May Campaigns of the Month.

Welcome back ad fans. We’ve got another bumper selection of the coolest creative around lined up for you and boy did May deliver. Don’ forget, if you enjoy our Campaigns of the Month round ups, get involved by casting your vote for ad of the month in the comments. Without further ado…

It’s impossible to start anywhere else. If you’ve somehow managed to avoid the furore around the latest ad from Apple then well done (and where the hell have you been?!) Launching the latest 13-inch iPad Pro, the ad depicts various artistic items, including musical instruments, arcade machines and paint cans, being crushed by a massive hydraulic press soundtracked by Sonny & Cher’s ‘All I Ever Need is You’. The ad has divided opinion online and within the industry, generating countless column inches and hot takes. The majority of critics claim it promotes the rise of technology as an oppressive force against human-led creativity. We just thought it was a beautifully shot film that cleverly demonstrates a single compelling idea – “get all of this in the thinnest iPad ever”.

From an ad that split opinion to work that was universally loved, it’s the IOC’s incredible campaign promoting the Refugee Olympic Team for Paris 2024. Due to our recent work with the international NGO Action For Humanity, we know how devastating displacement can be. This ad from the IOC takes a more positive tone, shining a spotlight on the 36 inspirational athletes who have faced incredible challenges to reach their respective start lines and calling on everyone to get behind the team when they represent the over 100 million displaced people on the world’s biggest sporting stage later this summer. The whole campaign is brilliant but we particularly loved the animated film and the music production from our client Soda-Sound. We’ll definitely be cheering loud and proud for Team Refugee in Paris.

There were a lot of great and important campaigns knocking around for Mental Health Awareness Week this year so it was hard to choose just one but we were particularly impressed by McDonald’s ‘The Meal’ campaign. For the first time in its history, McDonald’s removed the iconic smiles from its Happy Meal boxes as part of its aim to encourage children and families to engage in more meaningful conversations about their emotions. By dropping the “Happy” from their “Meals”, McDonald’s wanted to shine a light on the current mental health decline among UK youth. In a 2020 study from the Office for National Statistics, 48 per cent of children reported feeling pressured to feel happy. It’s definitely an impactful campaign and we liked the fact that children were given different stickers to convey the  different emotions they’re genuinely feeling. Nice.

Not content with being Britain’s number one digital bank with nine million customers, Monzo’s newest campaign puts them leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. The brand’s bright and bold ads are hard to miss whether it’s on TV, YouTube or outdoor and the idea is brilliantly simple. The TV ads especially are some of the best we’ve seen in a while, taking a fast-paced and subtly subversive approach to depict both the negative stresses and the positive rewards that money brings into our lives. It’s easy to see how the ads could perform effectively on social media as well, which isn’t always the case with some multi-channel campaigns today. Considering this is Monzo’s first above-the-line campaign in five years, it’s safe to say the brand is back with a bang.

I’m sure you’ll agree that May has really raised the bar for the rest of this year’s campaigns. What was your favourite from this month? And what do you really think of the Apple ad? Let us know in the comments wherever you found this blog.

And don’t forget, if you’re looking for a campaign that gets people talking, get in touch and let’s start the conversation.