Malaysia – Gong xi fa cai! With Chinese New Year a monumental celebration across Asia, brands didn’t waste a second making the most out of the festive holiday, pulling out the theme to showcase each of their creative advertisements. 

In Malaysia, brands across all industries flexed their red-accented and gilded films on YouTube to ring in the year of the Metal Ox, and the platform has just revealed the CNY ads that made it to its top 10 this year.

The ads were chosen not only based on views but also watch time and audience retention. Take a look at the list, arranged in alphabetical order.

1. Celcom Axiata: Double Your Joy with Any 2 Phones @ RM188

Celcom Axiata: Double Your Joy with Any 2 Phones @ RM188

In a simple but graphically endearing ad, telecom Celcom Axiata drew in Malaysian viewers not just with its creatives but with an attractive offer letting customers nab 2 phones at RM188, from a slew of mobile models such as Huawei, Vivo, and Realme.

2. Daikin Malaysia: Daikin CNY 2021: The Extraordinary Family GO

Daikin Malaysia: Daikin CNY 2021: The Extraordinary Family GO

Air condition manufacturer, Daikin Malaysia, stresses the importance of family this CNY through a comedic short film, bringing the message through the all-too-familiar and anxious scenario of a guy’s courtship to a girl’s parents.

3. McDonald’s Malaysia: Golden Prosperity Burger

McDonald's Malaysia: Golden Prosperity Burger

Global fast-food brand McDonald’s is known for regularly sprucing up its food offerings to align with current cultural celebrations, and this CNY, it offered Malaysian customers a special ‘Golden Prosperity Burger’ to add to their momentum of festivities.

4. NESCAFÉ Malaysia: Happy New 牛 Year ~ NESCAFÉ

NESCAFÉ Malaysia: Happy New 牛 Year ~ NESCAFÉ

With a straightforward sing and dance video, NESCAFÉ in Malaysia delivered its greetings by partnering with famous personalities and performers Pong Pong, Jestinna, DJ Perry Kuan, and Ariff Bahran.

5. Shopee Malaysia: Shopee CNY Sale is Happening Now! 

Shopee Malaysia: Shopee CNY Sale is Happening Now!

With a quirky and cheery acoustic performance, Shopee in Malaysia released its share of the 2.2 sale ad, which offered eight-themed marketing deals such as its daily RM8,888 Shopee Fortune Box, and daily 88% Off Vouchers.

6. Tenaga Nasional: TNB CNY 2021 – Nian-tastic New Start

Tenaga Nasional: TNB CNY 2021 – Nian-tastic New Start

Still within the message of family and togetherness, electricity giant Tenaga Nasional goes all the way back to give audiences a piece of the origins of the celebration.

7. Tesco Malaysia: The TESCO ONG Medley 2021

Tesco Malaysia: The TESCO ONG Medley 2021

Through a jovial medley, grocery chain Tesco in Malaysia reminded how through its range of fresh produce and food products, customers can achieve a fruitful celebration this CNY.

8. Vivo Malaysia: Vivo CNY Huat Cow Cow 2021

Vivo Malaysia: Vivo CNY Huat Cow Cow 2021

With a brief 15-second but upbeat music clip, Vivo Malaysia invited viewers to learn how to Huat Cow Cow, or how to bring in ‘maximum prosperity’.

9. Watsons Malaysia: Watsons CNY #HappyBeautifulYear​ 2021

Watsons Malaysia: Watsons CNY #HappyBeautifulYear​ 2021

Much like others in this list, health and beauty retailer Watsons in the country made use of a musical short film, featuring a star-studded cast including Summer Grace, Danny Ahboy, and Jenn Chia among many others.

10. Yakult Malaysia: YAKULT新年2021 ‘Miles apart, but close at heart’

Yakult Malaysia: YAKULT新年2021 'Miles apart, but close at heart'

Even before the pandemic struck, family members are forced to spend time apart for a number of reasons such as those that choose to work away from their hometowns for better opportunities. In a touching short film, Yakult Malaysia showed that there are still ways for families to send love albeit from a distance this CNY.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine headquarters of the now global fast-food brand Jollibee has released its Christmas ad in the country, which puts to the spotlight one of the few silver linings the pandemic has brought – more time with family.

The ad is one straight out of the “new normal,” where in the first few seconds of the ad, people walking in the streets with face shields on are seen.

The ad was made with no special fuss, but hits home – people have definitely been plagued by the massive lifestyle changes amid the pandemic, but on the other hand, it has also unexpectedly brought a positive effect, such as closer ties with the family.

