FLAGS

This is such a fantastic print campaign by Vittoria School for Language Mediators in Italy!

Using books, notebooks and notepads as props, each ad then represents the flag of a country.

The message that Vittoria School is giving is that not only does it teach a language theoretically but it also teaches about the culture of a country and how the people of that country speak in normal conversations. 

For me, the campaign is extremely creative without losing the simplicity. I just love the way the educational props have been used. The agency behind this campaign is La Fabbrica Creativa, Italy.

GO FETCH

Humour has a very important role to play in advertising. It has the ability to reach people and give them the message in a very simple and easy way.

Humour can also be quite tricky. It does not work for all brands and all categories. Moreover, marketers have to be very careful in selecting the right kind of #humour that does not disgust or offend their consumers but rather makes them laugh.

Agencies and marketing people also have to evaluate their brands with a sharp lens and see whether humour fits the brand personality or not. Otherwise, even the funniest ad will not help in building your brand equity.

Here is an example of a brand that has used humour well. US based dog biscuit brand, Milk-Bone has come up with a series of funny ads, talking about the importance of having a dog as a pet and then how Milk-Bone can make it even more fun.

I am sharing the tortoise film below that gives the message in crisp 15 seconds.

You can also see the other ads here: 

https://lnkd.in/ejM3A5r 

https://lnkd.in/e2SR-gc

LOVE HAS NO BOUNDARIES

#Greece is still one of the countries that is traditional by nature and not very open to #diversity. 

Lacta, a Greek chocolate #brand, that is now a part of the Mondelēz International group comes up with a lovely film that starts by showing reactions of people when they see love that is not as per their expectations. The film then changes course and each scenario gets depicted in a very different way. 

A well made film by Ogilvy for this #ValentinesDay, asking us all to see #love in its purest form beyond any stereotypes. The soundtrack is quite nice as well.

COFFEE TO WAKE UP!

What better way to start a Monday morning than a hot cup of coffee, that really wakes you up and kickstarts your week. 

That's the message that McDonald's is giving through this extremely witty and creative ad for McCafe.

I just love the simplicity and the way the logo and coffee beans have been used, without trying too hard.

Well played McDonald's

GOOGLE REMEMBERS LORETTA

Who says that a search engine should only be there to help you in your searches? When the purpose of your brand is to bring convenience to the lives of your consumers, you do not remain a search engine anymore. 

hashtag

#Google comes up with an emotional tearjerker of an ad to showcase the capabilities of its Google Assistant. This ad shows an 85 year old gentleman who has lost his wife and is now trying to remember her and the special memories that he had with her, using the help of the voice-controlled Google Assistant. 

The ad goes on to show how Google Assistant can come to the aid of the elderly people in remembering things as well as experiences. It can also be of use to people suffering from dementia. 

This story is based on a real story of a grandfather of a #Google employee and the character Loretta is inspired from his grandmother. They used facts from his real life to create the plot and the storyline. In fact, even the voice-over in the ad is from the real grandfather!

The entire ad has been created in-house without the help of any external agency. 

Enjoy this powerful and touching film that will either give you goosebumps or tears.

DANDRUFF MAKES YOU LOOK STUPID

When you scratch your head because it itches and not because you are thinking, it makes you look stupid. 

This is the premise on which Saatchi & Saatchi launched this print campaign for Head and Shoulders shampoo in the UAE market. 

They took strong, recognizable, real and fictional characters - Albert Einstein, Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones and James Bond and created special illustrations, showing them scratching their heads. Each ad ends with the tag line 'Dandruff makes you look stupid'. 

Not only is the #advertising smart, but the font and style of the tag line in each picture has been designed to look like the part of the rest of the surrounding, and the hand that holds the Head and Shoulders bottle in each ad is also a part of the overall set-up, making it all look seamless.

So, the #creativity and the quality of art in these layouts is very good, paying great attention to every detail.

STAR WARS

On 20th Dec, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker will have its premiere, and to build up the excitement for that, the team behind it is coming up with various marketing ideas across different countries.

In Philippines, the team has launched a beautiful ad film, which shows two young kids going to crazy lengths, working on a mysterious project to create something magical.

The film has been made by Wunderman Thompson Philippines and the beauty of the film is in it finer points:

1. You do not need to know the language to understand the ad. The message can be understood by everyone.

2. The entire film keeps you intrigued, really showing the power of storytelling. 

3. The end is surprising and makes you smile.

Enjoy this gem of an ad.

