10 ads that rocked the web...

Before defining the most influential online ads ever made, there are a couple of curveballs that need to be considered. First, compared to other media, 'The History of Digital Advertising' would barely fill a volume, let alone a bookshelf. Second, even in its short lifespan, digital has only just started to be taken seriously. Back in the old days online ads were more likely to be associated with dodgy pop-ups or poisonous email attachments.

The turnaround has been rapid, but is digital living up to its creative promise? Even now, when faced with more than a decade of choice, our experts were disappointed that so few stood out. Of course, that isn't entirely down to the quality of work. Digital advertising often seeks niche audiences, indicative of a new 'pull' era in marketing where consumers find what they want, rather than getting bombarded with what they don't.

So, now to the difficult question: what is a digital ad anyway? After toying with a few definitions, we realised that some basic ground rules had to be applied. First, the work had to be promoting a specific product or service. Second, it had to have third-party spend behind it; showing it had endured the sweat of an account management process. Finally, the ad had to have had a reach of, at the very least, 500,000 consumers.

Each piece of work was judged within the context of its time, and was not compared directly to the work of today. Was it new and groundbreaking? Was it ahead of its time? Did it influence other work? What has come since?

What soon became clear was, even in its short history so far, the best digital ads are actually easily remembered. Many are the ones that take us back to the days of screeching dial-up modems, and make us gasp, smile or simply be grateful for the ingenuity that followed. Here are our top 10 ads of all time. And two that certainly aren't.

Title: Barackobama.com
Brand: Barack Obama
Agency: Blue State Digital
Year: 2008
Type of ad: Website

As early on as the primaries, Barack Obama's digital campaign was shaping up to be a game-changing moment in creating political momentum. And if the results of the election are anything to go by, it certainly succeeded in its objectives.

Using a sophisticated mix of digital alongside the traditional media armoury, the Obama offensive managed several things: to create quick lines of communication between the campaign headquarters and field officers, reach the young and disenfranchised, create a dialogue between voters, rebut Republican allegations and raise millions in donations.

Realising the importance of capitalising on the youth vote, the team addressed young influencers through a mixture of social media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. With half of his $500 million (£303m) campaign fund coming from donations of less than $200 through internet fundraising, the Obama campaign has harnessed electronic media to devastating effect.

"Obama's campaign has set the benchmark for all political campaigns in the future," says Sam Ball, joint creative partner at Lean Mean Fighting Machine. "Not only has it changed the way all subsequent campaigns will be run, but hopefully its success has made the world a safer place to live in."

Title: Sol Comments
Brand: Scandinavia Online
Agency: Mediafront Oslo
Year: 2007
Type of ad: Banner

Even in our instant online world live advertising is still evolving. One piece of work that will accelerate that is Sol Comments, a live ad campaign created by Mediafront Oslo.

The concept is devastatingly simple. A blank white banner sits on news websites that frequently update their headlines. Meanwhile, a number of quick-witted copywriters sit remotely scribbling their thoughts onto the banner that is constantly updated in real time. So far, more than 2,300 unique ads have been created.

"The ad points to an emerging trend of human beings being used to power live campaigns rather than simply computer generated responses," says Flo Heiss, creative partner at Dare. "You're now seeing more digital applications that work that way."

It certainly is a sign of things to come. Several brands have been experimenting with live ads including eBay, which advertised internet products in real time on TV. More recently Honda orchestrated a group of skydivers jumping out of a plane to spell out its brand name in the sky.

Yet the real reason Sol Comments stands out is its sheer simplicity, which was enough to win the agency a Gold Lion at Cannes this year. If we're really to try and find a snag, it's the fact that it's all in Norwegian.

Title: Evolution
Brand: Dove
Agency: Ogilvy Advertising Toronto
Year: 2006
Type of ad: Video

Put crudely, Dove Evolution was the seminal moment where a corporate brand had earned enough trust to attack the fashion industry in a way that allowed it to retain the moral high ground. It came out of the Dove 'Campaign For Real Beauty' but was only initially designed as a local enrolment campaign for the brand's Self-Esteem Fund.

The 75-second spot sees an ordinary girl sit in a studio under grating make-up lights. In a sped-up sequence she is adjusted by a team of hairstylists and make-up artists, and then one specially selected photo is imported into a studio where her features are airbrushed and retouched. Finally the image is transferred onto a billboard for a fictional make-up, whereupon the piece closes with the line: No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.

"This was a shockwave-producing piece of content that fitted perfectly with the original nature of the internet as a tool for taking consumers behind the scenes," says James Hilton, executive creative director at AKQA. "It tapped into an anti-establishment culture where people were increasingly questioning of the fashion industry."

Going against the usual dictates of the modelling industry, the campaign has earned respect and reward. It was no surprise to see Nivea launch a similar campaign called 'Beauty is.'

Title: Nike+
Brand: Nike
Agency: R/GA, New York
Year: 2006
Type of ad: Branded utility

Few pieces of technology have made a more convincing case for a branded utility than Nike+.

