We’ve tiptoed around the tinsel to bring you a round-up of the most impactful, creative, digital, and OOH marketing campaigns of November.

We’re officially in the thick of the ‘Golden Quarter’, the most lucrative part of the year for many retailers. According to research from advertising service WARC, ad spend across all sectors during this period will be at a record high.

Data found that total ad spend for the quarter will increase by 4.5% from last year’s record high of £9.5 billion. Much of this spend will be funnelled into glitzy Christmas campaigns featuring anthropomorphic carrots and covers of classic hits to pull on the heartstrings.

However, none of them will be featured here (ok - one might have slipped through the net.) If you want a rundown of this years’ festive offerings, head on over to our Christmas Ads Tracker 2022.

For November’s roundup, we’ve tiptoed around the tinsel to bring you 8 of the most ‘non-festive’ and impactful Creative, Digital, and OOH advertising campaigns released in November.

Campaign #1 - Show Racism the Red Card: Fabric of England

Brand: Show Racism the Red Card

Category: Charity

Agency: McCann London

Medium: Ambient  

Show Racism the Red Card's limited edition shirt used to help with educational workshops and training
Show Racism the Red Card: Fabric of England

To kick us off (no pun intended), we’re starting with Show Racism the Red Card’s ‘Fabric of England’ campaign, from McCann London.

Show Racism the Red Card is the UK’s leading anti-racism educational charity. They provide educational workshops, training sessions, multimedia packages, and other resources with the purpose of tackling racism in society.

To coincide with the World Cup, a limited run of shirts has been created to be used as an educational tool for talks in schools. The shirts are made up of a patchwork of different teams’ kits - Republic of Ireland, Jamaica, Nigeria, Scotland, Northern Ireland, USA, Canada, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, St Vincent & The Grenadines, and New Zealand.

As part of the campaign, England fans with multi/dual heritage were chosen from around the country to model the shirts and share their personal stories.

Campaign #2 - Bupa: Planet Earth

Brand: Bupa  

Category: Healthcare

Agency: AMV BBDO  

Medium: TV

Next up, a campaign from the international healthcare company Bupa. A short 80” film was unveiled to introduce their global sustainability position.

It presents Planet Earth as a 4-billion-years old patient, showing healthcare professionals carrying out checks on the planet that would otherwise be done on humans.

In one shot, a blood pressure monitor is strapped to an icicle in a frozen tundra. In another, someone takes the temperature of a desert. The message is that if the planet is healthy, then its people are healthy too.

For those thinking it’s a little contradictory to fly people across the world to shoot in exotic and remote landscapes, the production is entirely virtual, which is 95% less carbon intensive compared to filming on location.

Bupa’s communications strategy is being led by AMV BBDO. The healthcare company is moving to renewable energy, making their scrubs from recycled plastics, and reimagining the way they deliver more efficient, lower carbon healthcare through new apps, technology, and other innovations.

The Ultimate Guide to Updating your Video Content Strategy

Campaign #3 - Napolina: Not so humble ingredients

Brand: Napolina  

Category: Food & Drink

Agency: Lucky Generals

Medium: Outdoor  

Napolina's "Not so humble ingredients" campaign
Napolina: Not so humble ingredient

“Your Bolognese will thank you.” You might have seen these words on a billboard if you’ve been out and about in November. But thank you for what, exactly? For making it with Napolina chopped tomatoes, of course.

The billboards are part of Napolina’s new platform “Not so humble ingredients” that Lucky Generals developed for the Italian food brand.

The look and feel of the campaign has been inspired by Napolina’s iconic black packaging and features imagery of the brand’s products shot by Patrice de Villiers.

Campaign #4 - Asda: A Magical Christmas, All Wrapped up by Asda  

Brand: Asda  

Category: Groceries

Agency: Our Creative

Medium: Packaging design

Our Creative's campaign - "A Magical Christmas, All Wrapped up by Asda"
Asda: A Magical Christmas, All Wrapped up by Asda

We had to feature at least one Christmas-themed campaign (for a full breakdown of this year’s festive campaigns, check out our Christmas Ads Tracker 2022).

