One of the best-done public health campaigns regarding mental health is by Australia’s Samaritans. With a dedicated team of volunteers offering mental health support through phone, text, and in person, this group has really shared a unique message: Check in on those around you and reach out for help (for yourself and others).

In a world where we often talk about brands, consumers, and profitability, there is a unique skill that people in communications and marketing have: Crafting compelling, thought-provoking stories that can leave an impact and do good.

The Samaritans in Australia have created a campaign that leaves such a strong message through their mental health campaign to take care of yourself emotionally, to genuinely ask around, and to request help when you find yourself having uncomfortable thoughts.

I believe this is a fantastic campaign because:

1. It takes you by surprise: Until the last screen, you really do not know what to expect because you think you can predict what is to come, but you really can’t.
2. Talks about a difficult topic without being preachy: This campaign touches upon mental health and suicide prevention without continuously stating the obvious. Instead, it comes from the perspective of care and empathy.
3. Strong and simple call to action: It first starts with a simple message: To check in on people around you, and genuinely ask how they are doing. In an era of fast fashion and rapid scrolling, we truly need to spend time and ask authentic questions.

In a series of ‘Marketing for social good’ posts, I hope I can inspire some of you to use your unique craft and voice to leverage marketing to genuinely make this world and people’s inner world a happier place.

Some of the most evergreen marketing campaigns don’t seem like campaigns. They are just relatable jingles from our childhood that just kind of stick. Some of my favourite are “Washing powder Nirma” [Detergent product], A spin on “Baby Shark” [eCommerce platform] and “Kya aap closeup karte hai” [Toothpaste product]. These tunes are embedded in our collective memory.

While the fundamentals of psychology are static, what is changing is where we are getting our ‘stimulus’ from. In today’s meme culture, information travels at lightning speed through the internet. But the best marketers are looking at it very closely to get inspired to build the next big campaign. What is it that people are talking about? Where is the fandom being built? Are they the right target audience?

In India, Cricket is a religion. And Dhoni is one of the greatest and most loved cricket superstars of the country. The interesting story of how Dhoni was singing a viral meme song on an ad is both inspiring and amusing.

A lookalike of Dhoni sang “Bole Jo Koyal”, a tune that is so similar to a childhood favorite song embedded in Indian culture. That meme went so viral that it started playing in cricket stadiums, clubs and even Dhoni was filmed dancing to the tune.

EMotorad saw this as an opportunity to bring to life their EV Bike with Dhoni singing this song. And needless to say, all Dhoni and Cricket fans just LOVED IT! Seeing their favorite cricketer sing a song that was so closely associated with him, fans went GAGA! (You know if you know)

I believe that the best marketing campaigns will continue to draw on and contribute to popular culture. Understanding your audience and relating your product to them has been an age old formula but as audiences and their inspiration evolves, marketing needs to evolve at the same rate.

Are marketing textbooks teaching future marketers to study memes? Well, maybe not. But here is an example of the best of creativity, marketing and culture inspired by meme culture. I don’t know about what the Koyal would want to say (or sing), but the Koyal has been humming this song in my head for too many days now.

BoAt, a lifestyle brand in India is taking on the big fight with Apple. For years, we saw semi-equal players taking on a fight: BurgerKing vs McDonalds and Coke vs Pepsi. But here comes a solid and confident underdog that is now going to play in the big league.

I love that the differentiator is not just the price point (Which is ofcourse true), but it is going against the overall brand on features – Bass, Noise Cancellation and Battery life. In the game of branding, I do salute BoAt’s courage to try, win and capture market share.

I am sure a lot of people saw this front page ad on The Times of India, but the buzz it created on social media was INSANE. Also, its a big brand statement to make when a much smaller player puts up a full page ad in one of the most prestigious print papers in the country.

For me, the Boat game is very simple: Adopt, improvise and brand. People are moving to a strong ‘Make in India’ consumer cycle and a lot of companies will benefit deeply from the surge in Patriotic consumerism in India.

An Apple lover myself, wearing my AirPods as I write this post, for the first time – I walked into a store and looked at the BoAt earphones packaging, read the details and nodded. While they have not got me as a consumer yet, they have at least got me in the consideration phase – with a subtle nod and smile.

