Creativity is finishing off 2013 by counting down the year's best moves in brand creativity across three categories -- TV and film, print and design, and interactive and integrated campaigns. We began yesterday with No. 10 in each category. Here are our No. 9's.
How could a "best of the year" rundown be complete in 2013 without Kmart's "Ship My Pants"? DraftFCB made brilliant use of sophomoric humor to create one of the year's biggest cultural moments from the ad world, which comes in at No. 9 in the TV/film category. It all began with "Ship My Pants," although the gag later extended to "Big Gas Savings" and "Ship My Trousers," too.
Some of the best work this year was from brands that listened to their consumers, closely. The best example of this perhaps was McDonald's Australia.
In Australia, McDonald's is often called "Macca's," a quirky nickname that the fast feeder has submitted to the Macquarie Dictionary for consideration in the next edition. The company embraced the nomenclature to celebrate its 40 years Down Under and Australia Day, which fell on Jan. 26 this year, by changing the name of 13 of its restaurants, an effort that comes in at No. 9 in the print and design category.
3D printing was one of this year's most exciting technologies, and we began to see glimmers of the technology coming into its own as brands used it to solve real business problems -- not just to create gimmicks. One of these "real" uses came from DVV, a Belgian insurance company that rolled out a new service for those who habitually lose their keys. It lets customers scan their keys and save them on a secure server so that the next time they lose them, they can go to a 3D printer with the file and print a replacement -- a service and a marketing message about innovation that earns the No. 9 spot in our interactive and integrated category.