Nation's Favourite Ads 2022 - System1 Group

Nation's Favourite Ads 2022 Webinar

Watch Now

WATCH THE WEBINAR

Every year, brands roll out new ads for TV, streaming and social, hoping to win the hearts of consumers. At System1, we know that the most effective commercials are those that take viewers on an emotional journey.

From Christmas to the cost-of-living crisis, we’re taking a closer look at the ways in which advertisers showed up in 2022 and revealing who aced brand building based on our testing of thousands of UK ads.

Our Nation’s Favourite Ads webinar celebrates the best performing ads of the year, reviews key themes and showcases how marketers can replicate success in 2023. Hosted by Jon Evans, Chief Customer Officer, joined by Kate Waters, Director of Client Strategy & Planning at ITV and Helen Calcraft, Founding Partner of Lucky Generals to discuss what worked and why.

The Nation’s Favourite Ads 2022
Top 50

Asda (Havas London)

Have Your Elf a Merry Little Christmas

Top spot on the 2022 chart goes to Asda, whose Christmas ad spliced scenes from festive classic Elf into the everyday life of an Asda store. In a year where Christmas ads ruled the Top 50, it took a stroke of genius like this to beat the other top contenders. The ad made people laugh, made people nostalgic, and most of all made people happy. Perhaps most impressively given the clout of the guest star, Brand Fluency for Asda was through the roof too. The perfect one-off Christmas ad - now they just have to follow it up.

Disney+

All These + More Streaming this Christmas

Ads are a major battleground in the “streaming wars” and Disney’s armoury of top-drawer entertainment franchises make their Christmas adverts strong every year. When you can drop Dumbo, Die Hard, Doctor Strange and Darth Vader into your ads at will (and that’s just the Ds), the audience is going to leave happy. But that can’t take away from the superlative execution of their 2022 ad, taking the classic Nightmare Before Christmas song “What’s This” and finding examples of Disney+ shows where those two words show up, from Family Guy to Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a brilliant romp through the Disney+ library and top of the streaming service charts for 2022.

Amazon (Lucky Generals)

Joy is Made

Amazon’s evolution from retail king to media giant puts storytelling at the heart of its brand. There are deals lower down the list, but Amazon’s Christmas ad is a pure sentimental festive tale, and the best story-driven ad of the year. Credit to them - and star director Taika Waititi - for finding a story we’ve not seen before, as a father brings to life the world inside his kid’s favourite snow globe and leaves viewers fully heartwarmed.

Aldi (McCann UK)

Christmas Advert 2022

Want a measure of how strong this year’s Christmas ads were? Kevin The Carrot - Christmas winner in 2020 and 2021 - recorded his best ever Test Your Ad score, and here he is in 4th. Kevin is still the king of UK Christmas, though. This year’s ad, a homage to that other famous festive Kevin from Home Alone, is more stuffed than ever with cheeky jokes, topical references and mouthwatering food. It makes an unprecedented four 5-Star Christmas ads in a row for the nation’s favourite Fluent Device.

Waitrose

Food to Feel Good About

Waitrose books a spot in our Top 5 - and yes, it’s a Christmas ad. It’s one which takes its cue from some of the higher scoring confectionery ads we’ll be seeing - rather than focusing just on the product, the ad dwells on one blissful moment with it. Music, colour, direction and pace all point in the direction of joy and relaxation - the tagline “Food to Feel Good About” subtly reinforcing Waitrose’s premium, high-welfare positioning.

Marks & Spencer (House 337)

Gifts that Give

M&S had a great Christmas in advertising terms, with this general ad outscoring their food spot for the first time in several years. It puts the spotlight on their tie-up with food poverty charity Neighbourly, but unlike many “brand purpose” ads, it doesn’t shy away from entertainment. With conga lines through houses and a great Harry Styles soundtrack, it’s one of the most infectiously fun ads of the year, Christmas or otherwise.

