What were the most creative and effective ads in 2022 in SEA?

Source: Kantar evaluated a thousand digital, social and TV ads from Southeast Asia in 2022. The Creative Effectiveness Awards recognise the top-performing ads of a 1,000 SEA ads from Kantar’s creative ad testing database in 2022 and reveal the themes common to the award winners.

Key findings

The most creative and effective ads of 2022 in Southeast Asia for digital and social are:

Grab (Vietnam)

Traveloka (Indonesia)

Edelweiss (Vietnam) 

Fita (Philippines) 

The most creative and effective ads of 2022 in Southeast Asia for TV are:

Lego (Indonesia) 

Omo (Vietnam)

Lay’s (Vietnam)

Hit (Indonesia) 

Dancow (Indonesia)

More from this source

• With simplicity at the heart of outstanding creativity and effectiveness, some brands simply go down a straightforward route of clear messaging and metaphors, cleverly crafting the message and brand to strip out over-thought complexity.  
• The challenges and crises of recent years seem to have sparked an imagination explosion in people’s search for escapism and alternative realities. Brands are igniting consumer imagination and opening portals of fantasy.  
• In a world where people are short on time and attention, content needs to grab viewers’ attention and quickly sell the concept. An immersive experience using Asia’s cultural iconography, colours, sights, sounds and senses to drive the brand.  
• A rising trend in advertising that is working towards a better world, featuring positive social messages. Ads about representation and inclusion to make the unheard and unseen in Asia, heard and seen. The most effective form of representation is when it demonstrates empathy in a way that’s most authentic to the brand.