The audio industry’s favourite audio ads
Audiotrack – the copy distribution system made for commercial audio – turns 10 this year. As part of the celebrations, The Media Leader teamed up with our parent company Adwanted UK’s Audio team to put a spotlight on creative audio.
We asked industry experts what their favourite and most memorable audio campaigns from the last ten years are.
Here is a roundup of some of the best according to the industry.
Contributors include:
- Caroline Manning, chief design officer at Initiative
- Matt Batchelor, group commercial director at Bauer Media Advertising
- Justin Sanders, creative and production director at Global
- Ben Knowles, head of audio at Adwanted UK
- Silke Zetzsche, VP global commercial partnerships at AudioStack
- David Wilding, EVP strategy at WPP Media
- Matt Hopper, founder and CEO at Trisonic
- Oliver Plume, communications specialist at Adwanted UK
- Nick Angell, freelance audio production director at Nick Angell Productions and former head of Angell Sound Studios
British Airways Holidays “Mum’s Work Phone” (2026)
Caroline Manning, Initiative: “Audio is at its best when it exploits the absolute intimacy of the medium. Mum’s Work Phone for British Airways Holidays did this flawlessly by ditching standard commercial formats for something much more disruptive that couldn’t live in any other channel. It plays out entirely as a slightly glitchy, painfully relatable voicemail left by a child begging their mother to put away her work phone on holiday.
As planners, we talk a lot about ‘cutting through,’ but this ad does it through restraint rather than noise. It is funny because the child’s performance is so warm and witty, but it’s disruptive because it holds up a mirror to today’s connectedness and therefore inability to switch off. It completely commands your attention by making you feel like you’ve accidentally intercepted someone else’s private conversation. Brilliant, human media execution that only works this way in audio. Oh and as a mum, its reminded me to put the phone away this summer!
Yorkshire Tea “The Breakfast Brew” (2017)
Matt Batchelor, Bauer Media Advertising: “I joined the radio industry in late 2016 so it’s fitting that I’ve chosen an example from those early years. Over the last decade Yorkshire Tea has walked with the swagger of a brand that knows exactly what it’s doing.
“Putting national treasures like Sir Michael Parkinson on telly from March 2017, followed by Sean Bean and Sarah Lancashire to bang on about doing things “proper” shouldn’t work as a growth strategy for tea bags, but it has.
“The standout in radio creative craft is “Breakfast Brew”, a Radiocentre Aerial Award winner that didn’t bother adapting the Yorkshire celebrity led TV creative. Instead, Lucky Generals commissioned Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan to write a poem for the radio ad, timed to land at breakfast, ending on the simple sign off: “Yorkshire Tea Breakfast Brew – proper powerful.” It’s a lovely bit of dayparting, waking up to a poem about your morning cuppa, at the exact moment you’re enjoying one. Proper simple but hugely effective.
“The brand understood that with radio you don’t need flat caps and a Yorkshire dale in shot to make their point. It’s theatre of the mind at its most economical, three seconds of the script and you’re transported to God’s Own Country.
“What elevates this campaign beyond a nice regional in-joke is the consistency the brand has shown over the decade I’ve been in the radio industry. This is the kind of patient brand building radio delivers and today Yorkshire Tea is Britain’s number one brew. Proper tea, proper radio, proper effective.”
Dexcom’s “No Needles – Ryan & Suzie” (2018)
Justin Sanders, Global: “Great ads play on emotions, and emotions build memory, which is why humour is such a fantastic way to engage an audience. When you talk about great radio ads, you’ll struggle to hear a better one than Dexcom’s “No Needles – Ryan & Suzie”. An ad for diabetes glucose monitoring from the creative team at McCann Birmingham, it deservedly won Gold at Cannes back in 2018.
“This ad really taps into the strengths of audio, using cultural relevance (of the time) and humour in a category that often likes to play it safe. It delivers a beautifully simple idea with absolute confidence. The writing is razor-sharp, the voice performance is perfect, and before you know it, the full 60 seconds have flown by. No mean feat in a medium where a minute can sometimes feel like an age.
“Most importantly, it has something to say and says it in a way only audio can. The world really is “full of pricks”, and it takes a brave brand to embrace a line like that.
“Great ads aren’t just advertising; they are entertainment. They earn our attention rather than demand it. Years later, this is still one of those rare pieces of work that sticks in the mind, raises a smile, and reminds us just how powerful great audio can be.”
Hiscox Business Insurance – ‘The Most Disastrous Campaign Ever’ (2023)
Ben Knowles, Adwanted UK: “My favourite AudioTrack adverts are the audio ads created by Uncommon Creative Studio for Hiscox Business Insurance as part of their “The Most Disastrous Campaign Ever” campaign. Originally launched in 2023, these ads are still running today, which is a testament to both the strength of the idea and its effectiveness.
“With audio often consumed passively, an advert has only a few seconds to earn attention. Each of these executions achieves that in a different way. The first opens in Spanish before unexpectedly switching to English, immediately making the listener stop and focus. The second deliberately uses poor sound quality, prompting listeners to question whether there is a problem with their device and drawing them into the message. The third uses a child-like voice while discussing allegations of work being “amateurish and child-like”, perfectly aligning the execution with the script.