Samsung (Ogilvy New York)

Curious Cats

Congratulations to Samsung on making the top-scoring non-Christmas ad of 2022, a 5.8-Star delight which shows off the features of the Galaxy Z Flip 4 in the most entertaining way possible. Once the family have finished having fun with the new device, the cat wants a piece of the tech action. An upbeat soundtrack with no voiceover helps make this ad a winner - it has the confidence just to show rather than tell.

Lindt

Christmas Time to Melt

Once again Lindt place the most confectionery ads in our list. This Christmas ad shows off their latest positioning, all about the moments of pleasure indulgent chocolate can create. As their tagline puts it, “You choose the moment, we provide the bliss”. It’s an idea that audiences love, as the ads’ success in a highly competitive category proves.

Lego

Build a Playful Holiday

Lego’s holiday ad is the latest in a series of commercials that bring Lego creations to life in a fantastic, madcap world. It’s a campaign that works globally, and combines the brand’s spirit of play and imagination with a discreet reminder of the huge variety of Lego ranges and properties available. Katy Perry stops by to provide a little extra star power, but the brand’s appeal certainly doesn’t depend on any celebrity guests.

Nintendo

Nintendo Switch Lite

Nintendo remain out on their own when it comes to making videogame ads people actually like. Their secret is as simple as ever - show the players, not just the games, and bring out the human between-ness in gaming. Christmas presents an excellent opportunity to do exactly that and Nintendo take it for their highest-scoring ad to date.

The National Lottery (Adam & Eve/DDB)

A Christmas Love Story

A brilliant narrative ad which starts with strangers meeting on a train and tells a holiday season love story in only a minute. Being for the National Lottery, it’s also a luck story, and a quest to reunite a winner with their ticket. A masterclass in compact emotional storytelling, so good it also scored 5-Stars in a cut-down 30 second version.

Lindt (Grey New York)

Made to Melt You

Another great execution in Lindt’s “You choose the moment, we provide the bliss” campaign as a woman gets home from work to enjoy a moment of private indulgence. As ever, there’s a shot of the handsome Master Chocolatier too, a character whose devotion to chocolate excellence anchors every Lindt ad and who works as a strong distinctive asset.

Kellogg's (Leo Burnett)

We Do Breakfast

Another instalment in Kellogg’s “Whatever You Do, We Do Breakfast” campaign, reusing some of the old vignettes of breakfast fun and adding something new. The audience loves it no matter what the combinations, and the campaign is a terrific example of modular advertising – 10-second sections which work on their own and even better together. The stories may be short but they’re always full of joy.

Go Türkiye

Turkish Summer, Coming Soon

With holidays and tourism back on the agenda after two highly restricted years, it’s no surprise to see a lot of travel ads in the Top 50. It’s not a category where there’s much innovation, dominated by montages of beautiful scenery, beautiful people, great food, outdoor and family fun. This Turkish tourism ad doesn’t mess with the formula - it just does it better than anyone else.

Marks & Spencer

Seville Orange Gin, Blended Scotch Whisky, British Vodka

One big trend in this year’s list is the rise of shorter, promotional Christmas ads that run alongside the main work. Typically, the main ads score higher and the secondary ones don’t appear. But this year we’ve seen the short promotional work do extremely well - in this case, an ad for special edition spirits actually beat the main ad (see #37). Why is this happening? Partly it’s down to the strong appeal of Christmas ads in general this year. But it also helps that so many Christmas ads star appealing characters, like M&S Fairy and Duckie, who can easily carry over into the shorter work.

Tourism Australia (M&C Saatchi)

Come and Say G'day

A travel ad which takes the unusual step for the category of having a strong brand character. Ruby the Roo puts a friendly face on the typical montages of beautiful sea, sun and scenery. This experimentation pays off as audiences loved the kangaroo and the ad. A cover version of the Men at Work classic “Down Under” rounds things off - sometimes the obvious choice is the right one.

