CB’s Top 30 Australian Commercials of the Decade
And what a big decade it was, with so many great Australian ads to choose from, which helped cement our reputation as a world class centre of advertising excellence. Here are Campaign Brief’s favourite 30 spots of the noughties – ads that not only satisfied the award judges, but hopefully also made a favourable impression with the Australian public. (Such was the standard of the decade’s best, it was painful leaving out at least another 30 which could have been in here!). This list does not include Public Service and Charity ads, which will be compiled in a separate list over the summer break, as will the top Integrated Campaigns of the Decade.
2005
Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: James McGrath
Copywriter: Ant Keogh
Art Director: Grant Rutherford
Director: Paul Middleditch
Production Company: Plaza Films
2005
Agency: BWM, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Rob Belgiovane
Creative Directors: Mike Boswell, Adam Hunt
Copywriter: Matt Lawson
Art Director: Onur Kece
Director: Vikki Blanche
Production Company: @radical.media
2009
Agency: Publicis Mojo, Sydney
Creative Director: Micah Walker
Copywriter: Grant McAloon
Art Director: Steve Wakelam
Director: Steve Rogers
Production Company: Revolver
2008
Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Paul Catmur
Creative Director: Ben Coulson
Copywriter: Jim Ingram
Art Director: Ben Couzens
Director: Garth Davis
Production Company: Exit Films
2004
Agency: BMF, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Warren Brown
Copywriter: Andrew Petch
Art Director: Andrew Ostrom
Director: Garth Davis
Production Company: Exit Films
2004
Agency: Publicis Mojo, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Darren Spiller
Copywriter: Steve Jackson
Art Director: Christy Peacock
Director: Steve Rogers
Production Company: Revolver
2006
Agency: Leo Burnett, Sydney
Creative Director: Mark Collis
Copywriter: Stephen Coll
Art Director: Matt Ryan
Director: Joel Pront
Production Company: Collider
2003
Agency: Clemenger BBDO, Sydney
Creative Director: Danny Searle
Copywriter: Chris Pearce
Art Director: Baz Baker
Director: Paul Middleditch
Production Company: Plaza Films
2008
Agency: JWT, Sydney
Executive Creative Directors: Andy DiLallo and Jay Benjamin
Copywriter: Adam Fine
Art Directors: Brendan Donnelly and John Lam
Director: Dave Klaiber
Production Company: Plaza Films
2007
Agency: Publicis Mojo, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Darren Spiller
Copywriter: Justin Ruben
Art Director: David Klein
Director: Hamish Rothwell
Production Company: Goodoil
2005
Agency: Leo Burnett, Sydney
Creative Director: Glen Ryan
Copywriters: John Kane, Derek Green and Matt Smith
Art Directors: John Kane, Derek Green and Matt Smith
Director: The Glue Society
Production Company: @radical.media
12. STIHL ‘BLOW’
2002
Agency: FCB, Melbourne
Creative Director: Glen Ryan
Copywriters: Justin Drape and Scott Nowell
Art Directors: Justin Drape and Scott Nowell
Director: Dogboy
Production Company: Renegade Films
2001
Agency: Y&R Mattingly, Melbourne
Creative Director: James McGrath
Copywriter: Ant Keogh
Art Director: Ben Coulson
Director: Vikki Blanche
Production Company: Great Southern Films
2008
Agency: DDB Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Michael Faudet
Copywriter: Michael Davey
Art Director: John Akritidis
Director: Steve Saussey
Production Company: Film Construction
15. LYNX ‘LYNXJET’
2005
Agency: Lowe Hunt, Sydney
Creative Director: Adam Lance
Copywriters: Michael Canning and Howard Collinge
Art Directors: Dejan Rasic and Simone Brandse
Director: Nicholas Reynolds
Production Company: Plaza Films
16. FORD ‘UTOPIA’
2007
Agency: JWT, Melbourne
Creative Director: Jeremy Wynne
Copywriter: Scott Glennon
Art Director: Jason Ryan
Director: Patrick Hughes
Production Company: @radical.media
2003
Agency: Whybin\TBWA, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Scott Whybin
Copywriter: Paul Hastings
Art Director: Alex Fenton
Production Company: Gap Productions
2006
Agency: BMF, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Warren Brown
Copywriter: Dennis Koutoulogenis
Art Director: Dale McGuinness
Director: Paul Cutter
Production Company: Cyclops Films
19. BERRI ‘LAWN’
2001
Agency: M&C Saatchi, Melbourne
Creative Director: Matt Eastwood
Copywriter: Andrew North
Art Director: Greg Edwards
Director: Garth Davis
Production Company: Exit Films
2008
Agency: BMF, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Warren Brown
Creative Director: Simon Langley
Copywriter: Richard Morgan
Art Director: Nils Eberhardt
Director: Justin Kurzel
Production Company: Cherub Pictures
2008
Agency: Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: James McGrath
Creative Director: Ant Keogh
