Tag: Campaign

Sydney, Australia – Fintech lender Plenti has partnered with advertising agency Howatson+Company to launch a new campaign that aims to inspire Australians to stop putting their big ideas on hold and instead make them real.

Plenti assists Australians with loans through smart technology. Its proprietary technology platform provides automotive, renewable energy, and personal loans to help bring their big ideas to life.

Titled ‘Destroy Your Dreams’, the campaign nods to the fact that most Australians are using ‘inspiration boards’ on social media sites including Pinterest and Instagram, to plan their dreams, and it remained just that, living inside boards and not brought to life.

In addition to the ad film, Plenti has released a suite of product films, social assets, and is facilitating a ‘Destroy Your Dreams’ consumer promo.

Daniel Foggo, Plenti’s CEO, commented, “We’re excited to be launching a major brand campaign and customer competition that highlights how Plenti can help people achieve their dreams. It highlights just how exciting it is to bring people’s big ideas to life as we continue to build Australia’s best lender.” 

Meanwhile, Samantha Saunders, the head of marketing at Plenti, believes that the brand is young and still relatively new to the consumer marketplace. 

“We needed a cut-through brand campaign that would resonate with our affluent customer base. As a modern lender, with modern customers, we were prepared to take risks with the creative, so long as the work reflected who we are and where we’re going,” said Saunders.

Gavin Chimes, Howatson+Company’s executive creative director, shared, “This campaign is about shaking people out of their complacency and inspiring them to take action. And by creating it, we got to fulfill one of our very own dreams, blowing stuff up in an ad.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – For this year’s Deepavali celebration, the Festival of Lights celebrated on 4 November, Malaysia’s Petronas presents the message of embracing ‘love’ and finding ‘positivity’ during the pandemic through a new animated web film.

The new film is a loose adaptation of the ancient Indian epic of Ramayana that draws parallels between the experiences Malaysians are facing during these trying times with the battle against darkness. It urges the citizens to have ‘faith’ and ‘power’ in this journey towards recovery. 

Titled ‘Akka’, the web film features the main character Dheeya who goes on a journey of self-discovery. Along the way, she learns valuable life lessons that ‘love’ is also an act of responsibility. The film also shows how the values of ‘anger’ and ‘frustrations’ can be turned into a positive light through acceptance.

Datin Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz, Petronas’ senior general manager of group strategic communications, said that the pandemic remains a challenge for Malaysians this festive season, but it is also a time for ‘unity’ and celebration within the community.

“We at Petronas wish all Malaysians celebrating this Festival of Lights, Happy Deepavali. May light and love always prevail,” said Aziz.

In addition, Petronas also launched specially designed kolams – a form of traditional decorative art drawn using rice flour, which are being displayed at the Lingkaran Karak and Mutiara Damansara Petronas stations until 8 November 2021. The kolams, created by local artist Lashanya Rangoli, depict scenes from the web film.

The film is available for viewing on Petronas’ official YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Petronas has had animation as its main creative direction for its past brand films such as for the commemoration of Hari Raya, Thanksgiving Day, and Malaysia’s Independence Day.

Sydney, Australia – In celebration of the little moments which make an Aussie summer iconic, the Australian retail chain of liquor stores, BWS, has launched a new brand campaign to encourage consumers to have some fun this season.

The campaign, which was created in collaboration with marketing agency M&C Saatchi Sydney, highlights why BWS, a 1,400 store network, is the most convenient way to get drinks this Summer.

Called ‘Big Wonderful Summer’, which plays with the BWS initials, the campaign is made up of a series of fun, alternative acronyms for BWS, such as Boldly Worn Smugglers, BBQ Without Salad, and Badass with Sandals, as well as Badly Wrapped Stuff, and Beats Wrapping Socks, to further emphasize why BWS and summer go together.

Vanessa Rowed, the head of marketing at BWS, said, “This is our testament to the perfect summer – nothing short of getting Aussies back to the beach, park, or backyard with a cold drink in their hand. It’s these iconic summer moments that make for a relatable and fun campaign.”

Brendan Donnelly, M&C Saatchi Sydney’s creative director, shared that this campaign aims to make BWS a part of any occasion this summer. 

