Clever Creative: Three’s A Crowd-Pleaser

Over the past decade, ads have branched out from traditional formats and can now be found everywhere, including places like sidewalks and bathrooms. With such saturation, it can be hard to make your ad stand out, but that saturation has pushed agencies to raise their levels of creativity to produce some truly amazing ads. In today’s “Clever Creative” we are examining not one, but three different ads and the characteristics that manage to push them through the clutter to create memorable works. This time, three’s a crowd-pleaser and it starts with Walmart’s newest ad:

Walmart:

We’ve all had those days when we were kids (and maybe even now as adults) when you tucker yourself out from all the fun of the day’s activities. We love that this new ad from Walmart captures those moments to send a simple message: “If you shop at Walmart, you’ll save more money, which means more fun activities.” On top of that, only using music in the ad will cause the audience to look up from whatever funny cat video they’re watching and see what’s going on. The ad is clear-cut and beautifully shot; it also has adorably funny moments and an amazing cover of the classic hit “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing. What could be better?

Taco Bell Canada:

Okay, we admit that we’re guilty of loving us some ads that use “sadvertising,” but we love Taco Bell Canada’s newest ad, in which they make fun of it, even more. The creative had us laughing the entire time at the forced emotional moments that just turned into awkward ones. However, when it’s revealed to us that these two friends haven’t seen each other in only six days, we lost it. The ad fits perfectly into the Taco Bell brand identity, which is known for its lighthearted, jokester attitude. Taco Bell Canada’s ad took a popular advertising technique and used it in a nontraditional way to fit their style. Now that’s creativity at its finest.

Nike Australia:

The hardest parts of working out are getting started and willing yourself to keep going. In this new set of ads from Nike Australia, the athletes don’t allow themselves any other option than to “JUST DO IT.” This last group of ads were some of our favorites. We know we shouldn’t say that because it’s like saying you have a favorite child, but it’s the truth. The reason we love them so much is because they are taking their almost 30-year-old slogan and revamping it to remind the consumers of its original meaning. The slogan is iconic and a staple in pop culture references, but people may have forgotten that it means more than just a fashionable t-shirt. Its initial purpose was to encourage everyone (regardless of age, gender or physical fitness level) to get out there and get active (or, “JUST DO IT,” if you will). This set of ads is wiping off some of the dust on the old slogan and making it shine like new.

All three of these ads are different in their approach, but have been able to successfully create attention-grabbing pieces. The lesson to be learned here is that there is no single formula advertisers can use to create something that consumers will pay attention to, and that a method that worked last quarter may not work this quarter. With a cluttered ad space, the only thing us creatives can do is keep pushing our limits and try to come up with something people have never seen or done before. Or, we can create something that’s been done before, but do it better.

Let us know what you think of these ads, and be on the lookout for next week’s installment of Clever Creative!

If you’re looking for some clever creative of your own, feel free to contact us.

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• Creativity
• Art
• Clever Creative
• Advertising
• Nike
• Walmart
• Taco Bell