Best new creative ads of the week: Rustomjee, FIFA World Cup, National Geographic and more

July 18, 2026 0 Comments

Every week I attempt to compile a curated list of clutter-breaking creative ads. I know how difficult it is to create ads that are noticed (the primary task for any ad) and recalled. This week: few tactical ads related to FIFA World Cup and more.

Rustomjee: breaking category codes

Think of a real estate brand ad and you cannot escape the imager of a tall building and claims on technical specifications of the project. One can easily replace the logo of a real estate brand ad with that of a competitor’s logo and no one would even notice: it’s the proverbial sea of sameness. In that context comes a refreshing, endearing approach from Rustomjee in Mumbai.

Agency: Ogilvy

Nation Geographic: putting context to information

Ages ago someone told me about the need to put things in perspective and set the context instead of merely passing on information. As an example, a statement like ‘India exports 40,000 tonnes of toothpaste to [say] Japan’ will mean nothing to anybody. But if you say, ‘1 in 8 toothpastes sold in Japan [example] are from India’ that gives better context and helps one imagine the scale of the export. I was reminded of that when I saw these lovely posters for the newly-launched Museum of Exploration in Washington, DC.

Agency: Terri & Sandy

British Heart Foundation: hydration break

Apparently, British football fans refer to hydration breaks in football matches as ‘three minutes to kill’. A clever campaign from British Heart Foundation flips that phrase to link it to a fact: every three minutes someone in the UK dies from cardiovascular disease. Brilliant art direction.

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi

TESCO: moment marketing at the store

Ahead of the England-Argentina match, TESCO replaced everyday fixtures in their Wembley Extra store with solid wooden versions with a message: ‘touch here for luck’. ‘Touch wood’ is a phrase understood by the target audience and likely to bring a smile to the average football fan. How will it improve sales you ask? Well, such ‘acts’ build brand affinity over time creating a feel-good factor that helps brand preference in a crowded market.

Purga Studios & Kling AI: Lorem Ipsum

A TVC titled ‘Lorem Ipsum’ was created by Purga Films, a studio in Argentina, to promote its AI advertising business. Though every character speaks in placeholder words “Lorem Ipsum”, the film is so slick that it holds your attention right through like a top-notch Hollywood production. The film end with a ‘plea’ of sorts: “We have the craft. We need the scripts.” The entire film was created with Kling AI. The film was a Bronze Lion winner in the 2026 Cannes Lions under B2B films.

Windhoek: Real Beer for real people

We quickly dismiss a pic we see as ‘that’s AI!’ as we spot people with more than five fingers. In South Africa, Windhoek, a beer brand saw social media posts of James Kumar who was born with six fingers in each of his hands. Whenever he posted his videos on social media, it would evoke comments about it being ‘not real’ and AI generated. The beer brand saw an opportunity to tie it in with their claim of ‘Real Beer for real people’. They have also pledged not to use AI-generated images in their promotional material.

Agency: TBWAHuntLascaris

KIA Seltos: makes others look like toys

Visual metaphors work great in advertising to drive home a differentiating factor. Kia Seltos claims it is the ‘real SUV’ by portraying others as toy cars. The claim:

With best-in-class interior room, class-leading max cargo room, and an available turbocharged X-Line trim with 190 horsepower and multi-terrain AWD, the Kia Seltos makes driving anything else feel like a toy.

Agency: David&Goliath

Doritos: F1 – taste the thrill

Big brand, big budgets. Freedom to imagine all kinds of crazy stuff as production budgets will not be a constraint: it has its pros and cons. The agency team will be under pressure to exceed expectations given the equity of Doritos as a brand that’s produced ads that have become part of popular culture over the years. As part of a recent collaboration with another famous brand, F1, they have launched ‘Taste the Thrill’ – a platform that ‘turns race-day excitement into social-first content, immersive fan experiences, and Doritos Loaded food activations at major races‘.

The ad makes fans the centre of attention – not the F1 cars or drivers. The ‘race’ featuring regular folks enjoying their pack of Doritos on a couch and other everyday seating, juxtaposed with the speed & thrill of F1 racing (down to the authentic commentary) makes for fun viewing. The campaign is more than just an ad and includes elaborate on-ground events. Loved it.

Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

ALDI: game, set and match

Lovely tactical ad (yes, moment marketing and all that) from ALDI in the UK, timed with the hype around Wimbledon. The rationale: promote its local store via OOH in the Wimbledon postcode. Brilliant.

Agency: McCann, Manchester

Corona Beer: sunset time

Talk about subtlety and reinforcing a distinct brand asset. Corona Beer’s posters in South Africa define the silhouette of the bottle as reflected in the shadows during sunset. Lovely.

Agency: Boundless

Uber: No Regrets

In many countries, Uber is perceived to be expensive. Another interpretation of it could be ‘a little bit of inconvenience is okay to save that expense’. A set of ads from Uber ran in South Africa, dramatising the cost of not taking an Uber.

Agency: Joe Public, South Africa

Extra Gum: chew into it

Another category code busting ad in the difficult-to-crack chewing gum category, where product parity rules and there’s hardly any real ‘story’ to tell. Extra Gum’s “Chew into It” brand platform allows for interpretation as time to think or imagine things up. A new spot tells an amusing story of how ‘extra time’ came to be in football. Yes, we believe that.

Agency: BBDO

Uber: new to town

Advertising strikes a chord when it reaches the right audience, especially when they feel a need. As a father, I could picture my daughter arriving in a new city for higher education or career and connecting with the promise of ‘Women riders can request rides from women drivers’.

Agency: 72andSunny

Facebook Marketplace: Summer jobs

One Facebook Marketplace search for a a dream car leads a young girl to a slew of summer jobs that make for great adventure (and a montage film set to upbeat music). Bit cliched and I don’t have this kind of perception about Facebook anyway but nice production values and charming.

Agency: Droga5

The Knicks: NBA poster

NewsX365 is a portal with this claim: ‘The top news story each week of Trump’s 2nd term, designed as posters from 3 different news sources across the political spectrum.’ A recent poster from that portal caught my eye for its classy design timed with New York Knicks becoming NBA Champs.

Creative: Johnny Selman

The Economist: the posters are back

Ant Melder, a creative partner at Australian agency Cocogun, shared a speculative ad on LinkedIn for The Economist. It followed the classic David Abbot-established design codes with the line: ‘Make AI worried you’re going to take its job‘. That fantastic line led one thing to another and the agency was commissioned to create billboards aimed to present the publication’s view about topics such as artificial intelligence and information overload.