Disney

The Gift

For several years Disney has used its festive ads to tell the story of one animated family, especially their little girl, who we’ve seen helping neighbours, enjoying Christmas with grandparents and celebrating the holidays of other cultures too. Like most Fluent Device characters, she’s grown in popularity the more she’s appeared. This year’s ad saw her struggling to accept a new baby sibling, and it’s the most popular yet with viewers.

Lindt (Gotham Inc.)

Beyond Words

The Master Chocolatier only has a cameo role in Lindt’s third ad in our Top 20 - a celebration of their ‘classic recipe’ with two women sharing their joy at its beautiful taste without saying a single word. Non-verbal communication like this is one of the most effective techniques in ads, and it makes this short wordless ad into a happy experience for viewers.

McDonald's (Leo Burnett)

Happy Readers

A purpose-driven ad putting the spotlight on McDonalds’ book giveaways - they’ve given away over 130 million books via Happy Meals in the last decade. This proud claim comes at the end of an ad which is mostly a celebration of reading, with a bit of sneaky product placement. The combination of books, kids, and good deeds is tough to resist.

Go Türkiye

Turkish Riviera, East Mediterranean

One of several Turkey tourism ads in our list, a short, sweet series of clips of life and leisure on the “Turkish Riviera”. As usual, goturkiye.com let the scenery and atmosphere do the work, with no voiceover or deal offers breaking the spell. Simplicity is the right approach.

Bonne Maman (Space City)

Chocolate Mousse

Cake and jam brand Bonne Maman could have released this ad any time in the last 30 years and it would have performed well. That’s not a criticism - it gets the basics very right with strong branding, human emotion, tender moments between a mum and daughter and best of all lots of enticing food shots.

Lidl (Accenture Song)

The Story of Lidl Bear

Lidl join the Christmas character trend in a uniquely tongue in cheek way with “The Story of Lidl Bear”, an ad which both gently mocks Christmas characters and also reaps the benefits of putting a very cute bear in the middle of your ad. An extremely warm reception from viewers shows they got the balance right.

Wrigley (Energy BBDO)

Dance Like No One’s Watching

Unlikely characters breaking into wild dances never fails to raise a smile with an audience, and it’s a potent visual metaphor for the instant joy a confectionery brand can deliver. In this short but striking spot the dancer is an office worker and the music is Carly Rae Jepsen. 5-Stars for the ad, if not for the moves.

Naturo (10 Associates)

Naturo Nose, Naturally

In the race for emotional effectiveness, pet food brands have an unfair advantage. They can do what natural pet food brand Naturo does and fill 30 seconds with the faces of happily-fed dogs. Except it’s not that easy - you have to stand out too, which Naturo does with an unobtrusive but memorable message and a cute remake of the kids’ rhyme “Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes”.

Visit Dundee

Put Dundee on your Map

Not every 5-Star travel ad is for an exotic destination. There are striking and beautiful places closer to home. Dundee’s tourist ad is a great example of how a stirring voiceover and well-chosen footage can make UK-based holidays a deeply appealing proposition rather than a cheap alternative.

Tesco (BBH)

The Christmas Party

Tesco’s Christmas ad took a lighthearted look at a year (ok, several years) of political upheaval with its concept of the “Christmas Party”, bringing the nation together with a festive manifesto. It scored highest in this cut-down version of the full ad, which balanced some of the main ad’s jokes with the money-saving promise of a cut-price Christmas dinner. A vote-winning mix of humour and deals.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream (VCCP)

Cadbury Ice Cream. You already know you’re going to love it

A Cadbury ad in their signature style - quiet slices of life from a child’s point of view. It’s a style that has generated a raft of 5-Star ads and won the brand the IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix. No surprise to see this ad for an ice cream brand extension add to that 5-Star collection with a story of a boy trying to make his own Dairy Milk ice cream.

