4 Interesting Ads That Make You Look Twice: Part-1

1. The quirkiest brand

The business of brands works on differentiating from others. The best brand that has carved a niche for itself in this sense is Virgin. And, their differentiator is not about the product offering. It is built on brand behavior – quirkiness.

Act your part

It is easy to pick a differentiator and set your mind to it. Following through requires a lot more. Your entire work force, company, all touch points should resonate that one chosen word. Every launch at Virgin is filled with anticipation as we know they will do something way out of the ordinary. Be it Branson dressing up as bride or plummeting many floors to the ground, it will be different. Check the video for an example of an employee being just as quirky.

Recently, they pleasantly surprised their Virgin Atlantic passengers by presenting each with a Sir. Richard Branson himself. In their tomato juice.

Each passenger had an ice cube in the shape of Branson’s head floating in their juice. Only the first class passengers get this special Branson treatment. And the reason for this is so that Branson can “fly in spirit.” Quirky enough?

2. Doritos wins Superbowl 2012

Now we wouldn't be complete without the famous Doritos Man's best friend Superbowl 2012 commercial winner, would we?

Playing upto the universal human insight of tickling the funny bone, Doritos is taking over the ad world in a wave.  See it for yourself and tell us what you think!

3. Remember the cheeky Southwest Airline?

What do you have to do to be remembered ten years from now?

Southwest Airlines picked a unique strategy of telling the truth. While the airline is known for its fun-loving cheery and open nature, their ads reflected the same. Here's something from the past that still brings a smile to anybody's eye - (except the Northwest airlines of course )

4. Breaking dawn with luxury brands

2011 has seen a series of product placement strategies being employed. We already revealed some inside thoughts on BMW's Mission to Drive which was a sure success. Here's a case on product placement missing the target.

Breaking Dawn was a recent hit with a lot of people looking forward to witnessing the Bella-Edward marriage scene. Luxury brands lapped up this opportunity and sponsored everything from the shoes Bella wore on her wedding day, the dress and even the sheets from their honeymoon suite which was later to be won on social media. Sounds like a  perfect opportunity, but here's what happened -

The scene looked grand, but the brand names were not even given a mention. There was a lot of hype created on fashion blogs and websites, yet the brands lost on the opportune moment.

Anichini sent a mail to their subscriber list alerting everybody to watch the honeymoon suite scene. Yet, the campaign wasn't successful.

While the strategy is not flawed, the issue was the medium. Twilight managed to somehow become a hit with the pre-teen crowd who cannot afford the luxury brands. Is this a misfit that proved expensive? Could the brands have invested better?