“For me, they’re a great example of how, when creative and brand message are intrinsically linked, audio advertising can deliver exceptional attention, recall and long-term effectiveness.”
Virgin Atlantic Dynamic Audio Campaign (2018)
Silke Zetzsche, AudioStack: “One of the most influential audio advertising campaigns of the last decade was Virgin Atlantic’s 2018 personalised digital audio campaign, executed by PHD UK in partnership with adam&eveDDB. It was one of the first campaigns to demonstrate how data could transform audio from a one-size-fits-all medium into a highly personalised, moment-aware experience.
“By combining real-time contextual signals such as the listener’s location, local weather and time of day, the campaign dynamically generated thousands of relevant creative variations, each tailored to the individual listener. Rather than simply inserting data into an advert, the campaign made context the creative idea itself, immediately capturing attention by referencing the listener’s surroundings before inviting them to imagine travelling to a Virgin Atlantic destination.
“At a time when personalised creative was still in its infancy, the campaign demonstrated that audio could be as intelligent and dynamic as display or video advertising. It generated significant social conversation as listeners shared how surprising and memorable the experience was, helping Virgin Atlantic cut through a competitive travel market during peak booking season. More importantly, it established a blueprint for modern dynamic audio advertising, proving that delivering the right message, to the right listener, at the right moment increases relevance, memorability and commercial effectiveness.”
Jet2 – ‘Are you ready for this?’ (2026)
David Wilding, WPP: “When was the last time heard Jesse Glynne sing “Darling, hold my hand” and didn’t immediately think (or indeed say or shout aloud) “Nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday. And right now you can save £50 per person. That’s £200 off for a family for four”.
“But was a TikTok thing wasn’t it? Well yes and no. Last summer’s brilliant viral sensation played out on TikTok but the spade work was done by the power of audio.
“Because more than anything, Nothing Beats a Jet2 holiday is a triumph for the repetitive strength of audio.
“Jet2 have been soundtracking their audio and TV ads with Jesse Glynne’s song since 2015. That’s 11 years of what John Bartle from BBH called “imaginative repetition”. Different holidays, different locations, different offers but same iconic music and voiceover.
“As with many great audio ads, you hear a tiny bit and your brain fills in the rest.”
Trainline – ‘Ticket Machine Man’ (2019)
Matt Hopper, Trisonic: “Commissioned by Trainline to promote mobile ticketing, this ad is a favourite of mine for several reasons.
“For me, the best audio ads are those that make the listener wonder what the hell is going on, draw you in, bring you onside, and then hit you with the message. This succeeds on all fronts, with the added bonus of humour and context. The target market here is regular rail travellers running the gamut of station ticket machines, and our hero has patently had enough. It speaks to its target because it rehearses us through the frustrations of paper ticketing, and as a 40-second execution, there’s decent room for some lovely touches (the coughing man, the baby).
“AI creative optimisation will tell you that the brand should be mentioned early in an ad. In this case, Trainline isn’t mentioned until 30 seconds in, and it works because by that time you’ve identified with our hero, you’re onside, and you’re in.”
Oatly! “Jingles” – 2020
Oliver Plume, Adwanted UK: “It’s hard for me to pick a favourite audio ad of all time as, in my previous role of working on the Audiotrack client service team, I’ve listened to literally thousands of them. So I’ll go with one campaign that’s stayed with me years later. Oatly’s ‘jingle’ campaign is one I’ll always remember, and not just because it included ten different variations… It’s because it has everything that makes a good audio commercial. It certainly stands out tonally, it includes humour, a brand mention that acts as a subtle CTA and the entire thing is an exercise in sonic branding.
“‘Oatley!’ created a series of short 15″ ads, each featuring a different jingle spelling out their brand, while producing a longer 60” version acting as a compilation. The trick is having each version sound distinct but framed in a similar way. On repeated listens the campaign benefits from listener familiarity but doesn’t overstay its welcome – especially when using a shorter than average copy length. This allows for a higher booking concentration without any of the downsides.
“The campaign ran in the early months of 2020 before a certain global event cut it short. This likely limited its effectiveness but I’d love to see more brands breaking the mold like this more often.”
Camping Gaz Radio (1970s)
Nick Angell, Nick Angell Productions: “This is not from the last ten years, but I have chosen an ad from a campaign I had the great privilege to work on in the late 70’s featuring the brilliant Peter Sellers. Written by Iain Dunn, who is sadly no longer with us, and Mark Reddy, it parodies Mastermind to great effect. We actually made six ads in which Sellers created a different contestant character voice in each case.
“I was extremely inexperienced and completely star struck, but I will never forget the amazing artistry he exuded and his incredible professionalism. Beyond the scripts being very funny and ground breaking for the time, I don’t remember there being a lot of laughs in the session, but nonetheless the end result was award winning. Enjoy…”