The IT Nerd

Today, YouTube published its annual end of year ads leaderboard today, featuring the top 10 most popular video ads in Canada in 2023. See below for the full list as well as insights and trends that bubbled up from this year’s list to help guide advertisers on what it takes to stand out in the industry today. 

Canadian Top Ads

1. Oppenheimer | New Trailer (Universal Pictures Canada)
2. To summer in Quebec is to summer all out (Bonjour Québec)
3. lululemon | Mens 2023 (lululemon)
4. What I Wouldn’t Do (North Star Calling) – Artists for Feel Out Loud supporting Kids Help Phone (Kids Help Phone)
5. Hyundai | We make WAH | Hyundai Canada (Hyundai Canada)
6. RONA Black Friday (RONA Inc)
7. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes | Teaser Trailer (20th Century Studios Canada)
8. Celebrating 30 years of wonder in Las Vegas | Cirque du Soleil (Cirque du Soleil)
9. Élémentaire | Bande-annonce officielle (Walt Disney Studios Canada)
10. Soba Noodle Masterclass at Blue Goose Farm | Packed Up (MATTY MATHESON, in partnership with YETI)

Notable Themes:

1. Start with the story. Best practices matter, but it’s the creative—the insights, the story and how it’s told—that counts. It doesn’t hurt to make people laugh and lean into emotions. The best ads we’ve seen reflect the human experience and inspire. For example, set against a cover from local duo Mayfly, Bonjour Québec’s creative style is more an invite than an ad, bringing the magic of the province to life, and welcoming viewers to join in the experience.  
2. Connect with your audience like a creator. People connect with brands that behave like creators, crafting work that’s unique to the platform it runs on, and reflects trends and styles, embraces fandom, and invites conversation and commentary. YETI’s work with Matty Matheson shows that partnering with creators can be the best way to tell your brand’s story in an authentic way to new audiences. 
3. Create for YouTube, not TV. Storytelling formats and production styles have changed and brands are taking great advantage of YouTube’s unique canvas, blending non-traditional lengths and production styles with orientations like vertical Shorts for the greatest creative variety and results. This year, Kids Help Phone shows us a great example of taking time to tell the story by delivering an almost five minute, emotionally charged ad. And finally, we have RONA’s hilarious Black Friday ad, that resonated with Canadian consumers on a level no other Black Friday ad did.
4. Canadians still love to be entertained. Every year we publish this list, movie trailers bubble to the top. Canadians go to YouTube to be entertained and to learn, and movies satisfy both of these desires. And movies also present an opportunity for adjacent storytelling and creativity. Canadians love movie trailers but we also love the dissection of a topic. We crave information about upcoming films to know more about the plot, behind the scenes, interviews, or easter eggs, and YouTube satisfies all our curiosities around a topic.

This entry was posted on December 20, 2023 at 10:21 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.