Best ads of the week: Durex calls all ‘explorers’, Samsung UnCrushes creativity

It takes a lot for an ad to be memorable. Every week we see brands work extra hard to grab viewers’ attention, pulling out all stops to make a lasting impression. More often than not, a lot gets lost in translation and backlash follows like the recent Apple iPad Pro 2024 ad fiasco.

This week, we saw Samsung pick up the debris of Apple’s literal destruction and craft a clever ad around it. We also saw Durex get cheeky with a visually striking ad for its lube brand. Manforce attempted to reclaim the word ‘Condom’ and Whisper did its bit to allay fears about periods.

Week 3 of May was replete with impressive ad that had our attention. Here is a list.  

Durex

Durex announced the launch of #ExplorersWanted campaign for its lube brand, designed to spark a renewed sense of intimacy among couples by building anticipation around mysterious destinations, which are, in fact, on their partners' bodies. The visually striking ad by Anna Joseph captures the contours of the human body, making them seem like dunes, mountains and cliffs to drive the the point of "exploring" their lovers' bodies. Beautiful shots of nooks of necks and expanses of chest and coupled with clever names like Chest Republic, Thigh Land and KyoToe.

Manforce

Manforce has pulled a Cola-Cola with an ambitious plan to claim the word “condom” like Coke did “thanda” in the early 2000s. The campaign by Grapes aims to capture the space of online search around the word ‘condom’ by replacing it with 'Manforce'. The brand has launched a year-long campaign with the aim of establishing the prominence of Manforce Condoms as the top-of-mind choice for consumers whenever they consider purchasing condoms. The ad features social media influencer Dolly Singh.

Nutrica

Not all oils are made equally, reiterate Nutrica whose campaign challenged the one-size-fits-all approach towards cooking oils that is rampant in most Indian households. The brand illustrated the point with three unique slice-of-life scenarios that leveraged humour. The campaign has been conceptualized and developed by GOZOOP Group.

Samsung

There is something intensely satisfying about a snarky ad.  Samsung dialled up the snark factor with its new ad that trolled competitor Apple. After Apple received a ton of brickbats for its controversial ‘crushing creativity’ ad for the iPad Pro 2024, Samsung leveraged the opportunity to hit back at its long-time rival with a reply.  

Picking up literally from where its rival left off, Samsung’s ad shows the aftermath of Apple’s destruction of creative tools caused by the huge hydraulic press. The simple video shows a woman walking through the debris of crushed tools, picking up a guitar and strumming it. The ad has been titled "Uncrush", a rebuttal to Apple's original ad. The advert thumbs its nose at Apple, showcasing its support for traditional tools of creativity. 

Vadilal

Vadilal's summer campaign was served with a sprinkle of the zany as the ice cream brand redefined what it meant to celebrate. The campaign is a series of three films, which showcases how no news, no matter how big, is worthy of cheering unless there is Vadilal ice cream, embodying the tagline of “Har moment ko banaye Kamaal! WAAH Vadilal!” The ads have been created by Moonshot along with Tanmay Bhat and co. 

Whisper

Whisper's new advert aims at improving menstrual literacy among young girls, who often have vauge notions about periods often centred on fears about the biological process. With girls as young as 8 years of age reaching menarche, there's a pressing need to educate the young ones, lest they develop wrong notions about periods. The ad is followed by a jingle, “periods ka matlab healthy hai aap (periods means you are healthy)". The film has been created in collaboration with Leo Burnett.