If you’re at a loose end once the World Cup ends, you could try a trip down memory lane and scroll through the 30,000 plus TV adverts on the History of Advertising Trust (HAT) website. Maybe raise a glass to the many beer adverts. There’s Paul Hogan and the amber nectar, Mel Sykes and Boddington’s (do you want a flake in that love?) Or the Castlemaine XXXX ones (I can see the pub from here.).And that’s before you even get to the Guinness ads. John Gordon-Saker, executive director of HAT, an educational charity, which turns 50 this year, says: “We are the largest archive to preserve and promote British advertising in the world."If you go back to the early days of steam, advertising was relevant and important back in the day. Of course things have changed. Over the last 50 years, particularly from the 60s and 70s, storytelling isn't dead, but data seems to be more important.“There are still good examples of quality storytelling, like the Cadbury's Alzheimer's ad, where the daughter turns up with a bar of whole nut and she's given it to him for every birthday that she's been alive. And then he lets her know, ‘don't tell my daughter, but I don't like nuts.’ That's like a spike through the heart, isn't it?"‌The trust, based in Norfolk, is crammed with examples of classics from over the years. Deputy director Alistair Moir says: “Advertising is really important to the economy and the UK in general.“Its core purpose is to drive competition, support innovation and underpin economic growth by engaging and informing the public. It's also a critical tool for governments to use during times of crisis. The public health campaigns during Covid undoubtedly helped to save thousands of lives. So it's really important to be able to preserve those as moments in history.”And brands use the archive to inform their campaigns of today. Alistair says: "We love it when brands look back at their heritage and reuse all the campaigns, because there's a lot of really amazing ideas that can be repackaged for today's audiences in a brand's history.”‌"For example, the Tango, you've been Tango'd - they've just brought that back, and people still remember it 30, 40 years later. It's an amazing campaign and they're reusing all of that built up salience and bringing it back.”Not all iconic campaigns hit the ground running. Take the beloved Smash Martians commercial, which almost didn’t make it to TV. Alistair says: "I think the actual idea itself only got through because it was kind of snuck into testing by John Webster, who was the creative mind behind it.“At the beginning, I don't think the industry was enamoured, from the articles that we've seen. But the public reaction was completely different, so they went forward with the idea.”‌John says character-led ad series used to build huge, dedicated audiences. He adds: "I'm thinking of the Gold Blend ads with Anthony Head and Sharon Moore. Which is a mini soap in effect. Massive numbers, millions and millions tuned in for the denouement."But I think of Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins doing Cinzano - which was one of my favourites. And, of course, the PG Tips chimps - who had more going on than just ‘the piano’s on my foot.’ There's less of that now, less character development and development of stories in different editions of ads."Citing John Lewis as another brand doing this consistently well, Alistair says: "I think it was the John Lewis one with the dad with his young son, the most recent Christmas one that they did. It's got the dance track in the background, but his son gives him a record of this dance track that he really loved from the past.‌"It's about the connection between the son and the father, when the son's getting to an age where talking is quite difficult, emotionally. I've got a young son. He's only six or seven now, but that still resonated with me. It was a really amazing campaign. When people think about giving at Christmas, you automatically think John Lewis because of those campaigns."John has a soft spot for a different John Lewis Christmas ad. He says: "The penguin one does come out on top in polls, although we've all got our own favourites. Mine is the space girl and the little boy, when she lands in the woods behind his house and they strike up a friendship."Last year advertisers spent £46.7billion in the UK. Search engines took the biggest slice at 38.3 per cent, with social media on 24.7 per cent and TV down to 11.2 per cent. Total spend is forecast to pass £50billion for the first time this year, and Alistair and John are hopeful of a resurgence in classic ads.‌Meanwhile, there’s enough inspiration in the archive to while away the time - with both Alistair and John having their favourites. John says: "I'm sticking with the Hamlet plume of smoke in the photo booth and Cinzano on a plane with Rossiter and Collins, I think they're my two favourites. Incidentally, neither would get made today, because of sexism in the Cinzano ad and smoking for Hamlet."Alistair says: "For me, it’s the Hovis one, Go on lad, 2008. "It's a perfect blend of nostalgia, brand heritage and creativity. At the time, it really reinvigorated the brand, using nostalgia and British heritage, which is what we're all about."Then there are the underdogs, the ads nobody expected to last. For Alistair, the favourite is the 1989 Milk Marketing Board commercial in which a young Liverpool fan warns his mate that without milk he would only be good enough to play for Accrington StanleyHe says: "Why on earth that would resonate, I don't know, but I still remember that to this day. I suppose they got it right because it did resonate. It wouldn't be one I would necessarily think, ‘oh, that's going to be a blockbuster. But it's still a great ad.’"‌John's pick is the pyjama-clad hero of the R White's Secret Lemonade Drinker campaign, which launched in 1973 with a jingle written and sung by Ross MacManus, father of Elvis Costello, who provided backing vocals.He says: "I don't think it appears in many polls, but the R White's Secret Lemonade Drinker comes down with his dressing gown. Whether it was so successful and they didn't need to do it any more I don't know, because it didn’t seem to be on the telly for long. But when it was, it was brilliant.”Best of the bestRory Sutherland, vice chairman of advertising agency Ogilvy UK and bestselling author of Alchemy: The Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense is a keen HAT. He says: “They do very, very important work, preserving archives of old advertisements which are easily lost.”‌As for his favourite ads? Rory says: “Obviously the Guinness campaign with the toucans and so forth. If you slightly updated the art direction, that would be a brilliant campaign now.”The secret is, he says: “Animals work. If you look at everything from the John Smith's dog to the Dulux dog, to the meerkats, they all work. Simple evolutionary psychology means we've evolved to notice, look at and remember animals.”*To visit the History of Advertising Trust and view their online collection go to: https://www.hatads.org.uk/‌