Best ads of the week: CRED's Bahubali adventure, MakeMyTrip's 'Asli Stars'

It’s not easy to stand out in a sea of commercials released daily. If brands truly want a piece of the audience’s attention, they have to think outside the box. Between April 8 and 14, we saw brands explore their wacky side with ads that bordered on the bizarre.  

From CRED’s Bahubali-style spot with David Warner and SS Rajamouli to Colgate’s CID-inspired commercial, we were treated to a bunch of ads that we won’t be forgetting anytime soon. In this selection of best ads from the Indian adland for Week 2 of April, we spotlight CRED, Colgate, MakeMyTrip, Emotorad, Sting and Crunchyroll.  

Colgate MaxFresh  

Colgate MaxFresh refreshed old memories when it got the CID crew—ACP Pradhyuman, Daya and Dr Salunkhe—together on a case to spot errors in its ad. In a hilariously self-aware manner, the trio paid homage to the camp style of the detective series for its “Neend Bhagao Taazgi Jagao” campaign. 

CRED  

It’s quite on-brand for CRED to do the inCREDible when it comes to its zany ads. But getting SS Rajamouli and David Warner to share the screen—the latter dressed as a Bahubali-inspired character—is a feat even for CRED. In its latest ad, Warner presents Rajamouli with a rather interesting consequence of not upgrading to CRED UPI. The result is hilariously epic, to say the least. The film has been brought to life by Tanmay Bhat, Devaiah Bopanna, Puneet Chadha, Deep Joshi, Moonshot and Early Man Film.  

Crunchyroll 

A week after McDonald took the anime route, Crunchyroll anime-fied its brand ambassadors Rashmika Mandanna and Tiger Shroff, rolling out two ad films that paid tribute to classics ThunderCats and My Neighbour Totoro. The ad campaign “Wish Your World Was Anime” aimed to forge a connection with the anime fandom of India.  

Emotorad  

The internet lost its collective mind when MS Dhoni tipped his hat to the “Bole Jo Koyal” meme for Emotorad last week. The ad is a nod to the viral meme of a Dhoni lookalike dancing to the Falguni Pathak number. The song was also played during one of Dhoni’s entries at IPL 2023.  

MakeMyTrip  

MakeMyTrip subverted the power of celebrity faces by roping in “real life patrons” Jackie Shroff, Prabhu Deva and Shankar Mahadevan for their ad campaign but deliberately obscuring their faces. In so doing, the brand wanted to highlight the power of the “Asli Star” or the travel platform itself. Created by Talented and directed by Suresh Triveni, the ad managed to grab eyeballs for its bold approach towards using celebrity endorsers.

 Sting

PepsiCo’s Sting released “India’s quickest thriller” to reiterate the brand’s “Energy Ka King Sting” proposition. The ad is a spoof of spy movies where a shady villain—a sniper in this case—targets a person of importance. The day is saved thanks to Sting and a rather oblivious “hero” who unknowingly thwarts the assassination attempt.