Each quarter, The Research Agency asks a nationally representative sample of Kiwis which ads are resonating with them. We ask them a simple, unprompted question: “What is your favourite ad on TV at the moment?” For the first time, Australians were also surveyed.
The latest results are in, and New Zealanders have spoken. What’s the secret to securing a spot in the top five? Resident New Zealand ad expert Carl Sarney, Head of Strategy at TRA, weighs in on what makes the top ads so memorable.
A winning formula
In survey after survey, one of the stand-out favourite ad components uniting the top favourite ads is creative commitment. Creative commitment is an effectiveness strategy identified by James Hurman and Peter Field. It outlines three crucial commitments brands can make to embed their campaigns more deeply in the public’s consciousness.
The first crucial commitment is sticking to a recognisable creative platform over the long term – such as characters or consistent use of brand codes.
The second is media spend: brands need a sufficient share of voice in their category. This doesn’t necessarily mean having the biggest media investment – it’s about having a share of media spend vs competitors that is proportionate
to your market share.
The third is executing the recognisable platform across all touchpoints. The top favourite advertisers on TV are extending their famous characters and taglines across cinema, out-of-home, print, radio, and digital, as well as through owned touchpoints like websites, stores and packaging.
One story, spread as big as you can afford to spread it, is creating highly effective, enduring icons that are loved by the public. It’s good news for everybody – campaigns loved by the public tend to drive results that are loved by the C-suite too.
1. ASB – Ben and Amy [No change in rankings]
ASB stays in first place with its ‘stay one step ahead of scammers’ ad, keeping Ben and Amy ahead of rival ANZ
this quarter.
While it’s not the only ASB spot to get mentioned in this ranking, it is the most recent. At a time when fraud and scam cases are making headlines, watching these much-loved characters go about avoiding scams has clearly struck
a chord with New Zealanders.
ASB exemplifies strong creative commitment. The ads continue to use these characters to illustrate how ASB is helping everyone stay one step ahead – from product demonstrations to sports sponsorships and now their Scam Hub initiative. All these messages are unmistakeably ASB and they’re landing. The public is loving it.
2. ANZ – We Do How [No change in rankings]
ANZ has retained its No. 2 spot with another strong example
of creative commitment. The latest in the Sharma family series sees a milestone. As viewers watch the family celebrate Claire’s two years in business, ANZ illustrates how it can help with the HOWTWO Small Business Support programme.
Like ASB, this latest ad from ANZ isn’t the only one in the series to get mentioned. In the battle of the banks, there is a clear winner: creative effectiveness. Commitment to a singular brand platform across messaging and touchpoints is keeping both brands in the minds of New Zealanders, over and over again.
3. Turners – Tina from Turners [No change in rankings]
Tina from Turners is fast becoming a loved personality in her own right. She’s described as hilarious, vibrant, positive and charming. There’s no mistaking who the ads are for – Turners gets full credit. Not only is Tina’s name humorously linked to the brand, but Tina wears a staff uniform and every story masterfully focuses on her love of selling cars.
Sean Wiggans, General Manager of Marketing at Turners, points to a key effectiveness principle behind the campaign: focusing on one message. In 2022, the campaign picked up the Marketing Supreme Award at the Marketing Awards and was awarded two gold Effies. Since then, results have continued to accelerate, with the campaign delivering another record profit at the end of March 2023.
4. Pak’nSave – Stickman [No change in rankings]
Stickman has been the face of Pak’nSave for 15 years and is
still making Kiwis laugh. This campaign is a masterclass in long-term brand building – the character, voice and yellow and black world are all instantly recognisable, distinctive assets.
Stickman is a consistent reminder of Pak’nSave’s brand positioning. Everything the brand does, including its no-frills advertising style, is to save customers money. This consistency and focus is what has helped Pak’nSave fend off fierce competition.
5. Genesis – George and her family [+3 places]
While some favourite ads come and go, others stay in the rankings for the long haul. Genesis is yet another high-performing brand that has adopted a long-term creative commitment strategy and won. Genesis has jumped three places in the rankings since December.
Genesis has built an enduring platform to talk to multiple proof points. Kiwis are getting to know more about the family with every execution.
Special mention: 6. New World – Find Your Wonderful [New to list]
A new entrant to the favourite ads rankings. New World has been running brand ads for some time, but its latest effort has finally landed in the top 10.
What’s unusual about this is the storytelling. While most favourite ads focus on one story, New World has managed three mini-stories all within one ad.
Supermarket brands have the challenge of appealing to a very broad audience. In this example, New World has managed to represent a young couple, a father and daughter and an older lady with her carer. It’s a smart way of signalling that everyone shops at New World.
A particularly clever element about how the story comes together is when the emotional high-point, involving an
‘I love you’ sausage roll, takes place outside a store with a great big New World logo in the background. When ads telling stories about food could easily be mistaken for other brands, incorporating brand codes into the emotional high point will likely help New World stick in people’s memory.
Meanwhile in AUSTRALIA…
While New Zealand and Australia share many cultural references, one thing they don’t share is what they look for in an ad.
This year, Aussies were asked what their favourite adverts are, and the results on either side of the Tasman reveal some fascinating insights, says TRA.
Where Kiwis prefer ongong stories about familiar characters – ASB’s Ben and Amy, ANZ’s Sharma family – Australians like those focused on branded storytelling and situational humour, as in Cadbury’s generosity theme and Toyota’s take on a messy divorce.
In Australia, ads resonated because the brand was strongly linked to the creative idea, says TRA Australia’s Alex Forrester.
“KFC’s ‘Look on the Fried Side of Life’ is a textbook example, a perfect combination of great human insight and brand truth… that sometimes we do feel defeated by life, and KFC is good because it’s bad.”
The results suggest New Zealand ads seem to be happier about discussing the idea of “Kiwi-ness”, but an equivalent sense of “Aussie-ness” only features indirectly, via sport or the weather.
It could reflect the pride New Zealanders feel about being a Kiwi, says TRA, compared to a sense of unease felt by Australians around being Aussie.
The Aussie top 5
- KFC ‘Look on the Fried Side of Life’
- Telstra ‘This is Footy Country’
- Aldi ‘Shop Aldi First’
- Cadbury ‘There’s a Glass & a Half in Everyone’
- Woolworths ‘Packed With Pride’
This was first published in the 2024 June-July NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
