Whether it’s a childhood jingle that you can still sing word for word, or a campaign that influences the way you work today, everyone has an ad that has really stuck with them.
Mediaweek has been asking the industry to take a trip down memory lane, to find out all about the ads that made us.
Adrian Bingham – Head of Sales AUNZ, Spotify
Cadbury – Gorilla (2007)
“The 2007 Cadbury ‘Gorilla’ ad still stands out to me 17 years later. A classic 90-second spot with no dialogue, centred on a gorilla smashing out the Phil Collins drum solo from In the Air Tonight.
“I love the nostalgia it evokes, the fact that it focuses on music, and to be honest, I often can’t even remember if there was a chocolate bar shown… what remains vivid in my memory is how the ad made me feel, the purple backdrop, and of course, Cadbury.
“It became an instant cult classic, offering more than just a glass and a half of entertainment!”
Susan Armstrong – General Manager, Entertainment, Are Media
Who Weekly Magazine Commercial – 1992
“Like most kids who grew up in the 1980s, when I wasn’t riding my bike around the neighbourhood, or making up dance routines (long before TikTok was a thing), I was watching ‘the box’ with my siblings, sometimes sitting so close to the TV screen our eyes were only one Skippy episode away from ‘turning square’.
“We loved a good ad jingle and knew the words to them all. So much so, my mum often commented she wished we remembered our schoolwork like we remembered those commercials.
“But if I had to choose one ad campaign that made the most impact on me, and did indeed influence the way that I work today, it would have to be the WHO magazine ads back in the early 1990s. You remember the song, right? I recall being utterly transfixed by the TV when I saw and heard that ad for the very first time. So much glamour, so much celebrity – I was hooked. Little did I know, a handful of years later I’d actually get my first gig in magazines at New Weekly. And the rest, as they say, is history.”
Adam Furness – Managing Director APAC, impact.com
Cancer Council – Slip, Slop, Slap
“I grew up in Brisbane and went to the Gold Coast for most Christmas holidays, staying at my late Grandma Muriel’s unit at Miami with the rest of my family. We stayed there for weeks on end and would go to the beach every day. Grandma’s voice still rings in my head, ‘Slip, slop, slap Adam’… It was her favourite thing to say.
“I remember walking to the beach singing the jingle over and over to my brother and sisters. They were less amused.
“Side note: Other favourites for Grandma – Shandi’s, KFC Buckets of Chicken, The Cricket, Daily Moisturizing and Scrabble.”
See Also: The Ads That Made Us: Mediaweek’s memory lane
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Top Image: Adrian Bingham, Susan Armstrong, Adam Furness