FMCG or Fast moving goods sector is a rapidly evolving business sector, with many leading FMCG players like Hindustan Unilever, Pepsico, Britannia, literally ruling the sector and are always trying to grow by the day even with their vast portfolio. For the FMCG sector, advertisements play a major role in the success of the product or brand. In this blog, we bring to some of the best FMCG ads of 2019 that created a huge impact on the audience.

To anybody who is wondering what is FMCG- FMCG are those items that are purchased by customers quickly and produced in high volumes at low cost. Most of the items cater to the daily needs of the consumers such as household items, food, personal care items, stationery, consumer electronics, etc. With the growing competition in the sectors with respect to the number of competitors and brand loyalty of customers to leading brands, companies have to move faster and be smarter to ensure they are not left behind in the competition.

Most of the investments of FMCG to retain their competitive edge goes to marketing and advertising. Unlike other sectors like manufacturing, FMCG is not capital intensive, but the expenditure on promotions and branding is the greatest investment for these companies. For FMCG products, advertising is the main means of informing and influencing customers to buy the products.

FMCG companies are one sector which in the more digital world still invest a lot for TV advertising and radio advertising in spite of the huge costs. Magazines, websites, newspapers, billboards, hoarding, etc are also used for FMCG advertisements widely. Most of the brands’ promotion strategy includes tying up with actors and celebrity brand ambassadors to promote their product. Most of the leading FMCG firms like HUL, P&G, Nestle, etc spend almost 10% of their turn over on advertising and brand promotion.

In such a competitive market, brand marketers are constantly on the lookout for innovation and coming up with the most creative ads to win the customer’s attention. Everyone wants a kickass ad that wins the hearts of people. If you are a 80’s or 90’s kid, think of the advertisements that still bring memories to your mind. ‘Coca Cola?, ‘Rasna?’, ‘Pepsi?’, ‘Boost?’, ‘Maggi?’. These are some FMCG brands that had mind-blowing advertisements that could create a huge impact on the viewers. If you think of one common thing in these ads- they all had a story or concept that people could relate to, and made in memorable. It is that ‘story’ that helped to build a bridge between the viewer and the brand. Good stories are always magical and can create wonders when it comes to advertising.

So, are you and FMCG marketer or business owner who wants to tell your story to your customer? Well, here is a list of the best FMCG ads of 2019 to inspire you to come up with Ads and stories of your brand.

1. Gillette: Man Enough – Shaving Stereotypes

The ad from Gillette tries to attract the audience’s minds by breaking the very old stereotype about manliness that has been passed down the generations, men do not cry as it is a sign of weakness. The ironic truth being, it takes real strength to show your vulnerability and emotions and not hide them. Gillette presents a real-life story of Lt Col M K Sinha SM(Retd) and his father, and shows the audience that even if you express your pain through tears, you are #ManEnough. Being a responsible men’s brand Gillette really paves the way for a new dimension on manliness and strength, that today’s men should look upon. The Ad truly shaves stereotypes.

2. ‘Lay’s Smile Deke Dekho’

With this campaign by Wunderman Thompson, Lay’s uses its insights that smile leads to connections as smiling at each other always allows to establish connections and eating something special elevates one’s moods bringing a smile to the face. They gave these insights a twist in their ad by relating the smiles with their variety of flavors, the brand’s strength. The core idea of the campaign is that each Lay’s flavor projects a different smile portraying various moods, thereby establishing different connections.

3. Relationships in a new light with Coca-Cola | Diwali 2019

Coca Cola Diwali Campaigns always depict warm relationships and going out of the way to share your happiness. This year, Coca Cola continued with its campaign series that was introduced earlier in the year, featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal as the tenant and landlord in their storyline. The Ad begins with a sad scenario of the missing family during Diwali and later takes a humorous turn brightening the moods of viewers. The Ad emphasizes on relationships that are extraordinary and illuminates every relation.

