Awesome Digital Ad Campaigns

Most marketers seem to agree that the focus on digital advertising will continue to increase in the next few years. Strategy Magazine's 2011 Marketing Survey found that social media was the number one thing marketers wanted to spend more money on in 2012 (with mobile advertising being number three). So naturally it's very important to keep in mind the digital campaigns that have really succeeded. Here are a few that inspired and impressed us last year:

Subtlety

Subtlety is an underused quality in advertising. Sometimes you don't need all that fizz bang bombast. If you trust that the consumer can decipher things themselves, it ultimately feels more rewarding and memorable for them. Check out this LG spot for a great example of this working.

Favourite Ads of 2011!

Growing up, my family used to love to watch “funniest commercials of the year” on TBS around the holiday season. We would always have a good time laughing at some of these spots and a lot of them stick with me to this day. Commercials can be more than just white noise that you sit through waiting for the rest of your show to air. A good commercial can evoke a real connection between consumer and brand. 

Well with 2011 now drawing to a close it’s a great time to reminisce about the year gone by, and what that means for many blogs is... time for “best of” lists! So let me roll out my eight favorite advertisements from 2011.
These are mostly television ads with one or two youtube spots sprinkled in for good measure and I really think they highlight the creative thinking that goes into the industry. Let’s take a look (in no particular order) after the jump:

Beginnings

Hello Hello Ladies and Gents,

Welcome to "a launch pad"!

     I was recently asked by a potential employer whether I had a blog. When I answered "no", I could sense her interest in me evaporate over the phone. So here we are. Let's roll up our sleeves and get some blogging done.

Note: It can be hard to find relevant stock images

     First a bit about me: My name is Christopher Gairdner, and I'm a twenty-something recent university graduate looking to break into the Toronto advertising industry, and faced with the real world for the first time in my life. It's exciting but also a little overwhelming at times (Need...Job...Soon...). But anyway this blog will be the basis (or launch pad get it?) from which I intend to explore the world of advertising, talk about my other interests (film, music, style, travel, pop culture) and rant about my twenty-something year old problems. I'll try to update regularly, we'll see if that sticks. Cheers Folks. Chris