Millward Brown Best Liked Ads List Released

Hot on the heels of contributing to FCB South Africa emerging as the best performing agency group in the Creative Circle’s Ad of the Year 2013, FCB Johannesburg has notched up the most ads on Millward Brown’s Best Liked Ads 2013 list.

Annually, Millward Brown’s Best Liked Ads list celebrates South Africa’s favourite TV commercials.  These are the ads that have been rated as the most liked by the South African audience, which comprises the industry’s most important critics, the people who ultimately chooses to buy their clients’ brands or not.

Millward Brown released the identity of the top 20 most liked ads of 2013, as tracked by its proprietary research tool, Adtrack, this week and FCB Johannesburg was the only agency in the country with 4 in the top 20, not to mention 3 in the top 10.

They are:
– Coca-Cola South Africa: Share a Coke with Bobby

– Tiger Brands: Oreo Cookie

– Wimpy: Bear

– Vodacom: Soccer Chiefs

Announcing the news to the group, FCB South Africa CEO, Brett Morris, said that to be in the top 20 at all is quite an achievement but to have campaigns at placing 2nd, 5th, 8th and 16th is truly outstanding.

“FCB Johannesburg’s performance on the 2013 Adtrack Best Liked Ads List outstrips that of any agency in South Africa, and is a remarkable achievement when you consider that more than 2 000 new commercials were launched in the year. Well done to all involved. You guys simply rock!”

FCB Johannesburg managing director, Alistair Mokoena, was equally thrilled: “Our creative teams, under the guidance of our Executive Creative Director, Jonathan Deeb, have been firing on all cylinders over the past months. Their creativity, passion and dedication, are evident for all to see and I am over the moon that they have been recognised in this way.”

Millward Brown pointed out that the 20 Best Liked Ads of 2013 are dominated by the technology and fast food categories, with an underlying theme of local humour, highlighting once again that advertising and entertainment are inextricably linked. The full list can be viewed below

“FCB has been making ads that grab South Africa’s attention and wins its hearts and minds since it opened doors in 1926,” added Morris. “The agency group is no stranger to the Most Liked Ads lists, regularly featuring in the Top 20. And we’re exceedingly proud to have been the creator of the ad that has had the highest liking scores since Millward Brown began its tracking 30 years ago. Sasol ‘Amagluglug’ is an FCB ad and unsurpassed.”

With three different agencies featuring at the Creative Circle’s Ad of the Year Awards 2013 earlier this month (April 3), it has emerged as a creative force to watch in 2014.

Leading the FCB pack Ad of the Year Awards 2013 at was FCB Cape Town with its first position in the outdoor category for Engen Fire Blanket. In a quirk of judging, FCB Johannesburg tied with itself in the radio category when it was awarded 2nd place twice, once for Toyota Genuine Parts 'Orchestra' and once for Lexus 'Clichés'.

And then a joint effort by Hellocomputer and FCB Johannesburg took third place in the digital category for the campaign that literally took the world by storm, the Johannesburg Zoo’s 'Tweeting Badger'.

Adtrack™ is Millward Brown’s proprietary advertising testing system, evaluating the impact and liking of all brand advertising in South Africa over the last 30 years.  The resultant database stands at almost 90,000 TV adverts tested, and more than 1.1 million interviews conducted, making this database one of the largest of its kind in the world.