The most memorable advertising of 2013

Christmas is over, and now it is time to start looking back on the year 2013. The good, the bad, the accomplishments and the things still left undone. I hope for you it has been a good, productive year with even better things on the horizon for 2014.

In terms of sales, marketing and advertising for me, 2013 has been a mixed bag. Some very good things, several not so good things and plenty of things still to work on and improve for the new year. So basically, it was a normal year, since I think we can always look back and say those things.

Forbes has come out with a list of the most memorable ads of 2013. This is not to imply that they are the best, just memorable. There are a couple of commercials that are noticeable missing from this list, but also a couple that I would have ranked high on my own list.

http://money.msn.com/investing/the-most-memorable-ads-of-2013-1

Geico is not on this list, and they should be. I admire the creativity that the agency that handles the account (The Martin Agency, www.martinagency.com). They have continued to make memorable ads that consistently go viral. Heck, even yesterday on Christmas Day, I saw posts referencing the camel and hump day commercials. Geico has a winner with the paid advertising they do with these spots, but then they take on a whole new life on their own through viral marketing. The hump day spot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWBhP0EQ1lA), and to a lesser extent the Eddie Money travel agency spot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWTgwvh4v1w are two big time winners this past year for being memorable.  

Chrysler Corporation --- They had a great year in developing memorable advertising. To me, the number one spot of last year's Super Bowl was the Dodge Ram truck commercial narrated by the late Paul Harvey. That tribute to the American farmer was heart warming, and a commercial that was perfectly executed.

Dodge scored another big hit in October with their Dodge Durango series of commercials. Possible the complete opposite of Paul Harvey would be Will Ferrell's character Ron Burgundy. Throughout the World Series, Burgundy was doing his straight forward sales pitch for the Dodge Durango truck and making the audience laugh. Evidently, talking about the 0.1 cubic feet of storage in the glove box is a selling point for trucks that no one ever discovered before this year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyX8cCvJ1kk). It certainly worked though, as Durango truck sales jumped for the month of November by 59%. That is a staggering ROI for the money invested.