Volkswagen Golf "Under Milkwood"

Looking back on a seminal ad from Volkswagen today. Created for the Gold brand, the campaign, entitled "Night Driving" attempted to recreate the feeling of taking to the road at night and feeling like the only person in the world. Executed with a series of television, print and outdoor advertisements in 2007, the television spot features Richard Burton distinctive voice reading Dylan Thomas' "Under Milkwood". Directed by Noam Burro and produced by DDB London, the ad was followed by a direct marketing campaign 2 months after the campaign began to air.

The ad features a Volkswagen Gold being driven around deserted Los Angele's streets. I think what makes this ad truly remarkable is the soundtrack. The quiet background music does not detract from the poetry, and combined with the imagery, it feels like a massive departure that we see in standard car advertising. It was a very effective campaign to boot, with the Gold achieving its best sales year to date in 2007. 

John Lewis "The Bear & The Hare"

In direct competition with M&S is John Lewis, a department store that has been lauded for its creative and engaging Christmas ads the past few years. While this piece doesn't feature any celebrity endorsement, it still was a major investment, costing over seven million pounds to create. John Lewis' agency, adam&eveDDB is particularly note worthy in comparing the two rivals campaigns, as adam&eve was founded by ex-staff members of M&S' agency RKCYR/YR, before being purchased  by DDB. The animations in the campaign were provided by a head illustrator from Disney's The Lion King.

The ad documents the story of a hare attempting to show his hibernating bear friend the magic of Christmas, with Lily Allen providing a folksy rendition of Keanes "Somewhere Only We Know" as the soundtrack. It is John Lewis’ most integrated Christmas campaign yet, encompassing an eBook and hardback book, Christmas card maker, social media, in-store and windows, merchandise, digital outdoor projection and soundtrack single.

The campaign has benefitted from a dramatic response on social media. Compared to last year's Christmas ad which has over 3 million Youtube views to date, this year's campaign has amassed 6 million views in the first week of its release. It also boasts near 100,000 Twitter mentions during the same period. Undoubtedly, the brand will consider this venture a complete success.