The Top 20 Printed Adverts of 2014

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

Descrption: 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