With the current global digital advertising market valued at $602.25 billion and forecasted to rise by 13.1% in 2023, we look back at the most impactful ad campaigns launched in the last 12 months.

From BBC's ice-credible spot announcing their coverage of the Winter Olympic Games to Tesco Mobile's not-so shiitake campaign and Aston Manor's adaptation of N.W.A hit 'Straight Outta Compton', here's our favourite most impactful Creative, Digital, and OOH advertising campaigns of 2022...

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January - BBC: Winter Olympics 2022 | Oatly: The New Norm&Al

February - Tesco Mobile: What a Load of Shiitake. | McDonald's Thailand: Valentines Day

March - Foodstuff: Deliver-Who? Billboard | Cadbury: Cadbury Worldwide Hide

April - Rightmove: One Day Could be Today | The Fragrance Shop: Freshly Baked Bread

May - Netflix: Stranger Things Pizza Pop-up | Tyrrells Crisps: Splendid News

June - Ribena: Chin Up! | California Almond: Do you Almond x Marvel Studios

July - Sports Direct: Girls Don't Like Football | Aston Manor: Straight Outta Crumpton

August - TK Maxx: TK Maxx Has a Website | Paddy Power: Love Football, Intimately

September - Shelter: Cost of Living Hacks | British Heart Foundation: The Noisy Generation

October - Stonewall: Lets Give Homophobia a Career-Ending Tackle | Smart Energy GB: Gadget

November - Asda: A Magical Christmas, All Wrapped Up | National Autistic Society: Now I Know

December - Auto Trader: Matchmaker | Whatsapp (Meta): For the Fireworks Within

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View our upcoming events calendar for 2023

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CAMPAIGN #1 - BBC: WINTER OLYMPICS 2022

Brand: BBC

Category: Sport Event

Agency: BBC Creative

Month Released: January

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BBC broke the ice for its coverage of the Winter Olympics 2022 only 10 days before the event was set to begin in Beijing with an extraordinary multi-media animation.

Produced by BBC Creative and directed by Balazs Simon the trailer, while it may look like they have used cubes of ice and real snow, the sculptures are actually 3D printed models with entire scenes produced frame by frame.

Simon expressed that creating the spot was “quite a challenge. My personal favourite task was coming up with a solution for the camerawork in the snow scenes. To get a first-hand experience of the characters’ efforts, I wanted to bring the viewer as close to them as possible: a great example of how a seemingly simple creative decision could grow into a big web of intertwined technical challenges.”

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CAMPAIGN #2 - OATLY: THE NEW NORM&AL

Brand: Oatly

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: Nexus Studios

Month Released: January

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Kicking of ‘Veganuary' last year, Oatly - the world's largest producers of alternative dairy drinks, launched its biggest UK campaign, ‘THE NEW NORM&AL SHOW,' aiming to initiate a nationwide conversation around the normality of a plant-based diet.

The campaign was launched as a five-episode mini-series featuring two puppets called Norm & Al in the form of drink cartons, with each episode portraying their journey to a plant-based diet.

Developed in collaboration with BAFTA-winning production company, Nexus Studios, the launch had been supported by Oatly’s largest UK digital media buy campaign across broadcast VOD (Sky, All4 and ITV Hub), a programmatic VOD (YouTube), display ads and a social VOD (Facebook & Instagram).

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View more from the month: Ones to Watch - 9 of the Most Impactful Ad Campaigns of January

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CAMPAIGN #3 - TESCO MOBILE: WHAT A LOAD OF SHIITAKE.

Brand: Tesco Mobile

Category: Telecommunications

Agency: BBH

Month Released: February

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We love nothing more than a good pun, and Tesco Mobile's February campaign was full of them! Aimed at challenging competitors over their mid-contract price rises, the advertisement produced by BBH incorporates puns such as ‘What the fettuccini?’ and ‘What a load of shiitake,’ to call out the ‘big four’ networks and commit to fixed prices of their own.

Launched on February the 18th, the campaign ran across social, digital, press, radio and OOH until the end of March as part of their wider 'This is Supermarket Mobile' initiative.

In relation, Tesco Mobile Chief Marketing Officer, Rachel Swift said, “This year, mid-contract prices increases are at their highest ever and, when customers are facing a cost of living crisis, they couldn’t have come at a more challenging time.”

