The Ads That Made Us: McCain does it again, 481 1111, and Melbourne's very own Franco Cozzo

Whether it’s a childhood jingle that you can still sing word for word, or a campaign that influences the way you work today, everyone has an ad that has really stuck with them.

Mediaweek has been asking the industry to take a trip down memory lane to find out all about the ads that have stuck with them.

Francesca Ryan, Marketing Lead, Boomtown

McCain Corn Cobs

Who would think it. But honestly I still think of this ad often when it rains. The visuals of the arid desert the deep red and the blue, blue sky.

You can feel the heat and the joy of a long-awaited rainfall. But it’s actually juicy corn.

Alex Vishney, Managing Director, Sydney, 5D

Pizza Hut’s '481 1111 Delivery Number'

How good is an ad that makes you remember a phone number for 30 years?

I can still recite Pizza Hut’s delivery number by heart… it’s not just because of the nostalgia, but also because of behavioural impact.

Looking back at the pre-digital world where choice was limited to who you could recall fastest, Pizza Hut embedded itself through pure (fun, catchy) mental salience.

My first research client was Domino’s, and they led pizza delivery market share in every state except NSW, which is where this ad played.

I think this serves as a reminder that effectiveness doesn’t have to be about flash or about fame. Sometimes it’s just about being the brand someone thinks of in the moment that matters.

Sylvia Pickering, General Manager, Melbourne, Atomic 212°

Franco Cozzo – “Grand Sale”

It’s an absolute Melbourne institution. At a time when TV ads were pretty homogenised, we saw a grinning Franco Cozzo spouting his TV ads in Italian, Greek and thickly accented English.

The furniture market was full of boring grey and dusty pink furniture, but Franco was spruiking lavish, lacquered gold and black dining sets, and bedheads with radios in them.

He looked like the dudes at my parents’ parties, he sounded like the guys at the barber shop my dad went to, and I felt like he was the uncle I never knew.

Now as an adult, living not far from his Brunswick store, I still recall the excitement of seeing him in there in the years before he passed away, and I still regret that I was too shy to pop in and ask for a photo.

Mi manchi, Franco!

Top image: Francesca Ryan, Alex Vishney and Sylvia Pickering

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To take part in future editions of The Ads That Made Us, please email: ab@mediaweek.com.au

Past editions of The Ads That Made Us.

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