ADS WORTH SPREADING

Ted Initiatives
ads worth spreading

contents
2
INTRODUCTION
6
STORYTELLING
13
talk
17
cultural compass
21
brand bravery
26
social good
30
creative wonder

Ted Initiatives
ads worth spreading

Introduction
advertising has changed.
Gone are the days when audience members were captive in front of their
TV screens, unable to change the channel without getting up from the
couch. It isnt just that its easier to change the channel now consumers can just as easily change their screens. Smartphones, tablets, laptops
and desktops are everywhere but connecting with consumers has, paradoxically, become more difficult. As fast as advertising has changed, it
must evolve faster still if it hopes to reach people today and, more to the
point, tomorrow.

Ted Initiatives
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but how?
In crisis, as they say, there is opportunity. As the digital wave has swept away old practices, exciting new ways
to reach and converse with consumers have sprung up in their place. Media consumption is at an all-time high;
Americans now spend more than eight hours per day consuming media. U.S. Internet users are already watching
roughly 10 billion video ads a month.
The marriage of content with technology has created a seamlessness in the conversation between brands and
consumers. Almost half of tablet and smartphone users tap at their devices while watching TV, according to
Nielsen. Apps can help consumers track their diets, golf swings and bank accounts.
Increasingly, we are seeing how brands have evolved as content creators. Some of the best advertising today
reflects the narrative storytelling that used to be the sole domain of serious content.

content driven by ideas

Conventional wisdom says that consumers have a shrinking or fixed attention span. This is only partly true; consumers
have limited attention for distractions. As is clear from the success of 18 minute TED talks, which have been viewed
about one billion times, they have plenty of time for content that can delight, inform and even frighten. What the audience demands is content driven by ideas.
TED began Ads Worth Spreading to provide a platform for conversations about creating not just effective advertising,
but great content. It was an opportunity for the advertising industry to step outside of itself and see how it fits in the
zeitgeist.

WERE SEEKING TO REVERSE THE

TREND OF ADS BEING AGGRESSIVELY
FORCED ON USERS. WE WANT TO
NURTURE ADS SO GOOD YOU CHOOSE
TO WATCHAND SHARE.

Our goal was to promote a new type of online video, the

kind so good that people actually want to seek it out,
watch it and share it with their friends. There were many
worthy ads worth celebrating we wanted to highlight
the best ones and offer the prescription of content curation as a cure for digital overload.

Chris Anderson, TED curator

Ads Worth Spreading is a clarion call for the industry to

engage in a new discussion of ideas.

Ted Initiatives
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how it worked
In an industry that often speaks to itself, we sought multiple perspectives on the creative output of the advertising
world. What happens, we asked, when you take a curatorial view of ads instead of following a model where agencies
honor their own work?
We created six nomination teams to seek out compelling ads, each made up of a renowned TED speaker and a rising
star from the advertising industry. The teams examined ads according to key themes but also ranged beyond those
themes to comment on other spots and issues that commanded their attention. The makeup of the teams was:

Storytelling

Brand Bravery

TED Speaker Mary Roach, journalist and author

Mark Pytlik, Founder, Stink Digital London

Eliza Esquivel, former Planning Director, TBWA\

Chiat\Day New York

TED Speaker Tim Brown, CEO IDEO

Talk

Ari Kuschnir, Director, m ss ng p eces

TED Speaker Dan Pink, career analyst

Social Good

TED Fellow Nassim Assefi, doctor+author+global

womens health specialist

Cultural Compass

Tom Beckman, Creative Director, Prime PR

TED Speaker Johanna Blakley, Deputy Director of

Stockholm

the Norman Lear Center

Kenzo Digital, former Creative Director, Wieden +

Creative Wonder

Jinal Shah, Digital Strategist, JWT

TED Speaker Raghava KK, contemporary artist

Kennedy

This paper provides a summary of what we learned from Ads Worth Spreading, how it informs key conversations in the
ad industry and how these learnings can be applied.
We learned that, first and foremost, ads must be driven by ideas. It is no longer enough to repeat the pour shots, bites
and smiles that have defined a large portion of advertising to this point. Brands must create wonder and find their
place within the larger cultural conversations. We also found that if ads are going to convey a message, agencies must
untether themselves from the notion that it can only come in a 15- or 30-second spot (though the audience made it
known when they felt the videos were too long).
Ads must be thoroughly integrated into the social media landscape videos are posted on YouTube, then tweeted and
shared on Facebook. The post-production conversation is an essential part of the discussion between brands and consumers. And if theres going to be a conversation, brands should have something to say.

