The Top 10 YouTube ads in April

With the World Cup less than 3 weeks away brands are ramping up their campaigns. So far Nike and Castrol are the winners, securing 3 of the top 4 spaces in YouTube’s most popular ads in April, while Evian’s Spider-Man dancing baby and Waitrose’s carrot and boy also stand out.

1. Nike Football: Winner Stays

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XviR7esUvo

Creative Agency: W+K Portland
Media Agency: Mindshare

Nike flexed its celebrity muscles for this viral win, which turns a normal kids football game down the park into a star-studded match featuring everyone from Rooney and Iniesta to Ronaldo and Neymar. The video is the first of two ads from Nike’s “Risk Everything” campaign and gives the brand the early edge over rival Adidas as the battle for World Cup supremacy kicks off.

2. Evian: Spider-Man – The Amazing Baby & Me 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ3nBSTpq4M

Creative Agency: BETC Paris
Media Agency: MEC

Put together Evian’s hugely popular dancing babies campaign and Spider-Man and what do you get? Unsurprisingly a huge hit. The original “Babies and Me” spot was the most viewed on YouTube last year. Expect this one to be up there again.

3. Castrol – Footkhana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdBXpORSGu0

Creative Agency: Earn Media
Media Agency: Mindshare

Castrol’s ad might only have launched in the last week of April, but it has still managed to make it into the top 5 with its Footkhana spot, which pits motorsports star Ken Block against Brazilian footballer Neymar. The ad proves it’s not just the likes of Nike that can create a popular World Cup campaign, so too can engine oil brands.

4. Nike Football – Risk Everything

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwxdEECNpZY

Creative Agency: W+K Portland
Media Agency: Mindshare

The first of Nike’s World Cup campaign ads to launch, this spot features the usual list of superstar footballers grappling with the idea of not measuring up to expectation on the spot’s biggest stage. It isn’t an official sponsor, but that hasn’t stopped the brand using its marketing might to be the brand everyone is talking about in the run-up to the tournament

5. Waitrose – Advert with boy and carrot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UDUDKLZCAI

Creative Agency: BBH
Media Agency: MGOMD

Waitrose again underlined its points of difference with this brand campaign aimed at highlighting its co-ownership structure. It shows a boy planning and growing a carrot in his garden as a metaphor for how much Waitrose’s staff care about the business and its customers. It seems to have struck a chord and Waitrose’s sales continue to outpace the wider market.

6. L’Oreal Paris – New Feria Hair Colour

7. A-Z of Dance

8. Burj Khalifa Pinnacle Base Jump

9. Sammi aka BeautyCrush experiments with her fashion alter egos

10. Ikea – Metod Kitchen

*Ranks are determined using some of YouTube’s signals of viewer choice – number of views within the country, view rate (how much of an ad people choose to watch), and percentage of organic views versus paid views.

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