FUTURE OF ADVERTISING?

Advertising agencies will always tell their clients that a 30 second TV spot does not do justice to their brand or their story.

I wonder what they would say when they see three brands being advertised in a single 43 second spot. Yes, that is right.

Three non competing brands decided to join hands and pull of an advertising stunt that has never been seen before. The common link to all three - actor Ryan Reynolds.

The result is an ad in which Ryan is promoting his latest movie that is coming on #Netflix, but he talks about enjoying its experience on a #Samsung QLED, and then brings in an ad of his own #Aviation American Gin as a mid-roll ad placement!

Is that brilliant or is that brilliant!

Will we see more non competing brands joining hands in future to save on money without diluting their own individual messages? We will have to wait and see.

Till then, enjoy this masterpiece.

MAN ENOUGH

On 19th Nov 2019, the world celebrated International Men's Day. As expected, there were many #brands that tried to leverage this day through their social media posts as well as their advertisements. There was one commercial that stood out for me. It was Gillette India's new Man Enough film that asks people to 'Shave Stereotypes' and says it is ok for men to cry. 

There are a number of reasons why this film gets special:

1.  It features a soldier, and soldiers are known to be the epitome of manliness.
2.  The narrative is built on the real-life story of Lt Col M K Sinha SM and his father.
3.  The story is narrated by the person himself, lending it so much credibility. 
4.  There is a significant role of the product and the brand. 
5.  The ad does not just leverage an occasion in a disjointed way, it rather helps #Gillette continue on its purpose driven communication.
6. The brand is helping in changing culture, making people sit back and reflect, sowing the seeds of change in society. All the key requirements of what strong brand campaigns are supposed to do. 

Enjoy this gem and feel the goosebumps.

MESSAGE IN A LOGO

The ad below is such a powerful creative, done so simply and yet so effectively. Love the creativity and the twist on the existing logo of Audi AG to give out the message about the entry of #Audi in electric cars segment.
This brilliant piece of print #advertising was done by the agency #TBWA in the market of Sweden.

AMAZON SMILING BOXES

Every year, a few weeks before #Christmas, there are a few brands in UK like John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, and Amazon who come up with a new ad campaign that viewers, customers, marketers look forward to. 

This year, #Amazon has come up with a Christmas ad that features its singing delivery boxes. The idea of these smiling boxes was first introduced by Amazon in 2017.

For the third year in a row, the Amazon boxes are singing to ring in the holiday shopping season. If you look at the logo of Amazon on the boxes closely, they do resemble a smile and that is exactly the idea they built on.

The ad has all the elements that make an ad enjoyable, watchable and repeatable during Christmas – snow, dogs, singing children and happy grandparents. The ad also shows the journey of a delivery woman and the singing boxes giving her the chorus!

The 90 second film is set to the tune of Solomon Burke’s song “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” and the ad has been created by the London agency Lucky Generals.

According to the marketing people at Amazon, the aim of the Christmas advert is to portray how important it is to spend time with people you love during the festive period.

Enjoy this short film.

INVEST IN IRON

On the occasion of #Dhanteras, when Indians invest in either gold or silver, here is a campaign that is asking them to invest in iron! There is a reason behind it. India ranks the highest in world for prevalence of anaemia among its women, and second woman in urban India is anaemic due to iron deficiency. So, #DSM India partnered with FCB Ulka and launched a special campaign – Project #Streedhan. Project Streedhan raises awareness about anaemia among urban Indian women by asking them to give the same importance to iron as gold, and to invest in it by eating healthy, iron-rich foods to reduce iron deficiency. The entire film has been shot in quite a unique way, showing women from different strata and parts enjoying various iron-rich foods. It has the powerful voice of Madhupurna Ganguly along with music by Debasis Shome. More than 50 jewellers in #India have joined hands in this initiative and committed to spread the message to their customers. 

Since the last few days, this video has been gaining traction, and the media has also been talking about it, helping the campaign achieve its objective of informing, educating and generating conversations.