The kit is a piece of technological wizardry. A chip in a Nike+ training shoe communicates data to an iPod that can be synced to a computer. From there runners can track their progress, as well compete with people from more than 20 other countries.

Since its launch in 2006, the Nike+ community has attracted 500,000 members that have run over 15 million miles in total. Nike claims the product has had a direct effect on its bottom line and has increased sales across a number of its sportswear apparel and equipment brands.

"This is one of the seminal pieces of digital technology that will still be talked about in another ten years from now," says Dean Woodhouse, a creative at Bartle Bogle Hegarty.

Title: Subservient Chicken
Brand: Burger King
Agency: Crispin Porter & Bogusky
Year: 2004
Type of ad: Video

On the 8 April 2004, a man dressed in a chicken outfit appeared on a microsite promising to perform any command its user asked. Type 'fly', it would flap like a maniac. Type 'take off mask', or anything ruder and, chances are, it would wiggle a scolding finger at you.

Far from being an internet novelty, Subservient Chicken was in fact a clever piece of online technology created by Burger King. Even without sound and a limited portfolio of commands, it instantly struck a chord with bloggers. It also carried intrigue.

"To go down a road of offering the user endless options could easily have set you up for a fall," says AKQA's Hilton. "If you are going to pursue that route, you have to be an insane scientist and go beyond anything rational or obvious that might be asked by your users."

These were the early days of chatrooms and few could say for certain whether it was a real person or a clever piece of coding. A day after its release, the site recorded a million hits, which became 20 million a week later. It has since become one of the most successful online campaigns of all time.

Title: Foot Bag
Brand: Coca-Cola
Agency: AgenciaClick, Sao Paulo
Year: 2003
Type of ad: Animated gif

With banners and MPUs fast earning the reputation of an archaic, intrusive and annoying use of digital technology, Revolution's panel of experts quickly agreed that there was one unanimous exception to the rule.

The Foot Bag was an animated gif featuring the Keep Britain Tidy character on the side of a Coca-Cola can. There he quietly performed a number of simple stunts with a football including kicking it from foot-to-foot and balancing it on his head.

"The beauty of Coca-Cola's Foot Bag idea is its simplicity," says Hugo Bierschenk, a creative at Bartle Bogle Hegarty. "It doesn't scream out to be interacted with and doesn't try to take you anywhere else when you do."

In a world of rubbish banner ads Foot Bag immediately made the panel smile. Even with rich media allowing brands to launch far more sophisticated display formats, few banners before or since have managed to make such an impact. Coca-Cola has ramped up its digital marketing activity as a result of this campaign.

Title: Bear
Brand: John West
Agency: Leo Burnett
Year: 2000
Type of ad: Video

Few will forget the first time they saw a John West fisherman squaring up to a kickboxing Kodiak bear.

It began in December 2000, when Leo Burnett London posted a preview of its John West TV ad on the US site adcritic.com. Within minutes, the ad caught fire online.

"This was a very funny ad that for the first time earned people's attention rather than trying to buy it," says LBi's chief creative officer Chris Clarke.

Not only did this ad spawn the birth of viral, it showed that good content could travel.

By the time it was made for TV, the ad scooped awards including a Cannes Gold Lion and British Television Advertising Award.

Still one of the most forwarded virals ever, it has been viewed more than 300 million times. This ad showed digital could punch just as hard as TV.

Title: BMW Films
Brand: BMW
Agency: Fallon Minneapolis
Year: 2001
Type of ad: Video

Hollywood A-Listers, big name directors and a $10 million (£6.5m) budget, the BMW Films project was a high-risk venture.

Cast your mind back to 2001 when dial-up speeds were slow, and downloading films meant giving up half your day. Against these odds, BMW commissioned a series of eight-minute films starring Clive Owen. Alongside him appeared a host of celebrities including Madonna and Marilyn Manson under the direction of Ang Lee and Guy Ritchie.

The films, which easily could have been a career wrecker for all involved, instantly resonated with early adopters of the internet, notching up 11 million views in the first four months. BMW saw its website registration rocket into the millions (especially as the films could only be downloaded there) and car sales subsequently rose.

"The BMW Films series was an idea that was well ahead of its time," says Dare's Flo Heiss. "If that had been done now, the impact would have been much bigger particularly with faster download speeds and a wider interest base. And it would still be one of the most groundbreaking ideas, even seven years later."

BMW Films is still lauded by marketers as the benchmark of successful storytelling campaigns, and has seen many imitations from brands including Nissan and PlayStation 3, which developed a series of short online films as part of its 'This Is Living' campaign in 2007. Most recently Mother embarked on a full-length branded feature film for Eurostar.

Title: Online Caroline
Brand: Freeserve
Agency: XPT
Year: 1999
Type of ad: Online drama

Before Facebook gave us online access to our friends, internet users were even more susceptible to palling up online. With this in mind, Freeserve (remember it?) created Online Caroline, which it billed as an online soap.