While I might still not be a boAthead, I am certainly proud of the fantastic brands that are getting built in India. BoAt is creating a community, brand love and social identity that connects deeply with its branding.

I am optimistic that India is not just going to be a manufacturing powerhouse but also a brand powerhouse – and for that future, BoAt has certainly taken the lead on crossing those 7 seas (7 Samundaar).

MooTalks is in conversation with industry experts to bring new perspectives to the world in short, quirky, Moo-style vibes.

I was most recently in an exciting conversation with Stephanie Sprayregen, Founder and CEO of Spray Marketing, a new age marketing agency based in New York.

(a) New age marketing agency model

Marketing Specialists > Marketing Generalists.

Agencies leveraging specialised skills and competencies to grow their arsenal rather than relying on generalists. This is especially true when agencies are supporting startups/ scale ups that are looking to grow rapidly and want quick access to specialists.

(b) Goodbye budgets

In a world of recession and budget cuts, it is important to evolve.

The path to profitable growth will need more prudence, rigour and a stronger ROI. Interestingly, marketing agencies saw the downturn much earlier than the rest of the world with marketing budgets getting slashed. Delivering on real business value with deep expertise in understanding how to maximise return on every marketing dollar will be key.

(c) How will AI and tech winters impact marketing?

The goal post is shifting toward profitability and it will be essential for marketing to play a crucial role in the overall business strategy – reducing churn rates, improving usage, and delivering more efficient return on ads spend (ROAS). The best partnerships will be based on data driven decision making across both the brand and agency teams.

In the battle of ridiculous partnerships and marketing gimmicks, here is a new useless idea that Pepsi thinks is one of their “greatest projects”. Pepsi collaborated with Shaquille O’Neal, the famous Basketball player to put a Pepsi Mini in his shoe. Yeah, you heard that right – a can of Soda in a sneaker.

The last trend I heard that wildly caught on in the shoe partnerships era was the Air Jordan’s by Nike with Michael Jordan’s jumpman logo. That was cool.. everyone was suddenly wearing them (Including my husband). But if I were to ask around and see who would be interested to “snap a photo to win sneakers with an ugly Pepsi logo with a can of soda in it”… I am not sure if people are going to be going as ga-ga over it as Pepsi would imagine.

Here are 3 reasons why I feel this campaign is a major #facepalm fail:

(a) No one wants to associate sugary unhealthy drinks with fitness: Let’s get real. If you want to be associted with athletes and fitness, you are not drinking a high calorie, 32gms of a sugary drink. This is just dumping Pepsi’s brand value towards the dark abyss of “trying too hard to fit in”. Why don’t you continue to build your brand by assocating with KFC’s watch Netflix and enjoy the guilty pleasures of life instead?

(b) No one wants to drink a beverage out of a person’s shoe!?! Like WTF! Umm, firstly no one is drinking a hot can of soda from their own shoe. I can think of a lot of innovative things I might want to hide in the sole of a shoe – A can of Soda would not be one.

(c) I think making fun of someone who is very “tall and big” is just too tone deaf in today’s age. I have no clue why a super star like O’Neal would agree to this. Stating that Shaq’s shoe size of 22 is the only one that would fit a Pepsi Mini…just makes me want to erk at this information. I mean if someone is making fun of the fact that I am too short and let’s put a mini can next to me to compare sizes, I am going to be a rage ball.

Pepsi is literally the old grumpy uncle saying inappropriate and ridiculous stuff that annoys you to your core. If this was not annoying enough, watch Pepsi try to “be cool” by sharing how fresh their soda is. (PS: Add 100 facepalms). Pepsi sure as hell ain’t opening happiness, maybe for this poor attempt is opening annoyance.

Good job Pepsi, You shot yourself in the foot.

The big splashes in town are here! The crown winners are early adopters of AI who will use it to make marketing even more interesting, exciting, fun.
Puma dive took to India’s favourite hobby – finding clues in sports and making it a massive campaign with none other than the legend and cricket superstar – Virat Kohli.