Copywriter: Richard Williams
Art Director: Ant Phillips
Director: Tim Bullock
Production Company: Prodigy
2008
Agency: BMF, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Warren Brown
Copywriter: Kimmie Neidhardt
Art Director: Jed de Pyper
Director: Steve Ayson
Production Company: The Sweet Shop
2009
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Steve Back
Creative Director: Dave Bowman
Copywriter: Steve Jackson
Art Director: Vince Lagana
Director: Tim Bullock
Production Company: Prodigy
2006
Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: James McGrath
Copywriter: Ant Keogh
Art Director: Grant Rutherford
Director: Steve Ayson
Production Company: The Sweet Shop
2002
Agency: The Campaign Palace, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Ron Mather
Copywriter: Mick Hunter
Art Director: Ian Morton
Director: Elliot Hegarty
Production Company: @radical.media
2004
Agency: BMF, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Warren Brown
Copywriter: Andrew Petch
Art Director: Andrew Ostrom
Director: John Curran
Production Company: Cherub Pictures
2001
Agency: Whybin\TBWA, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Scott Whybin
Copywriter: Justine Gallacher
Art Director: Justine Gallacher
Production Company: Complete Post
28. NIKE ‘MAUREEN’
2006
Agency: Publicis Mojo, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Darren Spiller
Copywriters: Steve Jackson, Toby Moore and Darren Spiller
Art Directors: Selena McKenzie, Christy Peacock and Jason Williams
Director: Noah Marshall
Production Company: The Sweet Shop
2008
Agency: Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: James McGrath
Creative Directors: Ant Keogh and Grant Rutherford
Copywriter: Ant Keogh
Art Director: Grant Rutherford
Director: Paul Middleditch
Production Company: Plaza Films
2003
Agency: D’Arcy, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Mark Collis
Copywriter: Hilary Badger
Art Director: Linda Honan
Director: Joel Pront
Production Company: Silverscreen Productions
68 Comments
Yeah, I liked that drumsticks summer rituals spot. Underrated.
But when you think of legendary ads like Sony Playstation Double Life and even VW Night Drive some of this work above is merely above average. Sorry.
Drumsticks summer rituals ad should not be in this list. I think the Carlti=on Skytroop didn’t live up to its predecessors. The first ones – Made from Beer and the Canoes spot were better ads cos they helped set up what was to come.
Well done Lynchy. What a big job.
I don’t agree with all of these. I think the Lamb Un-Australian should be in the top 5 …. Thrifty Birthday Girl should be much further down the list …. Border Security I’d have in the top 10 …. stand in dad shouldn’t be in top 30.
Top 10 pretty good.
The ads from this list i’d like on my reel.
I did struggle towards the end.
1. Carlton – Big ad
2. Boags – Pure Water
3. Shweppes – Burst
4. Toyota – Border Security
5. Drumstick – Summer Ritual
6. Lamb – UnAustralian
7. Cougar Bourbon – Art of Invisibleness
8. Lynx- Lynxjet
9. Dare Ice Coffee – Boss
10. McDonalds – Inner Child
Just my opinion.
What would everyone else choose?
I never realized just how average the best work of australia was till now.
Maybe two of those spots could make a top 100 of the decade worldwide. Maybe.
keep your head up 9:06am,
the last 2-3years have been Australia’s best I reckon … we are getting better!!!
Easy 9:06…there is some amazing world class work in there. Some of those spots have been recognized among the very best in the world and one was just 4 votes from the Grand Prix at Cannes.
I pretty much agree with 8:32’s list except I think Border Security is boring, tired mocumentary rubbish. I’d put Thrifty right in behind Lamb at number 7. A classic.
What about Steve Roger’s Nike spot? Surely that’s better than a few of these? Oh yeah, and what about Carlton ‘Canoe’?
The original ‘Five Cougars’ TVC has to be better than ‘Invisible.’ Ask anyone outside of advertising which one they remember and enjoyed, and I reckon the original would pants it.
The Dulux ghost ad seems to be a notable absentee from the list for me.
And I thought some of my Kmart retail stuff was pretty good, especially the 30% off footwear this week only spot.
Ok Saatchi get off the blog. Boarder has yet to do anything get your hand off it.
I think you should have at least a lion to be top ten.
certainly not Carlton Mid. Just not up to scratch.
‘Dare Iced Coffee’ wasn’t anything special.
Lynx Jet was a better integrated concept that standalone TVC.
I love lists, this is just like today tonight.
I don’t know if it kicked internationally, but I loved that ANZ spot with the kid on the swing in the backyard. Nothing for financial services, incidentally, is an indictment of a massive, consumer-facing industry.
