The top advertising campaigns of 2023 according to Australian … – AdNews

Credit: benjaminmuntz via Unsplash.

Some campaigns in 2023 broke the internet with their virality, while others reminded Australia and the rest of the world to embracecreativity, celebrate women's sport and that "almost anything" is actually enough.

Created by Publicis using its custom-made AI platform Marcel, the commercialgarnered global attention with a compelling statement on gender in sport.

Uber Eats sparked much engagementthis year with its Get AlmostAlmost Anything platform. Created by Special and supporting agency village, EssenceMediacom, Hello Social and H/Commerce, the campaign explores the chaos that would ensue if Uber Eats was actually able to deliver anything. Reminding Australians that almost, almost anything is actually enough.

In celebration of 50 years of the iconic landmark, the Sydney Opera House released a musical tribute to mark 50 years of bravery, creativity and wonder.

'Play It Safe' was written and composed by Australian singer Tim Minchin as an ironic salute to the bold, visionary experiment that became the Opera House.

Made in partnership with creative agency The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, directed by filmmaker Kim Gehrig and produced by Revolver x Somesuch, the music video features a collection of Australian artists and arts companies who share an enduring connection with the Opera House.

Australian creatives and their top two campaign picks of 2023:

Toby Aldred, GM of Saatchi & Saatchi, and chief client officer of The Neighbourhood, says he thoroughly enjoyed the campaigns to come out of Avocados from Mexico this year.

Long-term brand platform tick. Branded codes ahoy tick. Product written into story tick, he said.

And Impretty sure it works in real life. As the creative director said to me last night, 'Did you just tell me weve got more changes, reduced budget, and you need it overnight to the Avocados from Mexico jingle?'."

For Aldred, the winner of the 2023 FIFA Womens Football Advertising World Cup is Orange.TheOrange - la Compil des Bleues adwas an idea that clearly was born out of strong brand intent towards the national French football team.

Its magnificently executed; you can almost reach out and feel the trust between the client and agency to get this over the line, he said.

Like a fine bottle of French red, its an advert that will age even better over time, a beautiful foretelling of the success of the tournament in celebrating womens football as brilliant if not better than the mens, Aldred believes.

Richard Williams, executive creative director at Clemenger BBDO, agrees.

The Orange Womens World Cup film for Frances national team was also a highlight creatively this year, he says.

It was wonderfully and painstakingly crafted to deliver an exceptional level of production that refused to reveal the twist, said Williams.

The messaging was powerful yet ultimately divisive. Many criticised the film for once again comparing womens sport to mens instead of celebrating the nuance and uniqueness of womens football, notes Williams.

This criticism is fair but given the film was trying to convince fans of the mens game then I believe it was justifiable. The results were spectacular with the film shared around the world and undoubtedly dramatically boosting audience and viewership of the World Cup in France and beyond, he said.

A celebration of what being British means today, brought to life in a technically perfect and visually progressive execution.

The repetitive, yet hypnotic movement of the idents make them infinitely flexible yet strangely no less compelling to watch, says Williams.

They are a diverse representation of British society and an example of British creativity at its best, he said.

For Jeremy Hogg, executive creative director at Howatson+Co, this year presented many pieces of great work.

Hogg doesnt feelas an industry that everything needs to be big and worthy and awardy.

We all need little moments of delight, he said.

I love this. It feels like a film that befits the stature of the Opera House and the creativity that happens with in. Its obviously got spectacle, but to me the joy is that the film remains strangely intimate and honest, and never drifts into tricks over substance, he said.

So many good choices throughout, even a really simple thing I like that the song lyrics are advocating the absence of creativity rather than singing its praises, which feels far less on the nose and choiceful. Bravo.

This idea probably doesnt need his endorsement, says Hogg, given that its already been handsomely awarded all around the world by every single jury at every single show.

And justifiably so. We talk a lot about distinctive brand assets. Well this is a real one. A tangible change for the company that gives added value to the message their business communicates far beyond their ad layouts,hesaid.

A highly commended to Sunday Gravy for their work on Hunt and Brew 'Always Hunting'. Great insight, ads and tone. So refreshing and enjoyable to see something smart that still maintains joy and a bit of silliness.

Justin Ruben, ECD Havas Host, liked a lot of work that came out of 2023.

"But as Ive been asked to choose only 2 pieces I will abide by the rules. Sorry to all the great work I have had to leave out," he said.

