Posted: Thursday, January 5, 2012 4:47 pm

A still from the advertisement

Popular milk brand Cravendale is celebrating after scooping the top slot in this Christmas’ ITV show Ad of the Year. 

The ‘Cats with Thumbs’ ad from 2011 made the shortlist, which was drawn up by industry experts, and went on to claim first place in the top 20 countdown as voted by 8,000 ITV viewers. It featured alongside other iconic ads from the past 12 months such as, Old Spice’s “The man your man could smell like” and Aldi’s Christmas adverts in the primetime show, which aired over the festive period and pulled in 3.1 million viewers. 

Cravendale’s ad focuses on the phenomenon of polydactyl cats (cats with ‘thumbs’) and imagines a world where cats perform human-like tasks with their hands: filing their nails, knitting, reading and even clicking their fingers. The cats in the ad are out to steal Cravendale milk from their owners, by any means possible! Actor Tim Curry provides the voiceover for the ad and has since worked on two further adverts for the brand.

The 40-second spot, created by advertising agency Wieden & Kennedy was part of the £12m ‘The Milk Matters’ campaign, aiming to drive consumer awareness of Cravendale.
Sam Dolan, Cravendale senior brand manager, commented: “We’re delighted that ‘Cats with Thumbs’ bagged the top spot in the Ad of the Year show. It’s a really engaging, fun ad that struck a chord with cat lovers and cat haters; it’s not too difficult to imagine a world where cats take over! We’ve had a great reaction to this ad and pride ourselves on our creative concepts, with plenty more exciting ideas planned for 2012.”

The show revealed some of the secrets behind the filming of the ad and how the cats were brought to life.