Every week, I attempt to share a curated list of best new creative ads. This week: ads for Volkswagen from Paris, a branding project from Brazil and more.
Volkswagen: We didn’t invent anything
Automobile category advertising is full of cliches. Montage shots of the vehicle’s exteriors and interiors and that’s that. That’s why I like ads which highlight a car’s feature and cue the benefit respecting the intelligence of the audience. A new campaign for Volkswagen in France showcases features like Lane Assist and 360-degree view, taking ‘inspiration’ from real life. The tag line ‘We didn’t invent anything‘ has a self-deprecating tone to it, cueing that the brand observes our daily lives and solves our pain points, offers features that make sense.
Agency: BBDO, Paris
Amazonia: branding project
Fantastic new design work. One of the richest, most diverse and symbolic territories in the world, the Brazilian Legal Amazon gains, for the first time, its own official brand: Amazonia.
‘To develop the brand, specialists relied primarily on the Amazon’s natural patterns. Using real coordinates from the Amazon River and its tributaries, the entire alphabet was found in satellite imagery, forming the Amazon logo with the actual curves of the basin’s 25,000 kilometers of navigable waterways.’
Proves that it still takes human creativity and not just AI to produce something so meaningful, where ‘craft’ is so apparent.
Agency: Embratur
Vaseline: real Nigerian prince
A clever ploy to raise awareness about fake products. A real Nigerian prince has been signed up by Vaseline to check counterfeits. Brought a smile, drives the point.
Agency: Leo Singapore
Havell’s Fans: be a good fan
I noticed this ad primarily because it stood out in the sameness of boring ads on IPL. It is made for the in-between overs break and I like the self-deprecating humour.
Agency: TBWA Lintas
App Store: Japan
A big win for advertising is to embed a visual imagery unique to a brand in the consumer’s mind. Apple has many such assets which are recalled by consumers. The App Store’s logo is one such. In Japan, a new campaign transforms the iconic logo into a portal, opening onto a diverse world of 16 app categories. The art direction and design sensibilities are anchored in Japan’s culture and feels very authentic.
Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab Tokyo
Big4Travel: escape football
The FIFA Ranking lists the best teams across the world in football. In an interesting strategic campaign idea, a Bangkok-based travel agency discovered that some of the teams who haven’t qualified for the World Cup’s global football ranking are great travel destinations. Instead of offering tickets to the football matches the campaign offers a way to ‘get away’ from football itself. Admittedly every sport has a group who is totally uninterested in it: be it cricket, football or F1. Loved the idea and the execution.
Agency: Horizon FCB
Amstel: shot without permission
There’s something endearing about an ad which admits that advertising photography, especially in beer advertising is all made up, ‘staged’. Amset’s new ad shot in Amsterdam says upfront that it is ‘shot without permission’ and captures candid moments of friends meeting up in public places.
Agency: INGO Amsterdam
Dettol: shaadi ka ghar
This ad came out a couple of weeks ago and was talked about for its endearing story and the acting of the protagonist. It remains to be seen if the brand continues with such emotional films as they have a reputation of running only what were called ‘hard working’ films, mostly taken up by the product window and rational claims.
Agency: McCann
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.
