Creative Works: 10 of the best ads of the week from BT to Branston Pickle
At The Drum, we believe great work deserves recognition and that talented creatives should get their share of reverence for the hard work they put in. So each week we will update our hall of fame, celebrating the 10 best ads from our Creative Works section. Welcome, and don’t forget to vote for your favorite!
Beavertown Brewery’s first awareness campaign ‘Peace, Pints and Cans’
In partnership with Adobe Stock, The Drum’s Creative Works is a handpicked selection of our favorite work from around the globe, covering digital, OOH, print, TV and radio. Each week, The Drum selects the 10 best ads from the section. To submit work, please fill out this online form.
This last week was a big one for sports. As we build up to the Tokyo Olympics, the National Lottery operator Camelot launched a humorous ad that plays on the fact that funds from sales go directly towards supporting elite athletes, including Olympic competitors.
Meanwhile, several brands including ITV and BT hit back at the racism directed at England’s football team following their defeat in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
And that’s just for starters. Scroll down to see the best work from our Creative Works section. And don’t forget to vote!
National Lottery: You Play Your Part by Adam&EveDDB
The National Lottery operator Camelot has launched a humorous ad that plays on the fact that funds from sales go directly towards supporting elite athletes, including Olympic competitors.
The ad shows a series of playful situations in which the public are helping athletes train, including taekwondo athlete Lutalo Muhammad smashing through a wedding photograph donated by a, presumably, recently divorced woman.
The ad will run across TV, radio, digital and high-impact OOH, while many National Lottery assets will now have the Team GB and ParalympicsGB branding added.
Vote for the work here.
DHL: Keep Up With the Clicks by 180 Amsterdam
DHL’s ode to e-commerce is voiced by actor Tom Hollander, and the captivating global film captures how etailers and DHL couriers ‘kept up with the clicks’ during the pandemic.
If there’s been one savior of the global pandemic, it’s been e-commerce. Indeed, during the Covid-stricken year of 2020, the world of e-commerce saw 10 years of growth in just three months, with people totally dependent on online shopping.
The global campaign, created by 180 Amsterdam, captures the simplicity and flexibility the courier service offers to online customers.
Vote for the work here.
Branston Pickle: #BransonNotBranston by Wonderhood Studios
Promoting simpler pleasures in life, the condiment brand has brought Branson back down to Earth with a thud in four excoriating paragraphs.
Tearing chunks out of its near-namesake on Twitter, the brand wrote: “For years now every time a certain ginger billionaire does something bonkers we, an innocent pickle, bear the brunt of the abuse online.
“There’s been the private island, the government bail outs and don’t even get us started on the naked windsurfing.
“And now he’s off to space.
“We don’t want to go to space. We want to stay here on earth, where the sandwiches are.”
The iconic British brand is best known for its ‘Bring out the Branston’ tagline as an indispensable partner to any cheese sandwich worth its crust.
Branson’s trip to space culminates a difficult journey for Virgin Galactic following the death of a pilot during a test flight.
Vote for the work here.
BT: #SayNoToRacism by Saatchi & Saatchi
BT has reacted to the spike in online racial abuse hurled against England football players as part of its ‘Hope United’ campaign.
Against the tagline #SayNoToRacism, the video captures the spike in online hate using an audio frequency graph. Working on two levels, the increased frequency stands in for the England flag.
“Three players have given everything to play for their country. And what were they given in return last night? A spike in racist online abuse. #SayNoToRacism BT and EE, proud partners of @England,” reads the social post, created by Saatchi & Saatchi.
Vote for the work here.
We Are England by The Wild
‘We are England’ is a campaign for the Euro 2020 tournament that aims to celebrate the rich diversity of England supporters who make this country what it is today.
Two surveys, each of 2,000 people, carried out by YouGov and Word On The Curb, have established a disconnect between how the population at large, ethnic minority groups and different generations perceive their support of the England football team. This landmark finding is at odds with the pride felt by those from minority backgrounds in wearing the England shirt.
