Every week I attempt to share a few creative ads which caught my eye. While we are all exposed to hundreds of commercial messages every day, most of them go un-noticed. Only a handful are noticed and recalled. Here are a few ads which caught my eye this week.
Tide: Laundry Night
Research shows that for most Americans Sunday night is reserved for laundry. Armed with this piece of information, P&G has created a compelling, entertaining ad which brings together National Football League, The Voice and NBC. The premise: have former quarterback Peyton Manning to announce that Sunday nights are ‘Not For Laundry‘ and it’s been shifted to Tuesday night.
But since the popular show ‘The Voice’ airs Tuesday night in the US, we have judge Gwen Stefani ‘oppose’ this move. In all it makes for fun entertainment without it ever resembling a traditional ad. It is said that a measure of how popular an advert is it becoming part of popular culture (remember ‘Whassup?!’ from Budweiser?). This Tide feels like popular culture. Loved it.
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, NY
Delta Airlines: Boston to Boston
When airlines announce new routes, it is usually through a tactical ad highlighting the landmarks of the destination city. In a refreshingly different take, Delta Airlines has a new campaign announcing its flights from Boston, MA to other cities in the US & world named Boston. The idea is based on the insight that ‘Bostonians love Boston – they never want to leave’.
Aside from creating ads, the campaign has a ground activation which actually promotes merchandise from the various destinations. A mobile souvenir shop and other promotions are part of the campaign.
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York
Apple: Keynote event
Apple’s annual keynote event held just before the festival Oct-Dec quarter in the US creates a lot of buzz in media. With fans and detractors (with the by now tired kidney jokes) getting online to express their views, the event gets tremendous coverage. A couple of aspects which don’t get the spotlight are to do with the quality of the presentations and the creative collateral on display at the event and immediately after. The presentations seem thoroughly rehearsed and scripted – leaving nothing to chance with no ad libbing or meandering speeches. The demos are almost always flawless and the presentation is peppered with visually stunning slides and videos. Each frame is kept with world media in mind and the product in focus. So you will have an Apple executive usually dressed in a manner that does not visually distract the viewer from the slide. The slide will have the product as the hero and geared to break the clutter on media.
The introduction videos and ads showcased in such events almost always evoke a ‘this is so creative!’ response thereby subliminally transferring the perception to the brand. Here are a couple of videos from this year’s event which caught my eye:
HSBC: outdoor
‘We Are Not An Island’ was a campaign launched by HSBC in the US. The idea and the line itself were tongue-in-cheek as it was relevant to the country. The deeper meaning of ‘we are all connected somehow’ in this world is brought alive in a new set of posters.
Agency: Wunderman Thompson
Diesel – Side: Biz
The fashion industry is one where social media influencers make an impact on brand purchase. Very often such influencers directly share a link for purchase, usually on Instagram. In a clever campaign, Diesel gave a chance to its own customers to become such influencers and set up their own ‘shop’. Participants were asked to register for Side:Biz and got a unique URL which they could then promote.
Agency: Publicis, Italy
Back Market: refurbished iPhones
Purchasing a refurbished phone, instead of a new one, can save you lots of money. In turn, that allows you to spend the money on vacations and other experiences. That’s the premise behind this print campaign which juxtaposes photographs of gazing at experiences and participating in them.
Agency: Marcel
Which one was your favourite? Comment in.
