match the power of the HTC Passion), but first they need all those basic things a consumer brand needs: trust, likability, awareness, etc. The You campaign works because it solves the branding part of a broader strategic problem with a very enjoyable and memorable ad.
Levi’s: Go Forth
I like these ads because they’re just so beautiful and well made. The Walt Whitman poetry coupled with the brilliant camera work captures my attention every time the ad comes on.
But do they sell jeans? No idea. Don’t care.
Verizon: There’s a Map for That
While Apple did well with the iPhone this year, AT&T did not do so well with their network. Enter Verizon with a well timed and well made ad campaign that highlights the sad differences between their nationwide network and AT&T’s lousy 3G network.
While it’s not a groundbreaking campaign, the ads worked so well that AT&T tried to sue Verizon for all kinds of random things just to make them stop. It didn’t work, so instead AT&T launched their own campaign comparing download rates between the two networks. I guess we’ll have to see which one works better, assuming a CDMA iPhone ever appears.
