From people named Reese becoming the center of a candy rivalry to Lime focusing on the practical reality of getting to Pride events, this week’s ads found fresh ways to get attention.
Snickers recruits every Reese it can find
The candy brand turned people named Reese into the stars of its latest campaign, giving a familiar brand rivalry a very human punchline. By recruiting a focus group made up entirely of people named Reese, Snickers transformed a familiar category rivalry into something viewers could immediately understand.
The campaign arrives at a time when consumers have become surprisingly fluent in corporate feuds. Once people named Reese started reacting online, the joke gained a second life beyond the original ad.
Lime’s Pride campaign focuses on the journey
Across 21 cities, the micromobility company focuses on a practical reality of Pride: people still need a way to get there. Pride advertising often focuses on the celebration itself. Lime starts with a less glamorous reality. None of those events happen unless people can actually reach them.
More than 24 LGBTQIA+ organizations across 21 cities are involved, giving the campaign a sense of place that national Pride campaigns sometimes struggle to achieve.
Paze finds gold in Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union
The digital wallet brand built an entire campaign around a casting coincidence. Financial services advertising has a habit of explaining itself to death. Paze found a shortcut: Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union sharing the screen. Their names are the idea.
Garage Beer celebrates American summer
The beer brand’s summer campaign includes a 1996 Ford Bronco giveaway, New Found Glory, Utz Cheese Balls and Jason Kelce diving into a giant snack-filled pit. Every element feels pulled from a collective memory bank of backyard cookouts and garage hangouts.
The New Found Glory partnership is particularly smart. For millions of millennials, songs like My Friends Over You are tied to summer break and backyard gatherings.
MassMutual makes financial planning personal
The insurer skips charts and projections in favor of something most people actually care about: the people they’re planning for. By telling the story through letters, photographs and personal mementos, MassMutual gives the film a sense of history.
O2 recruits Scary Spice to break scrolling habit
The telecoms brand takes a familiar celebrity gimmick and gives it a surprisingly relevant target: the hour-and-a-half many people lose to their phones every day. The idea of receiving a personal telling-off from Scary Spice is funny because it feels slightly absurd and completely plausible.
Oura makes a case for technology that stays out of the way
The wearable brand’s latest campaign argues that the best health tech isn’t always the most visible. Oura presents invisibility as a benefit, suggesting that health tracking can exist in the background while people focus on everything else.
