The most inspirational

creative ideas from

brands including Airbnb,
Ford and Google
The World’s Best Creative / 01

Contagious is all about creativity. We hunt the best advertising

and marketing from across the world and then we figure out
what makes it work.

The campaigns featured in the World’s Best Creative are shortened

versions of articles that first appeared on our I/O platform. This
online intelligence tool contains more than 10,000 campaign case
studies, buttressed by interviews with the senior industry figures
who made the work.
The World’s Best Creative / 02

 THE ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF VICTORIA

Cover for their Overconfidence
In Australia, 94% of pet owners don’t have insurance
for their pets, according to The Royal Automobile
Club of Victoria (RACV). To boost sales of its pet
insurance policies, RACV teamed with CHE Proximity,
Melbourne, as well as four globally renowned artists and
designers, to create bespoke veterinary products for
injured pets. These included a lion’s mane-style cone,
a pet-cast with tattoo prints and a souped-up wheelchair
created by the team behind the cars in the Fast & Furious
films. The brand then handed out the products to injured
pets at an animal hospital. The campaign received
55 million media impressions and sales increased
by 350%.

 W HOTELS
Sip and Slurp Menu
To attract younger customers,
the W Hotel in Washington
tapped into the mukbang trend
where YouTubers film themselves
eating large amounts of food.
Hotel guests can order every
item on the hotel’s room service
menu for $285 and then record
themselves polishing it all off  BRAHMA
(with a hotel-issued smartphone Pay Per Beer
stand and microphone). The Football and beer are the perfect match, which is why beer brand Brahma launched a service
campaign was promoted with that allows Brazilian sport fans to order their alcohol via the TV, as they select a game on
an online video by Queer pay-per-view. Developed with agency Africa, São Paulo, and pay-per-view channel Globosat,
Eye’s Antoni Porowski who Pay Per Beer reached 1.9 million viewers and received 27,400 subscribers in two months.
mukbanged his way through The service is connected to AB InBev’s beverage ecommerce service Zé Delivery and offers
the menu. delivery in under one hour in cities across Brazil.
The World’s Best Creative / 03

 SANDY HOOK PROMISE

Back-to-School Essentials
Following the massacre of 20 children and six teachers
in a Connecticut school in 2012, the parents of the young
victims set up Sandy Hook Promise to educate Americans
about how to prevent a similar tragedy. This year, the NGO
got the attention of the nation by releasing an online video
that turned the excitement of the back-to-school season
into a chilling reminder of what children in the US face.
Created with BBDO New York, the film begins with kids
showing off their new school gear, such as backpacks and
running shoes. As the ad progresses, it reveals that each
of these items has another purpose: they help the kids
shield themselves or flee from a gunman. The online video
was viewed more than 62 million times in one week and
generated more than 1 billion global impressions, as
well as a 400% increase in visitors to the Sandy Hook
Promise website.

 AIRBNB  RED STAR

Raízes na Cidade (Roots in the City) FOOTBALL CLUB
In honour of the thousands of refugees living in Brazil, this Our Shirt. Our Hood
World Refugee Day, Airbnb partnered with Brazilian NGO Where’s the best place for a
Migraflix to aid the social and economic integration of Parisian football team to promote
refugees in São Paulo. Airbnb equipped 50 participants with its new home and away kits? In
the professional and social skills to host their own Airbnb the very neighbourhood where
Experiences (activities designed and hosted by locals), the fans actually live of course.
based on their cultural backgrounds. It then added 20 new Working with BETC Paris, Red
cultural ‘experiences’ to its platform, including a Bolivian Star Football Club created
embroidery workshop and a Zulu dance lesson, with all a digital lookbook on Google
profits going directly to the refugee hosts. One month after Street View so that fans could
launch, three of the five best-selling Airbnb Experiences in virtually explore the Saint-Ouen-
São Paulo were hosted by refugees, who generated more sur-Seine area to see the range
than $6,000 in income. modelled by locals.
The World’s Best Creative / 04