Ted Initiatives
ads worth spreading

We also went a step further, putting them in front of consumers to gauge their reactions. We partnered with advertising analytics firm Ace Metrix, which asked 500 consumers to score ads across a wide range of dimensions that
included persuasion, watchability and emotional sentiment. These metrics were combined with a series of questions
that drew from this paper. The result was a complete view of each ads performance with a U.S. audience.

the 2011/12 ads worth spreading

Canal+: The Bear

Microsoft: Kinect Effect

Brand: Canal+

Brand: Microsoft

Agency: BETC

Agency: twofifteenmccann San Francisco

Chipotle: Back to the Start

NTT Docomo: Xylophone

Brand: Chipotle

Brand: NTT Docomo, Inc.

Agency: Creative Artists Agency Los Angeles

Agency: Drill Inc., Dentsu Inc. Tokyo

Engagement Citoyen: The Return of Dictator

Prudential Day One: Linda

Ben Ali

Brand: Prudential

Brand: Engagement Citoyen

Agency: Droga5 New York

Agency: Memac Ogilvy Tunisia

Rethink Breast Cancer: Your Man Reminder

LOreal Paris: Aimee Mullins

Brand: Rethink Breast Cancer

Brand: LOreal Paris

Agency: john st. Toronto

Agency: R/GA New York

Sharpie: Start with Sharpie

Mazda: Defy Convention

Brand: Sharpie

Brand: Mazda

Agency: Draftfcb Chicago

Agency: Team Cosmos/JWT Germany/Team Mazda

Europe

storytelling
ads must be driven by ideas

chapter one
summary
Advertising in the 21st Century is in a perpetual state of reinvention. Yet, in the midst of the upheaval caused by
digital technology, we have seen a broad embrace of storytelling in ads. This mirrors the broader cultural shift toward
nuanced plotlines in TV shows such as Mad Men, a series about, what else, the inner turmoil of an adman in an era of
rapid change.
Increasingly, brands and technology platforms are valuing viewer engagement over other measures of success. In
March, for example, YouTube changed its recommendation system so that the time a user spends with a video is a
more powerful recommendation than a user click. Highly ranked videos tell stories that hook viewers.
As story has become central, we have seen the emergence of the documercial, an ad that extends to two, three and
even four minutes. These ads hold on to viewers through character and story arcs that were previously the domain of
serious media. It may also be a smart investment to create an ad that will continue to attract searches long after it is
no longer being actively promoted.
Some of the most heralded ads in the AWS challenge, such as Prudentials Day One: Linda (Droga5), were driven
by a central character who told a simple story. Mazdas Defy Convention (Team Cosmos/JWT Germany/Team Mazda

Ted Initiatives
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Europe) featured an employee of the Hiroshima-based automaker talking about how residents of the city, destroyed in
World War II, overcame almost unimaginable challenges. Their spirit animates the car company to this day.
Sharpies Start with Sharpie (Draftfcb), featured the more personal story of Cheeming Boey, a young Malaysian-born
illustrator who uses an unusual canvas for his art disposable coffee cups.
The stripped-down quality of this approach appealed directly to the curators sense that the most indelible messages
break through the faux glamour and gloss of traditional ads. These ads found a balance between service to the brand
and telling a compelling story for its own sake.