The campaign is centered around the fact that once you see the puma dive – you can’t unsee it. And that is actually so true! Now I probably see the Puma logo in so many still captures of jumps, dives and theatre. The most obvious one is fantastic fielders on the cricket field diving to catch a ball in an exciting “out”.

Puma’s digital campaign was anchored on “X” which is an interesting choice given the mass exodus of people and brands from the platform. Nonetheless, it is still a fantastic way of building fandom and brand connections.

By leveraging AI, Puma gave each upload a “dive” score to see how closely it is represented to the original Puma logo. Discounts to buy Puma products was commensurate with the score. What is more? Someone would get a chance to play with Virat himself on the cricket field.

The brilliance of the campaign makes Puma front and center in a market that has been dominated by Nike and Reebok. Aye Aye to AI changing the game.

Who is it that you want to be? I love Booking.com and it has been one of my longest go-to travel buddies as I seek unique experiences across the globe.

Tina Fey takes on a rather interesting take to having different experiences that cater to her unique different personalities – might it be on a ranch or in a fancy luxurious hotel.

For the longest time, AirBnB was the go-to for different stay experiences including staying at a treehouse, castle or a carriage house. But lo and behold, Booking is playing their game but quirkier, better and bigger! (It’s the super-bowl after all)

This ad is certainly the most watched superbowl ad of 2024. And why not? With travel, you can not just discover your different passions, but also be whoever you want to be :)

Hello to a new 2024! 

I can’t believe the new year has already begun… Just the same way that people can’t really believe their eyes anymore. “See it to believe it” is so 2000s.

2024 welcomes you to the age of AI and CGI.

Marketers can now truly be called magicians! Making the unreal look real?!?

I am sharing 2 of my recent favourite CGI campaigns that seem like a master stroke of what real feels like:

1. The London Essence ad where a glass of rose champagne looking mixer is poured exquisitely into a beautiful glass. Goodbye my love for Fever-Tree tonic water. Hello ‘Pomelo pink pepper tonic water’ by The London essence.

2. Loreal’s new Matte Lipstick campaign had a red car literally ‘painting the town red’. Many people actually didn’t know that CGI was used in these videos – it looks so real and beautiful! Although red lipstick is not my vibe.. But still, I commend good ads.

Many people have asked me – What is my opinion on CGI enabled creative marketing?

I would say that we are in an era where creativity has no bounds – quite literally! It is the time for marketers to become magicians and make content shine in an ever increasing cluttered world. I am an embracer of technology that unlocks new creative frontiers just as in the case of The London Essence Company and Loreal.

But it is important to be clear that CGI was used and more policy frameworks need to be implemented to ensure that marketing does not become a deceptive technique where people don’t even know what if something was ever real or not. The lines between reality and CGI are blurring rapidly, but as marketers, we make it clear and keep it honest. We owe it to our consumers!

PS: In that spirit, I wanted to let you know that this post was not generated by AI or a robot (and never will be until I become a cyborg)

Lego is not just child’s play. And has not been since a few years now. Lego with it’s iconic building blocks is now fully embracing the adults market with a homepage tab that says ‘Adults welcome’.

Their latest campaign is targeting just the right audience that is looking to destress and zone out by zoning in and building something. Right from building the pyramids, star wars models and sets of famous TV shows, Lego has a piece of the formula that helps you disconnect.

I do believe that a lot of adults are enjoying the challenge and tuning out the stress while building complex models. I would imagine that it is as relaxing as perhaps knitting was (although unfortunately knitting is now considered an old school grandma hobby).

The campaign ‘Find your Flow’ focuses on aligning with your inner chi and feeling better: de-stressing with bricks in sweet solitude. While I am personally not one for complex puzzles or Lego blocks, who knows I might just one day take on the challenge. But perhaps not for the $500 de-stressing price tag that would perhaps cause me more stress. As they say, to each their own trying to navigate this crazy world and finding their flow.

If anyone ever said that a simple, functional carry bag would become so iconic, I would probably be a little skeptical. But, then again, if there is a bag you notice from miles away, it is the IKEA blue bag. The iconic blue bag is certainly one of the strongest (can take upto 50 kgs) and most useful bags in the history of bags. I genuinely don’t know a single person who would throw this bag after a single use. (But then again, I would not want to know such environment-loating-one-time-bag-users 🤷‍♀️).

