Nielsen: The 10 most-liked TV ads of 2011
A po-faced old lady sitting alone at her dining table declaring, ‘I don’t like tea – I like gin’, has held off competition from meerkats, Gary Lineker and a child dressed as Darth Vader to become the UK’s most-liked TV ad of 2011.
The deadpan ad for supermarket Aldi won out just ahead of creative TV spots for CompareTheMarket, VW Passat, John Lewis and Walkers Crisps, in the UK’s ongoing analysis of how the viewing public engages with TV ads.
The 2011 most-liked ads of the year in the UK
- Aldi Supermarket – I buy this tea for my husband
- CompareTheMarket – Sarah Roberts – Congrats from village of Meerkovo
- Volkswagen Passat – Little Boy dressed as Darth Vader
- John Lewis – For gifts you can’t wait to give
- Walkers Crisps – 4 comedians, 4 new flavours
- Foster’s Beer – Warren from Halifax – Girlfriend’s new haircut
- Skittles Candy – Everything Tim touches turns to Skittles
- Boots Pharmacies – Here come the girls – Christmas Mission Impossible
- Dreamies Cat Treats – Cat bursts through wall
- PG Tips – Put the kettle on
The most-liked ad of the year is compiled by Nielsen using almost two million survey results from viewers watching evening TV in the UK. Scores for likeability and recall were tracked every day for 2011’s 4000 new ads, shortly after each was broadcast.
Comparing the 2011 list of most-liked ads with 2010’s, there have been noticeable developments in tone and content, according to Nielsen. Four of last year’s top 10 ads featured celebrities – including Lewis Hamilton, Dannii Minogue, Mr T and Lionel Messi – compared to only two this year – Walkers (Lineker) and PG Tips (Johnny Vegas).
Darren Moore, vice president for advertiser solutions at Nielsen, said: “This is the year that relatable characters – people like you and me – replaced celebrities in the list of most-liked ads. Sarah Roberts in the CompareTheMarket ad, Warren from Halifax in the Foster’s ad, and everyday people in the Aldi ads, are now the central characters in the TV ads we love the most.
“Even the meerkats have proved to be more resilient than celebrities this year. Having starred in last year’s number one liked ad, they’ve maintained a top-two place this year – proof that by regularly changing the narrative of their ads, brands can keep existing characters fresh and popular.
“The 2011 list also suggests that children (VW and John Lewis) and animals (CompareTheMarket, PG Tips, Dreamies) are triggering a more positive response for advertisers.
“Humour, too, is a big theme in this year’s list. Nine of the top 10 most-liked ads are funny or comedic in tone. Only the John Lewis ad, which instead uses pathos and an emotive pull, takes a different route to engage viewers.”
The winning ad from Aldi was one of a series of creative spots from the supermarket, which all use subversive humour and relatable characters. From this series, the ‘gin’ ad was the most liked.
The likeability index is a measure of the number of TV viewers who like an ad they saw, and whose brand they can remember, during the normal course of their TV viewing.