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CAMPAIGN #4 - MCDONALD'S THAILAND: VALENTINES DAY

Brand: McDonald's Thailand

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: TBWA Thailand

Month Released: February

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McDonald's Thailand valentine campaign last year certainly caught the eye of audiences around the globe, with what first appears as two people about to lock lips, upon closer inspection, you soon realise it's actually someone about to tuck into a signature McDonald's Big Mac. Disturbed? you should be.

The posters created by TBWA Thailand consisted of 3 different optical illusion images with the slogan 'i'm lovin' it' thrown in for good measure and were first released across social media channels which instantly created a huge buzz online. Whether you’re ‘lovin’ it’ or not, there's no denying its marketing team has some creative flair.

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View more from the month: Ones to Watch - 8 of the Most Impactful Ad Campaigns of February

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CAMPAIGN #5 - FOODSTUFF: DELIVER-WHO? BILLBOARD

Brand: Foodstuff

Category: Delivery Service

Month Released: March

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Foodstuff, a food delivery service alternative to the likes of Deliveroo and Uber Eats, launched their OOH campaign across several UK cities in March. With a jibe aimed at one of their biggest competitors, the pink billboards display the question 'Deliver-who? above the brand's 'rock-n-roll' hand salute logo.

Unlike their competitors, Foodstuff charge restaurants a flat fee per month for using their platform rather than a commission-based system, and their riders are paid the National Living Wage.

Speaking on the campaign, Toby Savil, Co-Founder and CEO said, “We just wanted to celebrate how proud we are of our brand. You may have noticed we don’t shy away from basking in playing the underdog.”

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CAMPAIGN #6 - CADBURY: CADBURY WORLDWIDE HIDE

Brand: Cadbury

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: VCCP London

Month Released: March

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The iconic chocolate brand announced the return of their Easter egg hiding experience 'Cadbury Worldwide Hide' in 2022 with a spot created by VCCP London. This time bigger and better then the year before, chocolate egg fans had the option of hiding a real Cadbury Easter egg on a virtual map for their special someone to find.

In addition, leaning on their partnership with Manchester United, Cadbury had created 3 Limited-Edition Football-themed Easter Eggs, and allowed fans to participate in a special Worldwide Hide platform that is co-branded between Cadbury and Manchester United.

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View more from the month: Ones to Watch - 8 of the Most Impactful Ad Campaigns of March

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CAMPAIGN #7 - RIGHTMOVE: ONE DAY COULD BE TODAY

Brand: Rightmove

Category: Real Estate

Agency: Fold7

Month Released: April

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In April, the UK’s biggest Real Estate website Rightmove launched their motivational spot 'One day could be today.' Produced by London based creative agency Fold7, the campaign was designed to make people think about the different life they could be leading if they had made the move they’ve always wanted to.

The purpose of the ad comes off the back of market research conducted by Rightmove, which showed that 69% of people had moved to a new area in the last year, of which 64% were happier with their life-changing decision.

Directed by Hannah Maria Heidrich, The TVC campaign portrays an unhappy scarecrow in a rainy field who dreams of her ideal home; a beautiful stone cottage, and eventually receives a sign to break free from her restraints by using the Rightmove app.

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CAMPAIGN #8 - THE FRAGRANCE SHOP: FRESHLY BAKED BREAD

Brand: The Fragrance Shop

Category: Health & Beauty

Month Released: April

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Based on the fact that the UK’s favourite smell is freshly baked bread, The Fragrance Shop did some experiential marketing to put this to the test.

In a snappy video littered with emojis and memes, a member of the team asked unsuspecting shoppers what they thought was the nation’s favourite smell. After guessing scents such as coffee, roses, strawberry, and lavender, they were informed that it was in fact bread.

Not to be left empty handed, the ‘participants’ were handed a perfume-bottle shaped in the piece of – you guessed it – freshly baked bread. So, what was the purpose behind this campaign? It was all to promote getting 20% off all year round, free delivery and exclusive perks by becoming a ‘My TFS’ member.

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View more from the month: Ones to Watch - 8 of the Most Impactful Ad Campaigns of April

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CAMPAIGN #9 - NETFLIX: STRANGER THINGS PIZZA POP-UP

Brand: Netflix

Category: Streaming Service

Agency: BBH

Month Released: May

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Created by BBH, this experiential campaign focused around the popular Netflix series - Stranger Things, appeared in Shoreditch over a period of days and first begin as posters advertising fictional products from 'Hawkins'.