Apparently, this bag has a name – FRAKTA. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA has said, “When they saw one of the bags on the street, at the beach and so on, they would know that they had something in common: a visit to IKEA. With tens of millions of bags in town, this could be excellent publicity.” Now, that is what I call a visionary businessman.

The bag announces the upcoming IKEA store, that I am sure people are super excited about. More and more IKEA stores are emerging in downtown areas whereas once in the hay days, people would drive upto remote outskirts of the cities to purchase furniture. Sounds like the IKEA bag is making a bold announcement and building anticipation yet again in the high streets.

What a way to make a splash – Literally folding in on itself is Samsung’s new fold and flip phone series. Well, it certainly is back in trend just like those bell bottom jeans. I miss my Motorola RAZR phone that was certainly the vibe in the 90’s.

Samsung made a big statement by taking over several digital OOH billboards to showcase a massive phone literally flipping on a billboard. Thinking outside the box – or literally outside the billboard? Samsung also engaged Raheem Sterling, the popular Chelsea footballer to build more brand love. Quite a jam I would say.

I would say for a 90’s kid, this throwback phone is probably flipping awesome! :)

Mother Nature has come to the Apple Office and wants a status report for all the fancy 2030 promises. Sustainability marketing has not been easy with an upwards battle against ‘greenwashing’ or too much ‘jargon’.

In a very engaging video by Apple, the environmental team gives mother nature an update. Let’s just say she isn’t all gaga impressed which kept the video very real and engaging.

‘Everybody is planting trees’ is too basic for her. She smirked slightly when Apple said they are instead planting forests. I especially liked how Tim Cook is nodding through the video but does not really hog the limelight.

Apple has begun building carbon neutral products and is planning to change the game with all their upcoming products – an initiative that I am a big advocate of. However, there is so much more work to be done. And I surely agree with that.

This is only the beginning to try to undo the damage that has been done for decades. Let’s see if in 2030 Mother Nature is truly impressed. I just hope she gets a quarterly update and gives us feedback about our climate performance.

One of the greatest targeted marketing tools and yet the deepest consumer tragedy is how comfortable we have become with receiving spam calls that we don’t even want to answer our phones anymore.

Have we become so comfortable with the lack of privacy? Or is there a massive educational gap that we need to fill to help consumers understand how misused their personal details can be?

Insurance, Immigration and banking industries typically digest tons of extremely personal data that has just simply been accepted due to the lack of options. PhonePe really drives home the point that we should be uncomfortable about how comfortable we are about giving our personal details.

A simple, yet effective way of conveying the importance of building relationships with brands where your privacy and trust are equally respected. The more companies think about building customer relationships through trust, the greater value they will be able to bring to the table.

Excited for what is next in a privacy first world. So that no one asks again – “What’s in a name? And what’s in a number?”

It takes courage to take a stance on a topic that is meaningful and impactful. With so much chatter regarding the somewhat unthoughtful brand of Twitter, it brought up an important perspective around how just like animals, brands can become extinct too.

WWF showcased to us that it is not just about trend jacking but actually taking the conversation forward. By showing the evolution of the twitter bird, it was evident that the little birdie that we once loved could become extinct, just like all the other animals we love.

Let’s love our birds and animals and care for them with the right conservation efforts so that they do not get X’ed out from our planet.

Uncle Lone-Lee is a strange man. He doesn’t talk to anyone and doesn’t really take much help from people around him. It keeps you wondering why this old man won’t hitch a ride, why he will run around up and down and why he keeps on picking up really heavy gardening pots.

No one truly understands Uncle Lee – naming him as stubborn and gaining a lot of sympathy from the community around him. Standard Chartered Bank brought home a message that kept us hooked to understand what Uncle Lee was truly up to.

This campaign really brings home how it feels to have a full home – your family visiting you during Chinese New Year. Uncle Lee was actually getting fit and rehearsing day by day, preparing for the joy he would feel to meet his grandkids, cycle with them and burst firecrackers together.

