Watch the full ad here:

Jon's thoughts:

"THE BEST ADVERT OF ALL TIME

This week marks 70 YEARS of TV advertising and to mark the occasion the wonderful people at ITV Media and D&AD asked if System1 would join them to capture the very best Ad's across those 70 years and what lessons we can take

To say it was hard to whittle down to 70 tells you the quality of work that exists and even harder to create the "magnificent 7' final too

In my humble opinion, and at the risk of upsetting everyone, there is one Ad that sums up the very best of TV advertising better than any.

Hamlet.

The origins of the campaign go back as far as 1964 when CDP came up with the iconic line "Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet" but it was 1987 just before the ban on advertising tobacco came in that their most iconic ad went on air

I am sure you know which one I am talking about.

Here is what it does so well

⭐ Compelling insight

Anyone growing up in the 70's and 80's will remember getting your passport photo at the local Post Office. You had to spin the chairs up and down to find the right position and then once you put the coin in the slot you held a pose until the camera decided to take the photo. It always flashed at the wrong moment of course.

⭐ Cultural reference

The actor is Gregor Fisher who was famous at the time for being 'The Baldy Man' and is basically playing himself in a photo booth. By featuring a well known comedian they tapped into something far greater than themselves.

⭐ It's funny

At System1 we have measured lots of different types of happiness and the most effective is Shadenfreude. This is a brilliant example of it right here. However humour seems to have gone out of fashion in advertising recently which is a shame. Time to make advertising funny again!

⭐ A famous slogan

I don't smoke and really couldn't tell you the slogan for any cigar brand except for Hamlet. The fact that almost 35 years after the campaign ended I can still reference it tells you how successful it was. It also reinforced a timeless point about advertising which is how it works in the long term by creating memories.

So what do you think the best Ad of all time is?"