Joy of Digital Award: Pot Noodle silences the slurp

When Pot Noodle released its ‘Nothing Satisfies Like a Pot Noddle’ campaign it left a bad after-taste for some, with people taking to X to complain about the slurping noises.

Cue a creative response from the brand, who worked with adam&eveDDB and Mindshare to smartly leverage data and identify people most sensitive the slurp – cutting the ad off for them just before the noise started.

It then doubled down on the strategy to select specific noises that would be better received by people in this group and created 50 alternative versions of the ad to serve them via online, social and TV. These included a cat meowing, baby giggling, a goal being scored and beatboxing.

“Competition was stiff this month with so many brilliant ads about – but Pot Noodle had to be my winner,” explained Joy, IAB UK’s Chief Digital Cheerleader. “Personally, I’m a big fan of slurping a Chicken & Mushroom, but I guess I’m in the minority and this ad does a great job of tapping into a timely conversation in a clever, funny and agile way, that only digital channels could deliver.”

Congratulations to the team at Pot Noodle, as well as Mindshare and adam&eveDDB! 

Find out more about the Joy of Digital Award and past winners here.