Radio Review: A look back at Campaign’s radio ad highlights of 2015

A glance through the Campaign Top 10 radio ads of 2015 is a reassuring testament to the creative potential of radio advertising.

Ads such as AA ‘Fuel Assist’ by Adam&EveDDB, Tena Men ‘Cat Choir’  by AMV BBDO and Duracell ‘Perfectionist’ by Grey London mine radio’s proven capacity for comedy. Each one builds entertaining and likeable audio identities for brands to communicate their commercial  messages.

The Army ‘Who I really Am’ by J Walter Thompson, Persil ‘Perfumer’ by DLKW and the grizzly ‘Born Free’ by WCRS admirably exploit radio’s affiliation with the imagination. Each has a twist at the end to surprise and reward the listener.

Audi’s ‘Scarlett’ by BBH provides a loveable voice in your ear while the McDonald’s ‘Beth’s a Hero’ by Leo Burnett’s proves that even with a long running tactical campaign there is room for humour, quality of writing and clarity of message.

Hiscox ‘Perseverance’ by VCCP is a beautifully cast and produced ode to ‘ small and brave’ businesses and creates a distinctive voice for the brand within the sector. By using radio to buiold the brand, they avoid the temptation to throw in lengthy tactical messages and the spell-breaking ts and cs that are so common finance ads.

Finally we come to the saucy campaign for Durex with aired on Absolute in February during the kinky cinema screenings of 50 Shades of Grey. Once installed, the Durex smartphone app synched with the radio ads to show saucy content from the brand’s online film. Havas WW are to be commended for experimenting with using radio together with mobile, using broadcast radio and taking the audience to the point of purchase. I hope we see more examples like this in future.

Congratulations to all those recognised in this crop of winners. It’s also good to see that so many of the shortlist are Aerial Award winners – Radiocentre’s monthly celebration of radio creativity. We will enter these into the D&AD professional awards for free as part of our commitment to champion the best radio advertising in the UK.

We believe there is huge scope for brands to use the medium in a more modern and more creative way. If you want to see your agency on the Campaign list this year, do get in touch with Radiocentre to find out about the training and inspiration sessions we offer for ad agencies and their clients.