To celebrate the fifth anniversary of skippable TrueView video ads, YouTube has taken a stroll down memory lane to recall some of the most iconic moments from advertisers on the video sharing platform.
2015
Geico: Family: Unskippable
Geico’s series of “unskippable” YouTube video ads really did make us want to watch more.
Runners up:
Clash of Clans: Revenge
Ad Council: Diversity & Inclusion - Love Has No Labels
2014
Wren: FIRST KISS
The first time you watched "First Kiss," did you even realize it was an ad? Turns out it brand Wren was behind it all along.
Thanks to its awkward moments, First Kiss went on to be parodied hundreds of times on YouTube, including one from Jimmy Fallon: First Lick.
Runners up:
Always #LikeAGirl
Caterpillar: Largest Jenga game
2013
Volvo Epic Split
The split that launched a thousand splits: Jean Claude van Damme's death-defying stunt drove countless fan-created versions on YouTube. Since the Volvo video was uploaded, more than 1,200 videos with "epic split" in the title have been posted to YouTube.
Runners up:
Dove: Real Beauty Sketches
Pepsi: Test Drive
2012
Red Bull: Stratos jump
At its peak, people were watching more than 8 million concurrent live streams of Felix Baumgartner's world record-setting jump from the stratosphere.2
Pepsi: Uncle Drew | Chapter 1 | Pepsi Max
Dollar Shave Club: Our blades are f**ing great!
2011
Orabrush: Bad Breath Test
How clean is your tongue? Thanks to their hit YouTube marketing campaign, more than 1 million Orabrushes were sold online.
Runner up:
VW: The Force
2010
Tippex: NSFW. A hunter shoots a bear.
Tippex made white-out go viral with their clever play on “choose your own adventure", YouTube style.
Runner up:
Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
This list was created from the YouTube Ads Leaderboard, which recognises some of the top trending ads on YouTube by looking at factors like watchtime and engagement.
