#BMWFilms, #NayiSoch and more: creative ideas of the week

Between bookmarked sites, Twitter and RSS feeds which showcase advertising, I come across many new creative ideas every week. As with advertising in real life, only a handful are memorable. Here are my picks for the week ending 28th October: BMW’s The Escape, Star India’s ‘Nayi Soch’ and more.

1. BMW: The Escape

Whenever there’s an argument about content marketing, the series of eight short films, titled ‘The Hire’ for BMW is likely to get a mention as a success story. Truly for its time, the original series was path breaking. The marketing environment has changed so much now with brands embracing digital platforms for ‘content’, especially the long-format film variety. As with advertising in general, most of such content – films released only on YouTube, tend to be mediocre and quite forgettable. The common ailments: glorified advertisements passing off as content, films which have no relevance or a tenuous connect to the brand, plain boring films or entertaining films which could work any brand not just the one being advertised. In this context, the BMW films had the product smack bang in the centre of the film (with ample scope for it to be showcased) and were riveting. BMW has released a new film, The Escape starring an older Clive Owen.

Agency: Geisel Productions

My view on this film is that it adds to the halo around an already iconic brand. Those who like such films are not likely to be BMW owners but definitely aspire to own one. It is an expensive proposition to make such films and not all brands can afford it or need to. Interestingly as AgencySpy notes, BMW’s agency of record KBS+ was nowhere near this project.

2. Star India: Nayi Soch

Star India is the official broadcaster of all cricket matches played by India on home-ground. The channel also gets branding on the players’ jersey fronts, as the official sponsor of Team India. In partnership with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), they launched ‘Nayi Soch’ (new thinking) to promote its flagship channel Star Plus. Positioned as a tribute to women across the globe, the campaign kicked off with films starring Indian cricketers sporting their mom’s names on the back of the jersey, instead of the surname. But the campaign was taken to another level when they got BCCI to agree to this change of jersey names in an actual match.

'Mother's contribution' as important as a soldier's, says India Captain @msdhoni during the toss #Sandesh2Mothers #Sandesh2Soldiers pic.twitter.com/4vRrq1IWtH

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 29, 2016

#TeamIndia sporting their mothers' names on the jersey in the 5th and final ODI #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/pWcMAKMchB

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 29, 2016

3. McDonald’s: breakfast

I remember seeing this campaign a while ago but was again featured under ‘latest ads’ in ad aggregator blogs. Charming ads which bring a smile to your face and also appeal to the print advertising lover in me.