The second quarter of 2026 has been dominated by FIFA World Cup ads but as Sarah Walsh, head of strategy, and Harry Hughes, junior strategist, with The Public House note, there are plenty of other interesting ads that have caught the attention of consumers in the latest The Interesting Index.
This edition of the Interesting Index is the first of its kind as it features advertising for the FIFA World Cup. In fact, there were so many generic descriptions of ‘World Cup ads’, if combined they would have earned 6th place on the list. But only a small number of brands successfully broke through the noise and were remembered as more than “just another World Cup ad”.
With that being said, the top ten most remembered adverts from Q2 are:
1. McDonald’s Absolute Legends
2. Aldi It’s Not Complicated
3. Vodafone Not Every Network
4. National Lottery Keep Driving
5. Heineken Fans Have More Friends
6. Sky Mobile Roy Keane
7. Virgin Media Walrus Whizzer
8. OUTsurance Real People Unreal Savings
9. Tampax Saved My Vibe
10. Tesco Mobile Same But Tesco
This quarter’s question was never ‘Will a World Cup ad be number one?’ but instead ‘Which World Cup ad will be number one?’, and that brand was Mc Donald’s. Narrowly claiming the throne over last wave’s top brand Aldi, the ‘Absolute Legends’ campaign ticked all the right boxes with audiences as they cited the celebrity appearances, humour and unmistakable branding.
“McDonald’s World Cup ad. It has some big name football celebrities from present and past, my kids won’t stop talking about it!”
Moving away from the World Cup, we see a familiar face in 2nd with Aldi’s ‘It’s Not Complicated’. The campaign is continuing to click with audiences, who remember it for its genuine Irish humour.
“Eggs talking about Tesco price matching – one egg is more concerned about being smashed. Very funny”
Coming in at number three with more proof that recall isn’t always driven by positive emotions, Vodafone’s ‘Not Every Network’ campaign. Respondents were twice as likely to report this ad as ‘annoying’ when compared to other ads – which seemed to be driven primarily by the song/singing used.
“It is an ad for Vodafone. It is an older woman singing an Irish song to soothe her grandchild to sleep over the phone. It is a very annoying ad, which Is why I remember this ad”
“Vodafone ad. It has a really annoying song”
The National Lottery’s new campaign has ruffled some feathers in the industry recently for being a remake of a New Zealand ad. Unsurprisingly though, the majority of respondents were unaware of this and instead enjoyed both the campaign’s strong narrative and its execution..
“National Lottery , it was the best ad I have seen in a long time, two men working one starts driving off route other lad is like what’s going on and then he says 50-50 and shows him winning ticket.”
“National Lottery ad. A very humorous one. I saw it in the cinema. It was 2 guys transporting money and one of them took them off route. Actually thought it was a movie trailer and then funny twist at the end.”
Heineken’s ‘Fans Have More Friends’ was the only other World Cup campaign to make the list. The brand platform has been strongly linked with football all year, and this World Cup version is no different. Viewers not only praised its clear association, but also the quick and clear execution of the campaign.
“An advertisement for Heineken, I remember because it was about the football World Cup. I also remembered this ad because it was short and snappy and well edited.”
Our next few spots go to some very familiar faces on The Interesting Index with Sky Mobile’s ‘Roy Keane’, Virgin Media’s ‘Walrus Whizzer’, Outsurance’s ‘Real People Unreal Savings’ and Tesco Mobile’s ‘Same But Tesco’. Taking spots six, seven, eight and ten respectively, these campaigns continue to show us the power of a good old fashioned distinctive brand asset. All made use of memorable characters or voices to grab attention.
“Sky mobile, very witty with Roy Keane and selfie, as we all know he doesn’t like them.”
“Virgin Media broadband. I think it’s the voice that’s very distinctive.”
“The ad for outsurance. I love these ads as they are all like little stories and I really like the outsurance man. He is funny and I also feel sad for him. But it’s memorable”
Tesco Mobile’s campaign in particular drew attention because of its unique characters. The work stood out among the others as something audiences were not used to seeing – with multiple respondents acknowledging that it was an advert that did things ‘differently’..
“It was an ad for Tesco Mobile. It was about cats that were very confused about their owners’ behaviour. It is memorable because it is very different from other ads.”
“Tesco mobile with the cats and taking pictures, unusual for an ad and funny.”
Lastly, we had a new entrant on our survey’s top ten. Tampax’s ‘Saved My Vibe’ also made use of a distinctive asset, but rather than a character, the work was clearly remembered for its incredibly catchy song.
“A Tampax ad was shown on TV of these women dancing happily and energetically. I remember this ad because of its catchy song.”
“Tampax, last night a Tampax saved my life. Very catchy.”
In this wave, 23% of respondents described the ads they saw as exciting, a +6% increase from the previous wave and a +4% increase from the previous summer – a positive trend we hope continues during the second half of the year.
The Interesting Index – a joint initiative from The Public House, Bounce Insights and adworld.ie – is a quarterly survey conducted amongst 1,000 nationally representative respondents in Ireland. This survey was conducted in June 2026.