"One of my favourite pieces was The Monkeys Telstra Country footy spot. It was a beautifully crafted film with great performances. The casting was spot on with talent Ive never seen before and have never appeared on Home Away or Neighbours. Great script well directed and produced."

Ruben's next pick was 'The Last Performance' from Special NZ. As they say, he says, the hardest challenge is doing good work in a very boring category and life insurance falls into this.

"It is fantastic brand integration for the right reasons and gives life insurance a life of its own," said Ruben.

"Even though I said I would only choose 2, I just saw that great Uber One ad with Robert De Niro from Mother London. So Im going to throw that in as well and break the rules."

Catherine Tubb, creative director, at Chello, said the Uber EatsPeriod Romancecampaign was a funny and original ad which had a great use of celebrities, with Nicola Coughlan riffing on her Bridgerton fame and feeding the fans a tasty morsel during a long wait for the next series.

The ad, says Tubb, (along with the Tom Felton magic spot) plays on the idea that ultimately instant gratification isnt always satisfying.

Though it still delivers on the line that you can get almost, almost anything with Uber Eats, she said.

I loved how the insights are squarely targeted at a female audience (Periods, Bridgerton) and the great comic moments created by bringing the dated and sexist attitudes of the male suitor to modern day Australia where women (gasp) work and rice cookers dont make for great chamberpots.

Its a suitably nice touch that the campaign also partnered with not for profit organisation Share the Dignity offering a one-for-one donation with every period product sold to help end period poverty, notes Tubb.

Briggs - Far Enoughcampaign,written by comedy duo Jenna Owen and Victoria Zerbst, and directed by Nash Edgerton, wasanotherof Tubbs favourite campaigns of the year.

Im sure everyone who hasnt been living under a rock this year is familiar with rapper Briggs viral video, she said.

Looking at this with the benefit of hindsight, what I found really interesting is while there were some really stirring, emotive, and great ads in the early run-up to the referendum, it was this responsive and timely lo-fi video that simply asked Have you Googled it? that really got traction.

With more than five million views and some influential shares thanks to Taika Waititi, Jason Momoa and Celeste Barber, says Tubb.

In the wake of the vote, its a sobering reminder that the battle for hearts and minds requires every type of campaign possible, from mass awareness at launch, to timely and tactical responses throughout, she said.

Simon Lee, CCO & partner at The Hallway, says choosing "the best two campaigns from 2023 from anywhere in the world is a big ask, but there are a couple of pieces of work that have caught his attention over the last few months.

Are they 'the best?' I dont know, but I like them," he said.

Uber One: A membership for everyone who eats food and goes places.Im not always a big fan of celebrity driven advertising; it far too often feels like an exercise in making a brand cool by association rather than creating a compelling connection between celebrity and brand, said Lee.

This film puts the product heart and centre with the wonderfully dryly performed realisation that Robert de Niro and Asa Butterfield both like eating food and going places, he notes.

The casting is genius and director David Shane does a brilliant job in exploiting the understandable awkwardness that a younger actor would no doubt feel in trying to connect with a star of de Niros stature.

The journey of this unlikely duo eating food and going places (I love how the campaign line is unashamedly repeated throughout the spot to matter-of-fact comic effect) makes for a genuinely entertaining piece of film. I have no doubt that, along with the accompanying OOH elements, this campaign is working its socks off. It better be, Im sure neither Robert nor Asa come cheap!

As an EV owner, one of the comments I frequently get from people is that it must be a pain trying to find a charging station, he said.

Leesfirst hand experience supports the data that shows that perception of a shortage of charging stations is a barrier to EV adoption.

The truth is of course that you dont need a "special" charging station to keep your battery charged. You can just plug it into a normal socket. Its this simple but compelling truth that Happiness Saigon brought to life brilliantly in their campaign for E-bike brand, Dat Bike, said Lee.

The creative agency basically "branded" regular electrical sockets as 'Fast Charging Stations', turning office buildings, shopping malls, cafs, all into Dat Bikes own personal charging network, notes Lee.

The billboards are ok, but its the extent of the contextual media opportunity of this idea that excites me. Im not sure how far they got with it, but there are apparently 2.558.914 power outlets in Ho Chi Minh City - thats a lot of opportunities for a small e-bike brand to show up in a meaningful way!

