It’s IPL season and if you work in marketing, every brand wants in on the hype.

Official sponsors, logo placements, branded units, TV commercials, there’s a lot going on. If you watch the IPL, you consume branded content.

You may be a potential advertiser, someone who wants to trend-ride or just an enthusiast, there’s an ad ready for you to consume.

While I’ve been watching this year’s tournament, I’ve seen enough commercials to see them repeat. So I decided to do something fun.

I’ve been maintaining a list of commercials that I’ve come across during my viewing on Hotstar. This content is not curated with any theme in mind, I’ve manually taken notes of the ads I saw, whether I liked them or not. This article is not sponsored (obviously, look around.)

Maybe, this will be helpful to my fellow admongers / creators.

I’ve added links (to the best of my search abilities) and a short opinionated description (it’s my blog, so of course)

I’ll keep updating this list as I come across newer ads, and if you feel I’ve missed any commercial and I should add it, feel free to drop a comment.

I’ve written this article on my mobile device in an hour (and counting as new ads keep popping up) while watching PBK vs SRH, so if I got something wrong, point it out and I’ll fix it when I update the article. I haven’t proofed for brand capitalisations and hyphenations because I’m not getting paid for it.

In no particular order, here it goes:

MX Takatak

Shikhar Dhawan asking his yougner teammates to stop practicing and start streaming shortform content. With the kind of form he is in, who can argue?

MRF ZLX

Virat Kohli in a suit. Floating tyres. Look at that bowtie.

Cred Dravid

Part of their campaign of having 90s celebs doing ridiculous things because their product is ridiculous (This is not my opinion, this is their ad)

Watching Dravid angry should make you want to pay back credit card bills through a third-party app for cashback. Yes.

Cred Zumba

Another ad you’ll find interesting if you’re an 80s-90s kid with credit card bills. Jackie Shroff likes zumba, so you should route paying your credit card bills through a third-party app so that they get enough data to launch their actual product.

Unacedemy Commentary

I’ve read in some textbooks that there was a ban on using breaking news banners as commercials as they tend to mislead the audience. Unacademy does a minimal, less misleading 4th wall breaking ad that gets your attention by making you feel that the ads are over. The ads however are not over and they are kind enough to tell you that. Also, it takes a certain level of confidence to call your own ad wonderful.

Pharmeasy

This ad is smart and witty, but alienates those who live on the top floor.

My11circle

How is the president of the BCCI allowed to promote a gaming/betting/guessing/fantasy app? The ad also has Ranveer Singh chilling around players and giving them tips. He’s about to play Kapil Dev in his next, so of course he knows more than actual legends and active players. Also, VVS and Ranveer in the same frame has ripped a hole in the time-space-energy continuum.

Dream XI (teams)

Key players from IPL teams playing gully cricket with their friends and dealing with relatable situations. Bonus points for Rohit playing a sweep shot with a broom.

Dream XI (dimaag)

Dhoni stalking smartasses and asking them to use the same brains to play Dream XI. No knowledge of cricket necessary.

Sting energy drink

Get enough energy to piggy back a girl up the stairs in superhuman speed. Yes.

RBI

Amitabh Bachchan in front of a green screen reminding you Crime Patrol’s tagline.

Satark rahiye, bro!

Upstox

The app has a better user experience than taking an escalator. I like how all of these apps talk about the ease of spending money assuming that all of us have it in the first place.

5-star

<will add link when I find it>

Their campaign should’ve been the mantra for the lockdown. They ask you to do nothing. As a staunch promoter of nothingness in my youth, I like it.

Gillette Mach 3

Probably the best ad I’ve come across in this edition of the IPL. Army men, close shaves, strong brand connect. 👏

Melorra

Shraddha Kapoor talking to herself about the point of buying expensive jewellery and not feeling safe to wear it often. Why not buy imitation jewellery and wear it all the time? Nothing off with the ad except for the timing.

Ray-Ban

A classic branding ad, wear shades, feel cool.

Volvo

<will add link when I find it>

Look at this car going places you’re not legally allowed to go due to lockdown restricitions. Buy the car for the feeling of adventure and to block a parking spot.

PhonePe

<will add link when I find it>

Pay first. Laugh last. Aunty gets the last piece of mithai because she paid first using phone pe. Alright.

Coinswitch Kuber

My personal favourite. One of those pictures you see on social media that get more and more confusing the longer you look at it. Why is KRK (not that one) all the characters? Why is he asking himself about bitcoin, while he is taking himself into labour, and gives birth to himself? BITCOIN y’all.

Shell: Make the future

Featuring real people who came up with interesting ideas related to travelling.

Vimal

Ajay Devgn is joined by Shah Rukh Khan where they chase each other in the green-screen world of UK. How do they track each other? Through the smell of their collective breath after eating Pan masala. Because of course two major celebrities are asking you to smell strangers’ mouths during a pandemic.

OctaFX

<will add link when I find it>

cues UTV movies intro music Official trading partners of Delhi Capitals. That’s what the ad says and I’m not gonna try to figure out more.

Acko

Arshad Warsi gets into a war of words with Krunal Pandya through a TV screen while getting a haircut. I’m not making this up. However, someone else got paid to. Cheers to employment!

WazirX

Not to be mistaken for a sequel to the Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar-starrer. This ad mocks normies for not being fast-enough to capitalise on an unregulated digital currency before it gets regulated. On the plus side, all you need is Rs. 100 to get started. Yep.

Dell – Power the future

Straightforward ad series featuring children. They don’t need to worry about building the future because they’ve already started.

Accenture

The visuals flashed by faster than I’d like to admit. I’m sure I’ll find out what they were soon enough.

edit: found it before I could paste this. Let there be change they say.

Mercedes: The morning rush

Looks like a “life is finally back to normal after the lockdown” ad. I just saw it after the second lockdown was announced. Try again later I guess.

(this article is ongoing as advertisements are neverending, last edited on Wednesday, 21st April, 2021 at 17:43pm)