The first fortnight of March saw brands cranking up their creativity and social consciousness meter for Women’s Day and Holi. In the sea of ad campaigns, some mindfully trod the thin line between entertaining and impactful. In this edition of our fortnightly series, we look back at some of the campaigns that we thought hit the mark. These are our pick of the best ads between March 1 and 15. As always, the ads have been listed alphabetically. 

Godrej

Godrej released a short TVC for Kala HIT Mini inspired by superhero movies. The ad featured a vigilant mom who turns into a Black Widow-esq character armed with the Kala HIT to zap mosquitoes that were bothering her son. The film made by Bates CHI & Partners Indonesia employs some interesting theatrics, which makes for one entertaining commercial.

Ola Electric

A Holi with robots? With all the buzz around artificial intelligence, Ola Electric decided to spotlight robots in its futuristic ad for Holi. J and V-Ru (geddit?) play two inquisitive robots who decided to get inspired by the festival of colours in their own quirky way. The ad campaign was created in collaboration with Manja.

Rich Marie

Sourav Ganguly as Bollywood’s most camp-style villain wasn’t on anybody’s bingo card this year. Yet, Bisk Farm treated us to this delightful ad with the cricketer as “Robert” complete with his own “Mona Darling.” You don’t have to be a Bollywood aficionado to know that the ad is a tribute to Yaadon Ki Baarat and its legendary villain.

Tanishq

Among the Women’s Day campaigns, Tanishq stood out with its rather refreshing take on eulogising women as “superwomen.” The brand highlighted that the notion that women can multitask and “do anything” often works in their detriment. It can saddle them with the “burden of potential” and set them up for failure.

Savlon

When it comes to choosing an impactful “hand ambassador”, Savlon picked the one that scored 34,357 runs for India. Sachin Tendulkar’s hand starred as the world’s first hand ambassador, representing Savlon Swasth India Mission. In the ad, the cricketing great’s hand does all the talking, making some important points about hand hygiene. The spot has been conceptualised by Ogilvy India.