My weekly compilation of creative ads attempts to showcase clutter-breaking creative ads across TV, print, outdoor, design and digital platforms. This week, the list includes compelling work for Bodyform, Coca-Cola among others.
Bodyform: #WombStories
In 2018, Bodyform created a lot of visibility and won several awards for their clutter breaking ‘Viva la vulva’ campaign. Creating a sequel to a successful campaign is very difficult as the bar is already set high. In new campaign the brand brings alive the need to understand the myriad emotions women go through when it comes to menstruation and the complex relationships women have with their bodies.
As explained in the website: ‘Our wombstories need to be heard. The joy of birth. The pain of birth. And the silent devastation of miscarriage. Stories of clockwork periods. And haywire ones. Of awkward beginnings and roller-coaster peri-menopausal endings. Good stories. Bad stories. Mundane ones. Profound ones. The bitter. And the sweet.’It is all brought alive in a riveting film which is mix of live shots and animation.
Agency: AMV BBDO
Coca-Cola: The Great Meal
Brands have responded in several ways to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Some have taken the PSA route by urging people to stay at home, maintain social distancing etc. Some others have paid tribute or applauded the efforts of health care workers. The rise in domestic abuse has been the focus too. Yet another ‘format’ as it were, is to showcase the positive side of being locked down, bringing families and friends together with a brand acting as a catalyst or glue. A new feel-good film from Coca-Cola falls in the last category showcasing everyday lives of families across the world (featuring 13 real families from Kiev, Lisbon, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Orlando and Shanghai) as they cook and share a meal with of course the soft drink taking centre stage.
Agency: Anomaly
Getty Images: hand shake
Among the many unexpected ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world is to make people avoid the handshake. So a ‘goodbye handshake’ is an attention grabber and the subtly points to the huge number of images on any topic in the Getty Images repository. If only they had mentioned ‘namaste’ as an option.
Agency: Jung von Matt
Klarna: Swedish for smoother shopping
App fatigue is a common phenomenon, especially when it comes to shopping. It is said that even if the average number of apps on a smartphone is 30, only a handful get used regularly. With e-commerce and shopping apps it is very difficult justify frequent use of a stand alone app as aggregator apps such as Amazon get the job done. So the communication about a new shopping brand in a cluttered market like USA, has to gain and hold attention. A quirky set of ads for Klarna highlight the country of origin in a humorous way by weaving in features like price-drop alerts. This again reminded me of the maxim that all brands may not be unique but they can be distinct.
Agency: Mirimar, Los Angeles
Emirates NBD: It feels good to get something back
Cash back offers. Now how common or un-exciting is that as a proposition when it comes to financial products like banks & credit cards? A new spot for Emirates NBD makes it interesting by creating a character – who never gets thanked or appreciated for what he does. The penny drops when he gets a reward from the bank for using the card.
Agency: Momentum
Lynx: Smell Ready
Unilever India recently decided to withdraw the word ‘Fair’ from its skin whitening brand ‘Fair & Lovely’ and re-brand it as ‘Glow & Lovely’. In that context, many pointed out that this is merely a cosmetic change and the communication should not glorify ‘fairness’ as some sort of gold standard or the only yardstick of beauty, thus creating discrimination. When Dove was extolling the virtues of ‘real beauty’, Lynx (or Axe in some markets) was indulging in sexist advertising. A new spot for Lynx in the UK continues with the ‘attract the opposite sex’ proposition with lockdown as the context. It urges mean to get ‘smell ready’ having led a secluded (and perhaps under-groomed) life for months. All in tongue in cheek humour.
Agency: MullenLowe
Pura: baby talk
Featuring babies or dogs is considered a sure-shot way to get attention for an ad. Also the format of adults talking in kids voices, kids looking and behaving like adult characters or infant-talk gibberish ‘translated’ to mean something profound have been done before – but are sure-fire attention grabbers. Here’s one from Pura where babies ‘demand’ the brand.
Agency: FCB Inferno
Thai Health Promotion Foundation: new normal
Advertising from Thailand has been distinct and clutter-breaking for years now. An advantage they have compared to say India is that the creators think in their mother tongue and weave in elements which are uniquely Thai – culturally. In a market like India it is very difficult to create a pan-India ad that cuts across language and culture differences.
A new ad from Thai Health Promotion Foundation is a PSA on maintaining social distancing and other safety norms. But in terms of execution it is like no other – bizarre, over the top humour, quirky characters and a serious topic addressed in a light hearted manner makes it clutter breaking.
Agency: Leo Burnett
Campaign Against Living Miserably: Chrome extension
The overdose of news about COVID-19 and its aftermath has left many feeling tired and vexed. People are yearning for positive news or find some way to be distracted from news of the virus. That’s the insight behind a new Chrome extension from Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) which helps you limit when and how much COVID news you consume via your browser at least.
Maersk: Disconnected
B2B advertising is considered boring. How exciting can logistics get anyway? A new trailer from Maersk is an intriguing piece of film (they took a similar approach last year too) a bit like the slick Hollywood or web series productions. The attempt is to convey that ‘in the world of logistics the shortest distance is not always straight. Creating new connections between people, processes and data can move your business forward’. The full-length film is featured on the website. The company’s services are clearly aimed at CXOs of large enterprises. They have already been primed to realise that dull, say-it-as-it-is form of advertising will not help them gain a competitive edge and ‘story telling’ will. Maersk walks the talk by sparing no expense in creating a film with great production values and intrigue to drive home the advantage their logistics business offers.
Agency: &Co
Which one was your favourite? Comment in.
