I publish a curated list of clutter-breaking creative ads almost every week. In this week’s compilation TV spot for Volkswagen Tera, outdoor for Audi and more.
Volkswagen Tera: Arrivals
We’ve seen brand collaborations and product placements in movies. Apple was known to swing such deals in popular TV shows and Hollywood productions. In Brazil, Volkswagen has partnered with Netflix for the launch of Volkswagen Tera which is quite unique in thought and bold in execution.
In a TVC, the brand is showcased as the star whose arrival becomes an impactful entrance scene, in plot situations from famous Netflix shows such as Money Heist, Wednesday, Cobra Kai, The Witcher, and Persuasion. In movies, especially the ones from India, the entrance scene is always epic, in line with an iconic status.
Agency: AlmapBBDO
AWS: AWS is how
B2B advertising is aimed at a niche audience. The potential buyers of cloud computing services can possibly reached through platforms like LinkedIn, email or physical events. But creating a theme campaign and reaching to a wider audience through TV, print or digital (often resulting in audience spillage) can still makes sense for the brand. It creates a larger than life image for the brand and can also create aspirational value for future customers and talent bank. Another common feature of such campaigns from B2B brands is to demonstrate how effective they have been through case studies and success stories.
A new film from AWS ticks all these boxes as it uses popular brands such as BMW to claim that they are the ‘name behind familiar names’. I liked the transition effect of moving from one floor to another as it were to move from one story to another.
Agency: Hijinks
Audi: Wimbledon 2025
Why don’t brands invest more in creating distinct brand assets? It makes so much business sense from a brand recall perspective and associations that only your brand can own. A billboard from Audi in train stations leading to Wimbledon 2025 is a win for both distinct brand assets and outdoor as a medium. It is said that the thumb rule of a effective outdoor (dubbed a fleeting medium) is to use a maximum of eight words. Contrast that with a majority of billboards which treat it like a brochure.
Agency: BBH
Lifebuoy: SRK and the jingle
FMCG advertising is hard. It can get formulaic and predictable. Agency teams have to grapple with many mandatories (celebrity endorsement for example) and unreal expectations from a 30-second commercial. I thought this effort was commendable given the legacy of the brand, its iconic jingle and the use of SRK. I am not going into the why of subtle shift to skin protection from overall health platform but the effort avoids many cliches of the category and grabs viewer attention.
KFC: taste even AI cannot resist
Many brands in the food & beverages category have a common running theme: irresistible taste. In advertising, it is often represented as ‘going to any length to acquire it’ with many creative possibilities. A film for KFC in South Africa weaves in AI (that being the flavour in the marketing world too) – crafting a fun story about an AI ‘machine’ that cannot resist the taste of the brand.
Agency: Ogilvy
TESCO: hidden messages
An outdoor campaign from TESCO supports the England and Wales teams in the UEFA Women’s Euros 2025. The visuals depict the familiar purchase receipt, except, on closer look, they also spell out messages of celebration and support – including ‘Youʼve Got Thisʼ and ‘Ymlaen Garfanʼ (translating to ‘Letʼs goʼ or ‘Come on team!’)
Agency: BBH
Cult Kits: the shirt matters
The brand is the hero. This simple maxim is often forgotten in ad films, especially when weaving a slightly off-tangent story line. A new film for Cult Kits – known for collections of vintage football shirts uses the familiar gangster film sequence to convey that ‘the shirt matters‘.
Agency: VCCP Blue and Girl & Bear
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.
