TED: Ads Worth Spreading.

TED recently announced the winners of the Ads Worth Spreading competition. Ted, for those not in the know, is a non-profit organisation that is all about promoting and encouraging ideas that look to change the world in a better way. From the fields of technology, design and entertainment TED "believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world". It's an incredible organisation and something you need to pay attention to.

Back to the ads, this competition really makes sense to me. I undertook my dissertation on virals and investigated if there was a trend or some sort of formula that leads to creating a successful viral. My own research proved that it's almost impossible to come up with some sort of formula, adverts that in theory should be wildy successful can flop and those that just seem to make no sense set the internet alive. However one trend that came from my dissertation, and is in fact my attitude anyways, was that successful adverts are ones that are made for consumers not just towards consumers. It sounds obvious but if an advert is genuinely found entertaining, interesting or useful you really are half way there.

Or as TED put it:

Here are the 10 winners of our first Ads Worth Spreading competition. With this competition, we're seeking to reverse the trend of online ads being aggressively forced on users. We want to nurture ads so good you choose to watch. On TED.com, ads run after our talks, not before. This means they can run longer than the TV-standard 30 seconds. And that's the key! In 2-3 minutes, there's enough time to really tell a story, share an idea, make an authentic human connection, become unforgettable. Instead of ambush, they offer pleasurable, intelligent engagement.

Here are the ads, some I agree with, some I don't, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts:

Chrysler



Topsy Foundation



Savory Institute



Nike Foundation



Nokia



Intel



Batelco



Dulux



Target



Hornbach