Recently, Nigerians celebrated Easter along with the rest of the world. It is noteworthy that Easter is a day set aside for Christians to recognize the supreme price paid by Jesus Christ for the redemption of mankind. Despite the rampaging COVID-19 plaque ravaging cities across the world which has forced a lockdown and shutdown of many businesses, brands and agencies worldwide churned out creative messages to celebrate the day.
The Nigerian market also witnessed its own share of the creative Easter messages. Brand Communicator, Nigeria’s most consistent and multiple award-winning brands, marketing and corporate communications publication posted ads of some of these messages on its Instagram handle. Based on the feedback received on these ads via post likes, we have aggregated top five (5) Easter ads to feature.
Since creativity is subject to a lot of factors including resonance, interpretation among others, Brand Communicator played it safe by using the most measurable indices on Instagram-post likes. Worthy of note however, is that beyond the Instagram post likes, all selected ads have at least one of what is referred to as the “CAN elements” of connectedness, appropriateness and novelty that are important for a creative advertisement.
This means that the people could relate to the advertisement on some levels; the ad provides information and is appropriate; and the ad is fresh and unexpected. However, whether the ads novelty overwhelmed the message of the occasion is left to the court of public opinion. We have all seen advertisements which were very novel or creative, but when they were finished, we could not remember the product or service they were attempting to sell. We can however not be the judge of that, as we leave it up to you the readers.
Likes from followers of Brand Communicator on Instagram are important to gauging the best of ads because followers are organic, majorly thought leaders and experienced professionals from brands and marketing industry.
Brand Communicator’s top five most creative ads for Easter according to Instagram post likes are as follows:
5.LaCasera
The LaCasera drink made it to the top five position with its very creative yet simple and profound ads campaign. In a series of three ads, the campaign began with an ad showing a fully stock refrigerator with LaCasera slightly left ajar to reveal its content. A simple poser copy asking, “Can you finish it in three days?” makes up elements of the ad with the brand logo and popular payoff line.
The second ad shows the same refrigerator, this time around not so full with its content like the first. Leveraging on social media’s rave of the moment, MC Macaroni’s signature “You are doing well,” as copy, it simply communicated a continuity. The last in the series of campaign shows a completely empty refrigerator with a message: “It is finished. Happy Easter.”
4. McVitie’s
McVitie’s Biscuit ad for Easter takes the fourth position based on Instagram post likes on the Brand Communicator page. Much like the LaCasera ad, McVitie’s ad is also very simple and equally creative. The shows a tomb halfway rolled out while the tombstone appears to be a biscuit piece from the brand. Though it occupies the fourth position, there are backlashes. @Tegaajogun writes: “…this does not work for a brand like McVities. They are basically saying their biscuit is as strong as stone, saying their biscuit was used to keep Christ in the tomb.” Another expert in the field, “Chimaokeni adds, “So the idea is that their biscuit was used to trap Christ, that their biscuit is an obstacle that attempts to keep salvation trapped? Sorry, I don’t think that idea was well thought through.”
3. Dominos
The pizza brand, Dominos occupies the third position. Its very apt, no brainer ad is the perfect definition of simplicity. The ad has just an open empty pack of pizza with the simple message, “the box is empty.” The Happy Easter message and its logo make up the rest of the ad behind a dark background.
2. X3m Ideas
Not very surprisingly, the Steve Babaeko-led X3m Ideas is the second by number of likes got on its post on Instagram. The series of ad in its Easter campaign readily arouses interest and curiosity because they deviate from people’s expectations of what an Easter ad “should be”. The ads central message focuses primarily on the essence of Easter, which is the forgiveness of sin. The agency used the ‘sins’ of its staff members working from home to depict forgiveness in a series of very relatable ads.
1.Cosse
Occupying the numero uno position is the ad created by Cosse. The ad garnered the highest number of ads to become Brand Communicator’s most creative Easter ad. Segmented into two equal parts, the essence of the ad is captured in its top copy: “A lot can happen in three days.” Divided into left and right, the former depicts gloom, pessimism, shows the half of a thorn crown and perhaps, depicts the state of things before man’s redemption.
The second half, however, is the complete opposite. It shows a golden crown as well as depicts optimism, showing the resurrection power of Christ and what it means to mankind. Below it is a simple copy, “Happy Easter.”
All Easter ads that featured on Brand Communicator Instagram page were carefully selected for their high level of creativity. Some other ads that made the list include brands and agencies like Indomie, Phoster, Explicit Communications, Coldstone Creamery, Zenera Consulting among others.