DIWALI KA SAFAR

As #India gears up for #Diwali, there are many new brand campaigns that are being launched. Each one of them tries to build an emotional connection, showing bonds between families and relatives, distribution of sweets, bursting of crackers and all the other rituals that you associate with this festival. However, in their new TVC, Samsonite India Pvt Ltd takes a step back and weaves a beautiful story through long form content with an impactful voiceover. It is a well made film with the right level of emotions and the connections between the scenes. I do not want to give away much as I would like you to enjoy and feel the ad film. 

Do notice how every story is related to travel, making it perfect for #Samsonite to own it. 

                                #diwalikasafar #kunalviews #communications #marketing

9 HOURS OF CHARGE

In the Argentina market, Beats Electronics wanted to highlight the special feature of 9 hours of charge that their headphones deliver. 

They launched a set of print ads which talk about different genres of music, but if you look closely, each word is split into smaller words of three letters. The three letters represent an airport in one country which are then connected to next three letters which is the symbol of a different airport in another country. The flight distance between the two destinations is 9 hours, signifying how you can enjoy your music continuously during the entire flight duration if you wear your #Beats headphones. This is brilliant creativity and fantastic execution. The colours of the layout have also been matched with the different colours of the headphones. 

However, as a marketer I miss the brand name in the entire ad unless it was mentioned somewhere else. I strongly believe that the best creativity is of no use if it doesn't connect people to the brand behind it. 

What are your views on this? Let me know in the comments. 

POWER OF VISUAL

21st Sept, 2019 was World Alzheimer Day. It was a day when people needed to be reminded that there are others who forget easily, and not only do they need to be reminded again and again, but they also need to be cared for. 

Alzheimer Athens came out with a #print ad in Greece that gave out a strong message in a simple way. This is the power of a strong visual. It doesn't need to say much but the audience still understands.

NO NEED TO FLY AROUND THE WORLD

In the world of #Instagram and #Facebook, where travel is a passion and aspiration for all, people are flying to faraway destinations much more in this decade than ever before. 

German Rail was feeling the pressure of this as 72% Germans were flying out rather than taking trains within Germany as they felt German destinations were boring.

Here is what German Rail and #Ogilvy did to fix the problem:

1. They identified great locations from around the world and juxtaposed it with a similar shot of a German location next to it to encourage Germans to holiday in their home country.

                                  

2. They used Facebook data and targeted travel enthusiasts interested in those specific destinations on Instagram and Facebook.

3. Through geo-tagging technology and Google Search, they served video ads to the audience, updated with real-time prices, comparing two gorgeous locations (one in Germany and one abroad), detailing the cost of travel from their closest airport to the foreign country.

Results: An increase of 24% in brand revenue. This is a great example of: 

• Using #insights to convert it into an idea.
• Then leveraging #data to sharply target the right audience.
• That ultimately results in #revenues, which is what matters.

So many lessons in this case study!

FRESH OFF THE PRESS

Today, on 18th Sept 2019, the city of Mumbai woke up to a unique print #innovation in the daily issue of Mumbai Mirror newspaper. 

The front page of the tabloid had its masthead reversed and there was a small text below it that read 'Use a mirror to read this page'.

The front-page ad then showed a beautiful black and white image of one of the iconic buildings of Mumbai, standing peacefully in the middle of the Arabian Sea.

The sign off line at the bottom of the page (reverse image) says 'Mirroring the City of Dreams', which is perfectly apt for #MumbaiMirror.

What is brilliant is that the entire city was divided into zones basis the seven islands of Mumbai, and each zone then received a different edition of the paper with a different iconic building (Gateway of India, Siddhi Vinayak, CST, etc.) on the front page. The buildings would resonate with anyone who lives in Mumbai.

The entire concept has been done by Wunderman Thompson (formerly #JWT), and the campaign is a part of the video series that showcase the journey from Bombay to Mumbai from the eyes of its citizens who have seen the transformation.

The art of the #print ads is beautiful and the innovation catches you by a pleasant surprise!

Here are all of them together once again:

 

 

NON-STOP MUSIC FOR NON-STOP AIRLINE

Singapore Airlines has just launched a non-stop flight from Singapore to Seattle. To celebrate this milestone and build on the idea of 'Non-Stop', the airline asked Seattle DJ and musician Chong the Nomad to build a special track for them.

What is special? The entire track is made from various sounds from inside and outside of one of its Airbus A350 planes! The entire track captures 45 different sounds to create one 'Non-stop' piece!

Check out the video of how the sounds were collected. 

Very unique and creative. Lot of fun!