Chinese New Year is a time to be with family – to share love and joy together. Standard Chartered Bank really captured this so deeply with the local colour, lingo and context that made a British bank sound and be more Malaysian. Today, banks need to be even more localised as local banks and Fintech become more agile and relevant in today’s context.

Everyone wants to bank with a bank they trust, who they believe is looking out for them and a bank that is there for good. The campaign follows Uncle Lee over the years and you can’t help but feel more connected to him! He surely reminds me of my grandfather who loved hugging us and playing with us. This campaign brought a huge smile to my face during this festive season.

I hope I get to hang out with Uncle Lee soon :) Happy CNY! Happy Tet! And Gong Xi Fa Cai! May the year of the rabbit bring you lots of good health and prosperity.

I think there are different categories of ads – humorous ads, feature orientated ads, tech innovation ads and celebrity ads.

Spotify just aced a category of ads that I believe is brand on point, product on point, demographic on point and relevance on point and with localised tunes that are on point too!

The work done with Leo Burnett & Spotify puts the word’s daily pains into amusing tunes. Be it while watching your mother shop for sarees, sitting in a traffic jam or when news anchors are fighting and screaming over breaking news.

It also contextualises use cases for when music is consumed – not just as a one off indulgence but as a habit forming behaviour across multiple scenarios.

I have immense brand love for Spotify. I have been a loyal Spotify user for years and have really seen their music content, curation and now advertising grow and dominate the music streaming space.

I will have to echo the sentiment of the campaign – SpotifyOnTohMazzaOn (If Spotify is on, then the fun is on!)

As the world moves towards short form video content that tries to dominate our very minuscule attention span, there are brands that are continuing to tell stories through a craft that is extremely precious.

“The fine art of great storytelling in advertising” continues to live on with such thoughtful messaging and emotions. This ad tells the story of a young girl, Meera who is going to her new home with her adopted parents. I can’t imagine how over-whelming the experience would be of moving countries, families and your entire life.

With the myriad of these changes, the only comforting thing is the aroma of familiar food. In a beautifully told story, Shan Masala (a Pakistani brand that we all love) becomes the catalyst to unite a new family together, making it whole again.

Influencer Marketing is one of the trendiest topics in the Industry today. But how do you actually drive effective outcomes by rapidly identifying your biggest advocates? How do you not dole out thousands of dollars to people with a million fans who in reality don’t care for your brand?

Wingstop is a popular chicken wings joint across the globe and to be honest, one of our favourite chicken wing joints. (Have you checked our the Indonesian kecap manis flavor? Yumm!!)

The brand innovated in terms of their marketing model and launched wearable billboards! Without the subtle effects, the hoodie clearly says: “This is an ad for Wingstop”.

Wingstop converted their loyal customer base (me included) to advocates that drove so many impressions and brand love. They put 1000 pieces of these hoodies up for grab online and even transferred $10 for people who post a picture with it. Now you would wonder- Why would I wear an ad and walk around the mall? Well, let me tell you – the hoodies were all taken in 3 hours! One of them even wore it to a basketball game that was on national television (Did I hear free media? Isn’t that the marketer’s ultimate dream?)

Overall, I think this is a brilliant campaign to bring together loyal fans to share their love for the brand in more ways than one! It’s clear for them, the Wings-don’t-stop! 🦸🏻‍♀️

There is an industry that has tremendous power to shape the hearts and minds of millions of people. However, there is so much more that must be done when it comes to enabling diversity and Inclusion. This industry needs a shake up and must move forward.

The industry is our favourite: Advertising.

Gone are the days where brands simply say “We are simply representing what customers want or who they want to be”. Tall, White, Fair, Thin: That is what most advertising still represents in most industries. It skews our view to we should look like or who we will be.

This has created an unending loop of an aspiration gap – aspiring to be that perfect “tall, white, fair, thin” woman that will never be completed and hence so many industries thrive just leaching off those insecurities.

More needs to be done to fulfil advertising diversity and inclusion goals. More needs to be done to measure this impact as well.

Unilever in January pledged to feature more diverse groups in its advertising, not only in front of the camera, but also with the agencies and producers it hires. More brands are slowly coming forward.

