Roanna Williams has a blunt test for great advertising: if everyone in the room feels comfortable, it’s probably the wrong idea. The Boundless co-founder and co-CCO brought that lens to this week’s Bestads Best of the Week, where she reviewed the global picks across TV, print, outdoor and interactive. Her winners show a clear pattern: confidence in a simple human truth, plus enough mischief to make people feel something.
TV: Bulla keeps it human
Williams’ top TV choice was Bulla’s ‘Life’s Fulla with Bulla’. She praised it as ‘nostalgic, mischievous and wonderfully observed’ and argued its strength is confidence—no big tricks, no desperate cleverness. The story, characters and craft do the work. SickKids Foundation’s ‘Life on the Line’ was runner-up, using blood-filled tubes to show, not tell, what life hangs on.
Print and outdoor: cheeky, local and impossible to ignore
Colgate’s ‘Fangs’ won print with a single visual: fangs making a point about teeth. Heinz’s ‘Heinz Sacrilege’ took runner-up by treating ketchup as a sacred institution, a mischievous move Williams says works because the brand is confident enough in its place in culture to have fun.
Outdoors, Nedbank’s ‘The Mattress ATM’ turned the familiar South African habit of hiding cash under a mattress into a literal ATM. Williams loved that it takes a serious financial message into everyday life—no complicated explanation needed. Morrisons’ ‘Market Street Monsters’ was runner-up with Halloween charm.
Interactive: technology in service of the idea
Visit Iceland’s ‘AI Knittakers’ won by pairing AI with traditional Icelandic knitting. Williams’ key note: the technology isn’t the idea; it simply makes the idea possible. Columbia Sportswear’s ‘Don’t Panic Room’ took runner-up by poking fun at billionaire bunker culture while landing a brand truth—Columbia makes gear to help you survive the outdoors.
What to steal for your next campaign
- Start with a specific human truth. The mattress ATM works because South Africans already know the behaviour.
- Let one strong visual do the heavy lifting. Colgate’s fangs and Nedbank’s ATM need no extra explanation.
- Use tech as an enabler, not the headline. Iceland’s AI is charming because it serves a traditional craft.
- Leave room for mischief. Heinz and Columbia show cultural confidence can make an ad feel less like wallpaper.
For performance marketers, the shift is useful: even direct-response creatives can start from a single specific insight and strip away explanation. The best ads this week aren’t competing on features; they’re competing on feeling and recognition. That’s what earns the share, the remix and the fourth-wall break.
Williams’ own career is built on that belief. As the first female Chair of the Creative Circle South Africa and director of Open Chair, she has pushed for work that shows up, gets quoted, remixed or quietly copied. That’s the bar worth chasing.
Source: Campaign Brief
