Feature: Advertisers And Viewers Differ On All Time Best Ads
The end of a century which saw the birth of mass- and multi- media has even made the advertising industry nostalgic. As a result, the last six months has seen the compilation of several “best ever ad” lists. Saturday night’s “Top 100 TV commercials of all time” put together and aired by Channel Four with The Sunday Times, was distinctive in that it was voted for by viewers, rather than advertising executives. The results, when compared with the admen’s choices, showed that what pleases the professionals can’t always do the same for the target audience.
Some television adverts did prove popular with makers and viewers. The Britvic Tango “Orange Man” appeared in the British Television Advertising Awards’ (BPAA) 25th anniversary top 16, which were chosen from gold winners of the past 25 years in March this year. The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and Campaign magazine placed the same ad at No.4 in its “Hall of Fame” of TV, radio, print and poster adverts last December, while Channel Four viewers voted it as No.3 in their Top 100 TV ads. The ad was banned by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) after it was said to cause a craze for copycat violent behaviour in school playgrounds.
The Levi Strauss advert which brought Nick Kamen briefly to fame also gained approval across the board. Sales of the jeans and also the boxer shorts Kamen stripped to reveal were said to have gone up as a result of “Launderette”, while the Marvin Gaye soundtrack Heard it through the Grapevine became the first of many songs to enjoy chart success after featuring in a Levi ad. The IPA Hall of Fame ranked it at No.6, as did Channel Four viewers and it made it into the BTAA 16.
The Hamlet cigars “Photobooth” advert and Carling Black Label “Dambusters” also gained approval from all sides but while Courage Best’s “Gertcha” from 1979, which showed East End pub drinkers miming to a Chas and Dave Song, impressed the advertising professionals enough that it was on the BTAA list and at No.14 in the IPA Hall of Fame, it only ranked at No.85 in the affections of viewers. The Guardian’s 1986 “Points of View” advert featuring a skinhead pushing an elderly man out of the way of falling bricks was again in the BTAA list and placed at No.18 by the IPA, but only reached No.71 in the viewers’ vote.
The other side of the coin was that while viewers ranked the Nick Park animated “Heat Electric” adverts for the Electricity Association in 1992 at No.4 and the Boddington’s 1997 “Ice Cream Van” featuring Melanie Sykes at No.5, the IPA did not include either in the top 20 of the Hall of Fame, nor did they appear on the BTAA list. Perhaps the largest discrepancy was that the advert ranked at No.21 by viewers – Ferrero Rocher’s “Ambassador’s Reception”- was relegated to the IPA’s “Hall of Shame”.
Viewers and advertisers seemed to be in more or less in harmony when it came to the best. The viewer’s favourite – last year’s Guinness “Surfers”, which received critical acclaim in both trade and national press, was included on the BTAA list, while No.2 for viewers, the Smash Martians from the mid-70s, were No.1 in the IPA Hall of Fame.
Obviously the fact that it was only Channel Four viewers and Sunday Times readers voting means that the “Top 100” does not reflect the tastes of all commercial television viewers. However, the most recent figures show that for programming between 8 and 11pm, Channel Four attracts 4.2% or almost 1 million precious ABC1 viewers per month and also finds its largest audience overall among 25-34 year olds – facts that could have advertising chiefs looking at just how the Shake ‘n’ Vac advert featuring ‘that song’ became the nation’s 18th favourite TV ad of all time.
IPA: 020 7235 7020 Channel Four: 020 7396 4444