Sydney, 8 June 2023: Kantar Australia and New Zealand have announced the winners of the 2023 Kantar Creative Effectiveness Awards ANZ – as judged by consumers. Based on the testing conducted in 2022 of more than a quarter of a million TV ads from the Kantar LINK database, these creatives are characterised by being in the top percentile across Australia and New Zealand on two key measures: short-term sales prediction and demand power potential.

Each of the ads is characterised by the strength of a powerful creative idea lending the brand campaign transversality across screens and platforms, says Kantar Australia and APAC Head of Creative Irene Joshy.

“The idea could be one that helps bring alive the differentiation of the product and its experience or celebrating the role of the brand in key consumer moments. Regardless, these ads have helped the brand stand apart through the power of a creative idea that is simple, intuitive and ownable by the brand. It is the secret sauce that makes brand campaigns differentiate themselves from the sea of sameness and the natural outcome has been effectiveness.”

“When the creative is rooted in a simple and ownable idea, brands do not need to struggle for consumer attention or worry about the ever populous and noisy media landscape. Impact, attention and effectiveness become natural outcomes of creative content that is rooted in consumer insight and executed with authenticity in a meaningful manner.

In Australia and New Zealand, the theme we observe is ‘heart’, adds Irene Joshy. “These are stories that are heartfelt and executed to trigger emotions. This has also made some of our homegrown ads successful on the global stage too.”

Kantar Creative Effectiveness Awards ANZ 2023 – Top 10

1. Mondelēz – Cadbury: Dairy Milk Garage 15’’ (Australia) VCCP carries on Cadbury’s campaign featuring life’s bittersweet moments and the joy that a small gesture can bring. This ad delivers emotion with the deftest of touches. We believe and imagine, and therefore the emotional content can work to its best effect.

2. Air New Zealand: A Better Way to Fly Premium Economy with Air New Zealand 30” (Australia) Blockhead VFX, True, Vision Thing gives a delicious taster of what it is like to fly with the airline. Sumptuous seating and delectable food and a friendly Kiwi cabin crew. Devised for Australia with humour that entertains rather than distracts, this ad really does make us envious of the experience.

3. Accolade Wines – Grant Burge: Dylan Make Your Mark 30” (Australia) Octagon is a digital testimonial with integrity coming from the simple truth that sits at the core of the message – one of life’s most enjoyable moments is sitting down with friends and family enjoying a good bottle of wine. We believe in Dylan. We believe that this is something he too genuinely enjoys.

4. PepsiCo: Bubly vs Buble 30” (Australia) Goodby Silverstein & Partners is a new brand that could all too easily be mispronounced so here they make a virtue of it. An ‘age-old’ ploy that never truly gets old, they use humour and a fortunately named well-known crooner as the perfect vehicle to do this, ensuring its connection or relevance to the product – sparkling water – is guaranteed.

5. Booking.com: Idris Says Things 30” (Australia) Horses and Mules features humour that doesn’t distract us. The light-heartedness helps to reveal not only the temptations that await us but also what Booking.com is good at: making our dreams a reality. The ad fuels our heart’s desires for foreign shores with Booking.com firmly in the role of cupid.

6. Heineken: Heineken Credentials 30” (New Zealand) Le Pub, Saatchi & Saatchi gets to the heart of the matter linking their unique star brewing process to how the brand connects people to socialise. Juxtapositions of cleverly spliced footage show Heineken’s horizontal brewing process alongside scenes featuring groups of young people enjoying themselves and the great tasting beer. This all helps build relevance. The ability to deliver both rational and emotive messaging in an execution is something we know can deliver even greater shorter-term sales lifts for a brand.