 JAPANESE RED CROSS

#BPM100 Dance Project
In Japan, according to the Japanese Red Cross Society,
there is a low rate of survival from cardiac arrests because
victims are too seldom given CPR. To educate young
people about CPR, the organisation worked with TBWA\
 PUPPO Hakuhodo Inc, Tokyo, to create a dance that mimicked
Every Dog Has Its Ad what a bystander should do in the event of a heart attack:
Making one ad is hard enough but assess the scene, call emergency services, check
imagine making 100,729 unique breathing and give chest compressions. A video of the
ads for a single campaign. That’s dance was launched on TikTok and users were invited
what Puppo, a subscription- to perform the dance routine to a song with a tempo of
based, personalised dog food 100 beats per minute, the ideal number of CPR chest
brand, did in New York City with compressions per minute. The campaign achieved a total
the help of Colenso BBDO, of 1.1 billion media impressions.
Auckland. The brand used the
NYC Dog Licensing Dataset to
find out the name, age, breed,
borough and zip code of each
dog registered in the city. It then
generated an individual print
ad for each dog that was linked
to a health benefit from using
Puppo’s dog food. The posters
also featured QR codes to take
people to the Puppo website. The
personalised ads were placed
within dog-walking distance from
the owners’ homes. ‘Straying from
the typical one-ad-for-100,000
allowed us to connect with
owners in a more meaningful way,’  BACK MARKET
said Kimberley Ragan, creative Keynote Back Market
director at Colenso BBDO. The When the online marketplace for refurbished electronics Back Market found that 52% of French
campaign saw a 68% increase in consumers had negative perceptions of second-hand tech, it launched a campaign to challenge this
new website users in one week narrative. Side-by-side images taken on new and second-hand iPhones showed consumers how
and a 144% increase in organic much they could save (and the experiences they stood to gain) by buying second-hand phones.
searches for Puppo. The outdoor campaign, created with Marcel Paris, coincided with Apple’s iPhone 11 release.
The World’s Best Creative / 05

 FORD
The No Squeak Broadcast
The sound of trainers squeaking as the players move across the court
is synonymous with basketball. So, when auto brand Ford, an official
sponsor of Brazilian basketball, digitally removed the squeaking for
60 seconds in each quarter of the final five games of the Brazilian
Basketball League during live broadcasts, it caught the audience’s
attention. The stunt, designed to promote the anti-skid technology of
Ford’s latest EcoSport vehicle, was accompanied by a pop-up banner
on TV screens displaying information about the new model. According
to the agency GTB Brasil, around 1,649,493 people tuned in
to watch the finals.

 OFFICE FOR SENIORS

 ANZ Undercover Crossword
Signs of Love In New Zealand, 75% of elder abuse is
Glitter, bright colours and a whole lot of love fills Sydney’s inflicted by family members. Ahead of World
Oxford Street for the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Elder Abuse Day, The Office for Seniors (a
However, 84% of LGBTIQ+ people believe that there department of New Zealand’s Ministry of
are parts of Australia where it isn’t safe to be themselves. Social Development) worked with FCB New
As the main partner for the festival, ANZ bank wanted Zealand to reach vulnerable seniors via clues
to spread its message of support to Australia’s rural hidden in newspaper puzzles. The Undercover
communities. Working with TBWA\Melbourne, ANZ Crossword campaign was launched in 20
erected seven Signs of Love on Australia’s other Oxford newspapers across the country. Certain
Streets (one in each state), each designed to reflect clues described a form of elder abuse (eg,
aspects of the LGBTIQ+ community. Despite signs being withholding money, name-calling) and under
vandalised, run over and stolen, the campaign was a way for each crossword was the number of the Elder
ANZ to reinforce that it values diversity – along with racking Abuse Response Service helpline, which saw
up 239 million organic media impressions. a 36% increase in calls in one week.
The World’s Best Creative /
 BECO
#StealOurStaff
At social enterprise BECO, which
makes environmentally friendly
soap, 80% of the staff are either
visually impaired or physically
disadvantaged. But there are
still 1.1 million disabled people
struggling to find work in the
UK. To incite change, BECO
printed the CVs of its disabled
employees on its product
packaging. The brand’s soap
showcased the name, job role,
skills and headshot of different
BECO workers, accompanied
with the hashtag #StealOurStaff.
The campaign, created with
TBWA\London, was supported
with a film, as well as outdoor
ads placed near the offices of
prominent companies such as
Dyson, HSBC and Ikea.
06
 VANISH
Vanishing Stories
To demonstrate the power of its
stain remover, Vanish in Brazil
created a story book made of
commonly used fabrics. Children
are encouraged to write and
draw on the pages, which can
then be washed clean using
Vanish Multi Power laundry
detergent. The Vanishing Stories
campaign was created with
BETC São Paulo.
 GOOGLE
Easy Questions Don’t Always Have Easy Answers
While many of us instinctively reach for our phones when stuck for directions – ‘Where’s the
nearest ATM?’ – in Vietnam, people tend to ask strangers instead, since many local businesses and
services are not listed on Google. To get more Vietnamese people using the Google Search app
and encourage businesses to list their information on its platform, Google worked with its Singapore
agency, Toaster, to identify typical queries people might have at certain times of day, in certain
locations. The campaign launched with popular influencer Ninh Tito asking passers-by questions
like ‘Where’s the nearest pharmacy?’ to show people how little they knew their neighbourhoods.
Google then turned the filmed responses into YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and display ads.
Based on a viewer’s location, the ads used real-time data from nearby businesses such as proximity
and time of day – showing people how Google can function. The campaign helped increase
monthly active users by more than 500,000 and generated more than 21,000 business sign-ups.
The World’s Best Creative / 07