Barbour (Againstallodds)

One of a Kind-ness

Barbour’s recent Christmas ads have starred some of Britain’s best loved classic children’s characters, the perfect conceptual fit for a brand whose positioning leans heavily on British heritage. Paddington Bear starred in their 2021 ad and he returned in 2022 on the hunt for a perfect Christmas gift for his friend. Audiences once again loved it.

Nike (Wieden+Kennedy)

Serena Legacy

Serena Williams’ retirement last year was the end of an era for tennis, and also for Nike’s advertising. For almost two decades the great champion starred in Nike’s ads, and this heartfelt and inspiring tribute to Serena proved a 5-Star way to close the book on this chapter of their partnership.

London Tourism (M&C Saatchi, Wavemaker)

Let’s Do London

A bustling city gets a busy, split screen tourism ad packed with London icons and set to a bouncy slam poetry soundtrack. London-centric ads don’t always perform well with the wider UK public but this 5-Star ad feels inclusive, welcoming and a lot of fun.

Lindt

Lindt Excellence

Cadbury’s Secret Santa promotion has been running for a few years with solidly good scores, but in 2022 it broke through the 5-Star barrier thanks to ads which made the wonderful gimmick clearer than ever. If you saw a Secret Santa poster you could use it to gift someone chocolate on the spot - a lovely use of outdoor activation brought to life in this warm-hearted spot.

Cadbury (VCCP)

Secret Santa

Cadbury’s Secret Santa promotion has been running for a few years with solidly good scores, but in 2022 it broke through the 5-Star barrier thanks to ads which made the wonderful gimmick clearer than ever. If you saw a Secret Santa poster you could use it to gift someone chocolate on the spot - a lovely use of outdoor activation brought to life in this warm-hearted spot.

Boots (The Pharm and VMLY&R)

#JoyForAll

Boots’ Christmas ad this year moves away from the brand’s usual focus on gifting and instead celebrates festive joy. In the ad, a young woman finds a pair of magic glasses which let her see the joy in everything - a simple metaphor which allows for a lot of playful visual effects and creates a memorable (and well-branded) ad.

M&S

Fairy is Back and is Joined by her New Sidekick Duckie!

We’ve seen Dawn French’s Fairy and Jennifer Saunders’ Duckie higher up the list with a shorter ad - this full version also got 5-Stars though and shows how Fairy brings Duckie to life, while also showing off plenty of delicious food. As you’d expect from the classic double act, there’s plenty of chemistry between the lead characters and the between-ness makes for a very effective ad.

Red Bull (Kastner & Partners)

Knights

From the second you see that distinctive cartoon animation you know it’s a Red Bull ad. Along with the “gives you wiiings” tagline it makes for one of the most distinctive and effective Fluent Device scenarios - no wonder the campaign has been running for decades. This “jousting” execution is one of the brand’s highest scoring yet, with an upbeat ending promoting their summer 2022 variants.

Morrisons (Publicis Poke)

Morrisons Farmer Christmas Advert 2022

Morrison’s scored a success last year with Farmer Christmas - the guy who is to Christmas food what Santa is to presents. He’s back with another 5-Star ad, proving the idea’s appeal to audiences. As with some other grocery brands, though, the most effective version of the ad is a cut-down, deal-focused version rather than the full length original.

Aldi

Aldi Christmas. Asian Inspired Selection. King Prawns in Blankets

The benefit of having a brilliant brand character is that they can liven up even the most straightforward of sales activation ads. Here Kevin The Carrot - and his rhyming narrator - turn an advert for savoury prawn snacks into an extra helping of Christmas joy.

Ferrero

The NEW Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Bar

Ferrero Rocher are legends of confectionery advertising - their “ambassador” series hit a tone of slightly tongue-in-cheek luxury which so many brands since have tried to imitate. It’s great to see them in the Top 50 list with this 5-Star ad for a new launch, a bar version of their signature chocolate.