I love the “It’s on Us” Campaign because Dove is taking an active route to not just solve for themselves but for the wider industry. And more importantly, the T&C clearly states that the women in these advertising campaigns should be represented for who they truly are.

This is a brilliant move by Dove in line with their brand messaging that represents “Real Women and Real Beauty”. Infact I am a dove bird too – using their moisturising shower gel every single day. As a consumer, I will continue to support them and advocate for more women representation in our advertising industry.

International Women’s Day (8th March) is a celebration of all the incredible women in our lives. It is also a day in the year when we all need to have a much more deliberate and active conversation about gender equality. And yes, until the playing field is completely evened out, I will continue to be an advocate for women’s rights and for women to break the mould that so many of us are socially conditioned to be in.

In my opinion, The cooking conversation or dividing household chores is such an over-rated one. I feel a lot of us in our generation have (thankfully so) moved past that. But there is a deep topic that isn’t really well explored – Financial Responsibility. We are not just talking about pay gaps, but also the way a woman is conditioned to “not be the finance person” – even when it comes to finances that affect her life.

Not being in control of your finances is almost like not having control of the accelerator that runs your own car.

In India, Paytm – the popular payment platform released a video of a social experiment conducted by them that clearly highlights the gap in financial literacy between men and women. 30 men and women of diverse backgrounds and age categories were brought into a huge room together taking a step forward or backward depending on the experiences they have had.

While at first, the questions seem fun (Cooking, video games, cycling), as soon as the conversation pivots to finances, most women were only taking steps behind.

“Do you know the difference between a mutual fund and SIP?”

“Have you bought insurance policies unassisted?”

“Do you file your own income tax returns?”

These questions were so hard hitting and brought home a key point – It’s not just differences in interest in finance between men and women, the issue is so much deeper and so much more systematic. In India, women aren’t taught or encouraged to “be the finance person”. Even when it comes to investments or insurance policies that affect a woman’s future directly, the decisions are still always taken by the male figures in the house (Fathers, Brother, Husbands).

I believe that we live in a generation where women need to take more control about their financial future. After-all, aren’t women equally capable to understand markets and read contracts?

“It is time to separate finance and gender”. Let’s work together for a more financially equal future, too.

You don’t have to be Mr. Wolf of Wallstreet to have heard of Robinhood. It’s the financial trading app that has got so many eyebrows raised as Gamestop went into a frenzy the past few weeks.

The app that makes trading stocks easy and for everyone is here at the greatest of all advertising playgrounds – The Superbowl Commercials.

Compared to the dry and boring financial ads that make you want to snooze into an nothingness, Robinhood , the Fintech company of the future is sharing with the world how investing is not just for the Wall Street suit&ties, but for everybody.

I personally love the idea of democratising investments. Of-course financial literacy is the module of the generation that we all need to take in some form or the other (I took the Chartered Financial Analyst Level 1 for example). But assuming we all have a good baseline, apps like Robinhood really simplify your life and give an “in” into the markets without the multi-screen candle stick charts of the Bloomberg terminal.

Most of all, it gives people the freedom to have exposure to the financial markets in a really easy and accessible mobile first way. Although we don’t exactly know how Robinhood’s destiny will pan out in the near future but I must say that – FinTech is the new kid on the block playing David vs Goliath. And boy, might I say atleast in the advertising playground, with lifestyle creatives like these, David is sure as hell in the lead.

Re-emergence from the dead post: It’s been such an intense time adjusting to working from home in this pandemic. Phew! What a year 2020 has been. Pretty crazayyyy. 👀

Mooketing is back on the grid with the most relatable ad of the year : “The whole working from home thing”

The apple work from home ad takes you through a reality that a lot of us will smile at – Managing the borderless work / life from the work from home “thing”.

Apple takes you on a journey to what it takes to get to a client presentation and all the tools that Apple seamlessly provides without talking about specs or benefits. Apple is one of my favorite brands because it just integrate into your life so easily and becomes part of your body. (Infact, my sister calls her iphone an extension of her arm. HAHA)

Apple is not pushing a product like the Iwatch or the Ipad. Apple is building an integrated lifestyle. Once you have one Apple product, the rest of the Universe starts hypnotising you into the holistic experience. And this ad in particular shows you how each of their products is leveraged to make a seemingly crazy work experience come together.