 LIDL  DORITOS
Micromarket Another Level
To get more Swedes To prove its triangular chips are so iconic
to shop at Lidl, the that they are instantly recognisable, Doritos
discount supermarket removed its name from all of its advertising.
encouraged Its new TV ad, created with Goodby,
customers to set up Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco,
a Lidl-themed dinner blurs out the Doritos label on the packaging,
party in their own focusing instead on the distinctive shape and
homes and convert signature cheesy dust of its chips. Doritos.
friends and family into com was renamed LogoGoesHere.com and
fans too. The brand, the brand’s Instagram channel solely featured
with Volt, Stockholm, a series of triangle-shaped references to
provided Lidlers with pop culture. Fans of the brand played along,
enough fresh food for creating their own three-sided inspired
a three-course dinner content accompanied with the hashtag
for up to six people, #LogoGoesHere.
plus branded
merchandise and
even a Spotify playlist
of actual in-store
sounds.

 CADBURY
The Generosity Bar
Almost a third of children under five in the Philippines
are malnourished, so Cadbury decided to donate its
signature ‘glass and half’ of milk to children in need.
Working with agency Ogilvy Singapore and NGO
Reach Out Feed Philippines, Cadbury launched a
milk-free chocolate bar, donating a glass of milk for each
bar sold. The campaign reached 83 million people in one
week, with sales equating to more than 200,000 glasses
of milk.
The World’s Best Creative / 08

 KITKAT  TINDER
Origami Packaging Swipe Night
In an effort to cut down on plastic waste, To add a little more
KitKat in Japan has started wrapping its excitement to the dating
chocolate treats in high-strength paper that game, Tinder launched
is both rain and snow resistant. Not only is it an interactive video
fully recyclable, but the packaging includes series that affects user
instructions on how to transform the wrappers matches. The choose-
into origami shapes and figures. The Nestlé- your-own adventure
owned brand predicts that the initiative will series asks people to
save 380 tonnes of plastic packaging annually. answer narrative-altering
questions that also
change users’ individual
algorithm on the app –
meaning they’ll pair up
with others based on the
decisions made. After
each episode, choices
also get added to their
profile, providing plenty
of ice-breaker fodder.

 LIQUID DEATH
 FOXTEL Certified Curse for October
Monty’s Wicket Warnings To promote its canned water,
Australian broadcaster Foxtel paid AU$600m (US$ 409.7m) to secure Liquid Death decided to curse
cricket broadcasting rights in Australia, but its competitor was still its latest batch of products. The
allowed to air major matches for free. To convince viewers to tune in to brand worked with Los Angeles
Foxtel matches, the brand, working with Mindshare Sydney, created agency Party Land to hire a
Monty, an AI system that promised to predict the most exciting plays. witch doctor. According to the
Cricket matches can sometimes be a bit of a slog, but Foxtel’s system online video, anyone who drinks
alerted subscribers via the brand’s app or Google Home Assistant a can will become a ‘magnet for
when a wicket was predicted to fall. Foxtel’s weekly sales increased demons’. To save your soul, the
by 18% and it now has the highest market share, meanwhile its brand is charging a reasonable
competitor’s market share dropped from 49.9% to 20.8%. $0.99 for exorcism on its website.
 All of the campaigns featured in this report are available on Contagious I/O.
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