Evoke Idea Group

The smartest ads don’t feel like ads.

Barilla isn't just promoting pasta… they're embedding themselves into the cooking moment. By turning boil time into a Spotify playlist, they solved a real user behavior (timing) while creating a branded experience people actually want to engage with. That’s the shift: from advertising at people → to being useful to them.

Simple. Contextual. Shareable.
That’s how brands stay relevant.

Barilla and Spotify Create Playlists That Tell You How Long to Cook Pasta There are eight precisely timed playlists for various pasta shapes.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91446151/pantones-2026-color-of-the-year-is-visual-tofu

Pantone’s 2026 Color of the Year is visual tofu In an era when every color is in all the time, where do you even go next? Pantone has a suggestion.

https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/cheetos-designs-a-font-with-the-other-hand-and-its-a-cheesy-disaster/

Cheetos Designs a Font With 'The Other Hand' Cheetos drops “The Other Hand Font” as a follow-up to its viral hit 2024 campaign.

Cereal brand Kellogg’s has launched a bold new poster campaign featuring its logo cropped to show just the 'og'. Some think it's genius, while others claim many won't 'get' the reference. What do you think?

Pantone Color Of The Year 2025
Pantone has named PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse the Pantone Color of the Year selection for 2025. A rich brown hue, Mocha Mousse suggests cacao, chocolate and coffee, appealing to the desire for comfort, connection and harmony. Every year, Pantone selects a color that seeks to capture the global zeitgeist — the Color of the Year expresses a mood and an attitude, reflecting collective desire in the form of a single, distinct hue. Over the years, the selection has proven to influence fashion, interior, product, graphic and package designers.

“Underpinned by our desire for every day pleasures, Mocha Mousse expresses a level of thoughtful indulgence,” says Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute. “Sophisticated and lush, yet at the same time an unpretentious classic, Mocha Mousse extends our perceptions of the browns from being humble and grounded to embrace aspirational and luxe. Infused with a subtle elegance and earthy refinement, Mocha Mousse presents a discrete and tasteful touch of glamour. A flavorful brown shade, Mocha Mousse envelops us with its sensorial warmth.”

Read more at gdusa.com

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/12/13/the-rise-of-generative-ai-in-design-innovations-and-challenges/

The Rise Of Generative AI In Design: Innovations And Challenges Discover how generative AI is revolutionizing design across industries, from creating unique Nutella packaging to transforming architectural planning.

https://adage.com/creativity/work/hellmanns-got-people-named-heinz-change-their-name-show-their-love-mayo-over-ketchup/2552776

Hellmann’s got people named Heinz to change their name to show their love of mayo over ketchup The Edelman campaign took off from a social media post in Germany

What Super Bowl advertisers can learn from Taylor Swift The most effective way to infuse empathy into advertising and foster meaningful connections is to include your audience in the creative development process.

To generate social media buzz around its first Super Bowl spot, CeraVe didn’t want to rely on the traditional playbook of just posting a teaser or uploading its full Big Game commercial to social media. Instead, the skincare brand recruited a fleet of more than 450 influencers to fuel speculation and lead the online conversation around the question at the heart of its Super Bowl campaign: Did Michael Cera create CeraVe?

Inside CeraVe’s Super Bowl influencer campaign Skincare brand CeraVe’s influencer push netted it 6 billion impressions before the Super Bowl had even begun.

https://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/state-farm-wins-usa-today-super-bowl-2024-ad-meter/2541141?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_term=ad+age&utm_content=5600bc0d-023d-4a9d-8914-3d66d1799352

State Farm wins USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter State Farm’s Big Game commercial features Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in a battle of pronunciation.