Banned in Britain

An ad that is banned from TV has been rated one of the best this holiday season.

Kantar Millward Brown has assessed 22 UK holiday campaigns using social media listen, qual research, and facial coding to determine which was the most effective.  This ad for the supermarket Iceland Foods was banned from TV in the UK. It was created with the cooperation of Greenpeace, which made it a political ad forbidden by the country’s 2003 Communications Act.  However, it has been viewed 65 million times on social media and scored at the top of KMB’s rating metrics, on factors such as “involvement,” “brand love,” “enjoyment,” “persuasion,” and “different from others.”

Other top-scoring ads included those from Amazon, Marks & Spencer, and Aldi’s holiday ad featuring their beloved spokesveggie, “Kevin the Carrot.”

This year’s John Lewis ad, which UK consumers eagerly await each holiday season, fell a bit flat, according to the research.