Australia’s 12 Most Iconic Childhood Ads

Some ads just won’t quit. Decades on, they continue to live on as quotes around the barbecue, being hummed in the car, or referenced in pop culture. It’s the holy grail of advertising: one campaign that continues to keep the brand at the forefront of people’s minds, long after the media spend behind them has dried up.

When we asked thousands of Aussies to name their most iconic childhood ad, it wasn’t just an exercise in nostalgia—it was a look back to help us look forward; a masterclass in what makes advertising endure, offering valuable lessons for marketers and advertisers of today.

The runaway winner of our rankings was as Australian and nostalgic as they come, with Vegemite’s “Happy Little Vegemites” (courtesy of legendary agency JWT, circa 1954) most fondly recalled among both Baby Boomers and Gen X alike.

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While The Reading Writing Hotline’s (via Monahan Dayman Adams, 1994) runner up status was also expected, its position as the most iconic among even the Gen Z cohort demonstrates the continued unrivaled reach of traditional broadcast media—with the campaign having now run on TV for over three decades. And a ranking of Australia’s Most Iconic Childhood Ads wouldn’t be complete without Clemenger BBDO’s 2000 masterpiece “Not Happy Jan” for Yellow Pages, cementing third position and proving the most iconic among Millennials.

But how exactly have the Top 12 ads—and the brands behind them—managed to stay at the forefront of people’s minds after all these years? Let’s dive into the 3 key learnings for every marketer and advertiser across the nation...

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1. Music is a trojan horse that lodges brands at the forefront of people’s minds.

From Vegemite’s unofficial national anthem topping the charts, right through to Lube Mobile’s 90s cult classic which rounded out the Top 12, there’s a reason why music and jingles feature so heavily on our list.

Far from a background soundtrack, music is an invaluable strategic tool with a multitude of short- and long-term benefits. Not only does it work to grab attention and elicit an emotional response, but it’s a powerful way to build branded memories. Vegemite didn’t just charm the nation with its cheerful tune; it developed a sticky earworm that featured the brand front and center. Put another way, nobody is mistakenly singing “We’re happy little Marmites.” And it’s the same story for Aeroplane Jelly, Cottee’s Cordial, and Weetbix.

Achieve a similar outcome for your brand, and the odds of it being the first one thought of during key buying moments becomes that much greater.

Music can also make the unmemorable, memorable. While many of us struggle to remember even our own phone number, most Australians over the age of twenty have little trouble reciting the number for Lube Mobile or The Reading Writing Hotline. It means that an otherwise dry piece of information becomes not just vaguely recallable, but embedded.

Read more: Music

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2. Humor is great, when it can relate.

Many of the Top 12 ads showcased a distinctly Australian sense of humor: dry, self-deprecating, and unapologetically irreverent.

Paul’s “Full Cream Milk” (Saatchi & Saatchi, 2004) and RACQ’s “Charter Boat” (McCann Erickson, 2002) delivered simple, single-minded stories wrapped in lighthearted banter, while Yellow Pages’ “Not Happy, Jan” (Clemenger BBDO, 2000) gifted us with a single line that became part of the national lexicon.

However, what made these ads stick in people’s heads all these years later didn’t just relate to how they tapped into relatable moments; rather, it was about how the stories behind them were delivered in a personal way. Featuring everyday characters and dialogue, they ensured the audience was in on the joke from the outset.

By then resolving the comedic problems with a punchline that placed the brand at the center of the solution, these ads ensured people not only remembered them for their amusing narratives but, just as importantly, which brand was behind them for years to come.

Read more: Humor & Emotion

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3. Distinctive Assets that stand the test of time.

To be effective, it’s not just important to be remembered, but also to ensure these memories are attributed to the correct brand. Otherwise, and unsurprisingly, all this hard-earned memorability offers little commercial benefit to the brands behind them.

The ads that made the Top 12 are a testament to their ability to forge strong and ownable codes, meaning the brand was successfully brought along for the ride together with the memorable narrative.

What’s more, these assets came in all shapes and sizes. Along with the sonic cues previously touched on, characters like Bertie the Aeroplane (Aeroplane Jelly) and Louie the Fly (Mortein) highlight how memorable mascots (whether hero or villain) can personify a brand’s purpose or values; instantly recognizable, easy to retrieve, and loaded with meaning.

While refreshing and redeploying these same assets works to keep brands feeling contemporary and relatable, more importantly, it also has a compounding effect. Would people remember the original Louie the Fly ad if he had been a one-off character that never evolved into a wider campaign platform? Likely not.

In the end, while the channels for distributing content continue to rapidly evolve, the fundamentals of great advertising have forever remained the same. Are advertisers of today learning important lessons from those that have come before to create the classics of tomorrow—etching themselves into the nation’s memories for decades to come?

Read more: Characters & Distinctiveness