“I f***ing love advertising,” stated Amaury Treguer, co-founder of Australian social agency, Bread Agency. Well, Amaury so do I [:ed]. Thank you so much for bringing La Nuit de l’Advertising to Sydney, a presentation of the world’s greatest (and some of its worst). It was quite a night, hosted by the Alliance Française de Sydney, of which Treguer is a board member – an unlikely but hugely enthusiastic mingling of ad people as well as those whose ability with the French language expanded beyond bonjour and merci. 400 in total.

Even Treguer’s MC speech was entertaining, lit up by his exuberance for the supporters and partners he had collected and punctuated by about twenty F bombs (“I’m in advertising. I can do what I want”). His acknowledgement of PR maestro, Katy Denis, who helped him bring 400 people to the Cremorne Orpheum, during Thursday night peak traffic on a drizzly evening, was clearly heartfelt. He later asked to take a selfie with all of us to show his 10-year-old-daughter, who didn’t believe he had pulled off such a great feat.

La Nuit de l’Advertising was begun forty-five years ago in France by director, writer and producer, Jean-Marie Boursicot, and is known there as La Nuit des Publivores (Night of the Ad-Eaters). It screens for one night only in each country, a giant wave of commercials spanning more than 70 years, from 45 different countries.

Last night’s began with the epic Nature’s Symphony, by Broken Heart Love Affair for Royal Ontario Museum in 2024. I wonder how many other people were thinking, “Production values pre-AI!! What have we done to ourselves?”

There were the usual suspects. One of Dior’s remarkable fantasies (gosh, production values pre-AI again). That so-suggestive Chanel ad with Brad Pitt and Penelope Cruz. This year’s Budweiser Super Bowl ad, American Icons:

…and its Bud Light Super Bowl 2026 sibling, Keg.

Wolf BBK’s greatest example of Thai ad humour with KFC, the Kaprao Criminals, was a standout (of course). Yes, Uncle KFC’s Rice Bowl a year prior was also surreal brilliance enmeshed in local culture.

There were also some oddball entries – the classic US Heinz Rooftop ad by Leo Burnett was one, ostensibly featuring the veeeeeery slow-pour of Heinz ketchup but let’s be honest, clearly using mum-magnet, a young Matt LeBlanc, as its drawcard – an idea the brand repeated several times before he joined Friends. An insane ad for a security door. The tearjerker told the love story between a labrador puppy and a baby girl as both grew into adulthood (and ultimately the death of the dog). At the moment when you were fighting back tears most desperately, the story stopped and cut to the door…

…and the pièce de resistance perhaps, a Ugandan campaign for a roofing material. Each of its three ads, sprinkled through the screening, began with a person having something – sheet, blanket, box – placed over their head to conceal them. Cut to a product demo of the materials five layers. The first viewing made you ask, “Seriously, why?” By the third, you laughed with the audience. And guess which ad “everyone” was talking about after the show?

So that is La Nuit d’Advertising in a nutshell – oh, except for the (merveilleuse) French cabaret performances that tied the odd pairing of Alliance Française and Adland together. For those who missed it, sorry you missed something great. Watch out for its return next year.

…by Candide McDonald