Every week, I attempt to share a compilation of creative ads and occasional commentary about the business of advertising. Here are some campaigns of late which caught my eye:
British Airways: windows
I’ll admit that I didn’t ‘get’ the idea when I saw the billboard images on social media (I am not alone). But it definitely was striking and bold. The penny dropped when I read the context:
The OOH images capture the wonder on customers’ faces when they look out of an aircraft window and onto the world from 35,000ft. This concept plays on the idea that customers usually take photographs from their seat out of the aircraft window, but instead, reversing the camera and spotlighting customers’ emotions as they look onto their destination, can give a deeper insight into their unique stories and original reasons for travel.
Agency: Uncommon London
I loved the fact that proper, classic advertising using a medium to its advantage still gets people talking. The creatives make great use of outdoor and is strikingly minimal. And bold. Imagine not even using the brand name of the advertiser in full. But I guess that’s possible because British Airways is a strong brand with distinct brand assets. I also liked the attention for detail as the way the logo is displayed is pretty much likely to be how the ‘frame’ would be if one is looking at passengers from outside the plane. The creative idea is also clutter-breaking the category by simply shifting perspectives – capturing the reaction of passengers from the ‘outside’ as it were. Such reactions are common, as we tend to peer down into the destination we are about to land in. Also, it makes the consumer pause, take a second look to decipher the message. However, I am not sure how it links back to ‘A British Original’ platform though one could argue that it is a continuation of the ‘various reasons to travel’ creative idea.
Miliways chewing gum: no plastic
In order to create dissonance about a prevalent habit, a new entrant or alternative has to dramatize the pitfalls of the former. The task of conveying that ‘Your current brand of chewing gum might have plastic in it’ and presenting an alternative is done interestingly – portraying people actually gorging on plastic.
Agency: Hatch London
Avios: Everyday
Avios is a rewards loyalty program with tie ups across many brands – including airlines and taxi aggregators. The accumulation of air miles is the biggest attraction of the program. A new, intriguing ad aims to convey that regular, ‘everyday’ activities such as buying groceries (beyond just booking flights) can help members of the Executive Club earn air miles. Loved the cool quotient in the ad.
Agency: Uncommon
boAt: don’t be a fanboy
A new campaign for boAt became a topic of discussion over at LinkedIn. The objective of the brand ostensibly is to get into the consideration set of those likely to buy AirPods. My thoughts on the whole exercise:
I am happy for Boat. It’s has built a brand which seems to have consumer acceptance and some affinity. Apparently, 70% of the products are now Made in India. There are several brands in this category at varying price points with Apple being at the top of the pile as a super-premium brand. Apple has a few distinct audience mindsets: those who seek & choose only Apple. Then there are those who cannot afford the pricing but aspire to own an Apple product someday or seek equally good brands (with badge value) at slightly lower but still a premium price. OnePlus and the Galaxy series of Samsung come to mind. And then there are those who will never buy an Apple product for whatever reason: justifying it as being against the ‘walled garden’, ‘closed ecosystem’ or just being plain over-priced, of poor value. boAt appeals perhaps to the second and third segments: those who can afford and seek or desire an AirPods will continue to do so. It’s all fine for other brands to mock the ‘Apple ecosystem’ but the reality is that those who have experienced it, like it. Also, many brands have taken on the ‘iPhone killer’ claim in the past and last I heard the iPhone is still going strong.
One of the earliest lessons in advertising (from my brief stint at HTA) was one about stimulus & response. Simply put, it said that if you want a particular response from the consumer, do not provide *that* as the stimulus. Provide a stimulus that *evokes* the response you seek. To illustrate this the example given was that of a stand up comics. They don’t walk into a room wearing a placard saying ‘I am funny’. They crack jokes, which make people laugh and feel ‘this person is funny!’.
In a world where clutter was relatively less, brands could get away with ‘stimulus as response’. E.g. Surf washes whitest. They then switched gears to say ‘Stains are good’ to evoke the response they wanted. Stimulus different from response.
But many brands still justify such messaging with ‘it’s better to be direct’. We see that in print ads from automobile brands. Gone are the days of ads like this:
Porsche: ‘It’s about as fast as you can go without having to eat airline food’.
Was reminded of this with respect to the boAt ad. It is already a brand that is sought after. It’s fine to aspire for more people to say ‘hey, this is a cool brand’. But that can’t be achieved by saying ‘Believe us, we are cool’ as stimulus. Or by getting people to feel that ‘Apple is not cool’. There is a fan following for OnePlus too which I think was built over time through cool products and performance. They were marginally less priced than iPhone but gave the badge value, cool quotient too.
Also taking potshots like ‘No fruits were harmed’ or ‘shots fired!’ as reported by trade portals will make no difference to Apple, its ecosystem or potential buyers.
The TVC is better executed than the print ad.
KitKat: easter
The Easter bunny brought alive visually through the by-now familiar brand property of KitKat.
IKEA: afford
I understand that IKEA is anchored on affordability across the globe. This approach of assuring people that they can afford curios broken because of the antics of their pets is interesting. But I thought the tone of voice of ‘Don’t worry, you can afford it’ could have been better. If the idea is to convey that it is a small price to pay for the joy of pet antics then there was scope to do it differently than a ‘don’t worry’. Maybe it is lost in translation.
Agency: Ingo, Hamburg
Andrex: first office poo
I guess some contexts are unique to the western world. A new ad shows a woman farting in office. While it causes mild embarrassment and draws attention from others, she confidently heads out to the washroom with an Andrex toilet role in hand.
At the heart of the ‘Get Comfortable’ platform is the truth that too many Brits are held back by their prudery and embarrassment about going to the toilet, and don’t have a healthy relationship with their everyday bodily functions. Andrex, the UK’s biggest toilet paper brand, is tackling this issue head on and encouraging the nation to engage with their intimate wellness, by showing us there’s a better way.
Agency: FCB
Dream11: family dinner
Among the ads on show during IPL, the ones from Dream11 are among the handful which are enjoyable. Their idea of ‘team is everything – even beyond friendships of Team India’ is interesting. Some executions such as this are better, funnier than others in the seris.
Agency: Tilt
Homebase: home needs everything
A new ad from Homebase UK is a nice example of show & tell in a category which demands nice display of the product and their in-situ look.
Live in Levis: the floor is yours
Hmm. A song & dance routine as an ad, that too for an iconic brand? But I thought the moves and visual effects make it interesting. Also the potential of ‘the floor is yours’ is huge.
Fans from all over the globe are encouraged to participate in #LevisOpenCall — an open casting call for the chance to be part of a new, exclusive video featuring music from Grammy-award winning producer and DJ, Kaytranada.
Which one was your favorite? Do comment in.