1) Dos Equis: “The Most Interesting Man in the World” Wins on Land, Sea, Air, and Beyond
It’s hard to believe that the Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” is STILL just as funny and unforgettable as the first time we saw him back in 2006. While most beer ads are known to feature hot chicks or exotic locations, Havas Worldwide, the agency behind the “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign learned that “more than anything else, [drinkers] really wanted to be seen as interesting by their friends,” said Senior Brand Director Paul Smailes. It’s this kind of research and out-of-the-box thinking that makes a creative agency worth its cost.
(Fun fact: Alex, one of our interns, met The Most Interesting Man in the World at a Mexican restaurant in Vermont. And yes, he was drinking Dos Equis. Apparently it’s in his contract!)
2) Discover it card: Surprise
Jumping on the undoubtedly odd trend of screaming goat videos that have surged since 2014, this commercial truly surprises viewers, while reassuring them that the Discover IT Card comes with “no surprises.”
Though we definitely think this ad is funny and memorable, in our opinion the buildup to the humor takes too long and could lose a viewer’s attention. Additionally, the humor is totally segregated from the information given at the beginning of the ad. This makes the information less memorable in comparison to the unforgettable and hilarious surprise at the end.
3) Blendtec: Will it Blend? (The Apple Watch)
This video is another installment in Blendtec’s ad campaign, “Will It Blend,” which was launched in 2008 and stars Blendtec’s own CEO, Tom Dickson. In this campaign, Blendtec combines the shock of destroying a variety of useful (and sometimes expensive) objects in their blender to show how powerful it is. In this video, to no one’s surprise (and everyone’s horror), the Blendtec attempts to blend Apple’s newest creation, the Apple Watch. Spoilers: It DOES blend.
Granted the video takes too long to get to the best parts, but we still think that the premise itself is pretty funny.
4) Stop the Texts: Driving Deer
We love an ad that uses humor to advocate for an important cause. This ad is definitely a creative blend of absurdity and warning. While we’ve all seen anti-texting-while-driving ads that shock us into fear so that we’ll be safe drivers, this ad uses humor in a very unexpected way: it takes a situation that we’ve all encountered at one time or another in our lives (or at least we’ve all heard the saying “like a deer in headlights”) and reverses the roles of human and deer.
In the video, the deer has to slam on its breaks to avoid hitting a man who is mindlessly texting on his phone while crossing the street. What’s even funnier is the dear’s eye-roll reaction and the herd of texting people that tap their way across the street.
5) Purina Puppy Chow: Puppyhood
This (particularly long) ad produced by Buzzfeed shows that if nothing else, the internet is changing the landscape of video advertising. Before the advent of online branded content videos, commercials could only be 15 seconds to a minute long. Now there is no time limit to the length of ads, although few can pull off an ad longer than a couple of minutes. Buzzfeed is one of those rare companies that can make a long ad that people (at least of a certain demographic) will watch all the way through. This is because Buzzfeed has built a loyal audience of fans who have come to trust that if they produce a video, more times than not it’s going to be hilarious.
Building that kind of trust with such a huge audience is an outstanding feat, and comes with some very valuable benefits: a 180-second ad can generate hundreds more jokes than a 30-second ad and allows time for a proper set-up. This adorable ad takes its time, showing you a man’s love for his dog and turning people’s heads in the direction of Purina Puppy Chow.