Photo: Courtesy of YouTube.
Ninety percent of the time, commercials are like the construction site you're forced to bypass during your commute, or the "no passengers" Metro car when you're already running late. Translation? Ads are that necessary, if unwanted, inconvenience delaying us from getting where we want to go. Sit through three commercials to get to the new Scandal? Shoot us — but, fine. We'll do it.
But, occasionally, there's an ad that's so good, you not only want to watch it, but you also think other people should watch it. These are the 30-second marketing masterpieces that grab your attention and stick in your brain. They make you stop, watch, laugh, cry, think. If ads are really successful — by advertiser industry standards, at least — viewers want to share them with others. Unruly, a social media marketing firm, has put together a list of the most shared ads of 2013, and Mashable has done us the solid of uploading them all in one place. Richard Kosinski, president of Unruly, says in a statement that it's not so much the number of views, but the number of shares, that determine if an ad is truly successful. "Shares are the currency of social success, and for leading brand marketers, discovering how to create and distribute highly sharable content repeatedly and at scale is now at the top of their wish list," he notes.
Some, if not most, of these ads will be familiar. (But, don't miss the sleeper hit, a Turkish commercial for Cornetto that draws heavily on Wes Anderson flicks.) There's serious self-reflection, via the Dove ad every woman on Facebook shared with you. And there's the Super Bowl ad that had you crying on your buffalo wings. And watching Kmart shoppers delight over the fact they can "ship their pants"? That's a collective national memory at this point.
So, take a look at the list and see if your favorite ad made it. You'll laugh, you'll (probably) cry. You might even rethink some life questions. Just don't forget to share.
(Mashable )