It’s not been a week of rich pickings when it came to clutter-breaking creative ads this week. My picks include TV spots from Apple on the occasion of Earth Day, AT&T about the future of technology and a blast from the past from Tide.
Apple: Don’t Mess With Mother
‘Seeing is believing’ when it comes to the capabilities of a mobile phone’s camera. While many handsets in the Android presented a laundry list of tech specs hoping to floor customers, Apple simply showcased the photos taken on the iPhone with its ‘Shot on iPhone‘ outdoor campaign. A new ad to commemorate Earth Day follows the same strategy only with a message: Don’t mess with Mother. The film lures you in with stunning visuals and then the magic of audio-visual takes over with some stunningly appropriate music for the visuals shown.
AT&T: Distracted Driving
What can 5G technology make possible? What possibilities will it unfold? Asking such probing questions allows us to imagine a fully-autonomous car where distracted driving is a thing of the past. The build up to what is possible is quite riveting and when the penny drops, it brings a smile.
Agency: BBDO
Carlsberg: Probably Not The Best Beer
For years, Carlsberg ran a campaign around the tagline: ‘probably the best beer in the world’. Surprise, surprise: turns out they were lying. While the word ‘probably’ gave them the license to exaggerate, it was a claim to superior product quality. Now the brand has taken a rather bold stance to say their product was not good enough and hence they have re-brewed it.
Agency: Fold7
The campaign has a video where the brand’s employees read out some of the mean tweets about the product.
Overall, it is a bold strategy but it does raises questions about the brand’s honesty. If they can lie about their product in the past what prevents them from doing so now?
Saint Gobain: so clear, so pure
This ad has been doing the rounds in social media with many hailing it for its creativity. While it is an interesting and compelling way to demonstrate clear glass, I found their TVC from 2001 more riveting and entertaining.
Cadbury Darkmilk: it’s a bit grown up
I didn’t know who Jason Donavan and Kim Wilde were until I read about this campaign. They are British TV actors from the 80s and 90s. In order to convey that a new product – Darkmilk is for grown ups, the ad features these two stars thus clearly flagging people of a particular age group. While I couldn’t connect with the creatives, the strategy was interesting.
Agency: VCCP
Blast from the past: Tide
And finally, a blast from the past. This award winning TVC from 2008 has all the ingredients of a great ad: a universal insight (stains on your attire attract undue attention and hence take away the focus from you), audio-visual impact and entertainment. Love it every time I watch it.
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Which one was your favourite? Comment in.
