We love a creative ad campaign and as we have entered a new year, we thought we’d narrow down our favourites of the moment. Without further ado…
“Yes You Cran”
The world’s most popular cranberry juice brand Ocean Spray takes inspiration from Obama’s iconic slogan for their latest campaign which puts a zany spin on healthier living to promote its “Better for You” products in the new year. Two spots feature people conquering their fears, be it clowns or a running race, in amusing ways that aren’t entirely predictable. Jeff Low of Biscuit returns to direct for agency Orchard, having helmed its hilarious holiday work.
“UnAImaginable”
Dubai agency And Us has produced a brilliant and very relevant campaign for fast food chain Hardee’s. Entitled UnAImaginable, the spot debunks myths of AI’s accuracy and human-like abilities. It gave DALL-E over 10,000 chances to make an accurate image of its Super Star burger, then used the “weird” “wacky” and “completely wild” attempts in a video that encourages people to come and try the real thing instead, while not worrying that “AI is coming for you.”
Apple’s Latest – RIP LION
You can’t deny that a great Apple campaign just hits different. It manages to feature its products so implicitly in immersing it amongst beautiful creativity. One spot, about a dead lizard (or rather, an undead lizard), shows how you can now unsend a message before it’s read (finally!) where another depicts a mom’s dedication to filming her kid’s field race, demonstrating the phone’s “Action Mode” in a memorably funny film. Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit provides impeccable direction on both.
“The Last Photo”
On a more serious note, we can’t ignore the powerful campaign for anti-suicide charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). The charity has released numerous highly creative campaigns this year in partnership with various agencies (including this most recent film starring Declan Rice, from AMV BBDO, which highlights loneliness) but it was this work from adam&eveDDB which truly cut through.
The idea behind it is to demonstrate how suicidal thoughts can be hidden by showing the last photos and videos of those who went on to take their own lives – is both simple yet devastating. As well as the film above, the campaign featured posters, a social campaign and an exhibition on London’s South Bank.
Brilliant British Airways
I first noticed this campaign on the tube and as a copywriter couldn’t help but notice its brilliance. Uncommon’s campaign for British Airways featured 500 different print, digital and outdoor ads, which wittily emphasised that our reasons for travel stretch far beyond just ‘business’ or ‘leisure’ – the standard choices offered by airlines when you book a flight. The campaign was widely shared on social media, generating in part a heated debate around the ethics of agencies working for airlines during a time of climate change – an indication, perhaps, of how successful the ads had been.
