On the eve of the New Year the time has come for me to announce my Ad of The Year. This year the honours go to FCB Inferno's"This Girl Can" for Sports England. From the insight right through to the execution, this campaign takes the crown in the face of stiff competition from the likes of BBH and M&C Saatchi. So hats off to all those at FCB Inferno, I hope 2016 brings you more brilliant ideas!

Sports England’s #ThisGirlCan fitness campaign 

Figures show that there are 2 million fewer active women than men in the UK. Sports England designed this campaign to address this disparity and encourage more women of all different sizes, ages and abilities to participate in physical activity.

Why was it effective? 

The campaign’s 90-second ad has thus far garnered 23 million views on YouTube and Facebook alone. However, the campaign’s real success was its ability to truly affect the behaviour of its target audience. 

By enlarge, women have engaged positively with the campaign, and Sports England has noted a significant rise in female participation in physical activities over the past 6 months. The campaign had generated over 250,00 social media interactions and developed a social media community of nearly 300,000 users. Women across the country are also sharing their stories on the official website.

Why did it work so well? 

Research undertaken by Sports England showed that 75 per cent of females say they want to be more active but their ambitions have been stunted by a fear of judgement. They feared that they would be judged on appearance, ability or how they chose to spend time on themselves. The campaign was designed specifically to address these apprehensions and help women get back into exercise.

It is aimed at all females, therefore it uses 'real' women’ of all different shapes, sizes, and abilities to communicate this important message. Watching other women, to use one of the ad's taglines 'sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox', with all their jiggly bits on show, makes the ads both believable and relatable. 

The use of humorous taglines also off-sets the uncomfortable feeling one might get as a by-product of participation. By using one of the oldest tricks in the book, Sports England highlighted the supposed flaws before anyone else could e.g 'look at this horrible spot on my face'. Then by showing loads of women embracing these so called ‘imperfections’, re-enforced their normality thus reducing the anxiety surrounding them.

In recent times women have started to challenge misogynistic beliefs about women’s fitness. This can be seen by the recent backlash towards the “Are you beach body ready” campaign. This campaign is in step with this change in the discourse surrounding women’s fitness, which also aided in it being so well received. Instead of objectifying women, this campaign empowers them.

That being said, the most important reason for its success was the fact it was based on the premise of inclusion rather than exclusion. Sports England was able to engage all different kinds of women because they made these women the stars of the campaign!

Sometimes honesty IS the best policy. And in advertising that saying can’t be more true. Yet Y plan have taken it one step further and admitted that maybe advertising has no place. But before the advertising community get out there pitchforks and stakes it just a bit of witty of advertising. And in fact it is a testament to our profession.

This admittance only serves to emphasize that this deal on offer is not only soo good but also the lack of fancy advertising slightly communicates that the deal is exactly what it says on the tin.   So in my book, brilliant!

Boring. This is the only word I can use to describe this campaign. 

Entering into a market where Uncle Ben's rice has long established itself as the market leader, one would expect new entrants to produce an advertising campaign that would at least stand out from the crowd. Well, not Veetee. They have come up with the most boring and safe campaign imaginable!

Indeed the tagline “We have got a rice for that” is intriguing. But what they have put in front of it and their execution in terms of advertising material, lacks all ingenuity. Its either too boring i.e “Can't face any kind of potatoe for dinner this week” or just plain nonsensical. I mean, just look at the ad below. If you going to late home cause your so much work to do, how does having a microwaveable rice make things any better?

In short, if Veetee continues with this campaign, Uncle Ben have nothing to worry about!

With Christmas just around the corner, everyone is getting into the party mood. Over eating, horrible Christmas jumpers, late nights, and alcohol are  all part and parcel (pardon the pun) of the festive period. So instead of trying to prevent the inevitable, the London Ambulance Service are embracing festive frolicking in their new campaign. 

The traditional approach for social marketing ads has been to warn people of the dangerous of what many would class as “having fun." As you can imagine, this type of advertising often falls on deaf ears. People are not receptive to a message that basically says, “Don’t enjoy self” or “You not sensible enough to enjoy your alcohol sensibly.” And that is the sort of message that the London Ambulance Service wanted to avoid putting out!

So how you do warn people of the dangerous of alcohol abuse without looking like a buzz kill? By acting like the ‘Cool Uncle.’

No one likes to be told what to do, and in fact, prohibition only makes participation even more alluring.So an ad essential saying     “don’t get carried away”, might in fact encourage some to try and prove the ad wrong i.e “I know my own limits”. And that’s were this campaign is differs. Rather than assume immaturity, it assumes that we know how to drink responsibly.  

Encouraging us to do what we want, and then merely saying “be safe” it is perceived as a friendly, non-authoritative warning. And is something that head-strong autonomous individuals like ourselves would be more likely to listen to. 

This campaign is seemingly on the side of fun and therefore our side, just like that ‘Cool Uncle.’

The reason this ad works so well is because it optimizes Christmas shopping! 

We can spend hours, weeks even months searching for that game for our brother, that pair of heels for our sister, or that special something for that special someone. Often the pressure can result in sleepless nights, but when you finally lay your hands on it, that feeling of jubilation and relief is indescribable, yet all to familiar to us all. 

This simple tagline “Found it” over a single image of a present stirs up that positive, joyous emotion inside us, as we are quickly reminded of that image present that we just secured. Even if you part of the disenchanted few who just can’t seem to track down that item (i.e ME), you are still forced to think about that warm and happy feeling when you accomplish your task. And with the Debenhams name neatly placed in the corner on the poster, you now have a perfect place to start up the hunt again.

 So, all in all a great christmas campaign.

Life is complicated enough without media adding to the confusion. 

Simple, straightforward and impactful advertising is required if you want to cut through the noise. This is even more essential when you are trying to communicate with the disinterested, over-worked and under-paid London commuter. 

Google understand the need for simplicity and their new campaign is a perfect example of its effectiveness.

The campaign wants to highlight how the Google app family has been designed to helped everyone, everywhere and at any time. 

The crude lines drawn over the start of the sentence immediately gets the commuter's attention and forces them to engage with the ad. Then - with their audience engaged - Google is free to position Google Maps as the passport to the "whole world".  By not overcomplicating things, the viewer is able to process the message quickly and with minimal effort. 

This is the type of ad needed if you want to talk to an audience who is rushing from tube to tube, desperately trying to avoid getting into the office after their boss!

It's that time of the year again, when we all drink too much, eat too much and spend too much. Oh, and John Lewis release their heart-melting Christmas advert.


Teaming up with Adam&Eve DDB for the fifth year in a row, the ad tells the heartwarming story of young girl who sends a present to a man who lives on the moon. Following the same formula that brought them so much success over the years, the ad is set to a contemporary artist's interpretation of a classic song. So don't be surprised to see Norwegian singer, Aurora, rendition of the Oasis track 'Half the World Away', in the race for christmas No.1.

Sure, the story -  a young girl who spies on a lonely man living on the moon through her telescope and finds a way to send him a gift - certainly pulls at the heart strings. But the big question is, can it match the success of 'Monty The Penguin'? 

Well, it has already mashed last year's production with more than 23,000 social media mentions in the first two hours - compared to Monty's 14,000 in the first 24 hours last year. And it is also set to reach 10million views on YouTube by Monday morning. So based on its current trajectory, I would say it has a good chance of knocking old Monty of the top of the iceberg!