Storyboard18 | Mast & Meh - The best and worst ads this week

Sometimes it’s great to be not good. Like in this absolutely over-the-top spot showing a Rambo-esque bear with a nerf-gun like contraption that fires dried fruit at lethargic people bored out of their minds. The folks subjecting themselves to a housing society meeting suddenly go wild for nuts and volunteer for the most arduous tasks. This ad is so wacky, it makes you smile. Nuts, anyone?

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MAST 

Apple - Privacy on iPhone | Data Auction

Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day Media Arts Lab

Apple of everyone's eye

Apple has an advertising filter that always works - well-written scripts, picture-perfect shots (probably shot on an iPhone), and of course a sharp brief. In its latest spot, Apple uses the power of exaggeration to not exaggerate the issue of privacy. It creates a weirdly whimsical film that shows us how unsuspecting user Ellie's personal data is auctioned away to the highest bidder. Ellie is puzzled and shocked to see everything from her drugstore purchases, location data, contacts, and browsing history under the hammer of an auctioneer. (Who doesn’t love a good metaphor?) Finally, Ellie decides to take matters into her own hands and shut down the sale using an iPhone, what else.

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MEH

Vicco Turmeric Wash - #WashKaroSquashKaro

Agency: Yellow Windows Communications

#BasKaro

An iconic advertising ear-worm, 80s and even 90s kids still remember the Vicco jingle - Vicco Turmeric, nahi cosmetic… We doubt kids today will ever hum to this humdrum tune, now or when they turn into fully grown adults. A shame really, given Vicco’s ad heritage. Perhaps the folks at CRED should take it up, if they are still in stage Nostalgia. Watch this high school (or is it college?) musical that will not leave you footloose and singing its tune. A wash out, this one

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MAST

Titan Raga - #BoldlyBeautiful

Agency: Ogilvy India

Get with the program

It’s 2022! Clothes on honeymoon are strictly optional. We love the cheeky kicker that comes at the end of this film full of close-ups of the brand’s collection of watches paired with clothes. Actor Alia Bhatt who plays a bride to be pairs up the shiny ticking objects with shinier dresses and sarees, for different occasions. And when asked by an aunt (Sheeba Chaddha) what she plans to wear on her honeymoon, pat comes the reply, “Maasi! Honeymoon pe kapde kaun pehenta hai?” So, does that mean the watch stays on?

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MEH 

Sirona Hygiene - Let’s Stop The Period Shame

Agency: In house

No hiding

Sanitary napkins are not contraband. Women don’t bleed blue. And no it’s not all as fresh as the daisies and pastels on the packaging of tampons and pads. Any ad that deviates from these ad tropes of the past, gets a big thumbs up from us. But landing that message in creative and real ways is hard.

This film features two sisters Saniya and Soniya. The latter brown-paper wraps everyday things around the house like taps, medicine, water bottles, etc, to make a point. She asks her sister, why hide sanitary napkins when you don’t hide any of the other things?

Now, the big question: Will she flaunt her flow next time? We doubt it.

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MAST 

Tanishq - Celebrating Real brides

Agency: Cactus Production

Big, fat, regional Indian wedding 

Localisation is the hot new trend in advertising, with brands luring customers in their own language and regional nuances. This new campaign for the wedding range, state-specific collection features real brides from different states adorned in their traditional wedding ornaments. Nothing connects better than seeing real people in ads that seem more relatable and closer to one’s home. Keeping it real and regional. Smart move by the brand. Keep all brides happy and away from the social media outrage engine.

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MEH

Cipla Health - Maxirich Gold: Max Energy aur Max Immunity ka daily dose

Agency: Taproot Dentsu

Not so golden 

Think of a health supplement ad and images of visibly ill people transforming into energiser bunnies pop in one’s head. We have all seen those ads promising agility, stamina and, buzzword of the current times, immunity. This new campaign has all these elements and ends up leaving the viewer confused. It features actor Ayushmann  Khurrana who is seen running around and saving an outdoor wedding venue from a sudden downpour. At this point it could very well be an ad for a real estate material manufacturer. It is later revealed that Khurrana is capable of such stamina and energy owing to supplement brand Maxirich Gold. The ad - not gold.

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MAST

CRED - Play it different ft. Ravi Shastri

Agency - CRED & Tanmay Bhat, Puneet Chadha, Vishal Dayama and Deep Joshi

Play it again, Ravi 

Ravi Shastri is the latest in a long line of celebrities to let the brand turn them into material for comedy, using the most interesting or controversial aspects of their personalities to make a 60-second long joke. The cricket commentator, captain and coach unleashes his party style and lines like “I used to be a batsman but for you I can be a keeper” on a woman at the bar and unsuspecting viewers. While the pick-up line is great for reel, let’s not test it on the real pitch. Entertaining work from the brand yet again. They certainly play it differently.