MAD//Fest 2023 Special Episode: Top Ads of the Year

So far, 2023 has brought us some fantastic, top scoring ads on the show. For our 150th episode, we’ve asked marketing leaders present at MAD//Fest 2023 to review the top three, tell us their thoughts, and crown a winner.

Alex Taborda (Senior Media Manager at L’Oréal), Nikita Longdon (Senior Creative Project Manager at Expedia), and Joe Harper (Global Head of Content at Diageo) watched:

Maybelline’s Through Their Eyes;

Regal Springs’ Heaven Fish; and

eBay’s Wear ‘Em Out.

Whose ad did they appreciate the most among these three, chosen for us by Contagious? Watch the full episode to find out!

Transcript is automatically generated, so not perfect, but you get the idea!

Tom Ollerton 0:00

Before we crack on with this week's show, I would like to advertise this brilliant virtual event that Automated Creative are running. So if you're a marketer and you've got a significant Q4 spend committed, this show is going to make sure that all of that lovely media money is going to go on the right creative and produce the right result for you. This holiday or Christmas season, depending on where you're from. All of the links are in the show notes. So whatever platform you're watching this on, it's somewhere down there, there's a link, sign up. See you there. Thank you.

So I'm the founder of Automated Creative. We're a creative effectiveness ad tech platform. But one of the things we do every week is a show called Advertisers Watching Ads which is like Gogglebox but for ads. And we get three lovely brands to come on and review an ad that's chosen by our partners, Contagious. And what we're going to do today is review the top three ads of the year so far. And you, you, marketing lovely people, are going to vote for ad of the year. Before we hear your marketing genius, can you introduce yourselves very quickly?

Nikita Longdon 1:07

Hi, everyone. My name is Alex Taborda. I'm Senior Media Manager at L'Oreal.

Hi, guys. I'm Nikita Longdon. I'm a Senior Creative Project Manager at Expedia.

Joe Harper 1:17

Hello, I'm Joe Harper. I'm Global Head of Content at Diageo.

Tom Ollerton 1:21

So this is the first ad.

So we'll start with you, Joe. What was your reaction?

Joe Harper 4:18

I liked it. I thought it was very powerful. What I admire is some very difficult language takes a lot of courage for a brand to include that in their creative. So admire Maybelline for that.

Nikita Longdon 4:28

I thought it was a really powerful piece because it went beyond the brand and the product. It's really powerful that they're using their platform to have those difficult conversations. I thought it was brilliant.

Alex Taborda 4:39

I thought it was fantastic. It's much less of a product-play and actually, much less of a brand-play, and much more of a play to that initiative and making sure that people, whatever they're doing, have the support they need to kind of do the things that they love.

Tom Ollerton 4:49

That is going to be a tough ad to beat. So here is the second contender...

Alex, what's your view?

Alex Taborda 6:46

I think it's incredibly done. It's beautifully shot. If this is a real phenomenon, which I assume it is, I probably should've looked it up before I came today... It seems to only be confined to a very certain time of year. So actually, what's happening outside of that window and are they being kind of an always on support on the outside of that.

Nikita Longdon 7:19

It's such a beautiful piece. They're very much aware that it's not them trying to solve the whole problem, but just taking those small steps for bigger change.

Joe Harper 7:27

I felt like I got something from this. It's fascinating story. Both the production value of it, thought it was really, really nicely done.

Nikita Longdon 8:19

It is amazing, but it does make me question whether what happens past this. Then the next day, everyone's just going to go back and selling these trainers for 5x the retailer price, you know?

What's the kind of charter to help buyers? How can they make sure that buyers are protected in the long term so they don't get screwed down the road? I didn't see that from the ad space, personally.

Joe Harper 8:54

PR experiential... Wouldn't say it's an advert, so to speak. You know, the fact that they've done a physical pop-up, when they're one of the pioneers of online commerce, kind of highlights how limited they can be in terms of the impact that they could actually have on changing that behavior. You kind of have to be in the business of managing the campaign and managing the media to understand the kind of omni channel execution and how they're bringing it to life. So I would say that as well.

Tom Ollerton 9:15

It's voting time, guys. Alex, who's got your vote?

Alex Taborda 9:19

Maybelline...

Tom Ollerton 9:20

Nikita?

Nikita Longdon 9:21

Regal Springs, hundred percent.

Tom Ollerton 9:23

And Joe?

Joe Harper 9:24

Regal Springs to me, as well, Heaven Fish...

Tom Ollerton 9:26

So can everyone put their right hand up for Maybelline? That's going to be hard to beat. Regal Springs? And eBay? A couple of people here for eBay. Well done, guys. So we have a winner. Maybelline wins Advertisers Watching Ads, "Ad of the Year." Round of applause for our beautiful panel. And thank you so much, guys. Have a great Madfest!

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