The first commercial is from Triodos Bank, designed by Dawn. This commercial is a shortened and slightly adapted version of the previously published commercial last spring. This commercial focuses on raising awareness about how to spend your money the right way: you can decide for yourself in which direction you want to “roll” your money. Triodos Bank points to a reset of the economy due to this crisis in which we have all come to a standstill and calls for making good choices: more humane, fairer and greener. Many of our panel members understand the message and find the appeal relevant, which means that this commercial is rated positively.

The next commercial is from Johma Salades, designed by Alfred International. We see the trusted mayor of Losser, who goes to a fortune teller for the future, but then comes across something existing and familiar: the chicken kebab salad. This is the focus here in a humorous way and is recommended with various combinations that this salad is delicious with. The commercial is highly appreciated for its recognisability, cheerfulness and humor. We also noticed that the commercial was very inviting to watch, given the number of responses.

Commercial three is from Old Amsterdam (Westland Cheese), designed by DDB Unlimited. This commercial focuses on the mature cheese of this brand with beautiful images and the typical music of Old Amsterdam commercials. Viewers certainly appreciate this commercial, which is well summarized in this response: “Short but sweet, makes you want cheese.” That is probably exactly the intended result. It was striking that when we let panel members choose random commercials to watch, they were not the first to quickly choose this commercial to watch and judge, but when they watched it, they were very positive. One piece of advice is to conduct further research into the first, still image to see if it is appealing enough.

Then we come to Bol.com's Sinterklaas commercial, designed by Dept Agency. We see a girl unsure about what she wants to ask for Sinterklaas, and this Sinterklaas patiently writing along with all the ever-changing wishes. Amigo is slightly less patient. This commercial is rated very well and the humor is again typical for Bol.com. This response sums it up very well: “Beautiful commercial. That snorting horse, the open girl, the patient Saint. Well done bol.com!”

The fifth commercial is from the Oranje Fonds, designed by Bruut & Jalt. This commercial is very relevant today, especially in the month of December. This is a pleasant month for many, but there is also a lot of loneliness. The campaign by the Oranje Fonds calls for people to become friends with these more lonely people. We can only warmly support this message and action. The reviewers also greatly appreciate the promotion and the commercial. An area for improvement for this commercial is to make it clearer how you can become a buddy. There are a number of times where viewers are interested in becoming a buddy but it is not clear how they can sign up.

Much has already been written about Kruidvat's commercial, designed by DDB Unlimited and Eigen Fabrikaat, as it clearly and simply calls for an early start with Christmas shopping in the near future. If everyone does their shopping earlier and does not wait until just before Christmas, you will prevent a peak in crowds and therefore a peak in infections. The call is clear and everyone can benefit from this and of course we can only support it! It is also appreciated that it is a simple commercial, in which our own staff is used to make the call.

Of course we couldn't ignore the commercials from Hornbach (Heimat Werbeagentur GMBH) and Allianz Direct (Alfred International). The Hornbach commercial shows in a typical Hornbach way that you can do much more than you think in terms of jobs (projects). Many viewers find the commercial absurdist, exaggerated and therefore fun and appropriate.

In the Allianz Direct commercial, figurehead Usain Bolt is used on the golf course to show how easy it is to save on car insurance by switching to their insurance policies. This response sums up the feeling well: “I think this is a very good advertisement to put a boring subject like insurance in the spotlight.”

Read the column on MarketingTribune here