Mazdas: Defy Convention (TeamCosmos)

Ted Initiatives
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aws focus on idea-driven ads

Prudentials Day One: Linda, embodies this spirit of complexity by telling the story of a woman on her first day of retirement. She has recently lost her husband and is adjusting to the many changes in her life. The ad runs for three-and-ahalf minutes, but the story that evolves justifies the length.
The ad began as a social campaign by Prudential to collect peoples stories on their first day of retirement. Even when
the numbers form a compelling case, we need to tell a human story in order to persuade. We could provide concrete data
around why everyone needs to save for retirement, but watching stories of real people on their first day of retirement is
much more powerful.The spot grew organically from that campaign and reversed the usual creative flow: Droga5 captured the story first and built the spot around it, rather than searching for an idea to fill a spot.
Linda subverts the traditional ideas of retirement foisted on us by decades of ads featuring contented couples reclining
on their yachts. Its about the brand listening to its customers and audience and reflecting back what theyre saying. Life
is complex; our storytellers should have the courage to express that complexity.

Prudential Day One: Linda (Droga5)

Ted Initiatives
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the ads creator said

We wanted to tackle the big challenges in society and to deal with it on a macro
level. Were not dealing with the fake kind of faade, were dealing with the big
issues that affect all of us.
Kevin Brady

nominator teams on idea-driven ads

I chose ads that consciously did not manipulate me, allowed me to feel the way I
wanted to feel instead of telling me how to feel. That was really critical for me.
TED speaker Raghava KK, contemporary artist

how ted saw it

With competition for consumer attention at an all-time high, story is what sets apart ads that people feel compelled to
share. Other advertising trends shareability, social good, the rise of the documercial are only possible if they are
carried by a strong story.
Questions brands should consider:

How does the story convey the brands value?

What is the most simple and direct way of telling a story?
Is the voice authentic?
How do I captivate human attention without reference to a standard length?

Ted Initiatives
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how viewers saw it - Linda

Attention Score

Linda captivated the attention of viewers over 50 in particular. While some viewers connected with the emotional message, 7 percent felt the advertisement was depressing. Still, even those who found the spot sad scored it highly.

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how viewers saw it - sharpie

Likeability Score

VIEWER REACTION
The fact that the ad had a human interest plot and didnt constantly mention the product, made it special. I only heard
Sharpie twice in the ad, but because I was paying attention, I will remember the name far longer than if it had been
mentioned twenty times.

Viewers remarked on the length of the three-minute Sharpie ad but still gave it an outstanding score of 674. And viewers across all ages, incomes and genders found the spot extremely likeable. Many viewers (16 percent) associated the
ad closely with Sharpie, even though the product was not front and center, suggesting that the ad was a success from a
branding perspective. Finally, roughly eight of ten viewers said they would share the spot this was highest such score
for all of the ads.

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Ted Initiatives
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how viewers saw it - Mazda

Clocking in at four minutes, this advertisement was among the longest in the AWS, but still scored very well. The ad was
also successful in changing peoples perception of the brand. Almost all viewers (94 percent) found the sentiment in the
spot authentic.

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talk
continuing the conversation on
multiple platforms

chapter two
summary
We all know ads that are so touching, funny or engaging that we feel compelled to email them, tweet them and post them
on social media. Some of the most forward-looking and compelling ads in the Ads Worth Spreading challenge encouraged viewers to share content and gave them a place to have the discussion. The winning videos, in these senses, were
trailers for a discussion that would happen elsewhere, on other platforms. For brands facing costs of up to $4 million for
a 30-second Super Bowl spot, social media campaigns provide an effective new means of reaching the audience.
The AWS Talk category was initially defined by the style of video an individual would stare directly into the camera
and talk about a company or a cause. But Talk morphed during the judging process to take into account the dialogue
between a brand and the audience. Both conceptions of Talk are unified by a sense of intimacy with the audience
and the dialogue that they foster.
Most brands realize that ads are no longer messages to a passive audience. Marketers are now in the business of
peer group influencing and facilitating a discussion among customers, fans and others with thoughts on the brand.
Nielsens Global Trust in Advertising Survey shows that 92 percent of people trust word of mouth recommendation
from friends and family and 70 percent trust online consumer reviews. All of the winners of Ads Worth Spreading
scored well in these metrics.

