
Rob Fletcher delves into the wonderful world of advertising and picks out some of the best and most effective printed adverts from the last 12 months.
Although there has been plenty of talk about the advantages digital technology can bring to the marketing sector, print advertising remains alive and well, with agencies and printers alike coming up with innovative and exciting ideas.
During the last 12 months, we saw a whole host of printed adverts that captured the imagination of the masses, which made the task of picking just 20 adverts for our list quite a challenge. With that said, in no particular order, here are what we thought were some of the most innovative and creative printed adverts from 2014.
Robinsons – The Wimbledon Tennis Championships printed advert campaign
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hergarty
Printer: Various
Description: Robinsons’ latest print campaign for its long-term support of Wimbledon
Picture: Courtesy of BrandRepublic.com

Canal Plus – Cannes Film Festival printed poster series
Agency: BETC
Printer: Unknown
Description: Famous film posters designed to include part of the Canal Plus logo
Picture: Courtesy of Canal Plus

Moo.com – fictional character business cards
Agency: Moo.com (in-house)
Printer: Moo.com (in-house)
Description: Business cards for famous fictional characters such as Batman
Picture: Courtesy of Moo.com

Kit Kat – printed billboard campaign
Agency: JWT
Printer: Unknown
Description: “Half-finished” printed billboards to reflect KitKat’s famous ‘Take a Break’ tagline
Picture: Courtesy of AdsoftheWorld.com

Pedigree (Brazil) – printed advert campaign
Agency: AlmapBBDO
Printer: Various
Description: Pedigree dog treats to help control pets
Picture: Courtesy of Pedigree

Tigo – printed advert campaign
Agency: Biedermann
Printer: Various
Description: Printed adverts promoting Tigo’s roadside assistance on your phone service
Picture: Courtesy of CreativeBloq.com

Aldi (UK) – printed advert campaign
Agency: McCann
Printer: Various
Description: Aldi poking fun at the loyalty scheme offered by competitor supermarket chain Morrisons
Picture: Courtesy of BrandRepublic.com

Ikea – printed billboard
Agency: Thjnk
Printer: Beisner druck
Description: Text printed in three different colours. Each time a certain light is switched on, it reveals a new portion of the text.
Picture: Courtesy of AdWeek

TWIT: Texting While in Traffic – billboard campaign
Agency: Brian Singer (designer)
Printer: Unkown
Description: Printed billboard shames those caught texting whilst driving in San Francisco
Picture: Courtesy of Guzmodo

Nescafé (France) – ‘usable’ print campaign
Agency: Geometry Global
Printer: Redworks
Description: Printed material that can be turned into coffee mugs
Picture: Courtesy of AdsoftheWorld.com

The Royal British Legion – ‘Live On’ print campaign
Agency: Rainey Kelly Campbell/Y&R
Printer: Various
Description: Part of the orgaisation’s ‘Live On’ campaign, honouring British soldiers killed in military action
Picture: Courtesy of The Royal British Legion

New York Restoration Campaign – ‘It’s not a tree’ print campaign
Agency: Tierney (US)
Printer: In-house
Description: Highlighting the lack of trees in New York by labelling random objects that are not trees to raise awareness.
Picture: New York Restoration Campaign

PayPal – New York Times newspaper advert
Agency: PayPal (in-house)
Printer: New York Times
Description: Poking fun at the mass hacking of private information from the Apple Cloud and promoting the security of its own services.
Picture: Courtesy of AdWeek

Good Energy – print campaign
Creative agency: Lucky Generals
Media agency: M2M
Illustrator/printer: Yuko Kondo (Debut Art)
Description: Vibrant print campaign showcasing the environmental credentials of Good energy
Picture: Courtesy of Good Energy

Ford – Ford Explore SUV print campaign
Agency: BBR Saatchi & Saatchi
Printer: Various
Description: Optical trickery advert challenging consumers to “park” the SUV between the two black cars
Picture: Courtesy of Marketing Magazine

McDonalds (Sweden) – billboard campaign
Agency: DDB Stockholm
Printer: Brand Factory
Description: McDonalds Sweden poking fun at its Norwegian counterpart by promoting the cheaper price of burgers in Sweden
Picture: Courtesy of DigitalJournal

Selsun Blue – billboard campaign
Agency: lg2
Printer: lg2fabrique
Description: Selsun Blue promoting its anti-dandruff shampoo via a fun billboard campaign
Picture: Courtesy of AdWeek

Volkswagen – Polo GTI print campaign
Agency: DDB (Mexico)
Printer: Various national magazines
Description: Part of a series of adverts highlighting the ease of travelling from home to work in the new Polo GTI
Picture: Courtesy of Creativeblog.com

Band Aid – print campaign
Agency: JWT Dubai
Printer: Various
Description: Promoting the strength and flexibility of Band Aid’s plasters by showing one being used by Marvel superhero the Hulk
Picture: Courtesy of Coloribus.com

Aquafresh – Flexigel print campaign
Agency: Callegari Berville Grey (France)
Printer: Various
Description: Demonstrating the flexibility and movement of the Aquafresh Flexigel toothbrush
Picture: Courtesy of Adsoftheweek.com
