The Most Iconic Adverts of the Noughties

2000 Budweiser’s “Whassup!” Video advertising has come a long way since the turn of the millennium. So with 2020 now in full swing, we thought we would take a look at the most memorable adverts of the Noughties. Grab your popcorn, and get ready for some pure nostalgia… Four friends, “watchin’ the game, havin’ a Bud”. First aired during the Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, this award-winning commercial quickly became one of the most popular and memorable campaigns ever. It inspired parodies worldwide and had every one of us greeting our pals with the catchphrase “Whassup!”. We’ll never be able to say the phrase “What’s up” quite the same way again. 2002 John Smith’s “No Nonsense” The series of ‘no nonsense’ commercials featuring Peter Kay shows the comedian ’bombing’ into a pool from the top board while representing Great Britain in an international diving competition. As well as ’Ball Skills’ where a ’keepie uppie’ football session saw Kay utter the immortal phrase “’Ave it” Despite some controversy for potentially promoting drinking and diving, the straight-talking mantra of John Smith’s advertising campaign resonated with viewers, who are still bellowing ‘Ave it’ to this day. 2003 iPod’s “Silhouette” Lasting for almost a decade, Apple’s silhouette adverts really were the pinnacle of iPod commercials. They introduced us to new songs and artists with silhouetted figures listening to a new tune on their trusty iPod and dancing along. Among others we discovered Jet and their song “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”, and of course the Ting Tings with “Shut Up And Let Me Go”. Both bands enjoyed great success following their debuts on the iPod commercials. 2004 Honda’s “Hate/Change” That catchy song that got stuck in all of our heads. The concept for Honda’s award-winning ad comes from their lead engineer being asked to design a diesel engine. Kenichi Nagahiro had long resisted the idea, on the grounds that diesel engines were smelly and noisy, bad for the environment. But his hate for the diesel engine led to the development of a new engine much kinder on the eyes, ears and nose, not to mention the animals. 2005 Sony Bravia’s “Bouncy Balls” San Francisco’s steep hills proved to be the perfect setting for Sony’s iconic ad. The company wanted to celebrate colour in order to promote their new high-definition LCD televisions. To achieve this, 250,000 bouncy balls were rolled down the hills of the Golden City, which results in a glorious cascade of colour. 2007 Cadbury’s Gorilla Arguably the most memorably advert, not just of the Noughties, but possibly of all time. When Cadbury launched ‘Gorilla’ in 2007 the brand was suffering after a salmonella scare, and despite the brand’s former marketing director admitting it was the hardest concept he’s ever had to sell (almost not making the cut at all), the ad went on to increase sales by 10%. Because of the song choice “In The Air Tonight”, many believed that Phil Collins himself was the drummer. When asked about Gorilla, Collins jokingly commented that “Not only is he a better drummer than me, he also has more hair. Can he sing too?” 2008 “Should Have Gone To Specsavers” The first in a long line of Specsaver’s commercials championing the phrase “Should Have Gone To Specsavers”. Every ad in the campaign focuses on a funny mishap which could have been avoided if the person had been wearing their glasses. In this advert we see a farmer accidentally shear his sheepdog after mistaking the dog for one of his sheep. Ads since include ‘the cat with no pulse’, the Lynx parody ‘the Specs Effect’, and the one with the sauna. 2009 “Compare the meerkat” Still going strong in 2020, Compare The Market’s campaign is possibly one of the longest running ad campaigns on UK television. Aleksandr Orlov and his meerkat friends and family have gone on to become kids’ favourite cuddly toys, they’ve partnered with blockbusters like Frozen, Star Wars and Batman and even shared the screen with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nicole Kidman. Whether we love it or hate it, we all know it, it really is “simples”. 2010 Old Spice’s “Smell Like A Man, Man” Featuring Isaiah Mustafa, the former pro footballer says “Hello ladies. Look at your man. Now back to me. Now back at your man. Now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me. But if he stopped using lady-scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me.” Targeting this tongue in cheek advert at girlfriends watching the Super Bowl proved a pretty perfect strategy, as the commercial quickly went viral. It’s smooth, witty and recognised the growing trend of women watching sporting events in the USA. 2011 Volkswagen’s “The Force” This commercial is still the dark lord of the Super Bowl, and is the most watched Super Bowl ad of all time. “The Force” featured a kid ambling about his house dressed as Star Wars’ Darth Vader while attempting to use the Dark Side on everything from the family dog to the new Passat sitting in the driveway. Volkswagen began a new trend for releasing Super Bowl commercials before the event. Until 2011, companies had gone to great lengths to keep the big reveal a secret until launching their campaigns during the show. 2013 Coca Cola’s “Share a Coke” In 2013, Coca Cola made a splash with their ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. The TV ad was a small part of the master plan but it was revolutionary. Along with printing the UK’s most popular names on their standard bottles, Coca Cola also advertised on streaming platforms to target viewers with their own name personalised on to a bottle. It was certainly a memorable moment for most of us to see our own name emblazoned on the well-known label. Frenzy ensued with more than 150 million personalised bottles sold and 235,000 tweets using the #ShareaCoke hashtag. 2014 Haribo’s Inner Child We all know it – “You can make a big, big SANDWICH”. The ad focuses on the product truth that everyone has their favourite piece in a bag of Starmix and dramatises the child-like enthusiasm people have about Haribo in general, no matter their age. It quickly became a sensation with hilarious parodies popping up all over social media ever since. 2014 John Lewis John Lewis is famous for its yearly Christmas ads, and this tear-jerker starring a penguin called Monty who longs for love is one of its biggest hits. The ad ends with Monty’s best friend, a little boy named Sam, presenting him with a penguin friend on Christmas Day. 2015 Always’s #LikeAGirl The 2015 “Like a Girl” ad for Always that promoted gender equality and was one of the first to join the growing trend of championing social causes. The campaign put a positive spin on the insult “like a girl” and swept a series of awards, inlcuding a Cannes Grand Prix and an Emmy. 2018 Amazon’s Alexa Loses Her Voice This Amazon Super Bowl ad from 2018 envisions a world where Alexa loses her voice, and is replaced by some well-known voices. The ad features a host of celebrities including Rebel Wilson, Gordon Ramsay, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and even Amazon chief Jeff Bezos. 2019 IKEA’s “Silence The Critics” In Ikea’s first-ever UK Christmas ad, a family is taunted by their bar-spitting kitsch ornaments, who encourage them to defy ‘home shame.’ Tapping into contemporary culture, the commercial recognises the recent resurgence of Grime music, and who better to have on board than an artist that Skepta hailed as “the greatest grime MC of all time” – D Double E. Now that’s some pretty awesome inspiration from the last twenty years, and who knows what the future holds for 2020 and beyond. One thing we do know is that video will play an ever increasing part in marketing, and here at Scopic we are excited for all the new ideas and projects that are coming our way. Here’s to another year of innovative video creation!

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