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Ted Initiatives
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The social element of a campaign is not always successful if it feels tacked on or doesnt appeal to consumers, it
can fall flat. Some people feel that certain brands can never become their friends, even in the figurative sense used
by Facebook. Likewise, an overreliance on technology can make a campaign unnecessarily complicated and detract
from the ideas behind an ad.

aws focus on social media

LOreal Pariss Aimee Mullins Ad (R/GA) updated the iconic Because Youre Worth It campaign by introducing the
athlete, double amputee and TED alumna Aimee Mullins as the brand ambassador.
The ad ended with the tagline To be continued at LOreals Facebook page. Viewers were encouraged to continue
the conversation about the nature of beauty that Mullins ad had explored. The Amy Mullins post on Facebook received
a flurry of comments and likes from users. One Facebook fan wrote, simply, More please.

LOreal Paris: Aimee Mullins (R/GA)

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Ted Initiatives
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the ads creator said

It was really the detail of that story that is more compelling and interesting than the
thirty-second ad. And so what we wanted to do was bring that full story to life in
social media.
William Charnock, R/GA

nominator teams on idea-driven ads

We cannot limit ourselves to long-format video. TED is about ideas and storytelling.
The way we communicate ideas and stories is going to continue to change.
Eliza Esquivel, former Planning Director, TBWA\Chiat\Day New York

how ted saw it

Ads should open up the possibility for people to participate with brands through social media. Not only does the
experience encourage loyalty, it also helps brands seek feedback on which messages resonate with their audiences.
Not every campaign can be organized around social media but, from here on, social will be an essential part of the
creative process.
Questions brands should consider:

Will the message be resonant enough to encourage consumers to engage?

What responses do they hope to elicit from contributors?
How can they adjust and adapt to customer feedback?
What are the best channels for engagement?

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How Viewers Saw It Aimee Mullins

The spot performed well with men but did even better with women, who said the ad delivered an inspiring (8 percent)
message (7 percent). However, a portion of the audience found the ad long (14 percent) and boring (6 percent).
Perhaps most strikingly, viewers found the sentiment behind the ad authentic and praised LOreal Paris for Mullins
frank discussion of the famous slogan.

VIEWER REACTION
I like that LOreal is using a less than perfect woman as a model. She also just happens to look like my best friend who is
dealing with personal problems. As a diabetic with weight issues (and the possible loss of feet) I like the idea that not only
can I still be beautiful, but that this message will remind others of the different types of female beauty.
I love this ad because it is not the norm to display people with disabilities as spokespersons for companies. LOreal is
embracing the fact that not everyone is a size 2, tall, blonde bombshell! Were all...
I honestly loved this ad. I usually hate video advertisements, especially on TV; however, this one was incredible. Calm,
American speaker, speaking (seemingly) honestly, and with her career. This ad was fa...
Refreshing to see a real, intelligent woman instead of a model with a blank stare Interesting to hear her take on beauty and
LOreals slogan and how it relates to her own perception of herself.

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cultural compass
is your brand pointed in
the right direction

chapter three
summary
The advent of social media has provided not only the technology but the conceptual framework for brands to listen
to their audience. Brands that are most attuned to this conversation can reflect the zeitgeist, or even just transient
memes, in their advertising. Those that listen to and channel the cultural dialogue can readily connect with their
customers.
In this challenge, judges gravitated toward spots that reflected a brands commitment to a cause or idea. There was
a seriousness that pervaded the messaging. This stood in stark contrast to the stunt marketing, such as flash mobs,
that prevailed for a moment in advertising but are now deployed less often.
Chipotles Back to the Start (CAA) animation shone a light on sustainable farming while Microsofts Kinect Effect
(twofifteenmccann) addressed our evolving relationship with technology. The two spots were unified by a commitment to radical openness: Chipotle made a bold declaration of its principles while Microsoft effectively surrendered
control of its technology to see what people would do with it.
Cultural relevance is not a panacea for a campaign. But channeling the spirit of the moment can also make a brand
an indispensable part of the cultural dialogue.

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Ted Initiatives
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aws focus on cultural compass

Microsofts spot The Kinect Effect, more than any ad in recent years, captured the modern discussion about our
relationship with technology. Microsoft shows the different directions users have taken its Xbox Kinect technology and
embraces the DIY/hacker culture as an essential part of the product itself.
It is a perfect analogy for the age of user-driven content and conversations when the creators cede control of the
creative process to the community and great things happen.
The ads success is largely due to the fact that its fun even to watch other people play and work with the Kinect. But
the ads voiceover narration also frames the relationship between users and the technology evocatively.

