The first and perhaps the most important objective of an ad is to get noticed. If an ad goes un-noticed, everything else is pointless. In that context, it is staggering that a vast majority of the ads are mediocre, are ignored and hence wasteful expenditure. A handful of ads manage to break the clutter and a fewer number manage to remain memorable. Here are a few creative ads and ideas which caught my eye this week:
Teleflora: Love Like A Mother
Brands create two broad kinds of advertising: thematic and tactical. The former is aimed at conveying the brand promise and meant for the long term. Tactical ads are mostly about short-term benefits and could include price-off & other promotional ads. They could also include ads which take advantage of current news events.
Topical and occasion-led ads work well when there is a natural fit between the occasion and the brand’s core benefit. Very often, brands join the bandwagon to create occasion driven ads for Mother’s Day, Women’s Day, Independence Day and several such ‘days’ in the year. Many of them are born out of FOMO – anticipating that a competing brand may take advantage. This approach leads to ads which have little or no fit with the theme and the brand. Very few such tactical ads have relevance and make for compelling viewing. Here’s one such for Teleflora on the occasion of Mother’s Day. A series of humorous situations where people display ‘motherly behaviour’ does bring a smile.
Gillette India: The Barbershop Girls of India
Increasingly brands are investing in communication with some higher ‘brand purpose’ as the objective and not about providing a compelling a product-benefit driven benefit. In any case, in a category like razors it is virtually impossible to actually have a real product benefit. The feel-good factor around the brand plays a crucial role in how desirable or cool the brand is especially when commanding a premium in a parity category.
A new film for Gillette India has at best a tangential reference to the category when it salutes the spirit of a couple girls in India who break stereotypes: ‘meet the Barbershop Girls of India and the village of Banwari Tola who are together inspiring the next generation of men’. The fact that it is based on true story and the choice of soundtrack makes it even more riveting. In terms of tone of voice it is quite similar to the father-son story from the US than the recent ‘Best a man can be‘ ad.
Agency: Grey
Canon IVY CLIQ: Shprinck
The Canon Ivy Cliq is an instant camera with a built-in printer. These camera offer the convenience of a digital camera with a novelty (in today’s world) of an instant film. I guess it will appeal as a special occasion camera when instant sharing could be fun. The intro ad coins a term for what is on offer: Shprinck from the shoot + print + stick process – and enhances the curiosity factor to find out more.
Agency: FCB
Spotify: integrated campaign
Among music streaming services, Spotify has perhaps the most loyal fan base. There is a cool-quotient associated with the brand in a category which has a strong brand like Apple. Aside from the product features itself, the long running campaign anchored on the playlists has surely played a role in creating this affinity. The playlist campaign subliminally conveys the message that this brand understands my music tastes. A new campaign, not as smile inducing as the previous ones perhaps, is out.
Some of the films associated with the campaign can be seen here.
Amazon Prime: 80s throwback
In retail, our behaviour in an offline world often inspires product features and even advertising. At stores, we almost always try on a fashion product to see not just if it fits but how it looks on us. When buying furniture we try to imagine how it will look back at home or where it is meant for. These behaviours are charming captured in a set of spots for Amazon. The visual technique of projecting oneself, the clever weaving of a specific feature (try before you buy) and the choice of music makes it all very endearing.
Agency: Droga5
Lysol: Teddy Repair
On-ground activation to demonstrate a product’s efficacy is not a new idea. As with advertising, a majority of such ideas are not remarkable. A recent initiative by Lysol in the US couldn’t perhaps be labelled remarkable, but sweet certainly. They got a bunch of kids to part with their beloved stuffed toys (which are often grimy) to be ‘repaired’ and shipped back.
Agency: McCaan
Ecover: “L’eau de bebe”
The leap from the product feature – ‘a laundry liquid with zero fragrance’ to the creative idea of baby-scented perfumes maybe quite something but it does close the loop. The parody of high-end fragrance ads complete with French accented voice over, brings a smile.
Agency: Uncommon
Ford UK: backbone of Britain
Sometimes, its the execution which makes the ad compelling to watch. The choice of soundtrack works well to drive home the message to showcase Ford UK’s range of commercial vehicles.
Agency: Global Team Blue
Think: packaging design
In a country where meat is part of virtually every meal, how do you get them to try a plant-based meat-alternative product? Well, branding and packaging plays a big role. Think (I loved the brand name) offers a product with the texture and quality of meat. According to this review: ‘Using soy bean protein, water, and pea protein, the company will offer THIS isn’t Chicken and THIS isn’t Bacon in ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat variations to restaurants and retailers.’ The company’s website also details the benefits of THIS: less water consumption, CO2 emissions to produce it as compared to meat and more. I loved the design approach, aesthetics, packaging and the tone of voice.
To quote the design agency:
Instead of guilt-tripping people into changing their diet, they wanted to tempt people by harnessing the irresistible smell of bacon and the satisfying texture of chicken.
The branding approach we created centres around a monochrome palette and strong and consistent use of the brand name. Forks, skewers, knives – you name it – are topped with the product and replace the ‘I’ in each product logo, of which there are eight in total.
Via
Design agency: Johnson Banks. Spotted in: Brand New.
Which one was your favourite? Comment in.
