Unfortunately, the Netherlands is now out of the European Championship. It was a number of weeks of ever-increasing Orange Fever and secretly there was hope for a good result. It wasn't meant to be, but luckily we still have the memories.

It was not the fault of the commercials surrounding the European Championships! For weeks we were able to enjoy a large number of European Championship commercials, 14 of which participated in our European Championship commercial competition in which we let the Netherlands vote and determine what the best European Championship commercials of 2021 are. Thousands of responses have been received and in this column we announce the top 5.

The best European Championship commercial of 2021 is from Jumbo supermarkets, designed by Alfred International. This commercial really caught the attention of viewers because of the cheerfulness and recognizable orange atmosphere that it exudes. The average score of this commercial is 7.7. Of course Frank Lammers, his family and Snollebollekes play a major role in the success of this commercial. What often appears in the responses are the words 'cheerfulness' and 'lingers'. This response is a good summary of the reviewers' responses: 'Yeah, the tents also go from left to right. Laughing and contagious. You have to participate.' Fortunately, the Netherlands could enjoy the cheering capes and the infectious cheerfulness of Snollebollekes for a few weeks with the well-known song 'From left, to right.'

Albert Heijn's commercial finished in second place. This commercial was designed by TBWANeboko and scores a nice 7.5. In the commercial we see the now well-known AH supermarket manager Ilse who gives a real pep talk to the orange players (and the shoppers). The late André Hazes' 'We love Orange' sounds through the speakers, which also creates a nice and recognizable orange atmosphere. The Hollandicons that could be collected also seemed to go down well and were often seen on the streets.

Our panel really appreciates the Albert Heijn commercial, even though many people consider the commercial to be a bit long. This response summarizes the general feeling about this commercial: “Atmospheric commercial with a real Orange feeling, good humor and a nice twist at the end”

At number 3 is Toto with 'Wesley Sneijder is our new #KoningToto! We're going hakkûh'. This commercial scores a 7.3 and was designed by TBWANeboko. In this commercial, Wesley Sneijder is presented as the new King Toto, succeeding Andy van der Meijde. In the new Toto campaign he challenges Dutch people - while chopping and rapping - to beat him by using your head. The commercials create a retro atmosphere due to the element of heels. This response gives a good impression of why this commercial is appreciated by our panel: 'Catchy commercial, I still have the tune stuck in my head for hours. Nice with Sneijder too!'

Then we go to number 4 with the bol.com commercial designed by Dept with an average of 7.2. The campaign is all about the European Championship anticipation, with Bol.com ready to help everyone with the preparations. In the song, Frans Duijts and Donnie sing/rap about the experience surrounding the competitions on the Dutch/Belgian border. This response summarizes the general feeling of our panel: 'Nice commercial. The lion coming into the Belgians' lion's den is a brilliant idea, (although I would have preferred the Germans.)'

The Lipton commercial, designed by Glasnost, ended up in 5th place. This commercial scores an average of 7.1 and is therefore very well rated by our panel. In the European Championship campaign of the soft drink brand Lipton, Shaqueel van Persie follows in the (football) footsteps of his father, Robin van Persie, with an imitation of his famous 'dive' goal at the 2014 World Cup. To let the rest of the Netherlands relive this nosedive, Lipton launched the so-called Hero Shirt. The commercial seems to have gone over well with our viewers, and this reaction provides a good summary: 'Great, reminds us of van Persie's world goal against Spain, nice that his son participates.'

We enjoyed all 14 participating European Championship commercials and would like to congratulate the top 5! Unfortunately, we won't be seeing most of these commercials for a while, but we are looking forward to a lot of new orange violence in the commercials, hopefully next year!

Read the column on MarketingTribune here