When asked whether or not one might wear the England shirt in public, 59% of the Curbsights panel likewise said they would not. The YouGov poll of the nation at large was fairly evenly split in this regard (except for gen Z, who overwhelmingly rejected its wearing by a margin of 59% to 41%).
To bridge this disconnect, The Wild has produced custom England shirts that have been redesigned to feel more representative of their owner’s diverse backgrounds.
Vote for the work here.
Adidas: Liquid Billboard by Havas Middle East
Adidas wants more women to embrace the waters, regardless of their shape, ability or religion, and benefit from the mental and physical benefits that come with it. The sports brand first invited women to swim back in June when it brought out ‘Beyond the Surface’ – a film that featured a poem from a spoken word poet and sports inclusivity activist Asma Albadawi.
To get more women to test the waters, it erected a liquid billboard in Dubai. Billed as a ‘first-of-its-kind’ stunt, the 5-meter-high swimming pool held 11,500 gallons of water (163 bathtubs). Ladies who visited Dubai’s popular beach were invited to take a leap of faith and dive ‘beyond the surface’.
Vote for the work here.
Hinge: Designed to be Deleted
Hinge has launched its latest international ‘Designed to be Deleted’ ad campaign.
The campaign celebrates the ultimate moment all dating apps users long for – finally deleting their profile. The four spot ads will be set in motion across a range of media platforms including television, video on demand, streaming, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Hinge wants to be the most effective dating app for singles looking for meaningful connections and is currently setting up a date every two seconds. The new spots showcase the app’s unique ability to get its users off the app and out on great dates that lead to a relationship.
Vote for the work here.
ITV: Together we will never lose. ITV Stand with England. by Uncommon Creative Studio
ITV has made a stand against racist abuse directed against Team England players in the wake of their defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
The print message of support created by Uncommon Creative Studio leads with an image of players taking the knee in a show of solidarity against racism, alongside the words ‘Together we will never lose. ITV stand with England’.
Pushing the powerful message across social media as well as a press ad in national newspapers, the show of support is designed to unify the nation at a time of diverging views on the best way to highlight racial inequality and discrimination.
Vote for the work here.
Beavertown Brewery: Peace, Pints and Cans
Beavertown Brewery has launched its first above-the-line campaign. For the first time ever, this summer will see the brand go live across buses, national roadsides and the London Underground. The campaign will bring Beavertown’s aliens to life, staging a friendly invasion and bringing a peace offering of Beavertown’s much-loved Neck Oil beer.
Illustrated by Beavertown’s in-house creative director Nick Dwyer, the interactive video will also show the aliens trying to fix their spacecraft while boulders of rocks fly towards the viewer around them.
From July 26, the full campaign will go live across bus sides, road sides, the London Underground and in stores and pubs, backed by social media executions. The aliens will come to life throughout as they make their peace offerings to the nation: Neck Oil beer that can be bought on draft and in cans.
Vote for the work here.
Irn-Bru: The Good, The Bad and The Orangey by The Leith Agency
Following hot on the heels of their Tournament Virgins Euros campaign, Irn-Bru returns to our screens with a new campaign celebrating that decades have passed, but still the iconic soft drink is described as ‘indescribable’.
Created by Leith, the TVC aired from Tuesday July 13 on STV, ITV and Channel 4 across Scotland and the North of England. Set in a wild west saloon, a bar brawl between heated Bru fans erupts – each patron declaring their flavor is the definitive Irn-Bru taste in a bout of fisticuffs. One lone cowboy enters the mayhem and restores order by proposing that everyone agrees “it tastes magic”, and finally restores the peace.
Shot remotely on a Western film set in Romania during the pandemic, the spot was produced by Stink Films with Ben Whitehouse directing.
Vote for the work here.
That’s it for this week’s round-up of the 10 best ads from The Drum’s Creative Works. Remember to email nominations to imogen.watson@thedrum.com and to vote for your favorite ad.