Every day, the Indian ad landscape gets introduced several ads -- some good, some average and others downright forgettable. In this digital age, where attention spans are whittling down, a good ad can make you sit up and watch, without reaching for the skip button.
Every fortnight, we scour through a motley number of ads released daily to pick out the best in terms of creativity and impact. These commercials have stayed on our minds long after they were released. It being Valentine's Day fortnight, we also got to see some creative topical ads revolving around modern love.
Here's our pick of the best ads of the fortnight between February 1 and 15. As always, they have been listed alphabetically.
AbhiBus
Online bus-ticketing platform, AbhiBus packed a punch with their bite-sized ads celebrating the thrill of spontaneous travel plans. The four-film campaign is quick-witted witted with each ad imparting a unique desi flavour.
Cadbury 5 Star
Cadbury 5 Star did the unthinkable this Valentine's Day with its ambitious plan to "erase" the occasion to support the "disenchanted." In keeping with its "anti Valentine's Day" theme of last year, the brand and its volunteers vowed to set sail on a "time travel vessel", with the entire world invited to witness the spectacle through an event which will be live streamed. They even got celebrated scientist Nambi Narayanan to support this hare-brained plan. The campaign has been conceptualised by Ogilvy.
Henry Harvin Education
The ad delighted us with writer Chetan Bhagat's cameo who, with his literary chops, is stuck in the wrong job as a cop. Instead of swinging into action to look for a couple's lost child, Bhagat leverages the writer within to file a complaint of novel proportions with a unique FIR title, "Maa k Anchal se Anchal ko Maa banane tak ka safar."
MyMuse
Sexual wellness brand MyMuse locked horns with the mascot of the Valentine's season. Pushing for self-love over any other forms of love, MyMuse found an antagonist in Cupid who has been working extra hard to bring people together.
Swiggy
Inarguably, one of the best ads this fortnight was Swiggy's Valentine's Day ad for empty nesters. Through Swiggy's UI backdrop, the brand tells the story of an ageing couple rediscovering love after their son flies to the US. The film titled "Table for 2" was as clever as it was heartwarming.