MakeMyTrip, LG and more: top new creative ads of the week
Every week, I attempt to share a curated list of top new creative ads. Such ads pass the first test of advertising – get noticed and then go on to be remembered or shared. This week: ads from MakeMyTrip, LG, Bayer and more.
MakeMyTrip & Ministry of Tourism: stories & memories
MakeMyTrip and the Ministry of Tourism have come together to launch 350 guided tours across 60 Indian cities. A new film conveys that we bring ‘incredible stories’ back with us every time we travel to various parts of India. The ‘story’ bit ties nicely with listening to what local guides have to say about landmarks & destinations. Very often without an authentic guide we wouldn’t know much about the places we visit and end up just gazing at landmarks and taking pictures in front of them without knowing context or history. The film is beautifully shot even though I felt the actor Vijay Raaz voice over is a bit over done now.
The film is accompanied by special format print ads in Times of India with a ‘window’ that opens to a double-spread gate fold.
LG: free up your mind
In 1995 two South Korean companies Lucky and GoldStar merged to form LG. In the late ’90s the tag line ‘Life’s Good’ was created. It beautifully summed up the benefits of LG’s devices and made it unique to the brand. A new film highlights how we are distracted and stressed by the constant notifications from the very devices that are meant to free us up.
Mental load is the invisible burden of constant information, countless micro-decisions and everyday demands. For many people, mental load follows them home, occupying their minds even during moments of rest and recharge.
The film captures a sense of calmness and togetherness in a typical household where LG’s devices do what they do best without being intrusive attention-seekers.
Agency: TBWA
Parodontax: spitting blood means action
Category codes in toothpaste advertising are hard to escape. Blood spitting out when you brush teeth would have led to a typical problem-solution approach in an ad. A new ad for Parodontax sets up a martial arts fight for the ‘last tube’ using toothbrushes and toothpicks as weapons and dental floss as a lasso! It’s all good fun when the store manager arrives with more tubes of the toothpaste. The idea that you simply should not shrug off the sight of blood and carry on like in a typical action movie comes across in an entertaining manner..
Agency: Grey
Bayer: Acid Mantle Tattoo cream
Benefit laddering is common in advertising. The benefit is exaggerated or stretched so much that it tests the limits of credibility. Tattoo so lifelike (thanks to it being maintained well by a product from Bayer) that animals think its real is brought alive through some beautiful art.
Agency: Dentsu
Marie Keating Foundation: skin cancer
Apparently, skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland. However, many people associate skin cancer with holidays abroad, but ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can damage your skin whether you’re in Ireland or a sunny tropical country. That simple idea is brought alive in these set of outdoor ads using locations and signs of melanoma that resemble maps.
Jaffa Cakes: topical ad
In 1999, Jaffa Cakes released an ad which has gone on to become an advertising classic. The ad titled “Full Moon, Half Moon, Total Eclipse” starred Serbian-born actress Vesna Stanojević as a primary school teacher who ‘demonstrates’ total eclipse with the help of Jaffa Cakes.
A topical print ad timed with the solar eclipse in UK brought back references to the campaign in a tongue in cheek manner.
Google Pixel 11 Pro with HiLight: Uninterrupted
The mobile phone hardware and OS have reached levels of saturation that innovations if any are incremental (except maybe the fold variants). The Google Pixel 11 Pro lets you colour code your favourite contacts to know when to pick up and when to keep your phone face down. The feature’s benefit of being able to ‘shut out the world’ is dramatized by way of people trying to interrupt a private conversation over a coffee.
Uber: oder aber Uber
In German, ‘oder aber’ is loosely translated as ‘or else’ used in the context of seeking an alternative. A new campaign for Uber tries to break familiar but difficult routines despite easier solutions being available. A trip to visit grandchildren becomes a hop-on, hop-off trip via subway trains and causing friction. A shopping trip for curtains ends up with many unwieldy bags being lugged on a road by walk. Nice continuation of the recent ‘No regrets’ campaign which dramatized the high cost of not opting for an Uber assuming it will be expensive.
Agency: Serviceplan
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.