Best new creative ads: Ugaoo, ChatGPT ‘Teacher’s Day’ and more
Every week, I attempt to share a curated list of clutter-breaking new creative ads. Most ads are ignored – a fate worse than being disliked. So the most important job of any ad is to be noticed. It’s a huge achievement if its noticed, liked and discussed or shared. Here is my hand-picked list if new ads from the past week or so.
Ugaoo: plan parenting with Jackie Shroff
Celebrity endorsements can easily fall into the trap of a boring template. We’ve all seen so many ads with a random celebrity talking to camera or walking across the screen pointing to what could be the brand, probably interrupted by a product window and that’s pretty much it. Some use the celebrity as characters but that needs a lot more effort. And who has the inclination for that with all the time pressures (some inflicted on themselves by the brand team) involved. So most brands take the safe (boring) route. In that context it is nice to see the celebrity’s own characteristics used to the brand’s advantage. Actor Jackie Shroff is known to be a plant lover and the film pits him ‘against’ his son dramatising that he paid more attention to his plants than on his son. The trademark Jackie Shroff lingo and the light hearted approach to celebrity endorsement made it endearing for me.
Agency: Kulfi Collective
Liberty of London: discover something extraordinary
I wasn’t aware of Liberty of London until now. It is designer department store selling luxury brands. Their campaign line to sell the The Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar (‘Packed with 29 hand-picked Beauty Hall icons – including 21 full-sized products, plus a Liberty print drawstring bag) is ‘Discover something extraordinary’. Apparently the calendar is sold out 11 years in a row. This year they have roped in Helena Bonham Carter as their brand ambassador and she is presented as Head of Extraordinary. An amusing film, where Helena ‘oversteps’ her mandate has the right mix of humour and luxury cues.
Heineken StarMark glass: design asset master class
A mug or glass of cold beer leaves only a wet ring on the table or mat. Heineken has turned it to resemble the star – the brand’s most recognisable symbol. Simple ingenuity.
Agency: NPK
ChatGPT: teachers know
We’ve reached a situation where we suspect AI and not humans, has written something…anything – from a LinkedIn post to a research report. A new film from ChatGPT which could be a generic name for any AI tool nowadays reminds us that the tool can help us think and not think for us. The story, classroom situation and the portrayal of the protagonists – all fit in well on the occasion of Teacher’s Day.
Agency: Talented
Coca-Cola: work can wait
Earlier this year, Coca-Cola launched their ‘The World Will Wait‘ campaign idea ostensibly to ‘inspire people worldwide to pause the rush of modern life and reconnect over the timeless joy of shared meals‘. I am not a big fan of sugary carbonated fizzy drinks but if it meets a consumer need who are we to complain? The film to launch the campaign idea was a typical feel-good film. In Thailand, they have tweaked the creative idea with a touch of typical zany humour which is a hallmark of Thai ads.
Agency: Ogilvy
Snickers: even AI can make mistakes when hungry
‘Even AI can get hungry, feed it a Snickers’ is the latest in the long running idea of ‘You’re not you when you are hungry’. Loved it. The project has a landing page too with a ‘digital SNICKERS bar you drop into the chat when your AI starts acting up, helping bring back cleaner answers, sharper thinking, and more truthful responses‘.
Agency: BBDO
M&S: ‘love that’ – Fashion Autumn 2026
I love the creative idea behind ‘Love That’ for M&S. It is anchored on an universal truth: we all love getting compliments on the way we look or have turned up for an occasion or event. It kicked off with a campaign starrign actor Gillian Anderson as the ‘Chief Compliments Officer’ giving compliments to random people on the street. A new campaign takes forward that idea as captured in this well-written description on YouTube: ‘Styles so good everyone will be complimenting, copying and begging to borrow. And the best part? It all comes Chief Compliments Officer approved. Love that. Elbows at the ready. The pieces everyone wants are available to shop online and in stores now.‘
Agency: Mother
Guinness: LoVely OOH
The line ‘Lovely Day for a Guinness’, was first introduced in the 1950s. A new outdoor campaign turns the simple design element built around the iconic Guinness harp, into a ‘V’ of Lovely. Loved it. Yet another demonstration of the importance of distinct brand assets.
Agency: AMVBBDO
Arla: Breakfast yourself to victory
I love it when brand take the self-deprecating humour route. Arla UK is running a campaign promoting breakfast as a habit that gives you an edge. The creative interpretation is to pitch some sort of rivalry best captured in the campaign promotion line: fuel for the (mostly meaningless) competitions of daily life.
Agency: Droga5
Grab 5-Star Eats: keyboard warriors
To promote the best restaurants on its food delivery platform, Grab projected Singaporeans as picky, tough-to-please food critics. I liked the literal interpretation of ‘keyboard warriors’ coming to live to nitpick on food delivery via reviews.
Agency: BLKJ Havas
One New Zealand: better call than text
What do people achieve in the time they saved by typing ‘K’ when they meant to send ‘OK’ or ‘Okay’? That and other existential questions about life and the quirks of messaging came to mind when I saw this wonderful outdoor campaign for One NZ, which urges Kiwis to get connected by calling instead of texting. Painting the text message as the ‘enemy’ leads to interesting situations which we all can relate to especially as parents of teens.
Agency: McCann
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.