Such sentiment is represented by the inner thoughts of a child, who looks out the window, longing to go back outside and play in the playground. Then the mellow beginning quickly changes into a happy and grateful disposition.

From the bothered musings of the child “Hangang kailan kaya ganito…” (Until when will this continue) that are delivered as a lyrcial song, the child breaks into a smile and an upbeat tune, now enumerating, still through a song, the good side of it all: the home standing in as the boy’s playground, creating bonding moments with his parents, grandparents, and siblings.

So where does Jollibee appear? In the ad, Jollibee’s signature food items – such as Chickenjoy and Jolly Spaghetti – are displayed as the anchor for the characters’ family time at dinner and merienda (snack time).

Within two days, the ad has already raked in 2.6M views, as of writing, on YouTube. Filipino viewers loved the film, with one commenting on Jollibee’s channel, “[Nice] commercial. [Showing] the positive side of this pandemic ?? [and] bringing family closer to each other ?”

Another user commented, “Jollibee never fails me with [its] commercial ✨??”

Jollibee has been known for proactively participating in designated calendar celebrations and using its special films to pay tribute on Valentine’s, Mother’s, and Grandparents day.

One of its films released on Valentine’s of this year called #CoupleGoals, garnered 21M views, which depicts the reality among seemingly perfect couples on social media.

Aside from the brand’s Christmas ad, the fast-food chain has also recently delighted its Filipino patrons with another year-end surprise when it brought back its signature one-third pound patty burger Champ, and the jumbo variant of its staple Burger Steak, Ultimate Burger Steak.

United Kingdom – In celebration of the company’s 40th partnership anniversary with children charity foundation Make A Wish, Disney EMEA launches its “From Our Family To Yours” campaign, and features an animated video advertisement centered on the spirit of Filipino Christmas.

Featuring two characters, a grandmother (Lola) and her granddaughter, the video shows notable Filipino Christmas traditions, specifically parol making, or making of Christmas lanterns.

The video starts off in a Philippine location in the 1940s where the grandmother in his childhood days strolls around in a plaza or a public quadrangle and meets up with her father. He then gestures a mano, a Filipino honorific way of showing respect to the elders (0:15 video timestamp). She is then given by her father a Mickey Mouse doll as a Christmas gift.

Fast forward to 2005, and the grandmother and her granddaughter live under the same roof, and bond over making parols, a Christmas version of Filipino lanterns made from bamboo stilts and colored paper (0:50 video timestamp). However, as time passed by, the granddaughter lost interest in lantern making, evident in the granddaughter’s shift to other teenage things.

One particular scene provokes Lola’s sadness, as her granddaughter leaves the house, leaving her alone and the old Mickey Mouse doll she has been holding on for decades, an ear ripped off.

However, the video concludes with the daughter realizing that the Mickey Mouse was a memento of her Lola and decides to surprise her grandmother with a plethora of Christmas lanterns around the house and gifting her a fixed Mickey Mouse doll. Both are brought back to their cherished memories, and hug each other at the end.

The video’s official soundtrack is titled “Love Is A Compass” performed by UK artist Griff. Digital download purchases of the track and a limited edition vintage Mickey Mouse soft doll are eligible to support the Make a Wish Foundation, as 100% and 25% of the item sales respectively are donated to the said foundation.

Limassol, Cyprus – To address the growing demand for Chinese market-targeted advertising, digital performance agency Mobiblade launches an automated ad service solution for advertisers seeking to launch ad campaigns to Chinese consumers.

The said service, which is available at the Mobiblade Portal, caters to clients by providing services such as social planning, social and search planning, or programmatic advertising. These are then targeted to Chinese websites or applications. After inputting required information such as company details and Chinese network documents, clients may then pay online and links to the availed portal services will appear on the client’s user portal. Additional services may be also purchased on top of the availed services.

The company, with full digital services offered to global clients, offers ad campaigns for various industries, ranging from finance to travel. Ad services include in-app ads, social media ads, and remarketing services.

Sydney, Australia – Australian AI and data science company Quantium has collaborated with internet protocol television (IPTV) provider Fetch TV and TV data insights company Adgile Media to launch Q.Measure TV, an ad reach solution which aims to bridge the gap on consumer analytics for business goods through comparison of physical sales against TV advertising impact. 

The said solution aims to deliver accurate and timely reporting for advertisers amid the changing tides of the digital world.

Lawrence Puang, executive for media and marketing for global markets at Quantium stated the solution is a “game changer” in looking at the expenditures of brands on TV advertising, which at some estimates, cost around two-thirds of the advertising budget.