Microsoft: Kinect Effect (twofifteenmccann)

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the ads creator said

We saw people out in the world had started to kind of adapt the kinect and use
the kinect to do things that I dont think anybody had had any idea was possibleit
seemed like a natural thing to actually take that and celebrate that spirit.
James Henry Robinson, twofifteenmccann

Our nominator teams said

The ads that we felt were most reflective of the moment were the ones that were
grappling with the difference or the relationship between the physical and the virtual
It was fascinating that this meta discourse seems to be happening in so many of the
really highly polished, beautifully produced ads that we felt instinctually were sort of
reflective of the zeitgeist.
TED Speaker Johanna Blakley, Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center

Advertising isnt setting trends anymore. Its largely derivative of whats going on in
online culture.
Blakelys co-curator Kenzo Digital

how ted saw it

Brands that listen closely to their customers can translate and represent new and innovative ways that their products
are used. They can also find ways to touch on cultural themes. This approach can risk coming across as trendy, so its
important to either assess the durability of trends or openly embrace their ephemerality.
Questions brands should consider:

What is the brands position in the cultural discussion and can an online video reflect that?
What hacks and other innovative uses are your customers finding for your products?
Is the cultural moment worth reflecting or is it a transient fad?
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how viewers saw it - Kinect

Viewers were delighted with the technological possibilities on display in the Kinect ad and rewarded the ad with an
exceptionally high score. The appeal of the ad was very broad, delivering high scores across age, gender and income,
though the spot was most successful in the 16-20 demographic.
The Kinect spot stood out and generated positive reactions cool, good, love -- with the exception of the word
boring, which accounted for 3 percent of mentions.

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brand bravery
brands find success amplifying
causes and ideals

chapter four
summary
In a world of nearly infinite choice, consumers increasingly base their purchasing decisions on factors beyond price and
product benefit. They look to how brands articulate their ideals; not simply the corporate culture, but the way in which they
aspire to benefit customers and the world. This makes good business sense. Consumer research has shown a strong correlation between brands with well-defined ideals and peoples positive opinions of those brands. Online video is a critical
medium for demonstrating those values for consumers, in part, because people most often research companies online.
AWS focused intensely on the question of how brands were communicating their desire to make the world a better
place. This is more of a challenge than it would seem. Brands must not only strike the right tone in their ads but also
be able to back up their claims with their actions.
In Your Man Reminder (john st.), Rethink Breast Cancer, a charity, features ripped, hunky men encouraging women to
check their breasts for lumps. The humor makes the message particularly memorable and ties directly to the groups
app, which features similarly hot guys who remind users to check their breasts each month. It is yet another example
of the spot serving as a trailer for a social component of the campaign.
The most celebrated example of brand bravery, however, was Chipotles Back to the Start ad.

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Ted Initiatives
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aws focus on brand bravery

Chipotles Back to the Start (CAA) spot features a small farmer who transforms his family farm into a grim factory
before seeing his mistake and restoring the farm. The two-minute, stop-motion animation was the clearest example of
a brand holding high the flag for its values.
Some AWS curators considered it the strongest piece in the challenge and it was mentioned in nearly every category.
It was also a rare instance in which curators from outside the ad industry were completely aligned with insiders in their
praise for the video. This was true even for those who had starkly divergent opinions on other ads. As seen below,
however, viewers had more mixed reviews.
The ad showed, in a compact and creative way, that Chipotle stands for family farmers and against industrial food
processes. Particularly inspiring was the choice of Willie Nelson, a well-known advocate for small farmers, to cover a
Coldplay song.
As a postscript, a review by the National Advertising Division of the Advertising Self-Regulating Council found that the
ads implied claims that the animals that provide meat for Chipotle are naturally raised were justified.