PS: This post is best served with a shot of one more virtual brainstorming meeting. Cheers! 👯

#Delete Uber was a movement not so long ago (2017) where people in the thousands deleted the app after a series of incidents fundamentally related to a travel ban by the current US administration. (https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-deleteuber-protest-hundreds-of-thousands-quit-app-2019-4)

It was a turbulent time for the company, and having worked there at the time, I can vouch for the fact that Twitter and Facebook was buzzing with the #deleteUber hashtag. (And so were our anxiety levels)

Uber took a bold step to redefine the painful past of its history by reimagining #deleteUber in context of the conversation about inclusion and systematic racism.

“If you tolerate racism, delete Uber”.

I believe that it is bold to go back to the scars of your past and re-look it in another light. Having said that, I believe that Uber needs to do more to actually play a more significant role in the tangible outcomes for the  “Black Lives Matter Movement”.

Being a part of the conversation and echoing your voice in one sentence is simply not going to make the cut anymore. I hope that along with this campaign Uber pledges more support and financial commitment to the cause, without which it just would seem like a hopeless attempt to be “a part of a trending conversation” without proof of believing in the core of the movement.

There is a lot to be done in terms of racial equality in the world and I hope brands take leads and bounds to not just be part of a conversation but support the movement at a much deeper level along with the right campaigning and messaging.

Jordan vs Newton

Jordan: 1 Newton: 0

Air Jordans are truly defying the rules of gravity, by bouncing you up into the sky.

These sneakers got nothing on 9.8 m/s²

“Jagao Jagao Nescafe Pilao” : Wake Wake up, make me drink Nescafe.

Nescafe has always stood for the one solution to wake you up, sometimes even more effectively than your loud, head bursting, blood sucking alarm clock.

In this ad – the two worlds of wakefulness integrates into the brand colours of Nescafe.

Wake up. Start up. Turn on that ignition.

Get Going, Get Moving, Get Shaking, Get Nescafe-ing.

Hinge is a dating app that want’s to be on your phone, only to be deleted sooner than we know it.

“Designed to be deleted” – Find your one love and get rid of the dating app.

xoxo

Hi Audi,

You have gone Electric. But moreover, Electric has gone Audi.

I truly love the power button at the end. We’re getting electric in 2020 together, baby.

Love,

A fan of your marketing campaigns.

Nike addresses the issue of  racism in the United States in a thought provoking statement.

Don’t pretend that America doesn’t have a problem. We all need to be a part of the change.

For a brand that has always stood up for ‘Just do it’, took a step back, played on they brand statement and spun it around to stand for ‘Don’t do it’.

The world has come to a stand still. And somewhere I wonder if we have built more apathy or empathy? Has the world come closer together or has it fallen away?

Do we care about the same problems that existed before the pandemic? The homeless are still homeless with much less care than ever before.

Contextualising this to the world today, the most hard hitting statement hits you at the core when you read “If I could stay at home, I would”.

Those Instagram stickers that say “Stay home” for some people truly means “No home”.

Winter is coming. But, is clean air coming?

Well, that change can only come in the future if we start now.  Let’s play the long game here. If we demand a change now, we can see a change in 10 years from now.

The graphics below shows the dire impact of our current activities on the environment. And for all the non-believers yes, there is a direct impact of our actions today into the future tomorrow.

Let’s venture into the alternate reality of our future. A future where we can breathe clean air and without forest fires and melted ice caps.

When McDonald’s decided to shut shop until the beginning of may in Singapore due to the circuit breaker initiatives.

Pizza hut stepped up to show love to McDonalds in a well hearted post with 2 pizza slices.  In the fast food business, brands have historically gone head on head with each other with cut throat, aggressive advertising messaging.

Although we are all social distancing, some brands have yet again shown that in some ways, the world has come closer together.

Take care, ya’ll.

Off road, in house!

Jeep used their iconic grill to depict how now is the time to keep your Jeep parked in the garage.