“Existing solutions prove TV works. Q Measure TV goes further in enabling advertisers to optimize their TV advertising strategies to maximize sales. Never before have fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) advertisers been able to see exactly who they reached at an anonymized level, to measure how those consumers have responded and then accurately optimize campaigns to drive customer acquisition and incremental sales for existing shoppers,” said Puang.

With the existing solutions partnership, Adgil Media will serve as an analytics provider for data collected from live and on-demand TV towards TV ad measurement and media schedule validations. On the other hand, Fetch TV will measure the viewing behavior on 7% of Australian households, which equates to almost three (3) hours of viewing per day.

“Closed loop reporting, built on high-quality first-party data sets, and at a scale that reliably reflects the total market, is incredibly powerful. It promises  to reinforce the value of free-to-air TV advertising, and enhance the ability of advertisers to optimize their investment decisions for this critical media,” Scott Lorson, CEO of Fetch stated.

Some of the key features of Q Measure TV include access to ad performance data, demographic breakdowns, conversion rates, advertising leverage, and competitor campaign comparisons; all of which are beneficial resources for advertisers to step up their game in category marketing dynamics.

In a statement, Craig Service, Adgile Media’s chief revenue officer expressed high hopes with the recent collaboration towards effective TV advertising solutions.

“We’re incredibly excited to combine our  independent, first party, real-time TV data with such an innovative new product. When you  have transparent data, you have transparent answers. Adgile’s role in this powerful  partnership is to provide real-time granular, structured and accessible TV data to fuel  Q.Measure TV, ensuring the measurement outputs are delivered with actionable speed,  accuracy and calculated on transmitted only audience impressions,” Service stated.

Q.Measure TV will officially launch to the market during Quarter 2 of 2021.

SingaporeーSoftware technology company AnyMind announces its launch of AnyShop, a one-stop platform for the company’s various eCommerce tool platforms and partnered integrations that will help businesses and influencers build their e-commerce capabilities.

Users can enjoy the leverage of the following platform offerings: eCommerce site analytics, social media analytics, product manufacturing, site development, and partnered integrations. 

Through these analytic platforms, businesses and influencers alike can apply automated push notifications, site speed improvements, and mobile app compatibility, just to name a few. Furthermore, marketing users can track, discover, and manage marketing activities through the company’s in-built platform, AnyTag.

When it comes to product tracking and promotion, users may use AnyFactory, the group’s in-built cloud platform that allows production efficiency by making it a one-stop-shop for sourcing to manage orders across Asia. The company also offers eCommerce site development and partnered integrations through sales channels and online payment providers, such as providing Shopify services for the Japan market.

“True to our renewed mission of making every business borderless, we are breaking down borders within our own products and business lines to create new value for businesses and individuals today. This only adds on to what we’ve developed and achieved for the marketing and entertainment tech spaces, turning us into a true brand enablement platform,” said Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group

AnyMind envisions in the near future to expand their software platforms by launching a separate logistics management platform for warehousing management, and also an end-to-end solutions for business and individuals from production, marketing, and distribution.

Singapore – With a goal towards a larger ad market target, Singapore-based ad-tech company Adzymic has joined hands with branding and ad-tech firms in Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan to bring its full suite of dynamic creative solutions to advertisers. This comes after the company’s  expansion to Australia and India in 2019.

One of the company’s flagship advertisement solutions is the ‘Dynamic Creative Management Platform’ which functions as advertising transformation of physical to digital media, such as banners, carousel ads and social display ads, allowing advertisers to create ads without the need for coding experience. The company also offers a ‘Smart Tag’ technology, which enables advertisers to create personal ads through behavior tracking, machine learning algorithms, and updates.

For Hong Kong and Thailand, the company has officially tied up with Maadtech Global, a programming integrator solutions company, while also partnering with another Thai firm Spikebrand, a branding solutions company. Meanwhile for its Japan expansion, a collaboration has been forged with Atlas Associates, a local-based ad-tech startup focused on social networking site (SNS) management tools.

“Asia is expected to surpass North America as the biggest ad spender globally by 2021. 4 Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand are very exciting for us, both from a creative and growth perspective. They are known for their incredibly creative ads, and together with our partners’ local knowledge and network, we will deliver high impact campaigns with brands and agencies,” said Kenniess Wong, co-founder and executive director of Adzymic.

Adzymic, since its founding, has been involved with large brand partnerships, including DBS, Sony Pictures, Toyota and Esplanade Singapore.