D&AD wanted to engage people in the creative industry all year round, not only when the results are released. Our strategy was to celebrate creativity using a huge trend in the industry at the moment : ad blocking. Indeed, more than 300 million people are using Ad Block Plus worldwide.

The Ad Filter is positive version of Ad Block, the famous AD blocking app. The Ad Filter is a browser extension that blocks boring ads and replaces them with award winning ads from D&AD. With the Ad filter, people can enjoy great ads everyday. D&AD celebrates creativity by inspiring and stimulating people in the industry, and beyond.

The Ad Filter is a strong PR idea because of the context : AD blocking is a trending topic in advertising right now. The Ad Filter created lot of discussion in the industry, making people understand that creativity is the best answer.

Moreover, the Ad Filter is not an ordinary campaign, it’s a small gift that offers a daily dose of great advertising. People were happy to install it and share it with their friends. Because everyone enjoys seeing great ads they don’t know yet.

The Ad Filter is a positive version of the famous Ad Block browser extension. Instead of blocking all the ads on internet and making advertising totally disappear, the Ad filter removes boring ads but replaces them automatically by award winning ads from D&AD. To do so, D&AD created a database of more than 500 great ads (Yellow Pencil, Nomination, in book) that were broadcast randomly in place of the ordinary ad. The icon of the extension is a tiny yellow pencil.

We decided to focus on pre-roll ads because they are the most annoying and symbolic digital advertising support.

The Ad Filter was launched at the end of April 2015, so we didn’t have any results at the time of entry.