High Five: Praising Smart Simplicity

Placeb’eau are pills that bring all the countless benefits you get from drinking water. But how? Because they are empty and you must drink water regularly to take them. A simple and mocking way to play with our habit of self-medication and make us do something as banal and important as drinking water.

There is a never-ending cultural debate about putting ketchup on pizza. For Italians, it is almost a blasphemy. Heinz Brazil made them bite their tongue by creating a pizza place in Italy that only sells pizzas with the edge made with Heinz ketchup. It's a simple solution to spark a conversation about the brand and, finally, try to end this endless discussion.

I love how far a concept can take us. I love when it allows us to tell as many stories as we can, and what I like most about this campaign is the simplicity of how it plays on humanity. Everyone has a reason to travel. It's as simple as that. All the 500+ executions made by Uncommon could only be possible because it was extremely simple.

Who here has reused an empty jar after its original contents ran out? I believe everyone has. I did. But while I was doing that, I never thought I was doing the world any good. And that's the twist. A simple observation that went unnoticed between us and, once we realise it, changes everything.

Imagine everyone gathered to watch the biggest sports game on US television. Millions and millions are spent to create absurdity in a commercial format. Then Tubi, a streaming platform, appears at the break - tied game, four minutes to the end - to prank everybody by simulating its interface switching channels to watch a movie there. Simple as that. Between fireworks and multi-millionaire commercials, it was the simplicity that created the freakout moment that got everyone yelling for their remotes.