Best new creative ads of the week: Mac Mini, Zomato and more
Every week I attempt to publish a curated list of best new creative ads. Occasionally I share views on trends in the ad industry. This week, new creative ads from Apple for Mac Mini, a Rakshabandhan related ad from Zomato and more.
Snickers: behaving like a troll
Ad campaigns based on a universal consumer insight lend themselves better to a creative idea. In Snickers the insight is that ‘in-between meal hunger makes us irritable and act out of character’. This theme has interpreted wonderfully as ‘You’re not you when you are hungry’ and consistently great executions over the years. A new ad from Australia compares how people behave as sports fans when irritable – alluding them to literally be like trolls – not the social media kind but the mythical creature from Scandinavian folklore.
Agency: T&P Australia
Uber Hong Kong: Keep Doing What You Do
A new ad from Uber in Hong Kong dramatises how riders can use the short wait time before their ride arrives. The subliminal cue is one of certainty – how one can be sure that the booked ride will arrive on time, giving people the freedom to make the most of every minute. Local singer Gareth T and his famous song (‘Your Ride Is Here‘) is appropriate for the context of him proposing to a girl during the time of waiting. Over the last few months, Uber has created several campaigns for major regions in the market: reliability of an ‘always available’ driver outside the big metros in the US markets, an ‘Uber or else’ campaign in Germany among others.
Riksbyggen: Sweden’s smallest homes
Not a conventional ad but an idea meant to get ‘talked about’ in social media and traditional media to create buzz & awareness. Riksbyggen is a housing company in Sweden. They have launched a housing reform campaign to highlight the housing shortage for young people. According to reports, young people can afford only unbelievably tiny apartments.
Young people in the city of Umeå, for instance, can afford the 48-square-foot model. In Gothenburg, the average affordable house would be 33 square feet. In Stockholm, the house would be just 20 square feet.
So they actually built such houses and will be taken on a tour throughout Sweden, dramatising how constrictive such houses will be.
Agency: BBDO
Zomato: Raksha Bandhan
Brands resorting to Instagram posts for any Indian festival, a ‘national’ day or even news of the day has become a default behaviour. It’s probably driven by FOMO and the mindset that demands ‘two posts a week’ for a retainer fee. Almost always the ‘connect’ and relevance between the brand, the product category and the occasion is missing or tenuous. In this context, it is nice to a smart take on the occasion by Zomato by ‘personifying’ their group brands as siblings and have them ‘quarrelling’. Brought a smile. Nicely done.
Mac Mini: the mighty Mac
Historically, Apple has never taken the ‘specifications first’ approach to tech advertising. The famous ‘Think Different’ campaign, the Effie-winning ‘Mac vs PC‘ ads, campaigns promoting the iPhone and its quality of photography have all relied on benefits, emotional connect and ‘show & tell’. A new ad for Mac Mini with M6 seems like a spec sheet but cleverly weaves in the benefits visually through graphics.
In a world obsessed with AI tools and ‘digital’ craft it is good to the team relying on good old human craft to get the desired results.
Agency: TBWAMedia Arts Lab
Kissht: remembering Sachin
It’s a tough brief when you are mandated to use a celebrity brand ambassador that too one which many endorsements. And on top it the brief is to convey the wide acceptability of Kissht Loans interpreted as ‘one loan approved every 5 min’. The creative execution is anchored on a very Indian habit of attributing hiccups to someone remembering you.
Spec ads: I don’t usually share spec ads. Back when in advertising, many creatives used to create ads for WonderBra or ‘anti-smoking’ as part of their portfolio and bring it to interviews. While it is an opportunity to showcase creativity it does not reflect the real world which is rife with vague briefs, many client demands, time pressure, ‘approval-by-committee’, hazy feedback loop and so much more. But a couple of speculative ads shared on LinkedIn caught my eye.
Parker: One Minute Briefs
It all started with a spec creative for Parker Pens from Kushagra Oberoi shared on LinkedIn. The post went viral and the discussions were thought provoking. Newell Brands then ran a competition tasking creatives to share their spec ads for Parker Pins. The competition backed by One Minute Briefs got over 200 submissions and this was picked the winner. The ideas was crafted by Simon Sinclair and Manish Dodani. Read more about it here. Loved the thinking behind the ad taking into account the previous comments which essentially said that the pen is just a tool and the actual ‘thinking’ or creating comes from humans even if aided or polished by AI.
Maxibon: two sides to everything
Another set of spec ads which caught my eye is fro Maxibon – the unorthodox ice cream. It is an iconic hybrid ice cream sandwich and hence lends very well to the creative idea of ‘two sides to everything’. The central idea is brought alive by the choice of medium and the situations which all of us can relate to.
Creative: Luke Saunders
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.