My favorite is DRUMSTICK ‘SUMMER RITUALS’
Only about 3 ads on this list are world class and will stand the test of time.
Big Ad, Boags and maybe Burst.
A few others were good fun but will fade fast.
Lynx, lamb and big pond.
The others are OK and average at best.
This list exposes more than it celebrates.
I’m pretty much with you Pete. I’d add ‘run rabbit run’ and ‘tongue’. Mojo and Bmf changed the advertising landscape with those ads. How many big budget 60’s do we produce now? The bar got raised that year. Lovely stuff.
9.06, you must just be English. Haven’t seen much brilliant stuff come out of the uk in the last few years. From an English guy anyway, unless you’re claiming Juan Cabral as one of your own? The beer category has been particularly woeful. That last guiness spot was one of the worst beer ads ever.
The Americans have been doing the best stuff in the world over the last decade. What a decade for crispin porter! So much great work across so many accounts. Any thoughts on best idea from the last decade? My picks BMW films, they didn’t even have a category for that type of work. Just awesome.
Having Thrifty in the top 10 ads of the decade is frickin embarrassing!!
Ok, the idea is decent, but really? …. in the top 10?
Most people I know found it annoying
Sorry, Cannes Lion or not, I’d place it about 83.
Some excellent work. And some of it even says something about us.
Hats off to all the Directors.
Some of these ads wouldn’t be in the top 10 if weren’t for there input. ‘Run Rabbit’ is a perfect example where the idea wasn’t great – ‘you’ll love the place so much you won’t want to leave. So you hide’. Very generic.
But the direction together with the music made it an Australian classic.
Lynchy,
What about the Foxsports Cricket ad? A true Aussie gem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMvgIASnGAs
7.22 If the ad was done by an english agency ie Fallon it is English. Do you really need that to be spelt out for you?
Slagging off the quality of the local industry’s output is so pointless, especially if the ads put forward as the best are five times better than anything you have ever done.
9:46 Don’t forget Thrifty also won metal at Oneshow, Cio’s, Award, Young guns, London international and in the book at D&AD. I guess your friends don’t get on many jurys how surprising.
Strange That the agency of the decade Saatchi Sydney only has a single TVC on this list, and that one they only snuck in at the buzzer.
7.22 you’re talking out of your arse.
Do we dismiss any Australian commercial done by someone born outside of Australia? Big Ad was directed by a Kiwi for example. Boags ‘Pure Waters’ was written by a newly arrived UK team.
As far as your point on UK commercials not producing much ‘brilliant stuff’. Garbage. Here’s a list of a few during the noughties:
Honda Cog, Honda Grrr, Levi’s Odyssey, VW Night Drive, John West Bear, Skoda Cake, Orange Cinema spots, the Peter Kay stuff for John Smith’s, Cadbury Eyebrow dance, Guinness noitulove.
And then there’s Juan and Fallon’s Sony Balls, Sony paint, Cadbury Gorilla.
I’m Australian by the way.
yes 11:34,
you are correct. My friends don’t get on many award show juries. Not unless they require the skills of a Plumber, Pro Athlete, Banker, Nurse etc. I’m talking about real people … you know? .. the ones we do the ads for?
This one means more. This one’s about the guys that write the stuff. And yes the irectors too. Well done all.
Agency of the decade should have been Patts Y&R or BMF.
Debate the ads – the order and the inclusions. That’s interesting.
Slagging each other off on tangents is boring to read.
Good list. However, Thrifty, Border Patrol and Maureen? Come on. That is just a painful reminder of how small our minds and memories are.
12:19 –
if real people were jurors, they would have voted for great ads like dodo mobile phones, crazy johns, or bing lee. That’s why we have world class creatives to judge….. .you know, creative work and all.
I can see Ford UteOpia, but no Pure Blonde? I’m confused.
VB symphony should be in the top 10. That was gold.
I’m pissed that none of my middling TV spots made the list, so I’m going to stomp around angrily in my cubicle, then get back to writing some more retail radio.
I blame the system. And this blog.
Agree with it all bar one –
If my sources have it right, wasn’t ‘HarvestTED’ (Tooheys Extra Dry Ad) booed at Cannes when it was shown? I think the world nailed it when they saw this one – lovely propping and set design, but all style and no substance, this one was just trying too damn hard to be cool to actually be cool.
But love the fact that IKEA’s ‘Stand in Dad’ got a look in. A ripper of a spot that took a very brave agency to make and a brave client to buy, then hilariously put together. Thanks for reminding me of the laughs I had viewing that one.
Great list!
No Pure Blonde No 2. That’s just silly.
Oh 1:30pm,
How small minded are you?
Any of those 3 ads would stand up to any international work. Please explain.
Did the agencies or people who created the ads rejected your book. Is that it?