Chipotle: Back to the Start (Creative Artists Agency)

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the ads creator said

I think a brand can be a force for good as long as the company is a force for good,
meaning what theyre saying is what theyre actually doing.
Jesse Coulter, Creative Artists Agency

our nominator teams said

Chipotles ad is the ultimate Ad Worth Spreading.
Dan Pink and Ari Kuschnir

This stop-motion film has to be one of the most creatively compelling works
produced by a brand. The clear message about sustainable farming is presented in
an incredibly engaging and emotional manner.
Raghava KK & Jinal Shah

how ted saw it

Brands are often successful in large part because of their ideals. Ads that reflect a brands point of view on issues that
matter most to consumers are widely resonant. But the ad must accurately reflect the brands values and actions or
risk losing the audience.
Questions brands should consider:

Can the brands point of view be communicated through the ad?

Does the brand risk alienating the audience through its controversial stance on issues? Is it worth it to highlight
these issues?

Can the brand back up its claims that it is making the world a better place?

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how Viewers saw it - Back to the start

While a critical darling, viewers struggled with the length of Back to the Start, and many were confused about the message and who the advertiser was. Despite these hurdles, the spot held viewers attention, and performed well across age
and genders breaks.
However, 23 percent of respondents indicated that the ad was long and generally scored it below average as indicated
by the red color. Still, 12 percent of viewers endorsed the content with the word message.

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Ted Initiatives
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how viewers saw it - Your man reminder

Attention Score

Your Man Reminder, while longer, was viewed less as an ad and more as a social cause spot. As a result, it was not
necessarily penalized for its length but scored far better with females than with males. The ad delivered above normal
female performance in attention, change and relevance.
In another indicator of success, roughly 70 percent of women said they would share the ad in some form.

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social good

chapter five
summary
Amidst the flood of consumer product spots and brand promotion, online video has proven an effective vehicle for
catalyzing, or at least calling for, social change.
The best example of this in recent years was the video of the tragic death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian woman
who was observing antigovernment protests in June 2009 when she was shot in the chest by a sniper. The video of
her death, captured by an amateur videographer and uploaded on YouTube, spread virally and fixed the worlds attention on the Iranian protests. Likewise, the Kony 2012 campaign, an attempt to call attention to the fugitive Joseph
Kony, the head of Ugandas Lords Resistance Army, resonated with people around the world. (This despite subsequent questions about the videos creators and methods).
Authorities have also used online video to great effect, such as when the Colombian government worked with Lowe +
Partners to create the FARC Operation Christmas video to call on the rebel group to demobilize for the holidays.
AWS sought to capture the spirit of those who used online video in order to effect positive change. This was an area
that would not traditionally be included in an ad competition. The videos often featured a stirring call to action from
NGOs and brands alike. Patagonias Common Threads initiative asked consumers to only buy what they needed.

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Proctor & Gambles Mean Stinks campaign engaged the topic of teen bullying.
Judges felt the most successful video was tied to a 2011 event that crossed borders and was intrinsically tied to
media technology: the Arab Spring. Engagement Citoyens The Return of Dictator Ben Ali (Memac Ogilvy Tunisia)
channeled the spirit of the Arab Spring for positive change and won praise for its canny presentation of a familiar call
to action.

aws focus on social good

The Return of Dictator Ben Ali features the reaction of everyday citizens to a giant poster of Ben Ali, the dictator of
Tunisia from 1987-2011, posted at a busy thoroughfare in the capital of La Goulette. Passersby are aghast as they
mutter, Hes back?
The poster is a prop posted by the Tunisian NGO Engagement Citoyen. When the gathered crowd pulled it down, it
revealed a message encouraging citizens to vote. The viral video amplified the moment and reminded Tunisians of their
contempt for dictators. The message was simple and translates across many cultures: vote.

