Advertising Association & System1’s Ads of the Month
If there’s a link between our top ads this month it’s the idea of support. Emotional support for boys in a web of toxic influence. Practical support for cooks to make recipes accessible. And physical support for a falling pint – it’s not all serious subjects this time.
We’re starting with a deeply serious subject, though – the struggle young men are facing against toxic masculinity online. Exposed to a world of cynical ‘manosphere’ influencers who want to prey on their insecurities, boys are at risk. EE’s “Yes Boys” uses football to kick that into touch, presenting sport as a positive influence and encouraging young men to use phones as a source of support from mates, not hostility or bad advice.
With cameos from Harry Kane and other England stars the ad has the authority and authenticity to back up the message, and it makes excellent use of Underworld’s poignant “Born Slippy” on the soundtrack. It’s not all boys, either – women and girls show up and lend support as our vulnerable protagonist helps come out of his shell and join the team. It’s a powerful, moving ad full of human connection that stands out amongst World Cup ads and earns its strong 4.8-Star Rating on our Test Your Ad Pro platform.
But how does “Yes Boys” feel to the audience that really matters – the young men it’s trying to reach? We’ve all seen ads aimed at youth which older viewers admire and younger ones tune out of. So we also tested EE’s ad with a sample of Gen Z Men – would it score for the intended audience? The answer’s an emphatic yes. With a maximum 5.9-Star Rating among the Gen Z Men sample and a string of comments full of praise for how relatable the ad is, this messaging is as on-target as a Harry Kane penalty.
From boys to men and a first ever TV ad for Hawkstone Lager, made with agency T&P. Hawkstone is Jeremy Clarkson’s beer brand, launched in 2021 off the back of his Clarkson’s Farm show, and it’s made with British hops grown on that farm. “A Year’s Graft In Every Pint” is the tagline, and the ad packs that year’s graft into 60 seconds, with a fast-paced montage of every stage in the journey from planting through brewing to the pub itself.
But it’s the framing narrative that makes the ad so entertaining – a slip means a pint of Hawkstone heads for the floor, as Clarkson looks horrified. But Kaleb dives to save it, and his slow-motion launch is interspersed with the film of the beer’s origin story. To cheers and laughter, he pulls off the improbable save and the year’s work isn’t wasted.
It’s a great package for a first TV ad, capturing the entertaining, bantering character of the brand while reminding us of the famous face behind it. And more importantly, stressing the hard work that’s gone into building Hawkstone and the faith the brand has in British farmers and the sustainable methods they use. Patriotism, celebrity and entertainment – a powerful package that lands Hawkstone’s ad in the top 3% of all UK beer and cider commercials with a 4.8-Star Rating on Test Your Ad Pro. The ad also gets a strong Spike Rating predicting a short-term sales boost, but for a new-to-TV brand that excellent Star Rating is what counts.
Is Clarkson an asset to the brand? The results shed some light on that too, with the man and his show occupying the top two slots on “Key Associations”. Both of them come up as positive: there’s more divisive remarks in the second-by-second comments but this is a situation where the overall response is the more important. And the demographic breakdown suggests the ad is a particular winner in the 35-54 year old age group, where a new lager brand really needs to make inroads.
Finally this month an ad from Tesco which pulls off the Test Your Ad ‘triple whammy’ – Exceptional, top bracket scores in all three of our main metrics (Star Rating, Spike Rating, and Brand Fluency). Supermarket advertising is one of the most competitive categories, thanks partly to years of great Christmas ads, so this is some achievement for Tesco.
The ad is promoting Tesco’s new Accessible Recipes online service, which offers recipes for customers with hearing or visual impairments or other accessibility issues. The service brings customers step-by-step audio recipes, recipes rewritten to offer specific timings not visual indicators, cooking episodes in British Sign Language, and more. In the feelgood ad a voiceover describes the action on screen while we see seven cooks using the new Accessible Recipes service.
It’s an ad which gets inclusion right, centering disabled customers and letting them speak and act for themselves, while also spotlighting the solutions Tesco provides to the challenges they face. Easier, more independent cooking for the customers who need it and a 5.1-Star Rating meaning a smile on the face of every viewer. It’s the highest scoring of this month’s ads, which all put the emphasis on how they support customers, vulnerable people and stakeholders, and reap the emotional benefits.
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At System1, we help brands maximise creative effectiveness at every stage of the creative process, from early development through to final edit and optimisation. Through Test Your Ad Pro and Guidance, our expert consultants combine iterative testing with one of the industry’s richest databases of emotional and commercial effectiveness data to help brands understand how creative decisions shape consumer response and long-term growth potential.