The first part of my picks for ‘best ad campaigns of 2023’ is here. Every week, I attempt to curate ad campaigns which break through the clutter (the first real job of any ad) and convey a relevant message in an engaging manner. Here are a bunch of campaigns which caught my eye during the second half of the year:
Chevrolet: memories
Christmas ads can easily fall prey to a template. It can be argued that if you can create a tear jerker with some characters doing feel-good stuff it can tug at the heartstrings of viewers and you’ve got a hit. But it must make business sense for the brand too. The product has to play a central story and help strengthen the brand equity. The 2023 Christmas film from Chevrolet does this all with aplomb: 5 minutes of riveting watch. Being a heritage brand it can easily ‘own’ the story and the actors have done a great job in the ad.
Agency: Commonwealth/McCann
Apple holiday film: fuzzy feelings
An underrated aspect of holiday or festive films (be it Christmas, Diwali or Pujo) is the one line proposition or POV which forms the platform for the story. I thought ‘You make the holidays’ is a great line from that angle. It resonated with me especially after the story reveal. As an aside, it reiterates how good story telling has always been a part of advertising and not a ‘new digital age thing’ as it is made out to be.
Royal Enfield: The Himalayan
I included this campaign for The Himalayan from Royal Enfield because it demonstrates how a campaign idea can be brought alive in various creative expressions – from a video to how a headline is art directed. The central idea of what an ‘off road bike’ can do is given a fresh perspective with ‘designed for the unforeseen change of plans’ idea.
Agency: Droga5
Uber: Trains, now on Uber
Whenever an ad campaign gets noticed and brings a smile on the face of the reader because they ‘got’ the idea, it is a win for the brand. Over the last few years, users of Uber have been made familiar with a certain language unique to the app and its services. A clever campaign to announce that train bookings are now available on the app (in UK) gets an old-school copywriting treatment.
Agency: Mother
Coca-Cola: Pujo
Am not a great fan of fizzy drinks but have to admit that its gets some of the best marketing brains to work in the category. It is relatively tougher to sell a brand with no discerning product differences – the imagery is all that users ‘buy in’ to. This film for Pujo creates that magic, even on a non-local like me. Imagine its impact in the local market. great execution of a creative vision.
UberEats: best friends
Celebrity endorsements are boringly common in advertising. Merely signing a celebrity and having them point to the product or talk into camera doesn’t make for great advertising. It’s the lazy way out. The rare good usage of celebrities have straddled both options: celebrity as a character or as themselves. This ad for Uber Eats does a great job of using celebrities as themselves using humour. The setup is brilliantly simple – seemingly awkward conversations leading to the ‘brand reveal’. A great watch.
Volkswagen: no going back
‘Once you get used to the comfort of our cars, there will be something amiss with everything else’ is a great way to communicate the benefits of the Volkswagen Taos. Also it takes a bold client to be okay with brand reveal 45 seconds into a 60-second ad and not insist on the logo appear on the frame for the sake of ‘branding’.
Suhana spice: sniff test
Some ads have characters or situations which make the viewer go ‘I know how that feels’ or ‘I have been in that situation’. We all may have come across that family elder who keeps a close watch on the goings on in a joint family. The plot is also an interesting way to cue breaking of a habit – with ‘mirchi badli kya?’ (‘have you changed the spice?’).
Fiat: no more grey
It is said that the world of advertising today is all about proving or demonstrating a claim than simply announcing it – back in the days of the 30-second commercial. Apparently grey is a common colour of cars – which simply means that there was consumer acceptance. But to reflect a philosophy of ‘joy, colours, and optimism’ of the brand, Fiat announced they will stop producing grey coloured cars in a refreshingly new manner.
BBC: more than telly
Advertising is much loved by industry insiders because it challenges them to tell a story with several constraints – of budget, business relevance, approval process and so on, in a short duration, usually 30 seconds. And then we have these which do a great job of conveying a message in a shorter duration. Genius idea to use BBC’s own footage to tell that they are more than just television – they have other digital properties too.
Suchard: Christmas 2023
It is said that advertising competes with the environment it is seen in. A print ad has to appeal to the avid newspaper or magazine reader, a video ad on YouTube, TV or any other platform has to be as interesting as, if not better than the content that has come to be expected from those. On YouTube or Instagram there’s plethora of content vying for one’s attention. Movies have also raised our expectations from the audio-visual medium in terms of a central plot, the scripting, music and production values. In that context a Swiss chocolate brand serves up a Pixar-like movie to vibe with the messaging around Christmas: the importance of keeping traditions and believing in the magic of the season.
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.
