The turn of the year is a great opportunity for brands to put their best feet forward and showcase achievements and resolutions. Two end-of-the-year campaigns that catch the eye are Microsoft’s Hum Rukna Nahin Jaante — its first ever holiday ad film for India — which recaps the year gone by with the theme song about building resilience for an unstoppable India. Made by Studio Simple, the film shows how technology can be inclusive and empower everyone, including the differently abled.
Vivo’s #SwitchOff, with Farida Jalal’s charming presence, has an apt message. “Many of us spent 2020 together but did we really spend time together?” it asks, urging us to take a break from our phones. Beautifully executed, the Lowe Lintas film takes forward Aamir Khan’s switch-off campaign from last year.
Among global ads, the super-emotional “take care of yourself” Doc Morris ad, in which an old man practises lifting weights, is making everyone sentimental. The suspense is built up until the final tearjerker of a scene shows why the frail man has been practising — he wants to lift up his granddaughter, so she can place a star on the Xmas tree.
At the other end of the spectrum is Tesco’s light-hearted ‘no naughty list’ ad campaign in which it cancels out Santa Claus’s naughty list for Christmas.