Wall's (LOLA MullenLowe)

Classics can be Remixed

Wall’s remix both their ice cream and their ad for this 20-second version of their “Pleasure Residence” spot. There’s plenty of mouthwatering Magnum product shots but it’s the moment of human between-ness between the older couple that pushes the ad into top-scoring territory.

Matalan

2-pack Sweatshirts, Cardigans, Trousers, Shirts & Blouses and Pinafores

It’s unusual to see a Back-To-School ad in the year’s Top 50 - most of them don’t do a great job of sparking emotion and concentrate instead on offers and sales activation. That’s understandable given the small window for back-to-school buying but Matalan’s joyful ad full of dancing, smiling kids is proof that you can find a balance and ensure a sales-driving ad still gets 5-Stars.

Guylian

The Original Seashells

The seashell shape of Guylian’s chocolates is their main distinctive asset, so this ad has plenty of sea imagery in amongst the category-standard promises of indulgent pleasure and the swirling shots of melted chocolate. Nothing unusual for a confectionery ad, and its placing reflects the overall appeal of the premium chocolate category as an indulgence in difficult times.

Amazon

Red Riding Hood

Amazon’s retelling of Red Riding Hood to promote Black Friday deals adds a comic twist and does something unusual for a 5-Star ad. While plenty of ads introduce sadness into a story and resolve it, it’s much rarer to successfully do the same with fear, like Amazon does here.

North Cyprus

Nature, Culture, History

As seen elsewhere on the list, Turkey are masters of the effective tourism ad, so it’s no surprise to see this commercial for Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus use plenty of the same techniques we’ve seen in ads for mainland Turkey. Political disputes are kept well away from this very attractive - and effective - tourism commercial.

Great! Movies

Narrative Entertainment UK

The Great! TV brand began life as a Sony offshoot and its free-to-view channels have gone through multiple rebrands. Hopefully this latest branding will stick around for a while as audiences respond well to its upbeat ads showing off the impressive range of classic and modern properties Great! can schedule.

Haribo (Quiet Storm)

Police

Haribo’s adult actors with children’s voices campaign is a reliably high scorer: incongruous humour often performs well. This latest execution finds two policemen contemplating an unusual crime scenario and gave Haribo another 5-Star success.

Amazon Prime

Every Smile Tells a Story

From original drama to live sports to classic movies, Amazon Prime’s sheer range of streaming media makes a highlights ad tricky to compile. To knit such disparate things together Amazon have used Aretha Franklin’s legendary “I Say a Little Prayer” as a kind of sonic glue that turns a compilation of their best shows into a unified and emotionally appealing whole.

Fox’s Biscuits (McCann Manchester)

Fox's Half Coated Milk Chocolate Cookies

Fox’s ad is for chocolate biscuits not chocolate but it still ticks all the boxes of the modern confectionery ad (as seen on this list with Lindt and Guylian). Lingering shots of how the product is made, a soothing voiceover, and a young woman enjoying a moment of bliss - all very conventional but done well enough to earn 5-Stars.

Adidas

Support is Everything

Adidas here become one of the first brands to get a 5-Star score for an ad in which people with disabilities get to speak about their lives in their own voices, rather than rely on narrative storytelling. A simple ad in which a young woman celebrates the support she gets from her fitness instructor, with Adidas advertising the support its sports bra gives at the end. A good example of a brand getting out of its own way to put emotional response first.

People’s Postcode Lottery

August Postcode Millions

Ads for lotteries and other competitions have a tricky tightrope to walk - they have an easy route to emotional impact by showing winners, but they also have to feel credible. The cheerful approach here with ordinary people delighted to win prizes in the thousands not millions helps this draw feel down to earth.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference

Sainsbury's full-length Christmas ad starring Alison Hammond missed out on the list but this short sales-activation edit gets to the core of the work - a lovely pudding and the star's delighted reaction. It's a good example of how even the shortest edits can provoke an emotional response if the central elements of an ad are intact, and in this case the greater focus actually beats the parent ad.