What's the best long-running campaign? Dove, Nike and more make The Drum Ad Awards shortlist
Long-life campaigns for Audi, Dove and McDonald's have been shortlisted for the Best Long-term Campaign category at The Drum Advertising Awards. In association with the Financial Times, the category celebrates long-term thinking in advertising by celebrating some of the greatest long-term ad campaigns still running today.
The shortlist for Best Long-Term Campaign The Drum Advertising Awards has been announced
Judges for the category included: Al Young, chief creative officer at FCB Inferno; Finola McDonnell, chief communications and marketing officer at the Financial Times; Michael Pring, deputy chairman and chief marketing officer at AMV BBDO; David Stratton, general manager of marketing for BT and BT Sport; and Zaid Al-Zaidy, chief executive officer of The Beyond Collective.
The group chose a shortlist of six campaigns from a long list of suggestions from readers of The Drum. Nominated campaigns had to have been running for at least five years, and still be in circulation at the time of judging.
According to Young, long-term campaigns can be "incredible platforms for brands" and provide ways of navigating all - and any - communications challenges a business might face. "There's a funny thing about long-running ad campaigns. Their very familiarity makes us feel that all is well in the world," said the creative, whose portfolio includes campaigns like 'Slap' for Tango ('You know when you've been Tango'd').
The campaigns that have made the shortlist are:
- Audi: 'Vorsprung Durch Technik'
- Nike: 'Just Do It'
- Specsavers: 'Should've Gone to Specsavers'
- McDonald's: 'I'm Lovin' It'
- Red Bull: 'Gives You Wings'
- Dove: 'Campaign for Real Beauty'
Discussing the campaigns, BT's Stratton remarked that McDonald's platform has done "phenomenal work to turn the brand around", while Al-Zaidy praised the integrated nature of Red Bull's famous proposition. "Red Bull is paving the way... it's a new shape for a campaign," he said.
Meanwhile Young noted that "just because something's been running a long time doesn't mean it should be applauded." He went on to praise the work behind Nike and Audi's campaigns.
"The great thing about Nike's 'Just Do It' is that one thing lows into another," he asserted. "You can't see the joins- it's everything a great campaign should be. Seem to retain the freshness and the effortlessness. And they make it look easy. With Audi, it's a point of view in the world, it's a spirit, it's an ethos."
With the average tenure of chief marketing officers having fallen to 18 months and digital advances making short-term marketing spend easier to measure, The Drum is campaigning for marketers and advertisers to think long-term about their brands and creative. According to Patrick Collister, former executive creative director and chair of Ogilvy & Mather the industry is "witnessing the slow death of the brand."
The Drum Advertising Awards ceremony will take place at The Postal Museum in London on 29 November. Tickets and tables can be purchased now.
You can take a look at some of the best known creative from the shortlisted campaigns below.