The best view for these days is in house.

As governments, celebrities and influencers make strong statements about the importance of social distancing, brands are speaking up too.

Coca-Cola, a brand that has much chanted the name of being united together since it’s early brand inception days has now come out strong to put spaces in its own logo to land a singular message – ‘Staying apart is the best way to stay united’

Distance can be a wonderful thing too.

Let’s call it for what it is: We all have those “I can’t be bothered cooking especially because of that cruel dish-cleaning-phobia”. Everytime you get those lazy feels, you want to press a button and get some grub – Some fries and some bergs.

The good thing is that McDonalds saves you from doing those hellish dishes – especially on days when you want to wear your jammies, watch a trashy show on Netflix and munch on those delicious crispy fries.

McDonalds came up with a creative that will genuinely strike a cord with that dish-cleaning-phobia. By using dirty dishes as the most popular McDonalds menu items, the message was loud and clear.

Every once in a while, you can treat yourself to skipping those dishes.

McDonald’s re-emphasised their 24 hours drive thru in ways that made it so clear that even the night sky can’t come between you and the the Big Mac.

By playing with lights on billboards and cars, and showcasing the dark side of the moon with the light of the sesame bun, it’s magic to see the yellow of the McDonalds shine through so much advertising clutter to make a point, straight to your craving gut.

Ronald would sure be proud. Thanks big R for being in our lives, especially late at night when the world’s restaurants bail on us.

Sometimes we look at our lives around us and wonder, how did we even do this before? The minute the internet goes down, Google maps is unavailable or you can’t order a taxi on your phone, you feel so crippled. It’s almost this unimaginable pain to wonder what life would be like pre-tech-necessities. (Quote: Dark Necessities by Red Hot Chili Peppers).

Alexa had an amazing, funny and dramatic take on how failed Alex-versions were before Alexa actually came along. Without really placing the product or benefits in your face, you knew it. It was amusing to see a bird being sent with a letter only to be eaten by an Eagle and then a dragon. Such was life.

Also, let’s just give +1 for Ellen and Portia together doing everyday things together. Alexa, play my favorite song. Alexa, tell me a joke :)

2020. You don’t know my kind. Dark Necessities are part of my design.

What would have the world been with more efficient sharing?

Maybe better, Maybe worse.

Would we create more?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Would it be more perfect?

Can’t say.

We Transfer did give the concept a jab though. If Steve Wozniak and Jobs go together and sent files to each other, or even still Lennon and Mc Cartney to iterate on their craft further…

Who knows? Maybe we would have had many more ‘Hey Jude’s’ or an I-watch much ahead of it’s time.

Or maybe we could just not create hypotheticals and ‘Let it be’.

How can you not remember the sound of this?

Gosh, I miss glass bottles. The thrill of holding them in the shape of your hand. You can literally #tastethefeeling

Those bubbles are happiness. Any health freak can say anything they want – but the marginal utility and pleasure of a cold sip of Coke on a hot day is unprecedented.

So, open that bottle with the click of the sip of life.

The hints are there.

The signs are there.

You just need to take the extra step to understand it.

This series of communications is focused on highlighting what the true story is.

Hint: Piece together the words in red to understand what really happened. Read between the lines. Read between the white lies to see the red pain she is going through.

I think  lately I am getting obsessed with smart, witty eye catching static creatives.  And they don’t necessarily need to be print on a newspaper or magazine, a smart piece of content works just as beautifully on social platforms too.

I literally feel desperate to scroll through my feed to find one witty piece of humor on an ad that generally makes me day (Umm, yeah – that’s me).

But my love for Beer and Ketchup (not necessarily had together) brought me to love this statement-worthy-print-it-for-sure creative.

PS: That potato wedge on the Heinz bottle is equivalent to the lemon on a good, cold Corona.

As they say, Eat Responsibly.

Cheers.

“Put child obesity in offline mode” – This campaign from Brazil uses emojis to convey what obesity could look like for children today – especially if they are overarmed with cell phones.

Let the kids play (In the park).

Super bold statement by Volvo.

Using recyclable plastic in Volvo cars by 2025. Rubbish is here. And Rubbish is here to stay.