4. 5 Star: Counting

5 star Ads have always had a humor touch in them. Mentions of 5 stars bring to most of us the funny faces of Ramesh and Suresh and their funny ad series. However, for the Nutty 5 start ad, 5 stars chose not to have Ramesh and Suresh but made the Naughty nuts the protagonist and illustrated how they make you go nuts.

5. Nescafe: Alarm vs Nescafe

This Ad of Nescafe coffee, created by Pipe Bomb Advertising addresses one of the biggest challenges people face in the morning, getting out of bed to the alarm sounds by solving the morning equation with a cup of Nescafe coffee. The Ad claims with Nescafe’s aroma, morning wake up is not a struggle anymore.

6. Pond’s: See What Happens

Hindustan Unilever-owned beauty brand Pond’s in their latest ad embrace women empowerment and communicating its relevance in modern society to the Indian audience. The campaign was created by Ogilvy. The storyline is about a young female boxer struggling to hide her injuries from her hobby from her family by covering up them with concealers and lying to her mother. But the story takes a u-turn when the mother becomes supportive than she ever imagined when she comes to know about it. With this enticing storyline, the brand has won the female audience’s attention and leaves a message on self-confidence encouraging the female viewers to overcome any hesitations that become hurdles on their way to realize the true self-potential and follow their passion.

7. Har ghoont mein swag

Pepsi has always had come with remarkable ads that won the audience, especially youth, who is their target audience, with many evergreen taglines and anthems over the years- like ‘Yehi hai right choice baby’.‘Yeh dil maange more’, My Pepsi my way’, etc to name a few. In 2019 as well, the brand has come up with an ad targeting the younger generation and celebrating their youthfulness. The #HarGhoontMeinSwag Ad is all about the self-confident youth in today’s generation who have their own opinions and prefers to be them-self. The brand always had a close connection with music too and no wonder why they chose to go for an ad with exciting music that makes everyone dance, with Disha Patani and Tiger Shroff on screen with their mesmerizing moves.

8.Dove’s #AapkeBaalAapkiMarzi

‘Long hair is a sign of beauty in women’ has remained to be a monolithic stereotype in Indian society and hair care brands have always been promoting their products based on this. For most Indian women being told to grow their hair long and black is not uncommon and the movies and advertisements depicted them to be symbols of beauty. But, this Independence Day Dove took forward its #AapkeBaalAapkiMarzi campaign to shackle the benchmarks and expectations about women’s hair in the society and encouraging women to open up and talk about the stereotypes attached to the perception of beauty in locks.

Through this ad, Dove tries to create awareness around the old concepts of beauty and break the narrow definition of beauty, creating an environment where women feel nurtured and liberated from societal beauty barriers and become more confident by encouraging them to wear their hair the way they like and not how others would accept, #AapkeBaalAapkiMarzi.

9.Surf Excel’s one-minute Holi special ad ‘Rang Laaye Sang’

Surf Excel, released a special ad for the colorful season in a way that it appeals to the festive mood of the country as well. The ad was conceived by Lowe Lintas, Mumbai. The campaign titled #RangLaayeSang, stays true to the spirits of Holi by leaving a message of bringing people together by making color the medium.

The storyline of the ad brings alive Surf Excel’s ‘Daag Achhe Hain’ philosophy during the Holi celebrations where a girl chooses to soil her dress with Holi colors in order to protect her young friend. The ad ends saying, ‘Agar kuch achha karne mein daag lag jaaye toh daag achhe hain.’

10. Life Mein Chahiye Kuch Frooti Masti!

Frooti, the all-time favorite mango drink from Parle Agro, is a very popular drink in the market and always promoted their drink as a refreshing and fun-filled drink- the ‘Frooti Masti’. The 2019 Ad from the brand also projects this factor of ‘Masti’ and tells the audience that ‘Life needs some Frooti fun #Life Mein Chahiye Kuch Frooti Masti!

All the above ads were created with exciting storylines that the audience could relate to or left a message convincing the viewers and leaving behind a strong impression of the brand. That is the reason they became the best ads of the year. Creating ads that hook the viewers to the ad and brand requires a lot of creativity and effort.