Looks like Ant Keogh takes out best Australian TV Creative then. A bloody impressive 5 appearances says a lot about his consistency over the years.
2:04pm, you sad little person.
It’s agency people like you who insult the intelligence of ‘real’ people that give our industry a bad name.
Do you really think the average punter likes dodo mobile phones, crazy johns, or bing lee ads?
You’ve got it all wrong mate. So you only create ads for judges? Does your target market mean f*#k all to you. So sad.
A good ad wins a shit load of awards and punters love it too! Just like the ‘Big ad’ and most of the ads on this list. That’s the challenge.
12:19 what a diverse group of friends you have!
A plumber! A nurse and a pro athlete!!!!!!!!!!!
You truly are a man for the people.
what’s the debate again??
What about the Red Cross TVC, with the crew giving blood? Surely worth a mention.
what’s about coke bottle opener?
what about the Ski Larry campaign?
wake up and smell the catfood, where the F is Tooheys War of the Appliances?
1.12 – “Get off the blog Saatchi” Why should they? It’s a creative blog, creative agency you twit. And to all the Saatchi haters, yeah they mightn’t be killing it at the moment there was a time under Nobby when they won three agency of the year’s in a row and if you look at the CB rankings for the last ten years they’re firmly planted in the top right or pretty close to it. The tall poppy syndrome has made it a target of late, but there was a time when most creatives would have given a nut to work there.
Wow Australia. You’d have to journey to the centre of the earth to set the bar lower.
So where the bloody hell are you?
you said it yourself 10:18 –
‘there was a time under Nobby when they won three agency of the year’s in a row’.
How things change . . .
Not happy Jan???
Spare me – this stuff is generally shite.
Just go and ask a few punters which ads they remember, you’ll be shocked by the response.
You see, no-one really cares about your 30/60 seconds of self indulgence, and they sure don’t want to remember it.
At least we can now skip the ads with Foxtel IQ – I love it.
Dead work done for a dead medium by deadheads.
Merry Christmas.
How pathetic, 4:13 PM, that someone so notionally against advertising and the medium of TV would be posting on a blog significantly dedicated to both. If only Foxtel IQ allowed us to skip fuckwits like you, too.
4.13.
Don’t tell me – you’re a digital creative!
Why hasn’t there been a ‘Top 30 online ads of the decade’?
Yo, 4:13/Foxtel user: Good ads aren’t necessarily remembered by punters; they sell product. Bad ads can be remembered just as well as good. Look at Ted – I hate the ad but it helped the brand. Go back to those little stunts and fake graffiti if you like…
Oi 4.13.
I can’t remember the last time a friend of mine told me about a ‘great online advert’ they’d seen.
Dear 6.55pm, 7.24pm, and good old 8.25pm,
I don’t work in digital, although it is a medium I respect.
I also respect TVC’s (if they are good), but as I said, most of this list is shite (there are half a dozen exceptions), but if this the best of a decade, I don’t think it’s a showcase worth bragging about.
There are single agencies that have better show reels than all this shite combined.
I’d like to see how this shite stacks up against the best 30 TVC’s of the 90’s. Then you might actually get it.
The bar has dropped, not been raised and I don’t think it’s worth highlighting.
Have a Pissy Chrissie and Spewie Newie!
Dear 10.26 pls lets us all know what you’re doing to raise the bar?
I hate people that use the word ‘shite’. And while we’re on it I hate people calling other people ‘muppets’ and i’m getting pretty tired of people saying ‘budgie smugglers’ and thinking they are fkn funny. And the one i hate most of all is the term ‘my bad’ as an apology.
Also, i don’t agree with all on this list but i reckon most of the people who think the ads are ‘shite’ don’t have ads that can hold a candle to most of these on their reels. I know i don’t’.
Thankyou 2.29, my sentiments exactly. Just say shit, you toole.
Dear 2.29pm
I bet you look like a shite muppet in your budgie smugglers:-)
Shite is a term connoisseurs use to describe what used to be ‘a hint of fox droppings’ in expensive-yet-not-quite-up-to-scratch claret.
It doesn’t make you a connoisseur if you use shite in any other regard, just a wanker who doesn’t know the difference from a beaujolais and his wife on a bad run.
I thought #4 was a bit racey, a bit pacey, a bit…… of an ice bender aftermath – check out art directors name woot.
every one must watch this
Why don’t all you guys stop playing with ya tallywhacker and make a good movie or something? Yes, we all love creating ads in our industry, but no one gives a crap about your shitty work. Honestly, a bunch of frustrated Hollywood wannabes.
Hi, does anyone remember an Australian lolly ad from 2009? It was made to the tune of the “This Old Man” children’s rhyme and involved lots of balloons. If anyone recalls the name of the product, I’d be grateful if you could email me.
thank you
where you get the cane even if you are good…oww