Julian Schreiber& Tom Martin partners and chief creative officers at Special, pointed out David Madrid's 'Ghost Campaign' for Halloween where they announced they were putting up "ghost" ads in out of home and in other media channels.

And if you spotted them you could redeem them for Burger King, said Schreiber and Martin.

The twist was that the 'Ghost campaign' was actually blank spaces on walls and places an ad wasn't appearing but was the right kind of space to be for an ad, they noted.

A brilliant use of using nothing to create something fun and playful for a brand," said Schreiber and Martin.

The creative duo'ssecond favourite campaign of the year wasAdam&Eve DDB's Lover or Hater - what are you expecting project where they in true ad science fashion humourously tested foetusesto see if they adore or despise Marmite.

The seriousness of the parents and doctors involved in the testing is a pleasure to watch. Another great example of a brand embracing their truth, in this case that Marmite has a polarising taste, they said.

Adam Wise co founder and ECD at Jack Nimble, has loved seeing the emergence of fake stunts this year.

His favourite was from Maybelline, when the company installed giant mascara wands around London, with the best one in the London Underground.

I must admit I fell for it at first. My mind instantly went to the logistics of it. Surelyits not safe? How much would that have cost? How did they get that through Transport for London? By the time Id asked myself 21 logistical questions, Id watched it 21 times, said Wise.

The VFX is amazing, but the way its been shot to feel like user-generated-content is what really sells it for me. Thats social-first content at its best. They did such an incredible job of selling this as a real stunt that it essentially did become a real stunt, just on social media. It went crazy viral, and they didnt even need to liaise with Transport for London for permits (which I imagine would be a nightmare).

Wises next favourite campaign from the year was another fake stunt and also train related.

(Maybe I have a thing for trains). Its a bit of a shameless plug, but its the Spotify Carriage - a fake OOH ad that we created for April Fools Day, he said.

Much like the Maybelline stunt, this was designed to feel just real enough for people to believe it, says Wise.

We also wanted it to feel like user-generated-content. And, it went crazy viral. From a humble post in Spotifys jam packed social content calendar, the Spotify community shared the Spotify Carriage on Reddit, created TikToks about it, made memes about it on Twitter, made playlists for the carriage, and mainstream media were writing about it. No media and no PR push.

Matt Geersen & John Gault, creative partners at Connecting Plots, say there is only one campaign this year that was a culture-defining, zeitgeist-creating, social-feed-hijacking behemoth, that delivered more than $1.44 billion dollars in sales.

Barbie.There were fashion partnerships with everyone from Prada to Crocs, activations that included staying in Barbies Dreamhouse through Airbnb and thats before we even get into #kenergy. Sure the budgets were huge, but no-one can argue that the ROI wasnt massive, said Geersen and Gault.

And its worth remembering that all this success was ultimately for a pro-feminism movie from a female indie director - not your typical ingredients for box office success. Five out of five Mattel toys.

The pair also commended the campaign by Special New Zealand for Partners Life - The Last Performance.

Its hard to imagine a tougher brief than selling life insurance, says Geersen and Gault.

So to pull off this Houdini-esque piece of creative magic makes itall the more, ahem, Special.

Bringing characters back to life from the show weve just seen and using their hindsight of death to sell life insurance is not only smart, original and entertaining, but more importantly, highly effective, as seen from the results of this campaign and its Effie recognition. Five out of five magicians wands.

Uber EatsAlmost Almost Anythingby Special Groupalso topped the list for Rees Steel creative director at BMF.

2023 was the year that a once scrappy startup called Uber finally turned a profit, he says.

And with a campaign this good, I'm almost - almost - happy for our gig economy overlords, said Steel.

Its hard to believe this first launched in January, and has already turned out a strong second iteration. Whether it's the big films with celebs, the hardworking 15s or the OOH, every execution is consistently entertaining and ruthlessly simple. Thats a hard line to walk, particularly at this scale. Admirable stuff.

Look, this one's a little under the radar, but bear with me, he said.

This was literally the only campaign in 2023 that I saw both ad dorks and non-industry people share.

Steel notes that the satire is razor sharp, it's impeccably cast, and its so niche it's almost impenetrable.

But, he says, it proves one of comedys great truths - that nothing's funnier than specificity.

"In a year when advertisers in Australia tried to be all things to all people, it took hyperlocal Melbourne scene bitchiness to win over this in-bed-by-10 Sydney dad. Love it, he said.

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