7. Google Pixel: Google Pixel 60” (Australia) 1^st Ave Machine, NYC* draws from a wide cross-section of society – but in this instance it is done, at least in part, to illustrate two of the phone’s features that will have real benefit to many of its users – ‘real tone’ and ‘live translate’. * Special mention to Dana Malinick, Joe Haldeman, Crystal MacKenzie, Ben Butler, Maggie Beane and Chris Suarez

8. Suncorp – Shannons: Whatever You Ride Compilation 30” (Australia) Frank Moore Advertising, Horizon Films illustrates how popular a pastime riding a motorbike is. But it does so by showing both literally and figuratively with a more demographically diverse cast making the point that their insurance is for everyone, whatever motorbike you ride.

9. Asahi – Asahi Super Dry: Unusual 15” (Australia) Dentsu McGarryBown transports us to Tokyo to remind us that here is a brand – ‘beyond expected’ – that delivers the refreshing taste of modern Japan. We no longer must settle for the usual taste but instead can enjoy the promise of something more uplifting when we’re next looking for a cold beer. This ad is a great example of being a disruptor sowing the seeds of doubt about our usual choices and presenting us with something altogether different – something altogether more uplifting.

10. Unilever – Hellmann’s: Franklin Manifesto 30” (Australia) Hogarth own the foundation for great food favourites. And the reason is the brand’s use of the best of Australia’s natural ingredients. Vignette after vignette featuring culinary delight upon culinary delight puts Hellmann’s and what it does best at the ‘heart of the matter’ – delivering great taste. And all of this is supported by the ‘reason to believe’ – the use of local, natural ingredients that makes the mayonnaise. The brand and the message are inseparably intertwined – one of the tastiest combinations in advertising.

Kantar Creative Effectiveness Awards ANZ 2023 – Highly Commended

• Tourism and Events Queensland: Days Like This 60” (Australia) Rumble Strategic Creativeprovides the uplifting promise of what awaits is enough to make one’s heart soar and is a great example of the power of music in its ability to amplify our emotion but also to be the ‘golden thread’ that takes us effortlessly from one scene to the next.
• Kmart: Low Prices for Life 30” (Australia) Dentsu Creative, Kmart Internal Creative is a great example of heightening the enjoyment that simple pleasures can bring using colour, movement and pulsating music that make us smile inwardly (via our mirror neurons). The ad emotively makes us feel joyous and uplifted. Our hearts can still sing, maybe even more so today, when the price tag says low.
• Nestlé – Nescafé Blend 43: Morning Rush 30” (Australia) Saatchi and Saatchi is true to heart by reflecting society better. With just two main character roles, Nescafé – without any fanfare – are better able to reach and resonate with more of their audience by better representing our suburban life.

Kantar New Zealand Head of Creative Brian Turner says that what is making Aussies and Kiwis truly tick are ads that are either heartfelt, fuelling our heart’s desires, putting the brand and what it does at the heart of the matter, or are true to heart – better reflecting the world and the people that live in it.

“The heartfelt ads are where emotion needs integrity to be true to what we want to say, so that it gets mirrored in the emotions that we arouse in the viewers – regardless of media, screen surface or format. Those ads that fuel our heart’s desires are doing so with uplifting promises, where the brand both entices us and makes a commitment to fulfil those promises. Ads at the heart of the matter own relevance – owning who you are as a brand and connecting with consumers by telling them what’s in it for them – making your brand meaningful. While those that are true to heart are being representative not tokenistic. Advertising still has a lot of work to do to reflect society so when ads are more inclusive and representative, they get rewarded for it, with positive impacts both to their short-term sales and their long-term brand equity.”

Kantar also today announced the launch of LINK+, the most powerful creative testing solution for advertising. Available exclusively on Kantar Marketplace, LINK+ integrates Kantar’s market-leading ad testing capabilities into one solution to help drive greater impact from campaigns. LINK+ joins Link AI and BrandNow as part of a new generation of AI-enabled products designed to address the increasing demands placed on marketers. LINK+ results are available in as little as six hours and now includes early-stage storyboard testing, meaning advertisers can apply Kantar’s validated sales generation and brand-building metrics even earlier in the creative process.

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