Cape Town - While South Africa’s best and most creative ads of the past year are about to be awarded by the juries of the Loerie Awards; Google on Saturday released its YouTube Ads Leaderboard, providing a glimpse into the people’s choice of their favourite ads.
The YouTube Loeries-to-Loeries Ads Leaderboard ranks the top-viewed global and local ads since the last Loeries, based on the number of views they received by South Africans on YouTube.
The list spans across football and charity, to love and toilet odours, proving there are many different passions to be reached amongst the YouTube audience.
Selfie shootout rules
Topping the global list is Turkish Airlines’ “Kobe vs Messi: The Selfie Shootout” – the second of a series of ads showing these two famous sports stars compete for attention.
Other top ads include Van Damme’s epic split between two Volvo trucks, Budweiser’s heartwarming Superbowl hit affectionately starring a puppy and a horse; and clothing company Wren’s viral sensation First Kiss ad that showed strangers kissing for the first time.
“Football has little to do with Turkish airlines, Van Damme’s acrobatic abilities bear no correlation to Volvo, and recording 10 pairs of strangers kissing for the first time is a far cry from the fashion advertising we are used to seeing, but what all these ads have in common is that they tell deeply authentic and engaging stories,” said Elizma Nolte, Google SA marketing manager.
Youtube ads leaderboard @loeries my favourite still @Anton_Taylor with @WeChatZA pic.twitter.com/TzJG3enQoA
— Luke Mckend (@lmckend) September 19, 2014
Size matters
Interestingly, the top ads are on average two minutes and longer, with some of them more than five minutes in duration.
“For a long time the belief was that when it comes to online video, shorter is better, the thinking being that viewers lose attention after about 30 seconds,” said Nolte.
“What we’ve seen on YouTube, where we can measure exactly how long an ad is watched, is that viewers will lose attention after five seconds if the content isn’t engaging them – but if it is, they’ll happily watch an advert through to the end, even up to six minutes.”
This trend is stretching to South Africa, as seen with the two-minute “Coke Grannies” ad, which Coca-Cola used to engage South Africans around the Football World Cup by telling the story of a group of soccer-loving grannies who started their own league. It comes in at number five on the local Ads Leaderboard, which includes only locally produced ads.
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek irreverence is another trend viewed across YouTube’s favourite ads. A good example is Number 4 on the local Ads Leaderboard: “I Hate Valentine’s Day” - a slightly naughty collaboration between WeChat and YouTube star Anton Taylor.
“What we see on YouTube is that people respond strongly to content that provokes deep emotions - specifically emotions of surprise and inspiration,” said Nolte. “The South Africa Tourism ad [Reconsider South Africa, No 2 on the local Leaderboard] definitely speaks to inspirational bit; while something like “Girls Don't Poop” [No. 9 on the global list] has a large element of surprise. Both were shared widely.”
Global Loeries-to-Loeries YouTube Ads Leaderboard:
1. Turkish Airlines - Kobe v Messi: The Selfie
Creative Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Media Agency: N/A
2. YouTube - YouTube Rewind: What does 2013 say?
Creative Agency: Portal-A
Media Agency: Essence Digital
3. WREN - First Kiss
Creative Agency: Unknown
Media Agency: Unknown
4. Volvo Trucks - The Epic Split featuring Van Damme
Creative Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Media Agency: Vizeum
5. Budweiser - Superbowl XLVIII commercial - ‘Puppy Love”
Creative Agency: Anomaly
Media Agency: Busch Media Group
6. Nike Football - Winner Stays
Creative Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Media Agency: Mindshare Portland
7. Google - Google Zeitgeist I Here’s to 2013
Creative Agency: Adam & Eve DDB
Media Agency: PHD & Essence
8. Save the Children - Most shocking second a day video
Creative Agency: Don't Panic
Media Agency: N/A
9. PooPourri.com - Girls Don't Poop
Creative Agency: The Harmon Brothers
Media Agency: N/A
10. Samsung - Galaxy S5 Official Introduction
Creative Agency: Cheil
Media Agency: Starcom Mediavest
Local Loeries-to-Loeries Leaderboard:
1. DA - ANC Ayisafani
Media Agency: CONNECT
2. South Africa Tourism - Reconsider South Africa
Creative Agency: Ireland Davenport
3. Halls - Klein Kimmie
Media Agency: iProspect
Creative Agency: Ogilvy Cape Town
4. WeChat - I Hate Valentine's Day
Creative Agency: Ogilvy Cape Town
5. Coca Cola - Granny's Grannies Football
Media Agency: Mediashop
Creative Agency: Coca-Cola South Africa with Draft FCB Johannesburg
- Fin24.