Work of the Week: 29/03/24

As often as it seems to come across this way, there’s more to saving up for a vacation than just scrimping where possible. For instance, collectors of IAG Loyalty’s currency ‘Avios’ can make their dream holidays come to life simply by collecting through a variety of everyday transactions - something brilliantly depicted in this spot by Uncommon Creative Studio and Pulse Films. Set to ‘Seasons’ by indie band Future Islands, the work showcases a fleet of people riding e-foilers across the water, all clad in everyday clothes and holding things from grocery shopping bags to food delivery orders. A world-first stunt never looked so relaxing and accessible! 

For as much as we love having our four-legged friends at home, their destructive capabilities can be a real pain in the behind. After all, there’s nothing quite like seeing household favourite items knocked over, scratched up, or smashed to absolute pieces. However, there is a silver lining… at least if you shop at IKEA. As demonstrated in INGO’s latest campaign for IKEA Al-Futtaim, the sight of cute creatures standing next to chewed-up pillows and smashed vases really doesn’t have to be a calamitous affair, when the replacement prices happen to be just so affordable. 

In a season when there’s more than a few holidays around the world that serve as cause for a family gathering, one must always remember to not leave their phone sitting around… Well, unless it happens to be an iPhone that is. As depicted in this spot by Apple and TBWA\Media Arts Lab Singapore, face ID can be a real boon when gossip-hungry members of your family try to pry into the happenings of your day-to-day life. Featuring one nosy aunt and a few family members who notice their niece's iPhone has received a romantic text while gathered around the table for Hari Raya, this heist-like attempt to break in simply can’t overcome the power and privacy afforded Apple’s security systems. 

According to research carried out by toilet tissue brand Andrex, within the UK, there’s a general shyness and reluctance when it comes to the idea of using the bathroom for a poop. So, to combat this, the only possible solution was to go all-out, in this case featuring a partnership with FCB London and featuring videos to OOH executions. All designed to help the nation get over its collective social constipation, in particular, the two spots - directed by Biscuit Filmworks UK’s Andreas Nilsson - are standout. Forgoing toilet paper ad tropes of brand packaging and gleaming white bathrooms, instead, viewers are privy to seeing the likes of a man dancing his way to the bathroom sink, and an emboldened woman striding through the office - ignoring the gazes of those around her as she commits to unabashedly using the toilet and actually taking care of her body’s needs.

Are you ready for the big smackdown on April 8th? It’s a cosmic rematch billions of years in the making, with some pretty epic stakes. Of course, we’re talking about the total solar eclipse that’s scheduled to happen! And what better way to commemorate the sun being blocked out than by chowing down on an aptly-named snack, MoonPie, which has launched a limited edition 'Solar Eclipse Survival Kit’. But, if you’re still not convinced, the headlining spot, created in collaboration with Tombras might just make the sale. Depicting the sun and moon as wrestlers, the work takes all the best and most dramatic parts of the sport and its frequently employed promotion approaches and throws them together to make something truly hilarious. Who says you can’t sponsor a celestial event?

Ah onions, so painful to cut, yet such an essential ingredient. Whether the flavour backbone of various dishes, or in the hero role, truly, tearful chopping is worth the effort. But, for fans of KFC Canada, there’s now a new reason to cry over alliums. With the brand launching onion rings (and several other onion-based offerings to boot), Courage and Undivided Creative director Nikki Ormerod came together to create a campaign reminding viewers that taste is also a valid reason to turn on the waterworks. Across OOH and video - the latter of which is set to an operatic score - viewers are able to witness the emotion-inducing powers a delicious onion ring can have on hungry customers, as various sobbing people chow down on the latest menu offerings.  

How does one describe their heritage? This is a question explored in Mexican food brand FUD’s latest film, produced in partnership with Dentsu Creative Mexico and Landia director Alexis Gómez. Featuring intimate moments, spontaneous conversations and shared space, the work artistically celebrates the ubiquity of Hispanic heritage, repeating the prompt ‘My heritage is…’, until it no longer makes sense to say it any more. After all, as the film reminds viewers, at the end of the day, heritage is something one lives. It can’t be reduced to a simple description. 

Is there a downside to living through beautiful moments? It depends who you ask really. The optimists will tell you that those are what make life worth living, and that we’d lose an appreciation for them if all moments were that good - hence why we can’t have them all the time. But, that might not necessarily be the entire truth, as evidenced by a man named Eric in this latest spot by Leo Burnett Hong Kong and Prodigious, on behalf of Hong Kong Sevens sponsor Cathay. A changed man since attending the event the previous year, day to day life is no longer interesting to him, as nothing can live up to the ‘seven’ that he rated the event. Triple rainbows, electric guitars and lobster dinners - nothing brings him joy anymore; a hilarious way to express to viewers just how exhilarating this sporting event truly is. 

Wrapping up this week’s list, we’ve got a selection of beautiful OOH on behalf of British Airways. Serving as a followup to its most recent iteration of ‘A British Original’, the series, produced by Uncommon Creative Studio and Pulitzer-nominated photographer Christopher Anderson, features the wonder on customers’ faces that comes from looking out a high-altitude aeroplane window. Playing with the concept of how normally, plane window photographs come from the inside out, the work serves as an opportunity to instead spotlight the emotions that come with travel, and their unique stories and reasoning.