Best new creative ads of the week: Flipkart Gen Z, Stiller’s Soda, Flipkart BBD and more

Every week I attempt to share a curated list of clutter-breaking new ads. This week: Flipkart’s Gen Z, Big Billion Days, hilarious ad from Thailand and more.

Flipkart: are you really Gen Z?

Brands are obsessed with appealing to Gen Z typically aged between 14 & 28 years in 2026. This cohort is considered to be digital natives with estimates ranging from 377 million to 407 million individuals. Reports indicate that this group has a significant impact on consumer spending which will grow in the coming years. No wonder that many brands have invested behind work that aims to appeal to this demographic, though I wonder how such a wide range in age would have a common ground. Brands like TESCO Mobile have targeted parents of such groups with a campaign idea. A common aspect of such is to highlight the language commonly attributed to Gen Z (Myntra did it well in 2025). All of them have a desperate ‘bro, we understand you, right?’ kind of tone trying to blend in with that age group and be treated like one among them.

A new ad from Flipkart is anchored on this thought with millennials and Gen Z trying to speak the Gen Z language.

It all ties with taking a Gen Z test at Are you really Gen Z? and getting deals on Flipkart. The site has been thought through well and designed to be viewed on a mobile which is the default device of that generation. A desktop view generates appropriate ‘insults’ and the mobile site too lays down the slang thick. I like.

Agency: McCann

Whoscall: just hear me out

Advertising from Thailand is unique. The best of ads from there use emotions very well – be it a tug at the heart or laugh-out-loud humour. Another aspect of their advertising is that they make fun of advertising itself. Many ads have that light hearted ‘it’s only an ad, don’t take us too seriously’ vibe with over-the-top humour as a hallmark. A new ad for a call-screening app (like Truecaller in India) in Thailand visually demonstrates the pesky nature of spam calls and how the app can help. Interestingly, the version has the brand name revealed the very end and they don’t resort to keeping the logo visibile on top left screen throughout the ad to improve ‘branding’.

Agency: Sour, Bangkok, Thailand

CIF: clean my name

While this is not a newly released campaign I came across this Cannes Lions 2026 winner recently and thought it worthy of sharing. Cif, a surface cleaner brand getting involved in a campaign that provided tangible debt relief? Only great strategic & creative minds of advertising can see the connect & possibilities. In Brazil, being in debt is often described as having a “dirty name”. The country had a big debt crisis. Cif tied up with Serasa, Brazil’s largest credit renegotiation platform and part of Experian to create a special pack. Entering the receipt details on the Serasa platform gave consumers a chance to win real money which cleared or ‘cleaned’ their debt.

Agency: Droga5

Rungta Steel: celebrity bar bar

There was some debate about this ad on LinkedIn. Someone said: ‘The same film stars for yet another, absolutely foolish category for them to be endorsing! They are everywhere. Endorsing every thing. Without a care about their image. Including ghutka. Pity. Since they are everywhere, endorsing everything they have even seized to be clutter-breaking‘. The points raised are relevant: celebrities endorse everything nowadays and its no longer an edge for a brand. But I feel the ad is a winner for these reasons:

1. In a generic category of many TMT bar brands, there is hardly any product differentiation. All the brands promise strength. Many brands, including Rungta have used celebrities. Hence ‘entertainment’ as a route, as long as the creative execution holds attention and creates brand name awareness or ‘approval’ that is fine. I found the premise of a company ‘maalik‘ bulldozing his ‘creative’ ideas to a bunch of celebrities funny and a reflection of sad reality. It is certainly a lived experience for ad agency folks and even the general public will ‘get’ it.
2. While it is use of celebrities as celebrities, the plot of them ‘pitching’ their ideas to the one who is going to pay the bill and ‘oneupmanship’ between them is funny. In a way, it cues that celebrity endorsement means nothing – that they will promote any product, and act however silly if it means making money. That self-deprecating tone makes it different from other celebrity endorsements in the category & elsewhere as they are mostly talking heads or the celebrity pointing at something – possibly shot on a green screen.
3. The brand’s buyers are building contractors and real estate brands who decide which brand of construction material is bought in bulk for projects. The choice of brand depends on pricing, the trade commission and most importantly the decision-maker keeping the brand in the consideration set and not rejecting it completely. The end consumer might not make a difference in this category. In real estate some categories are ‘visible’ on a daily basis and might make help the flaunt quotient. E.g. bathroom fittings. The real estate brand or builder typically mention the name of sanitary ware and bathroom fittings. The buyer of a flat or the home builder might casually ask about the brand name of some categories such as cement, electrical wiring, light switches and so on. A known brand whose advertising is recalled and liked, helps in not ‘rejecting’ or questioning the brand even if one is not the decision maker.

Nevertheless, it does take a certain, ahem, budget to be able to afford three film stars, a glitzy production and media budgets. Not all brands can afford such. Not all categories can do this as some might insist on a product-led story. That said, it is a worrying sign (but one that’s not going to go away) that many brands continue to blindly believe in the power of celebrity endorsements and often decide on that first even before the brand positioning.

Stiller’s Soda: Ben Stiller for Cats

Katz’s Delicatessen added a new soda in decades: Stiller’s Soda. To announce the launch. Ben Stiller tied up with Nicolas Heller, an American documentary film director, and social media personality known for his Instagram account @newyorknico. The central idea of the film is brilliant: Ben shows up to meet Nico convinced he’s there to film ‘Cats’, the musical. The discovery and the incongruent costume brings out the laughs and drives home the point.

Flipkart: BBD Bagh

Who’d have thought Big Billion Days can be ‘connected’ to a Kolkata locality? Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh also known as BBD Bagh is the ‘silly’ but humorous connect to announcing the big sale at Flipkart. Khoob bhalo.

Agency: Talented

Flipkart: Pujo Gondho

A majority of the ads meant for national TV or pan-India media distribution are made in Mumbai’s ad agencies and film studios. The writing is mostly from Mumbai-based language writers with a few exceptions and importantly created originally in Hindi and then translated into regional languages. Many of the translations feel text-bookish. Even the context itself maybe un-relatable in some regions. For example, playing cards as a setting during Diwali might be relevant in the north. But in the south, playing cards in not part of Deepavali celebrations. Yet some brands would translate such an ad. In that context it is refreshing to see a Bengali ad from Flipkart where the effort to use context and language relevant to the region is apparent and most importantly, appealing. Loved it.

Agency: McCann

Stayfree: Daughter’s Day 2026

The line ‘You’ve come a long way, baby’ is quite deep but unfortunately (in my view) associated with a tobacco brand, Virginia Slims. That line could also be applicable to the advertising of sanitary pads in India. A few decades ago, the ads did not even mention menstrual periods directly and referred to them as ‘those days of the month’. The portrayal and context has become more real over the years but perhaps still suffers from an ‘uncomfortable topic’ syndrome. Some products used to be given covered in a brown paper by grocery shops and chemists ages ago. Sanitary pads were one of them. In that context I liked the direct, matter of fact approach of the new Stayfree ad: ‘When MORE sons get comfortable with periods, MORE daughters will be comfortable with periods too’.

Agency: Ogilvy

IKEA Frakta: 30 years

To mark the 30th anniversary of FRAKTA utility bag, IKEA in Italy launched a campaign that dramatises how ordinary consumers put the bag to many ‘use cases’. The quirky settings and the upscale fashion-photography like tonality makes it un-missable.

Agency: Ogilvy

Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.