1. Creative That Cracks the
Code
Harvard
Business
Review
MARKETING
Article Study
By
Mohith Reddy
IIT Madras

2. A decade into internet-driven advertising revolution
Is it all over for Creative?
Ads no more come from drawing boards of great art directors
Advertising has flipped to All Science and No
Art

3. Region of
Wonder!!

4. Here we present
Six Campaigns that stood out
Reason?
Clever and Creative idea at its core
they provide assurance that ‘Creativity of Advertising’ will
never cease

5. Variations on a Meme:
Wonderful Pistachios
Why jump on this Meme bandwagon?
Because that’s the appeal of memes: People don’t ignore subsequent
versions of memes.

6. Viral videos
Major Commonalities
• Ordinary People
• Flawed Masculinity
• Humor
• Simplicity
• Repetitiveness
• Whimsical Content

7. The
Ad
as a
Game

8. Coca-Cola China
• Complicated execution of campaign
• But, resulted in 3,80,000 downloads in first month
• Exposure exceeded 9 million views
Today’s gamers demand
Stunning Visuals
Narrative
Emotional Depth

9. Collaborating with the crowd:
Oreo Cookies
“Daily Twist” Campaign

10. Oreo Cookies
CrowdSourcing
Winning Ideas
Customer Engagement
Results
4,400% rise in sharing (Facebook)
Significant increase in Sales

11. Just Enough Humor:
Kia Motors America
Warning
Excessive amounts of humor may backfire

12. Kia Motors America
Timing Counts
Entertainment Evoked-
Brand Awareness
Results
Double-Digit growth in
sales

13. A New Social Movement:
Marks and Spencer
Shwopping
Shopping + Swapping

14. Marks and Spencer
‘Socially Responsible’ goods
Cost more that alternatives
Shoppers remain unpersuaded
Long Term
Customers start to value
sustainability
Company stands to win big

15. Ads That “Go Native”:
Neiman Marcus and Target
Ads enjoy greater attention
when they are hard to
separate from the content that
surrounds them

16. Neiman Marcus and Target
Going Native
“Takeover” of Revenge TV Series
Hired show’s cast for commercials
Result
“Story within a story”
Ads were hard to skip

17. Recap
1. Variations on a Meme: Wonderful Pistachios
2. The Ad as a Game: Coca-Cola China
3. Collaborating with the Crowd: Oreo Cookies
4. Just Enough Humor: Kia Motors America
5. A New Social Movement: Marks and
Spencer
6. Ads that “Go Native”: Neiman Marcus and
Target

19. The ZooZoos ads

20. Vodafone
• Started with IPL 2- Going native?
• Hike of 4% in customer base- Result
• Replacing pugs, PETA awards- Socially
responsible act
• ZooZoos became more popular compared
to Vodafone- Backfire of entertainment?

21. MTS Internet Baby Commercial

22. Star Sports Network Ads
Mauka Mauka Series
ICC World Cup 2015

23. Hathi Cement- Ghost Ad

24. Indian Commercials
• Use of Meme’s
• No complicated content
• Creativity
• Humor and Entertainment
• Socially Responsible
The Key Success Factors in the Above Discussed

25. Improvements?
• Given the huge population,
CrowdSourcing has to be introduced
• Ideas like “Ads as a Game” will be
successful because of the huge
smartphone base in India
• Ads must open gates to engage with the
customers

26. References and Credits
• Creative That Cracks the Code, a Harvard Business Review’s
marketing article by Julia Kirby
• Marketing Management – Philip Kotler
• http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/creative-business-concept-
businessman-working-laptop-35888471.jpg
• http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-
content/uploads/2012/03/jerthorp.jpg
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeemademedoit/5833262551/in/pho
tolist
• http://i.ytimg.com/vi/W89rPKHYApM/maxresdefault.jpg
• https://cositssweet.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/talk-like-a-pirate-
cookie.jpg
• http://www.wakeupcampaign.co.uk/newsite/wp-
content/uploads/2012/05/Screen-shot-2012-05-05-at-11.19.03.png

27. Disclaimer
Created by Mohith Reddy, IIT Madras
during an internship by Prof. Sameer
Mathur, IIM Lucknow.
www.IIMInternship.com