After a sunny spring we are slowly heading towards the summer holidays. Normally a time for which many plans have already been made, but where there is now little to plan ahead. Still, we are going to make something beautiful out of this summer.

The Dutch advertisers are happy to help us by showing how a holiday in your own country and garden can certainly be a success. Many advertisers also responded to the new society. In this column we discuss six striking commercials from the month of June.

Starting with the Kruidvat commercial in collaboration with DDB Unlimited entitled 'The Great Discount Holiday at Kruidvat'. The commercial starts with the hopeful and enthusiastic text: 'A tropical holiday...' followed by the downer '... not available this year'. But: Kruidvat offers the solution by emphasizing the creativity of Dutch people who can enjoy a holiday in their own garden.

The cheerfulness of the commercial is appreciated by our panel and viewers are certainly looking forward to a cheerful summer. The emphasis in the commercial is on a promotional offer with sun protection where you receive a free towel. The discount promotion is very much appreciated, but the free towel promotion does not appeal to many viewers or was not even noticed.

The second commercial we discuss is from Kia in collaboration with XXS Amsterdam. The commercial is entitled 'Get Together' and focuses on the smallest Kia model, which is 1.5 meters wide. Finally we can get together again after the lockdown and this Kia model can help keep the distance of one and a half meters. The commercial is positively assessed, with this response summarizing many responses that came in: 'Original, current and sympathetic'. The social character, coming together and taking care of each other give Kia a positive image.

Praxis is also responding to current events by making it clear that they are there for the makers and can help all handymen with advice and supplies, especially now that there is extra work going on. The commercial, which was designed by Alfred International, makes it clear in a humorous way that things can quickly go wrong with all that work. That is exactly where Praxis wants to help with advice and the right materials. This commercial is rated very well because it evokes recognition but above all responds to current events in a light-hearted and humorous way. Praxis has done well to choose the regular humorous characters who evoke recognition and trust.

Of course we can't skip the other hardware store: Hornbach presented another absurdist commercial in which the love for tools is central. The commercial, designed by Heimat Werbeagentur, is entitled 'Every project strengthens your bond.' It shows in a dramatic way how you can start to love your tools by doing more jobs (doing projects). Many of our panel members react with surprise at the absurdity, but that is exactly what Hornbach is known for. That is why this is another strong commercial that is in line with the brand. One point for improvement is the length: the commercial is quite long and, according to many viewers, is therefore too long-winded, while the point has already been made in half a minute.

In June it was announced that a number of supermarkets were going to increase prices and that was exactly not what Dirk van den Broek had planned. Dirk responded cleverly to this by lowering the prices of many products and thereby further strengthening the existing image of an affordable supermarket. That is why the title of this commercial: 'You can count on Dirk'. The campaign was developed together with Total Design. The message is highly appreciated by viewers and many of them appreciate the extra low prices. An area for improvement for this commercial is that it sometimes seems a bit "shouty" and "chaotic" and therefore could use less pressure to make the message come through even more clearly.

The last commercial we discuss in this column is from Magioni Pizza (see photo), designed by Bruut Amsterdam with the title 'Pizza, your favorite vegetable'. A pizza does not have to be unhealthy and can simply be your portion of vegetables. This seems to arouse the interest of many viewers. An area for improvement in this commercial is that if you are not familiar with the brand, it is not made clear in this commercial exactly what kind of pizzas they really are and what ingredients these pizzas consist of. This could be clearer in the communication from this brand, since not everyone knows what Magioni is and what makes it different from the regular pizza brands.

We saw almost 70 commercials in the month of June and in this column we describe the most striking ones. It is good to see that advertisers and agencies are far from sitting still, especially in these difficult times.

Link to the column on MarketingTribune