GO! Network member Our Creative was tasked with modernising Asda’s Christmas range and elevating its quality perceptions.

The agency delivered “A Magical Christmas, All Wrapped up by Asda,” which reimagines packaging as a ‘beautifully wrapped present. Each side considered with a wrap-around pattern, handwritten elements, and a Christmas cracker humour stamp.’

It comes off the back of Our Creative’s design for their new ‘Just Essentials’ range, and the news that Asda recorded its best results in two years in part to the range’s popularity with customers.

Campaign #5 - EE: Snakes

Brand: EE

Category: Technology

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi London

Medium: TV  

Snakes and mobile phones. For those of a certain age (me included), putting the two together invokes a sense of nostalgia as we remember the Nokia game of the same name.

I doubt the connection wasn’t lost on EE when it launched its new ad, simply titled ‘Snakes.’

Continuing its long-time collaboration with Kevin Bacon, the advert features the actor sitting uneasily as a gigantic boa constrictor moves around his house. The snake represents underperforming Wi-Fi ‘slithering’ along.  “At peak times, do things feel a little constricted?” Kevin asks, as the snake crushes the router in its coils.

Created by Saatchi & Saatchi London, the ad finishes with Kevin replacing the old router with an EE Full Fibre broadband one, promising ‘the peak time speeds you paid for.’

Campaign #6 - National Autistic Society: Now I Know  

Brand: National Autistic Society

Category: Charity

Agency: Ogilvy UK

Medium: Web Film

The National Autistic Society’s campaign ‘Now I Know’ is designed to shed a light on the lives of autistic women and non-binary people, and how to improve the understanding of autism.

Created by Ogilvy Health, the campaign features short films highlighting the personal experiences of women and non-binary people diagnosed with autism.

It is hoped that their stories will help reach those who are undiagnosed who might be ‘questioning, struggling, and blaming themselves for being different.’

According to the National Autistic Society’s website, “the campaign was inspired by the words of Dawn Mills, who was diagnosed at the age of 56 and features in the campaign. She said: “I always knew who I was, now I know why I am.”

View our list of Most Impactful Campaigns from October

Campaign #7 - Nexus: For Everyone Going Places  

Brand: Nexus

Category: Transport

Agency: Different Narrative  

Medium: Video and Radio  

Is the bus still running? The next stop on our journey is Different Narrative’s campaign for Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive.

Nexus initially appointed the GO! Network member to refresh the branding and communications of its people function, promoting the company as a great place to work.

It was important for Different Narrative that Nexus didn’t have one ‘face’ for its people and another for its passengers, explaining that the two audiences are often one and the same.

As such, they suggested a revised logo and tone of voice that would be inclusive and engaging for all the brand’s audiences, along with a new look and feel for people campaigns that would sit comfortably with the overall company branding, positioning Nexus ‘for everyone going places.’

Happy with the outcome, Nexus expanded the initial ask to include video, radio, and a new logo rollout company wide.

Campaign #8 - Shelter: Brave Face  

Brand: Shelter

Category: Charity

Agency: Don’t Panic, London

Medium: TV  

We finish with Shelter’s ‘Brave Face’ campaign from Don't Panic, London. As Shelter explains, this year, hundreds of thousands of children will be spending Christmas in damp storage containers, badly converted office blocks and cramped B&Bs.

Families will be sleeping on sofas and staying with friends and relations with no permanent place to call home. People will be sleeping in freezing cars, damp tents, and dirty doorways.

A TV film to accompany the campaign follows the life of a young child as they attempt to put on a ‘brave face’ throughout their day. The smile, which we see them practicing in a bathroom mirror, is used in different situations – receiving bad grades in class, everything falling out of their locker, and failing to save a goal when playing football.

Eventually we see the real reason that they’ve been practicing a brave face – to use when their mother them they’ll be spending Christmas in a single room at some temporary accommodation.  

Looking for your next agency partner? GO! offer cost-free support on marketing agency search, recommendation, and qualification. For an initial conversation with the team, get in touch.

News