To celebrate its 125th anniversary, ISBA teamed up with Campaign to spotlight the most iconic adverts in British history
Newsworks sponsored the best press ad category, with the win going to “FCK” by KFC and Mother London (2018). The campaign run shortly after the food chain’s chicken shortage hit the headlines; the ad turned a PR crisis into masterfully self-aware humour, cementing itself in the annals of advertising history ever since.
Working alongside media partners Newsworks, Radiocentre, Thinkbox, PPA Magnetic, IAB UK, Outsmart and the Cinema Advertising Authority and with support from the Advertising Association and the IPA, ISBA curated a longlist, followed by shortlist entires to invite the industry to vote across seven media categories: cinema, digital, magazines, out-of-home (OOH), press, radio, and TV.
The full list of winners are:
- Cinema: “We’re the Superhumans”, Channel 4 / 4Creative (2016)
- Digital: “Daisy the AI Granny”, O2 / VCCP & Faith (2024)
- Magazine: “Absolut Perfection”, Absolut / TBWA (1980)
- Out-of-Home (OOH): “I Never Read The Economist”, The Economist / AMV BBDO (1990)
- Press (News): “FCK”, KFC / Mother London (2018)
- Radio: “Mrs Cleese”, Life of Brian / Lonsdale Advertising (1979)
- TV: “Water in Majorca”, Heineken / Lowe Howard-Spink (1985)
Simon Michaelides, ISBA Director General and judge, told Campaign: “As an industry, we always pride ourselves on being forward-thinking, but none of us can resist occasionally looking back and comparing work from times past to the present day.
“It’s been a fascinating process working with my fellow judges and now seeing the final votes. What stood out most to me was how important the relationship between the creative and the media channel is. When these are planned together you get brilliant advertising. It was also a great reminder that although the media landscape has evolved significantly in the last 125 years, human beings haven’t and that bold, emotive creative remains just as important as ever.”
See more here.
