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Top Ads of 2011
July 31,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on August 2012
Following are the top 10 advertisements of 2011 as compiled by Tim Nudd, a news editor at Adweek. These are ads that make a connection, whether with humor, a tie-in to popular culture, even tugging at the viewers heartstrings. Enjoy!
Number 1
VOLKSWAGEN: THE FORCE
Volkswagen scored a winner with its 2011 Super Bowl add portraying a frustrated young Darth Vader attempting to bend objects such as the family dog and washing machine to his will.
He attempts the same when his father arrives home in his new Passat. The father starts the car remotely, and the youngster is stunned by his newfound power.
The Force racked up 44 million views on YouTube.
(snipurl.com/24a03vn)
Number 2
CHIPOTLE:
BACK TO THE START
A pioneer in using organic, local ingredients in fast food, Chipotle wanted to communicate its green approach to business with poignancy.
The ad portrays a farmer who goes the factory-farm route, but feels guilty down the road. He goes back to the start of his farming, letting animals roam free and using wind power.
Willie Nelson provided a cover of Coldplays The Scientist.
Overall, the spot is a marvel of craft, visually and musically, Nudd wrote. And it answers its own call, with all proceeds from the sale of Nelsons song on iTunes going to the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. (snipurl.com/24a04b4)
Number 3
CHRYSLER: BORN OF FIRE
Chrysler scored a hit with another 2011 Super Bowl ad that won an Emmy Award for the years best commercial.
The two-minute spot offered a gritty defense of a city, an industry, and a way of life, single-handedly bringing some of the old swagger back to Detroit and attacking those who would doubt the citys heritage and convictionor its ability to produce a worldclass luxury vehicle, Nudd wrote.
Rapper Eminem cruises Detroit landmarks on the way to the Fox Theater where hes backed by a choir Passing several Detroit landmarks. He stops and walks into the Fox Theatre, saying, This is the Motor City. This is what we do.
Nudd called the tagline, Imported from Detroit, the years best.
(snipurl.com/24a04rt)
Number 4
GOOGLE CHROME:
DEAR SOPHIE
Google expanded on its 2010 Search Stories Super Bowl ad last year for its Chrome browser under the line. As with the earlier campaign, the Chrome ads created remarkably affecting narratives using only screen shots, subject lines, keystrokes and clicks.
Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber participated in the campaign, but Nudd called Dear Sophie, a segment of a young father using Google tools to create a digital scrapbook for his daughter, the campaigns crowning achievement.
The spot invariably leaves viewers choked up, and casts Google, often seen as a tyrant, as a facilitator of love, he wrote. Data never felt so human. (snipurl.com/24a05ae)
Number 5
TALK TALK:
HOMES WITHIN HOMES
This U.K.-produced ad depicted figurines in tiny settings across a living room longing for companionship.
They cant communicate until they use TalkTalks broadband and phone service, and their connection comes to life to the old Righteous Brothers song Unchained Melody.
Few spots this year came anywhere close to the melancholy-turned-heartwarming grandeur of this one, with its brilliantly realized, childlike narrative managing to wrap the coldness of technology in an enduring human warmth, Nudd wrote. (snipurl.com/24a05pw)
Number 6
CANAL+: THE BEAR
Coca-Cola proved bears are great for advertising, but this French ad for the Canal+ movie channel makes the bear the director.
The bear steps into a medieval battle scene to direct actors and crew, and segues into mockumentary, with Paul Bearman, whos a bit of a diva, discussing his passion for cinema. The twist is that hes really a taxidermied bear who fell in love with movies from Canal+.
He may not make it in Hollywood, but for now, hes conquered advertising, Nudd wrote. (snipurl.com/24a067w)
Number 7
DEEP SILVER:
DEAD ISLAND TRAILER
Heres an ad for a zombie video game, Dead Island. The spot packs on intensity simply by running the footage backwards.
From a young girl lying dead, the action flies backward to an attack, all set to mournful piano, gasps and running sounds.
The action continues in reverse to the moment of the attack, when the father still has time to save his little girl from the fate weve already witnessed, Nudd wrote. Reverse footage has been used in ads before. But paired with horror, its a revelation. The visual disorientation and unnatural body movementsa ballet of the damnedprovoke a sense of dread that feels wholly new, even for such a well-worn genre. (snipurl.com/24a06sx)
Number 8
CRAVENDALE:
CATS WITH THUMBS
An ad for British dairy Cravendale suggests that precious kitties go bad in their quest for milk.
Rather than wait for their owners to feed them, theyre getting ready to raid the milk supply. And now they have opposable thumbs, so theyre doing needlepoint and such while waiting for the right time to spring.
Snapping their fingers a la West Side Story, they prepare an attack.
Cats are always big in ads, but this spot chased off all rivals this year, Nudd wrote. (snipurl.com/24a07dl)
Number 9
NISSAN LEAF:
GAS-POWERED EVERYTHING
A bleak Nissan Leaf ad portrays a world where all devices run on gas and emit fumes, all to a soundtrack of spare piano and motors putt-putting.
Visuals range from yanking a starter rope on a coffee maker to an office full
of smoking computers.
The antihero sees an all-electric Leaf across the street while filling up his Chevy Volt gasoline-electric hybrid.
Roused slightly from his torpor, he nonetheless remains paralyzed and unsmiling as watches the Leaf drive offa sober ending to one of the years most darkly memorable spots, Nudd wrote. (snipurl.com/24a08lq)
Number 10
SNICKERS: FOCUS GROUP
A focus group consisting of sharks discusses the finer points of the humans they just ate.
Lisa tasted of peanut butter and chocolate, but with Steve, there was something else. Yes, Steve had just eaten a Snickers Peanut Butter Squared bar, while Lisa had an old peanut-butter cup.
The concept, sick and twisted, is brilliant, Nudd wrote. But the genius is in the detailsthe little gestures
like the lead sharks flipper movements as he searches for words to explain
himself ¦
He liked the ending as well, when
one shark says hed love another
taste, and a new human is offered.
(snipurl.com/24a0810) HFB