Once upon a time, if a company wants to advertise to its consumers, there were print, television and radio.
Now, joining the pack in the digital age is the new "IT": video marketing. Videos are proven to be absolute eyeball grabbers, since it provides a much easier and accessible way to digest information.
Still, it remains true that to be able to come up with an effective video ad, the process must include brainstorming, planning, conducting focus group discussions or A/B testings... the list goes on.
Though the process seems to be tedious, the results are worth it!
Especially if your video goes on a viral status or it gets featured on lists and websites---like ours.
Especially in this season of pandemic, when everyone is looking towards different mediums for encouragement and upliftment.
Below are some examples of this year's (and last year's) best video advertisements that are subtlety setting the standard for all other companies to follow.
10 Best Video Marketing & Ad Campaigns 2020-2021
1) IKEA Encourages People to #StayHome
After the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s best to stay home these days to protect ourselves. Most of us had no idea what “social distancing” is just one month ago, but you can hear it from everyone right now.
Famous brands also feel responsible to encourage people to stay home. Therefore, the most popular brand in our minds related to home, IKEA created a campaign around this idea.
Ikea Spain wants to pay tribute to our homes. They want to demonstrate home is the place that always there with many memories and feelings for us, and “it will be here, no matter what.” The commercial avoids a direct sales message, and more than 1 million users already watched it on Twitter in one week.
2) Google Home Hub – 2019 #HeyMom
Who comes to your mind first when you are hurt, happy or feel helpless and vulnerable? I hear you saying “my mom”. Well, Google Home Hub has created a commercial in which they depict examples when children keep saying #HeyMom to call their mothers.
When you are away from your family during COVID-19 and while everything is going digital, Google Home Hub makes it easier to call your mom by just sitting and speaking to it. You can easily call your mom to appreciate her existence and say “#HeyMom , thank you!”. This is a great example of creative Mother’s Day marketing campaigns during this digital transformation era after COVID-19.
3) Apple: Here We Are 2020
Apple released a short movie on 17 April, 2020. There is a 7-year-old boy hearing the details of the planet earth from their parents and an art exhibit. Apple again comes up with a great ad campaign idea by creating a movie that is available exclusively on Apple TV+. This Earth Day ad can be a good reason to start having Apple TV+.
4) PayPal: Balanced for Better
PayPal’s theme of International Women’s Day 2019 was Balance for Better – aiming to forge a more gender balanced world and raise awareness against bias.
PayPal support this theme in their video which features female business leaders having a discussion on the ways we can bring gender balance to the workplace. Entrepreneurs including Benefit’s Lisa Edwards describe their experiences of being a woman in business and offer advice for women looking to grow their own business.
5) Volkswagen: My Favorite Things
You might suppose this one as a race car-kind of spot, but Volkswagen India’s ad campaign is an IWD one. With the featuring music, smokes and the drifts visual effects, the brand tricks users to make believe that this is a race-car ad.
The 52-second spot shows a Race-car Driver drifting the car, performing adrenaline and outrageous donuts on the asphalt track. Stepping out, revealing while removing their helmet, the driver turns out to be a young lady, 21 year old Shivani Pruthvi and she’s an NCC cadet, a medical student and a professional race driver.
6) Disney: From our Family to Yours
We are all lucky to have survived last 2020. We have earned the right to celebrate Christmas and get excited for a new year.
However, Christmas is a lot different these past years. We do not have Christmas bazaars and shops open, we maybe will not be able to visit our beloved ones and decorate Christmas trees together or sleep in the same house and wait for the present openings in the morning around the fireplace.
Let this video ad from Disney comfort you by giving you "all the feels".
7) McDonald's Contactless Order & Pay
McDonald’s new contactless order & pay commercial is more “new normal” as a lot of food & beverage brands are going digital. Small restaurants are transferring their paper menu into QR code. However, McDonald’s is an international fast-food chain so they have all the right to create a mobile app to order food and pay online.
After ordering online, you can get your food from curbside pickup or drive-thru, which they explain in their ad campaign during the post-COVID-19 era.
8) Starbucks: Welcome Back!
Here is another famous food & beverage brand, Starbucks Coffee, featuring their mobile application for contactless order and pay. As the commercial also says, you can easily find the nearest Starbucks to you and order & pay online thanks to the Starbucks app.
This is another inspiring “back to the new normal” ad campaign. Because the message behind the video is that you can trustfully shop from Starbucks Coffee during the post-COVID-19 era:
9) Coca-Cola: Open Like Never Before
While everyone is speaking of “going back to the new normal”, Coca Cola Nigeria has another point of view. This commercial discusses change and being better rather than just going back to “the old normal”.
This ad campaign clearly shows the moments we have taken for granted. And it gives us the message to appreciate them more while everywhere is re-opening. The campaign #openlikeneverbefore also aims to ask for the participation of other people and raise public awareness.
10) The New York Times: Truth is Essential
What matters most when the world is in turmoil is the correct information. Hereby, The New York Times says “The truth is essential” in their commercial.
Did you get inspired from our list? Which one was the most memorable and which one was your favorite?