Creative effectiveness consultancy Cubery each week asks Australians to think of a recent ad that’s stuck with them, whether they loved it or hated it.
This longitudinal research maps the intersection of emotion, attention and media muscle, revealing what’s cutting through, getting noticed and striking a chord with the public.
In the March quarter, Australian Retirement Trust continued its strong momentum from late 2025, with the distinctive blue monster beating out Telstra’s second instalment in its “Wherever We Go” campaign to be the most recalled ad of 2026 so far.
Another mainstay of the 2025 rankings, Allianz’s “Flight of the Finch,” rounded out the top three. However, the new year also saw a slew of new campaigns make their way into Australia’s collective memories.
At #4 was Budget Direct’s “Frozen,” the latest instalment in the long running Detective Sarge campaign.
Westpac make its debut on The Cubery Hot List at #8, with the heavy push behind its newly launched “Double You” platform already paying handsome dividends.
And although coming under scrutiny from the Ad Standards Bureau, Toyota Hilux’s “Pied Piper” rocketed its way into the minds of everyday Australians in early 2026.
“What these new additions to the Top 10 show is that the power of storytelling is alive and well within the Australian advertising industry,” said Wil Logan, senior consultant at Cubery.
“Taking people on an emotional journey has always been a cornerstone of highly effective advertising, and these campaigns provide a terrific demonstration of how emotion can be effectively leveraged to build stickiness.”
Alongside the Top 10 ad rankings, Q1 marks the debut of the Top 10 advertiser rankings to The Cubery Hot List, providing a holistic picture of the cumulative campaign activity and overall presence of brands in the market.
This research was conducted via an ongoing online survey of Australians aged 18 and over, capturing a broad cross-section of the population.
Interviews were conducted weekly with results aggregated across the quarter, comprising approximately 10,000 responses on average per wave.
Participants were asked to spontaneously recall a recent ad they either loved or hated, indicate their sentiment toward it, and identify the brand behind it.
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