The site took you directly into the world of a 27 year-old female travel writer. New video technology created the illusion of watching live footage from Caroline's flat. Enter, and chances are your first sight will be Caroline pouring vodka down the neck of a stranger. Before you know it, you're entangled in her dramatic life and can expect to receive personalised emails with updates of what has been happening and pleas to log back in.

"There's something strangely compelling about an online soap in which people give away information about themselves on email," says Ogilvy's Bo Hellberg. "For its time, it made full use of interactive media including email, a webcam, and even a commercial tie-in with brands which could be offered up as presents to Caroline."

These were the first strides towards digital storytelling and they proved fairly successful. It soon became one of the definitive interactive online dramas, even scooping a BAFTA. However, after around 24 days, Online Caroline was gradually starved to death by her creepy boyfriend as part of a strange scientific experiment. At the end, the viewer felt complicit. A sequel, involving less mystery, performed badly. Even eight years on, the site is still live, and the emails keep coming.

Title: The Blair Witch Project
Brand: Haxan Films
Agency: In-house
Year: 1998
Type of ad: Website

The Blair Witch Project, released in the UK the same summer as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, was nearly as highly anticipated despite being made by relatively unknown filmmakers on a tiny fraction of the budget.

That was down to a shrewd web campaign that realised the benefits of galvanising interest early. Long before Artisan Entertainment had even bought the movie, the makers had set up a website and put together an email list of 1,700 influential industry people, who then helped generate buzz through a viral campaign.

But the cleverest thing was the storyline of film footage supposedly salvaged by three filmmakers that disappeared into Maryland Woods in 1994.

"No single campaign has been more inspirational to me in my career," says AKQA's James Hilton. "A lot of campaigns still make the mistake of thinking they can create groundswell in a few minutes. But The Blair Witch Project cleverly played the long game through some very shrewd use of internet communities. Today those communities may be less naive, but it was a game-changing piece of content that pushed the boundaries of what brands could do online."

Throughout a promotion lasting many months, the campaign gathered pace each day closer to the film's launch. At its peak, the site was attracting eight million hits a day and reached 300 million in the first eight months of existence.

... and two ads that shocked the web

It's one thing for a brand to create yet another boring banner ad. But it's quite another to roll out a campaign that alienates audiences and sparks a worldwide consumer backlash

Title: Cillit Bang
Brand: Cillit Bang
Agency: Cohn & Wolfe
Year: 2005
Type of ad: Social media

Any mention of Cillit Bang will immediately conjure up images of a shrill Barry Scott corroding 1p coins in some of the worst TV advertising in recent times.

However, in 2005 the overenthusiastic presenter started appearing on blogs and sites, plastering them with all sorts of his personal musings. One such was a consolatory message to a blogger who wrote about an estranged relationship with his father. 'I hadn't seen my father in 15 years until two years ago,' responded a chirpy Scott. 'But I kept telling myself that no matter how estranged we'd become there was no river too wide to cross.'

Smelling a rat, bloggers hunted down a trail of IP addresses only to find that Barry Scott was in fact non-existent, the postings all fabricated and the messages part of a digital awareness drive from the brand's marketing team. Bemusement turned to anger, especially when the brand posted another message righteously wondering: 'Can't a viral advertiser be human?' Eventually Cillit Bang and Cohn & Wolfe, the PR agency responsible, were forced to back down and apologise. Ever since then, brands have learned a stiff lesson: mislead consumers and the blogosphere will come back to bite.

Title: Information Revolution
Brand: Ask.com
Agency: Profero
Year: 2007
Type of ad: Social media

Another cataclysmic error of judgement. In 2007, Ask.com devised a campaign designed to stimulate debate about Google dominating internet search. It featured Orwellian-themed TV ads that drove viewers to a campaign site. Not too many issues there.

However, with guerrilla fly-posting and tube ads adding to its authenticity, the campaign passed itself off as a counter-cultural movement designed to prompt consumers to rise up against the dominance of Google. Except that it wasn't.

Soon after arriving at www.information-revolution.org you found it was in fact a blatantly branded search engine, or (as one blogger put it) the work of 'a billion-dollar American company trying to hitch a ride on the coat-tails of a distinctively British counter-culture while pulling wool over the eyes of its audience'.

But with the sleeping giant now awoken, these revolutionaries took their own action. The site was drowned in user comments such as: 'Shame on Ask. Google would never do something this evil' and 'what a train wreck of a campaign'. Needless to say, Profero did not repitch for the account when it went up for review months later.

PANEL OF JUDGES
Bo Hellberg, digital creative director, OgilvyOne
Flo Heiss, creative director, Dare
James Hilton, founder and chief creative officer, AKQA
Sam Ball, creative partner, Lean Mean Fighting Machine
Chris Clarke, chief creative officer, LBi
Dean Woodhouse and Hugo Bierschenk, creatives, Bartle Bogle Hegarty