Cadbury’s "Gorilla" – 2007
"Gorilla" was a great entertainment piece by Fallon London, winning the Film Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2008. For me, it redefined everything. It was the ultimate execution in simplicity and bold creative thinking. It’s a perfect example of work which is self-aware, and not trying too hard to overly intellectualise what we do. People reacted so fondly to this ad because it was an expression of pure joy and passion. Above anything, advertising works when it triggers an emotional response. You’d struggle to find anyone who doesn’t still feel energized watching that ad today!
Tourism Queensland’s Best Job in the World campaign – 2009
The beauty of what Tourism Queensland created with Best Job in the World is that the campaign ultimately worked for itself. Usually when we talk about brand activation, it involves a huge idea and a huge stunt that people remember. This campaign succeeded purely on the quality of its product and succeeded because of the brand’s confidence. Once it was set up, the public did the rest, and Tourism Queensland could sit back and watch their popularity grow. At the end of the day, who wouldn’t respond to the question "do you want the best job in the world?"
Always' "Like a Girl" – 2014
This campaign stopped us all in our tracks. It’s an emotional piece of work that strikes a chord with anyone who watches it. For so long, gender discrimination has been a topic that we’ve too quietly observed as a society. "Like A Girl" shows these weak perceptions of women are not born innately inside of us, and that we have an opportunity to reverse them for future generations. The youngest amongst us show that to do something like a girl means doing something proudly, passionately, with strength and perseverance. Creative ideas like this campaign shine a light on our own unconscious bias and should be given the utmost recognition and respect.
Metro Trains' "Dumb Ways to Die" for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – 2012
I didn’t quite grasp the genius of this rail safety campaign until I heard my son singing the lyrics to Dumb Ways to Die, after learning them on the playground at the age of 7. At that moment, it was clear that it was a brilliant example of creative and that the message was really clicking with society at large. Every part of the campaign was so beautifully crafted, from the animation to the music to the hilarious lyrics. It was an important public service announcement piece that acted as a sort of subliminal message for not only people in Melbourne, Victoria and Australia but everywhere.
Tide's "It’s A Tide Ad" – *2018 Prediction
What I love most about "It’s A Tide Ad" is its humour and light-hearted self-awareness. We’re sometimes guilty in our business of taking ourselves too seriously and losing the ability to laugh at ourselves. The Tide campaign knew its audience and understood its contextual relevance perfectly. We all know advertising is a field saturated with competition, so if you can create a campaign that makes every ad on TV relate back to yours, it’s a genius strategy. The execution was spot on and the sheer simplicity took every brand in the Super Bowl off guard. I’m always impressed by complex integrated campaigns, but nothing beats a simple yet strong, well-executed creative idea.
Kate Stanners is the global chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi