Best Commercials of All Time and Why They're Great

by Julian Canlas

At VEED, we're big suckers for great commercials and ads that work. Whether they're big Super Bowl ads or online ads, here's just something about amazingly-constructed commercials that just cut through the noise and provide something fun for those who watch and great value for the brands that have created them.

So here's a fun list of some of my best commercials of all time and why they are so darn great. In this blog post you'll learn:

  • What exactly makes a great commercial or video ad?
  • Persuasive commercials that make you do the stuff they want you to do. Brilliantly weird commercials that have defied genre conventions to achieve great success.
  • Classic commercials that have stood the test of time and turned iconic in their own right.

What Exactly Makes a Great TV Commercial? Hint: It’s Not a Big Budget.

From the first commercial that aired in July 1941 , run by Bulova, an American watch company, for $9 to the $166.3-billion valuation of today's global TV advertising industry, video ads and commercials are parts of many successful marketing campaigns.

While global video consumption has radically shifted from TV to the internet in the past 2 decades, there are still many lessons to be learned from the best commercials of all time.

But what exactly makes a great commercial? At VEED, an easy-to-use video editor, we've realized that some of the best commercials out there didn't necessarily rely on big production costs. Rather, they were all creative in one way or another. In particular, all of them share these traits:

  • Great pacing. The secret to a great commercial is knowing how to capture your audience's attention in less than a minute. The best commercials of all time emphasized the types of information and emotions, and had wicked scripts to keep people glued to the screen.
  • A clearly-defined call to action (CTA). Great marketing relies on a strong CTA. In these great commercials, the audience knew what was being advertised and the offering by the end of it. No matter how funny or well-edited commercials are, they need to circle back to the product or service they're advertising.
  • A strong vision. Every commercial made should be at the mercy of the brand. These great commercials represented the brands' vision extremely well, with effective messaging and a strong point of view.
  • Great pacing. The secret to a great commercial is knowing how to capture

You'll see these elements throughout the commercials mentioned below.

Persuasive Commercials

These persuasive commercials want you to act. Whether it is through a clear slogan that doubles as a CTA or a great script that sells the product impressively, these persuasive commercials make you, the viewer, want to purchase or to try out whatever they're pitching. They're just that darn persuasive.

Nike - JUST DO IT (1988 - Present)

Probably one of the most widely-known slogans out there, Nike's "JUST DO IT" campaign propelled the brand to new heights, back in the late-1980s when it was struggling to compete against athletic-wear brands like Reebok and Adidas.

This slogan, appropriated from a Utah murderer's last words ( real story ), has been included across many persuasive commercials and marketing campaigns that urge people to do what they believe in and in their own way, rendering these words simultaneously universal and intensely personal. What better way to persuade people into buying your athletic wear than to persuade them to start moving?

The first commercial featured 80-year-old Walt Stack, who talked about his daily 17-mile run across the Golden Bridge in 1988. 30 years later, it featured superstar athlete Colin Kaepernick, who did the act of kneeling in the 2016 National Anthem in support of Black Lives Matter and anti-racism.

While many threatened to boycott Nike when this was aired in 2018, the brand was one of the first to take a stand for Black issues, back when many brands were reluctant to do the same. Today, this persuasive commercial has been lauded for appropriately capturing the zeitgeist of the current times, without being trite.

Dollar’s Shave Club - Our Blades Are F***ing Great (2012)

How do you turn a persuasive commercial that cost $4500 and a day to make into a billion-dollar company? Ask the founders of Dollar Shave Club, a company that delivers personal grooming products for men by mail.

This hilarious commercial put the company on the map. In just 72 hours, it attracted millions of views on YouTube and received important press coverage that the founders used to leverage relatively non-newsworthy topics, most notably its most recent seed funding round.

This goes to show how effective great humor and branding can be, no matter what your offering is. After all, Dollar's Shave Club's unique selling point isn't particularly compelling. But the humor, wit and funny script in this persuasive commercial sold the vision effectively.

You also don't need tons of cash to produce a commercial. Sometimes, it just needs to be creative enough to grab people's attention and make them fall in love with your razors.

eToro - Too Busy to Invest in Stocks? Meet eToro™ (2020)

Riding the wave on democratizing investment tools and allowing more people to invest, eToro enlists the help of Alec Baldwin to tout the importance of its copy trading feature. The result? A persuasive commercial with a tightly-written funny script delivered impeccably by Alec Baldwin.

While it still unabashedly showcases the app, how this commercial manages to persuade isn't actually by saying the ways how useful its copy trading feature can be. Rather, it uses deadpan humor to get the message across and doesn't let go of that energy throughout. This persuasive commercial works on the actor's star power and a great script to make people download the app.

Brilliantly Weird Commercials

These iconic commercials erred on the weirder side of things, but that's why they're also so darn memorable. They're creative, genre-defying, and have a lasting influence on the way people will do effective commercials in the future.

Aviation Gin - The Gift that Doesn't Give Back (2019)

After that disastrous Peloton ad , in which the husband gives a Peloton bike to his wife as a Christmas gift, owner of Aviation Gin and Deadpool actor (Joking. He's not only known for that. He was also in Green Hornet) Ryan Reynolds contacts the actress for a collaboration. The result? The Aviation Gin ad, in which the wife swaps the Peloton bike for a gin-based cocktail.

“This gin is really smooth,” she utters after drinking the cocktail in one gulp.

It's a masterclass in marketing strategy that helped Aviation Gin rake in millions of views on YouTube in just a few days. In under 60 seconds and a short production time, Aviation Gin managed to rapidly produce a weird commercial that was as compelling as it was delightfully referential.

By hiring the same actress and launching an ad in the same week, Aviation Gin managed to effectively leverage Peloton's bad press and benefit from it, while it was still hot in people's minds. The result? Pop culture relevance.

Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (2010)

Let me preface by saying this: this weird commercial is problematic and sexist even back at the time that it was aired. But it's also the commercial that helped Old Spice reach a younger demographic and fix its image problem of being for old people, compared to other competitors, like Axe.

The commercial quickly went viral on YouTube, garnering over 20 million views in just three days. The campy, over-the-top transitions, play on exaggerated masculinity and slogan Smell Like a Man, Man proved to be a winner.

But the point of view that proved to be the most important point of this weird commercial. Old Spice realized that over 60% of body wash purchases were made by women. Rather than create very male-centric commercials similar to the ones its competitors make, this weird commercial essentially wanted to convince women to buy Old Spice for their men, instead of buying lady-scented products. This especially had great pop culture relevance in the early 2010s.

Evian - Baby & Me (2013)

Evian's Baby & Me commercial has the elements of a successful viral video: a simple, yet effective, choreography, creative editing, catchy music, and, errr, dancing babies!

This weird commercial features people walking across a street and realizing that their reflections turned into their baby selves in that area.

There's a certain form of surrealism and joy throughout the commercial, which, in itself, is based on Evian's slogan “Live young”. The joy of drinking good water like Evian is related to the fact that it will, well, help you stay healthy and live longer. Evian's pure water helps drinkers achieve long and youthful lives.

It's a great and weird commercial that manages to stay on-brand, whilst being irreverent and fun.

Snickers - Betty White, You're Not You When You're Hungry (2010)

In 2010, Snickers unveiled its hilarious commercial featuring Betty White during Super Bowl XLIV. The commercial features the actress as Mike playing a game of football with teammates who are frustrated at her apparent lack of skills and slowness.

His teammate tells him, “Mike, you're playing like Betty White out there”. After a confrontation ensues, Mike's girlfriend runs up to him and gives Mike a Snickers bar. The real Mike shows up and the game resumes.

What can I say? Any ad that manages to include Betty White will be a good one because Betty White's an icon. This commercial and campaign helped a 15.9% increase in global sales and grew Snickers' market share.

Not bad for an 80-year old brand and an 88-year old actress who's literally lived through a world war. Who knew this would make an original concept for a Super Bowl ad.

Classic Commercials that Are Timelessly Relevant

These classic commercials have stood the test of time and become memorable aspects of the brands themselves.

These classic commercials have also been heavily referenced in pop culture, which goes to show how much they were able to capture the cultural zeitgeist at that time and beyond.

Apple - 1984 (1984)

Considered to be one of the greatest and biggest Super Bowl ads ever, did you know that Apple's “1984” almost didn't make it to air. Why? Because a leading market research company thought that it would be a flop. Thankfully, Apple's ad account manager Fred Goldberg decided not to share the results with the executives at Chiat/Day.

Based on George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, classic, 60-second commercial features a woman being chased by storm-trooperesque figures across a dystopic assembly hall filled with bald men listening to a man on a projection screen.

She then hurls the hammer she's carrying to the projector screen, thereby releasing the bald men out of their trance. It's a classic and memorable commercial that metaphorically illustrates how the new Apple Macintosh computer would provide a creative revolution that would free individuals from the control of Big Brother, which presumably represents its main competitor at the time, IBM's personal computer.

It's also a great tech commercial aired durng the Super Bowl that only foreshadowed Apple's domination in the next decades to follow.

Keep America Beautiful - The Crying Indian (1971)

A partnership between Keep America Beautiful and the Advertising Council in the 1970s resulted in the Crying Indian commercial, which raised awareness about plastic pollution back then when it wasn't so fashionable to do so.

The commercial features a Native American character (plot twist: the actor himself wasn't Native American) canoes across the river and laments about pollution caused by factories and littering. It also had a very memorable line:

“Some people have a deep, abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country. And some people don't. People start pollution, and people can stop it.” Dramatic music plays. It's a damning classic commercial aired on Earth Day 1971 and remains relevant, especially today.

United Negro College Fund - Chains (1972)

This classic ads from United Negro College Fund have propelled Black American issues to mainstream American consciousness, helped raise more than $2.2 billion, and directly led to 350,000 Black American students graduating from college or beyond.

It's a powerful classic ad that uses visual symbolism that emphasizes the need for all Americans to get equal access to education. The slogan “A mind is a terrible thing to waste” packs a punch and has helped the fund become enormously successful throughout the 4 decades that it's been running.

Folger’s Coffee - Peter Comes Home For Christmas (1986)

On a lighter note, Folgers has created a wholesome brand based on Christian American family values. This classic commercial is an American staple during the holiday season. This 60-second ad features Peter coming home to his parents' place during a white Christmas morning.

After being greeted by his sister and placing his presents next to an impossibly large Christmas tree, he proceeds to prepare some cups of Folger's Coffee for his parents.

The classic ad is a masterclass in messaging: Folger's coffee brings the whole family together during the holiday season. Even the sister enjoys its scent. Now, if we can just forget about that odd 2009 remake...

Got Milk? - Aaron Burr (1993)

This iconic classic commercial was the first of the many Got Milk?” commercials that aired across the 1990s and early-200s. This 60-second commercial portrays a history buff who tries to give the correct answer to a $10,000 question on the phone.

Unfortunately, the person on the other line couldn't understand what he was saying and he ran out of milk to wash out the peanut butter sandwich in his mouth. Unfortunately, the host hangs up, and the poor guy doesn't win anything.

It's a funny, classic commercial that's been widely referenced in pop culture, from The Simpsons to Hamilton, and has won many awards when it was aired.

Ready To Create Your First Budget-friendly Commercial?

Whatever you have in mind, remember this: you don't need a big budget to create a successful advertising campaign. Being creative, knowing how to pace well, and having a vision will help you create iconic commercials that work.

Enjoyed watching through our list of best commercials of all time? Keen to get started on making effective commercials with original concepts for your brand?

Don't hesitate in trying out VEED , an easy-to-use video editor with simple and intuitive tools to help you edit commercials for social media and other channels. You can include text to your video, merge video, trim video and split your videos, add an audiogram, and so much more.

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