Best Ads of the Week: Surprise STI screening reminders & Sky’s star-studded circus

This week, KFC Canada held a ‘Fry Funeral’ for its defunct French fries, deaf child actor Keivonn Woodard starred in a Subaru ad championing the great outdoors and WeTransfer created an interactive music video for British electronic act Jungle.

MSQ is capturing vehicles passing by its office to aid greenhouse gas removal

Creative and technology group MSQ, in collaboration with climate solution company Ecologi, is using novel technology to capture emissions from cars that pass its office. The ‘Covent Carbon Capture’ project uses specially created tech, dubbed BioChar, to capture vehicle emissions data from every car that passes by the 10m stretch of road in front of MSQ’s London location, one of the busiest areas in the UK.

A test from earlier this year recorded that 1.4m vehicles passed the window in four months, capturing almost 1.5 tons of CO2, which Ecologi will remove from the atmosphere.

Spoof board game ‘No Worries If Not!’ satirizes pressures on women

A new campaign from Body care brand Billie sheds light on the absurd double standards society holds women to in everyday life. Its key element is a spoof board game called ‘No Worries If Not!’ and an accompanying infomercial that asks viewers: ‘Are you a chronic apologizer?’ and ‘Have you been called a people pleaser?’

The campaign pulls the lens back on the wider experiences of womanhood and highlights how expectations are different, ever-changing and absurd for women today. In order to target Billie’s core audience of Gen Z and young millennials, the brand utilized personal real-life examples in the project.

KFC Canada holds ‘Fry Funeral’ to bid farewell to disgraced French Fries

Is it a funeral pyre? No, it’s a funeral fryer. In response to Canadians’ outspoken disdain for KFC Canada’s French fries, the fast-food chain said goodbye to its salty side order with a dramatic funeral procession on Thursday, replete with a branded hearse and casket that made its way through various high-traffic locations in Toronto.

Taking their place will be KFC’s new seasoned fries. For those who could not make the in-person service, KFC Canada held a live-streamed funeral on August 1 via KFCFryFuneral.com.

Subaru taps 10-year-old deaf actor Keivonn Woodard for new outdoors accessibility push

A new Subaru spot speaks to the automaker’s commitment to breaking down barriers to access for communities that have been historically excluded from public lands and outdoor recreation.

‘A Beautiful Silence’ stars Keivonn Woodard, the Emmy-nominated, 10-year-old deaf actor known for his recent role in HBO’s The Last of Us, in which he enjoys a car ride into Yosemite National Park in the new 2023 Subaru Forester Wilderness, and converses with his father in American Sign Language (ASL). The spot evidences Subaru’s broader commitment to nature stewardship while helping expand outdoor access for all people.

Idris Elba plays the showman as he takes viewers through Sky’s star-studded ad

Taking inspiration from the popular film The Greatest Showman, the latest Sky ad is a fire-breathing, sword-swallowing circus extravaganza. Starring ringleader Idris Elba, the star-studded spot features the likes of Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Ella Toone, Lauren James, Lewis Hamilton, Ben Stokes, Emma Raducanu and Jon Rahm.

A celebration of sport, the spot takes viewers through spectacular acts from the biggest stars of sport, including ‘The Amazing Haalando’ scoring an acrobatic backflip penalty, Jon Rahm miraculously pulling a golf club from his mouth, plus Stokes and Dunkley smashing flaming cricket balls out of the circus big top.

WeTransfer creates an interactive music video for British dance duo Jungle

Jungle, an electronic duo formed by British producers Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, has tapped Dutch software firm WeTransfer on a first-of-its-kind interactive music video for their latest single, Back on 74.

The music video not only features unique choreography and one-take cinematography but presents an interactive art gallery made up of artwork and hidden concert tickets that can be downloaded via WeTransfer’s file-sharing technology. Every viewing of the video populates with six different downloadable art pieces, which are pulled from a bank of 10,000 unique works created by Lloyd-Watson. This ‘roulette’ creates a unique viewing experience for each person.

Pee-activated pavement ads promote STI testing

During Pride celebrations, non-governmental organization Imagina Más and VMLY&R Health Spain took STI awareness to the streets of Madrid, where people often urinate in public.

Every time someone peed in the street, they were met with ‘Peeboards,’ messages encouraging them to get screened for sexually transmitted diseases and go to the company’s Instagram page for more information.

Budweiser Canada removes ‘Bud’ from its name to stress the importance of friendship

When it comes to friendships, sometimes you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Such is the reason why Budweiser Canada removed ’Bud’ from its 147-year-old wordmark in its new friendship-focused campaign, which launched July 30 – International Friendship Day. The campaign includes a temporary removal of ’Bud’ from the brand’s social channels, billboards and bottle labels, with ’__weiser’ in its place. To bring even more attention to what the brand is calling a “friend recession,“ Budweiser made a film asking real Canadian men to consider what life would be like without their friends, followed by a one-minute-long broadcast blackout on Canadian sports network Sportsnet to encourage viewers to reach out to their friends. The effort culminated in the simple website ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca, which sends text reminders to connect with friends.

The work follows a national study Budweiser Canada commissioned last month, which found that 70% of Canadian men see friends less frequently as they get older, and 20% report not having any close friends.

Midol plays with puns to break the silence on menstrual symptoms

Midol | Reach for Comfort from MullenLowe U.S. on Vimeo.

”Mi-cramps suck. Mi-boobs hurt. Mi-bloat strikes again.” Midol, a Bayer-owned pain reliever for menstrual cramps, recently launched ‘Reach for Comfort,’ a clever campaign that makes portmanteaus out of Midol’s own name and menstruators‌’ monthly symptoms, from bloating to sore breasts.

A continuation of Midol’s ‘Comfort is Power’ campaign from 2021, ’Reach for Comfort’ comes after an internal study found that 66% of people wish there was more honest conversation around menstrual symptoms.

Lay’s OOH stunt sees 807 goats welcome Messi to America

In a new tongue-in-cheek ad, snack brand Lay’s is giving the Goat (greatest of all time) Lionel Messi a warm welcome to the US with hundreds of goats (807 to be exact).

The stunt is meant to mark the Argentinian forward joining Inter Miami CF, which is co-owned by fellow footballer David Beckham. It was shot before Messi’s first game and goal for his new team. Lay’s quickly updated it with an extra goat to match the 808 goals.

Interested in creative campaigns? Check out our Ad of the Day and Best Ads of the Week sections.