Over time, hazmat-clad workers set up a tent to cover up the posters, urging passers-by to step back. Taking to Twitter, the official Netflix UK and Ireland account said that there was ‘nothing to see here', leaving fans in a sense of anticipation.

Eventually the mystery was solved when fans were invited to step through a portal to the 'Upside Down' on Friday 2nd May. However, instead of coming face-to-face with Vecna (the antagonist of the 4th series), event-goers got to experience the taste, smell and feel of Stranger Things, complete with a 'Demogorgon' inspired pizza.

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View our event round up: Organic Social 2023 – Trends and Opportunities for your Growth Strategy

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CAMPAIGN #10 - TYRRELLS CRISPS: SPLENDID NEWS

Brand: Tyrrells Crisps

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: St Luke's

Month Released: May

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Owned by snack giant KP Snacks, premium crisp brand Tyrrells launched a 20-second ad campaign called 'Splendid News', appearing across video-on-demand platforms and social media channels.

The humorous spot campaign produced by creative agency St Luke's, stuck to the signature old-fashioned Tyrrells style - displaying black and white Pathé footage of the public holding and admiring giant colourful versions of the snack both in and out of the packet.

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View more from the month: Ones to Watch - 8 of the Most Impactful Ad Campaigns of May

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CAMPAIGN #11 - RIBENA: CHIN UP!

Brand: Ribena

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: BBH

Month Released: June

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Ribena began the month with their campaign launch - ‘Chin Up!,’ themed around laughing through those awkward moments in life that we can all relate to (like calling your teacher 'mum').

Created by BBH, the various spots portray such moments along common phrases containing the word 'been' which is replaced by 'Ribena', i.e. the phrase ‘When you've been caught out' becomes ‘When you’ve Ribena caught out.’

Reflecting on the campaign, Bridget Hirst, former Senior Brand Manager at Ribena, said "Ribena’s repositioning represents a major shift in direction for the brand, with the aim to be seen as more than just bouncing berries and nostalgia.

To do this, we worked with BBH to create comms that people couldn’t help but chuckle at and relate to."

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Read our article for expert advice on brand repositioning: Evolution or Revolution: Defining and Refining your Brand Identity

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CAMPAIGN #12 - CALIFORNIA ALMOND: DO YOU ALMOND X MARVEL STUDIOS' THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER

Brand: California Almonds and Marvel Studios

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: isobel

Month Released: June

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Last year, California Almonds had teamed up with Marvel Studios to promote the release of ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, by launching their iconic 'Do You Almond?' ad campaign, but this time portraying a woman taking on the challenge of lifting Thor's hammer from the ground.

The TV spot created by London-based creative agency isobel, ends with the woman rising to the challenge after eating her almonds, cutting to the titular phrase 'Do you almond?'

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View more from the month: Ones to Watch - 8 of the Most Impactful Ad Campaigns of June 2022

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CAMPAIGN #13 - SPORTS DIRECT: GIRLS DON'T LIKE FOOTBALL

Brand: Sports Direct

Category: Sports Retailer

Agency: COPA90

Month Released: July

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Sports Direct in collaboration with Football media agency COPA90 tackled the archaic misconception by launching an ad campaign which responds with a playful punchline - 'Girls don't like football... we love it!'

Reflecting on the spot, Gavin Rowe, Chief Creative Officer at COPA90 shared, "consumers are first met with the tension of this idea which is then flipped on its head, done with a zealous rebuttal in the form of a celebration of the game that delivers a punchline of real truth."

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CAMPAIGN #14 - ASTON MANOR: STRAIGHT OUTTA CRUMPTON

Brand: Aston Manor

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: McCann Birmingham

Month Released: July

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Aston Manor Cider partnered with McCann Birmingham to launch its first-ever TV advert last year, which gained increased popularity amongst viewers.

Speaking on the hit campaign, Calli O’Brien, Head of Marketing at Aston Manor said, "we decided to create a play on N.W.A's ‘Straight Outta Compton’ because it is a song that resonates with both loyal, and new cider drinkers.

“Crumpton Oaks represents inclusion and affordability, b