Ad Pit Review of the Year

Best Ad of 2011

Runners up:
Yeo Valley  - Boyband - Nicely shot, well placed ads that have made people take notice of the brand.

Canal+ - Bear director - Great work from a campaign that keeps on delivering.

Winner:
John Lewis Xmas - A xmas ad is the best ad of the year, remarkable. This ad takes everything the brand is good ad, a huge chunk of audience understanding and combines it with some excellent production and creative work. Truly brilliant.


Worst Ad of 2011

Runners Up:
Confused.com - Dear god this is bad on every level.

Colmans - Moo - I can see how it might have sounded like a funny idea. In execution though it is just cringeworthy.

'Winner':
Go Compare - What else would you expect? Another year of advertising that makes the lowest common denominator look like it's ten miles upwards. The only bright spot was the 'silent movie' ad which showed by being the most recalled ad in the series that the song is its' weakest point.


Most Improved Brand

Dreams - A sweet ad that made this DFSesque retailer seem a little bit John Lewis for a while. The hard sell returned, but the whole campaign was a good step forward.


Biggest Use of Budget to Hide Apparent Lack of Idea:

Muller - This ad gets away with much by being likable and engaging to its target audience, but there is still no escaping the fact that the whole ad appears to be a gigantic process of chucking budget at a script without there being much thought behind it. It's not pure entertainment, and it's not really an ad... If there is a good idea somewhere in there, Muller really need to focus on it next time instead of producing the advertising equivalent of the Expendables.


Best New Idea to Tackle Old Problem:

NZ Drink Driving - Legend - A smart turnaround of the old drink driving issue. A witty ad that actually manages to talk to young adults without patronising or lecturing them. Great work.