7 top creative ads of the week: IKEA, Samsonite India and more

My weekly pick of compelling creative ads includes an outdoor campaign from IKEA in the UK, a call from Samsonite urging people in India to cast their vote even if it means travelling to another state or city and more.

IKEA: Steps

In advertising some categories and tasks are considered ‘boring’ – typically industrial products and requests like brochures or select tactical ads. A campaign to announce the opening of a new retail store could also fall into the boring category. But select creative teams consider such as a challenge and attempt to create interesting work for mundane tasks too. IKEA opened a new store at Greenwich in London – by itself a not so exciting announcement. But the team created a story out of the fact that the store has environment-friendly features such as solar panels, rainwater collection systems and a roof garden. So it was pitched as a ‘sustainable store’ which is best reached by the most sustainable way: walking. This tongue-in-cheek idea is sure to bring a smile and drive home the point.

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Agency: Mother, London

Samsonite India: #TravelToVote

India is in the midst of general elections and the buzz is palpable. It is natural for brands to attempt to ride on this wave – but the brand fit, relevance and messaging has to be right. A new web-only ad from Samsonite has all these elements as it urges voters to go out and vote even if it means taking a day off and travelling to wherever one is registered to vote. I liked the initiative as it was ‘doing good’ with a link back to the category and the brand, executed in a subtle, yet memorable manner.

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Swiggy Stores: home delivery

This ad for home delivery depicts the tried and tested problem-solution approach. But it got my attention in terms of the setting, context and depicting a scenario which is hitherto not common in Indian advertising.

Nike: Tiger Woods – same dream

Brands take diverse routes in celebrity advertising – casting them as celebrities in straightforward (often boring) talking head commercials to depicting them as characters in a story. In athletic wear, endorsements from sports stars is common and very often they are depicted excelling in their field. Nike’s marketing arsenal has included sports endorsements for years. Their use in advertising has always dovetailed with the overall brand promise of chasing dreams and ‘Just Do It’. Their latest ad featuring Tiger Woods is a tactical win as it was released on Twitter immediately after he won the Masters for the 15th time.

Agency: Widen+Kennedy

Postmates: outdoor

Continuing its effective use of outdoor, Postmates has a new campaign in the US – giving even more reasons for customers to order in.

Agency: Mother

IcelandAir: Buddy Hotline

Choosing a destination for holiday travel is an intense, high involvement affair and can be an expensive one too. So countries compete for the tourism dollar promising more than just great sights or landmarks. Also, unlike some Asian countries which need to convince tourists about hassle-free, safe travel and good infrastructure and connectivity, western countries don’t have that problem. A country like Iceland will also score high on the ‘off the beaten track’ dimension. In that context, novelties such as appointing locals as buddies who will answer queries on local travel is an edge.

Audi: Not For You

The automobile market is highly competitive in the US, which depends on road travel a lot. Electric cars may still need to overcome some perception barriers in that market where long distance travel and extreme weather conditions come into play. A new ad from Audi takes those perceptions head on.

Which one was your favourite? Comment in.