Every day we come across hundreds of commercial messages. Only a handful are memorable. Here are a few compelling creative ads which caught my eye, the week ending 16th February, 2018: GE’s new corporate ad, a couple of Valentine’s Day ads and more.
1. GE: What Matters
For many years, GE’s tag line used to be ‘We bring good things to life’. It was a fair summation of the diverse business interests of the company. After GE exited a few consumer-focused businesses like electric bulbs and began to focus on industrial products with high-end technology at its core, the tag line was changed to ‘Invention at work‘. While the company tag line has not been changed, they’ve released a new campaign with a memorable promise or tag line: Technology is how we do things. People are why we do things. I loved both the tag line and the campaign because it, in a way reminded what we’ve always been taught in advertising: focus on the benefit, not the features. The campaign drives home the features and scale of GE subtly – ‘plane powered by our technology takes off every two seconds’ and so on.
Agency: BBDO
2. Sixt: Valentine’s Fairy Tale
The European car-rental brand Sixt, created an ad for Valentine’s Day which seemed like any other love story…until the twist at the very end.
Agency: Thjnk, Munich
3. Old Spice: Valentine’s Day ads
Here are a couple of ads released for Valentine’s Day this year from a brand which operates in a category linked strongly with romance as a theme. But what stands out is the quirky, even bizarre execution which makes both the ad and the brand name memorable.
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Portland
4. New York Lottery: Small Town
Many lottery brands have dramatised the benefit of winning a lottery – which is being able to pursue one’s dreams, however big or bizarre. Here’s a fresh take on that expression which takes you on a different path in the beginning only to bring a smile at the end.
Agency: McCann
5. McDonald’s: Flat White
McDonalds is not a big player in the coffee category and hence this strategy to create intrigue and awareness of a brand name made sense to me.
Agency: Leo Burnett
6. Snickers: pop-up restaurant
Over the years, Snickers has created several memorable creative expressions of ‘You are not yourself when you are hungry’. In the latest one, executed in the UK, it is through a stunt. The premise? People forget to make restaurant bookings for Valentine’s Day. The solution: a van decked up as a restaurant on Shoreditch High Street. Read more about it here.
Agency: AMV BBDO
7. AT&T: Your Thing
A telecom network and its broadband services enables users to watch a variety of content on their mobile devices. While this is a generic benefit, I loved the expression since there’s something every kind of content consumer can identify with – from binge watching on streaming services to watching self-help videos on YouTube.
Agency: BBDO
8. Land Rover: flowers
Brands view topical advertising as an opportunity to be in the news. The trick is in striking a balance between the topic and a relevant link to the brand. Here’s a print ad from UK which conveys the brand promise of off-road travel with Valentine’s Day.
Agency: Spark44
9. Jeep: anti-manifesto
I missed including this ad in my collection of Super Bowl ads here and here. In the context of Super Bowl ads which focus on bizarre plots and execution, here is a simple product demo.
Agency: Arnold Worldwide
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.
