Category: Ads

Carlsberg: Probably the Best Ad in the World

You can debate the effectiveness of magazine advertising all day long, but this Carlsberg ad from Belgian agency Duval Guillaume is undeniably useful. The advertisement reportedly appeared in Men’s magazine Menzo. Follow its instructions and you can use the flimsy piece of paper to open a bottle of Carlsberg.

How the idea is built

The mechanic is the message: the page is not just media. It is a tool. The ad teaches you how to tear and fold it into a working opener, which turns “try the product” into a physical action inside the magazine.

In print-led FMCG marketing, the fastest way to earn attention is to make the medium do something the viewer can immediately test.

The real question is whether your medium can deliver proof, not promises.

Why it lands

It turns a claim into proof. There is no argument to win and no feature list to remember. You either open the bottle, or you do not.

Extractable takeaway: Interactive print works when the action is the demonstration. Here, “interactive print” means the paper itself triggers a physical action, not just reading or looking. If the audience can do the product benefit with their hands in under a minute, the ad becomes memorable because it turns attention into a small personal “win”.

It forces participation. The reader cannot stay passive. The ad only completes itself when someone follows the instructions.

It earns a second look. Utility creates curiosity. People keep it, show it, and try it, which is the opposite of how most print gets treated.

Try it out yourself by downloading the advertisement from: www.probablythebestadintheworld.be.

But does it make this “probably the best ad in the world”? Not if you consider the likely inspiration below. The video shows someone using a piece of paper to open a bottle of Carlsberg.

Steal this: make the page a tool

  • Make the medium carry the benefit. If the product is about a moment. Build an execution that creates that moment.
  • Keep the instruction set frictionless. Fewer steps. Clear folds. Obvious success condition.
  • Design for sharing in the real world. The best print innovations get passed around physically before they get shared digitally.

A few fast answers before you act

What makes this print ad “interactive”?

It is not just read. It is folded into a functional bottle opener, so the reader completes the ad by doing something.

Why is a bottle-opener mechanic effective for beer?

It links the ad directly to the consumption moment. The ad becomes part of opening the product, not just talking about it.

Does utility automatically make a print ad effective?

It improves attention and memorability, but effectiveness still depends on distribution and whether people actually try it.

What is the biggest risk with “useful” print ideas?

If the build is fiddly or fails, the novelty collapses. The interaction must work reliably with minimal effort.

What is the most transferable lesson for advertisers?

When possible, replace messaging with demonstration. If the audience can experience the benefit through a simple action, persuasion gets easier.

AIDES: A Life

AIDES is described as a leading association in the fight against HIV/AIDS in France and Europe, with a long-running focus on both rights and prevention.

One of its prevention messages is delivered through a short film by TBWA\Paris called “A Life.”

A life story told in reverse

The film is structured as a life narrated backwards. It starts with old age and rewinds through the expected milestones. Family, love, travel, the sense of a full life. Then the rewind lands on a single moment in youth where HIV enters the story, and the future we just witnessed is revealed as the life that will not happen.

In public-health communications, prevention messages compete with fatigue and stigma, so narrative devices have to create attention without sounding like a lecture.

Why the reversal hits harder than a warning

The real question is how to make a familiar prevention warning feel personal enough to interrupt complacency.

Instead of describing risk, the spot makes the consequence legible as absence. It turns prevention from “avoid a bad outcome” into “protect the life you think you are going to have.” The backwards structure keeps the viewer engaged because it feels like a human story first, and only becomes a prevention message at the moment the timeline snaps into focus.

Extractable takeaway: If your message is easy to ignore in abstract form, anchor it in a relatable future, then reveal the single preventable turning point that removes that future.

What the campaign is trying to change

The intent is not awareness of HIV as a concept. It is behavior. That is the stronger strategic move, because the film is built to influence a decision, not just to restate a known risk. Use protection, and treat the decision as something that safeguards years, not minutes. The creative also avoids positioning people living with HIV as “other.” It focuses on a moment anyone can recognize. A choice made early that reshapes everything later.

What to steal for prevention and behavior-change work

  • Start with a human narrative. Let the viewer lean in before you reveal the message.
  • Make the consequence concrete. Show what disappears, not just what might happen.
  • Link the call-to-action to identity. “Protect your life” often motivates more than “avoid a disease.”
  • Use one clear turning point. A single, memorable moment is easier to recall than a list of risks.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core creative device in “A Life”?

A backwards life narration that rewinds from old age to youth, then reveals the preventable moment where HIV changes the future that was just described.

What behavior is the film trying to encourage?

Prevention, especially the consistent use of protection, by reframing it as protecting your future rather than reacting to fear.

Why does telling the story in reverse work?

It sustains attention and makes the twist meaningful. The viewer first invests in a life they recognize, then understands what is at stake when that life is taken away.

What should a marketer avoid when using a similar approach?

Over-explaining the moral. The power comes from the reveal. If you add heavy-handed copy, you reduce the emotional clarity the structure creates.

When is this structure a good fit?

When a prevention message is well-known but routinely ignored, and you need a fresh device that turns a familiar warning into a personal, memorable stake.

BI Norwegian Business School: Strip

A Norwegian business school ad that wins with humor

Norwegian ad agency Try has created this humorous TV Commercial for BI Norwegian Business School in Norway.

What the “Strip” format is doing

This film is built like a short, punchy scenario where comedy does the explaining. The title “Strip” signals a reveal. Here, “Strip” means a quick reveal structure. Set up one situation, then strip it back to the point. The joke is the hook, and the point lands after you’ve already committed attention.

When recruitment advertising works, it makes the viewer feel the consequence of being unprepared or underestimated. Then it positions education as the fix.

In higher-education recruitment, attention is scarce and differentiation is hard, so a clear comic scenario can compress the message into something people remember.

The real question is whether your recruitment message can earn attention before it asks for belief.

Why a humorous recruitment ad can outperform “informative” messaging

A humorous scenario is often stronger than an information-led message when you need reach beyond paid media. People rarely share program facts. They share moments. A comedic execution creates that moment, and it travels because it is easy to retell.

Extractable takeaway: If you want your recruitment message repeated by people who owe you nothing, build a retellable moment first and attach the proof after.

It also flatters the audience. If the viewer gets the joke quickly, they feel clever. That positive emotion transfers to the brand.

Stealable moves for recruitment marketing

  • Lead with one simple situation. One scene. One tension. One payoff.
  • Make the title do work. A strong title sets expectation and primes the reveal.
  • Earn the brand message late. Let the scenario pull people in, then attach the takeaway.
  • Keep it culturally specific, but universally readable. Local tone helps, but the human moment should translate.

A few fast answers before you act

What is BI Norwegian Business School’s “Strip” ad?

It is a humorous TV commercial created for BI Norwegian Business School, designed as a short scenario that makes a recruitment point memorable through comedy.

Who created the ad?

The film is credited to Try Reklamebyrå for BI Norwegian Business School.

Why use humor for a business school recruitment message?

Humor increases attention and recall. It also makes the message easier to retell, which helps recruitment campaigns travel beyond paid media.

What is the main creative mechanism at work?

A single situation creates tension, then the reveal resolves it. That structure delivers a clear takeaway without feeling like a brochure.

What is the biggest risk with this approach?

If the joke is stronger than the takeaway, viewers remember the gag but not the school. The brand connection has to be unmistakable in the final beat.