Engagement Citoyen: The Return of Dictator Ben Ali (Memac Ogilvy)

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the ads creator said

I think advertising for some things can change things, can make things better.
Mehdi Lamloum, Memac Ogilvy

our nominator teams said

We recognized that social good is a category driven by substance and reality rather
than just packaging and fantasy, so our judging did not rely on ad industry craft
standards alone.
TED Fellow Nassim Assefi, Doctor, author

The no. 1 criteria was context: What makes this interesting right now? The industry
in general forgets that that is what communication is about.
Tom Beckman, Creative Director, Prime PR Stockholm

how ted saw it

Online video can be an effective tool for brands and NGOs alike to call attention to critical social issues. Creators must
take care, however, not to exploit sensitive topics in ways that will backfire. Social good is also likely to be defined in
highly subjective terms, so its worth considering whether a video will alienate a large portion of the audience.
Questions brands should consider:

Is there enough of a connection between your brand, or NGO, and a given issue for it to be resonant with the audience?
Is there a clear call to action that the audience can readily engage?
Will the audience view the call to action as an authentic action by the brand?

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how viewers saw it - the return of ben ali

Attention Score

While the research focused on an American audience, the themes in this spot were universal and resonated with viewers.
Almost 10 percent said the spot had a strong message, and it scored highly on viewer attention.

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creative wonder

chapter six
summary
This is a category that we traditionally associate with advertising competitions: one that rewards the best written, most
cinematic or compelling advertisements. The spots that can engage an audience and fill them with wonder are perhaps the most effective because they dont lecture or tell people how to feel, rather theyre impressive for the level of
craftsmanship.
None of the ads cited in other AWS categories could be successful were there not some element of creative wonder in their construction. Chipotles Back to the Start, the ad most often cited by the AWS judges, was particularly
effective because of the beauty of the animation. NTT Docomos Xylophone (Drill) meanwhile dazzled judges with its
craftsmanship in creating a giant, working xylophone in the forest. The spot itself became a sort of showcase for the
musical piece of indie art.
Nominators and advocates noted an amplification of unconventional, out-of-the box brand messaging in 2012. This
was certainly true for brands that leveraged social media and tech integrations. The Bear spot for Canal+ (BETC)
was a clever idea a bearskin rug who watches a lot of movie TV imagines he is a megalomaniacal, French-accented
director of a swords and sandals epic beautifully executed.

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aws focus on creative wonder

NTT Docomos Xylophone (Drill) spot showed the commitment and craftsmanship that can go into an ad. Drill handcrafted a 144-foot xylophone made from sustainably harvested wood in the forest then filmed the sequence as a ball
dropped on the xylophone played a haunting song.
The video channeled a maker ethos, and it required the creation of something phenomenal, an achievement in its own
right. The spot required real craftsmanship to execute: it took three months to create a prototype for the xylophone
and required 49 takes of the last cut before the ball came to rest beside the cell phone.
The video, while high concept, had the simple goal of promoting NTT Docomos new cell phone made of wood. But it
did so through a full spectrum of sensory experiences, where the constructed world of the giant xylophone echoed the
sights and sounds of the forest. The chirping of the birds and the chirping of the cell phone created a sense of awe.

NTT Docomo: Xylophone (Drill Inc.)

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the ads creator said

We started with a very simple insight: wood is good. So, how do we express wood
is good? First, I started with sounds what are the sounds of wood? I came up with
the sound of a xylophone.
Morihiro Harano, Party Japan

our nominator teams said

Beautiful ad no CG or tape cut. The phone is made of wood and the ad was
developed to stimulate social awareness of forestry preservation. Simple, yet
beautiful.
Raghava KK

how ted saw it

Successful online videos meld high concept with careful craftsmanship. Providing a roadmap to creativity is a challenge, since this is a highly subjective concept.
Questions brands should consider:

How can brands present the unconventional?

How will a message be amplified by a well-chosen piece of music or high-impact design?
What inspires an emotional connection with the audience and how can an ad achieve this?

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how viewers saw it - NTT DOCOMO

Attention Score

Viewers found this spot compelling and rewarded it with high attention scores, though some found it overly long. Twentyseven percent of viewers used the word very in association with creative, interesting and unique to describe this
spot.
Notably, almost three-quarters of respondents indicated they would share the ad with their friends.

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Ted Initiatives
ads worth spreading

how viewers saw it - canal+

Attention Score

Most viewers gave the ad high attention scores, though it performed much better with a younger audience. Seven percent of viewers saw the spot as interesting and 9 percent described it as worthy of their attention. This spot did not
rate as highly in shareability as other ads.

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