It was Friendship Day yesterday and as usual, brands did everything to showcase their offerings and USPs through well-designed ad campaigns that tapped into the essence of friendship and camaraderie. But while every year we are treated with a deluge of adverts vying for customer attention, only a handful of them succeed in capturing the spirit of the day. In case you’re a budding marketer, this blog is for you as we shall take a look at the 5 best Friendship Day 2023 ads that stood out as shining examples in this sea of Friendship Day adverts.
So, without any further delay, let’s get going!
1. Licious: Love for Meat
Imagine someone dressed as the Joker entering a Licious kitchen with a red balloon, only to be joined in by a colonel and a king, which makes the atmosphere inside the store so tense that you could cut it with a knife. But just when you think that things are about to go awry, a bursting balloon breaks the tension.
While this may seem like the plot of a suspense thriller, this is the Licious spot for Friendship Day 2023. The message behind the advert- regardless of whether you are friends with someone or not, nothing would ever trump your unanimous love for meat. And why not? After all, juicy chicken wings, crispy chicken nuggets, and lip-smacking kebabs can turn even rivals into friends.
2. Grameenphone: Accept the Friend Request
Bangladeshi telecom brand Grameenphone released a sweet and impressive Friendship Day commercial this year, which sought to celebrate our friendship with species other than humans i.e., with animals.
The ad showcases the pure love that animals have for their human friends. Unlike the materialistic relationships that people form these days on social media platforms, which are purely driven by one’s number of followers and online posts, animals don’t care what you look like or who you are friends with. All they need is a bit of love and they can be your friends even if they are the first ones to befriend you.
While the ad is quite a simple one, I can’t be happier thinking that finally, someone thought of celebrating our friendships with non-humans too!
3. Google: Best Phones Forever
Google released a hilarious Friendship Day ad this year, which presented iPhone and Pixel phones as the best of friends. The ad, titled ‘Friends React’ was an extension of its ongoing video series ‘Best Phones Forever’, and showed the two ‘friends’ reading the comments left by viewers on the previous five videos.
The funny interaction showcased Pixel’s translation prowess as the phone quickly translated a comment made in Chinese. iPhone, on the other hand, wanted to skip it🤣 Well, regardless of the friendship, business is business and there’s no way Google could have let iPhone steal the limelight, especially in one of its videos😅
4. Goibibo: Friends With Benefits
As much as we want it, being in a friends-with-benefits situation isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But don’t worry, as the online travel booking portal Goibibo has a solution for your friends-with-benefits woes.
The advert shows three people lamenting their failure to find a friends-with-benefits partner for themselves. From frequenting parties and gyms to hitting every public gathering of friends and family, they are said to have tried everything that could get them lucky but to no avail. Thankfully, Goibibo’s goCash feature helps friends benefit from each other every time they make a booking via the platform.
Now, that’s some friends-with-benefits situation to be in, isn’t it?
5. Budweiser: It's Not the Same Without Your Buds
And here’s my favorite Friendship Day commercial from this year. Life would e absolutely boring without friends and this Budweiser commercial highlights that perfectly.
Studies show that 7 out of 10 men spend much lesser time with their friends as they age. The ad shows Budweiser asking men from across Canada what their life would look like without friends. When asked when was the last time they had a beer with their friends, most of them said that it had been really long. But Budweiser had a pleasant surprise waiting for them. Watch the video to know what the surprise was.
Wrapping Up
And that is a wrap of the best Friendship Day 2023 commercials. Friends are like those companions who make our lives much more tolerable and motivate us in some way or the other to keep going. And if you’re a marketer who wants to make the most out of Friendship Day, the adverts discussed in this blog can surely serve as solid inspiration.
We’ll be back with more awesome videos. Until then, stay tuned!