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…

Every week I attempt to share a curated list of best creative ads from around the world. This week: ads from Huggies, Citroen, KitKat and more. Huggies: $500K vs 19 Babies 💩 Product demonstration is an effective way of showcasing specific features, their benefits and aiming to establish superiority over competition and command a premium over competition. In diapers, the most effective proof of efficacy is how it retains the ‘blowouts’. Absorbing leaks, keeping the…

The rise of social media has given birth to a new phenomenon in marketing: the urge to be present across all platforms in some form or the other, throughout the year. This has resulted in an artificial pressure to be present in ‘media’ (and I use it within quotes to connote every platform where a brand places its message) virtually 365 days of the year. And that’s not a good thing. 

Save trees,  save the panda and ‘smoking kills’ have been the common themes for public service ads. Even within’wildlife protection’ as a topic, some species seem to hog the limelight as it were. Tigers for instance, in India. This greater focus on certain species, almost at the cost of others, seems to be the insight behind this striking campaign for WWF. Agency: Ogilvy, Paris, France

At the #Zeemelt15, there were a lot of sessions and workshops which I wished I could attend. It was a case of being spoilt for choice as many interesting sessions clashed in terms of timing. Of course the event had its share of presenters who drone on and on or do a sell job of their company. Nevertheless, I hope Melt becomes a permanent fixture in the advertising world and travels to other cities too. More importantly, I hope the entire advertising industry supports the event through active participation across levels.

Of late, people writing to Steve Jobs have received a reply – mostly terse one liners. A personal reply from a CEO like Steve Jobs is a high and it provides for great publicity. Especially for tech blogs. The latest one is an email debate of sorts between Ryan Tate of Gawker and Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs delivered a ‘F$%^& you!’ statement to Gawker.

What next for the iPod? It has morphed into an internet device so the original, classic mp3-player is no longer as attractive as it was. It shows in the numbers – Apple sold 10.89 million iPods during the quarter ending March’10, representing a one percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.