“We’re looking forward to opening it up for UGC to put their own spin on a BWS summer,” said Donnelly.

On the other hand, dentsu’s media agency Carat has been tasked with media strategy, planning, and buying for BWS’ ‘Big Wonderful Summer’ campaign, bringing it to life across social, online video, OOH, and in-store.

The campaign will be running for two months.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – In conjunction with the Deepavali festive celebration, also known as Festival of Lights celebrated on 4 November, banking institution RHB has launched a new campaign film, aimed at showing the essence of true beauty at the time of hardships.

The new campaign, which was created together with advertising agency FCB Malaysia, tells the true story of Nisha Thayananthan, the reigning Miss Earth Malaysia, who is not just a beauty queen but also a doctor who fought in the frontlines amid the nation’s battle in the pandemic. 

Titled ‘The Inner Light’, the film features Thayananthan’s journey in discovering her ‘inner beauty’ after spending many of her growing-up years pursuing only what’s beautiful on the outside. Told through two separate timelines of her life – a teenage Thayananthan and the Thayananthan of today, the film highlights how Thayananthan’s mother, through her humanitarian work, inspired the beauty queen to embrace her inner beauty through a simple act of kindness.

Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, RHB Group’s chief marketing officer, shared that it may be an emotional coming-of-age film on the surface but that the film also aims to be a heartfelt tribute to the nation’s frontliners. 

“It’s important that we never forget the amazing efforts and contributions from the thousands of selfless heroes like Nisha that have helped us get back on our feet. Their acts are the true definition of ‘Together We Progress’,” said Murad.

Meanwhile, Tjer Wang, FCB Malaysia’s creative director, shared that it’s been a challenge at first to do Thayananthan’s story justice using two separate timelines.

“But thanks to the guidance and expertise from our production partners at D1 Productions and GT Records, we’re ecstatic that we managed to bring the whole idea to life,” said Wang. 

Ong Shi Ping, the co-owner and chief creative officer at FCB Malaysia, said, “Even as we are slowly rebuilding our lives and attempting to put the challenges of the pandemic behind us, we should always remember the kindness and selflessness that we’ve shared during our darkest times together, and then bring them along with us into the future.” 

The campaign is currently running across all RHB Bank’s social and digital channels.

Bangkok, Thailand – With many Thai businesses projected to shut down by the end of 2021 due to the pandemic, mobile operator dtac has launched its new improved 700MHz spectrum signal with its new campaign, aimed at helping local businesses survive and thrive by giving its advertising space to promote their own businesses.

The launch of the new 700MHz spectrum is a reflection of the brand’s ambition to become a network for all, as dtac is committed to ensuring digital access through intensive network coverage expansion, to reduce inequalities and empower societies with the ability to use digital technology.

Titled ‘#GoodforAll’, the new campaign, created in collaboration with Google and creative and CRM agency Wunderman Thompson, adopted hyper-personalization marketing through data-driven creative where online ad spaces were personalized to regional level dialects and location specific targeting of local communities. Using technology and data, Wunderman Thompson produced more than 300 highly personalized creatives just for dtac’s real customers to find new customers in their local areas on the spaces.

Through the campaign, dtac selected customers from 50 provinces across the country where their businesses were promoted on billboards, out of home, and TV tie ins, as well as online films – personalized at nationwide scale, all of which were donated by dtac. 

Lih Ren How, dtac’s chief marketing officer, believes that building deeper connections with the local communities and people is important, and this emotional engagement differentiates their brand. 

Meanwhile, Park Wannasiri, the chief creative director of Wunderman Thompson Thailand, said they focused on how they can fight together with their customers. 

“In every touchpoint, down the whole funnel. Hats off to our brave clients. They did put in all of their capability to help real people, by doing good without expecting something in return. In the end you get the result you deserve,” said Wannasiri.

Sean Ong, Wunderman Thompson’s director of strategy for Thailand, shared that their strategy was to change the conversation of the category, and the category was focused on the future technology (5G), which may seem appealing but unattainable for the majority of Thais. 

“In contrast, dtac’s ‘#GoodForAll’ changed the conversation from flighty dreams of the future, to practical tangible improvements that people need today. dtac 700MHz network improvements increased data capabilities and coverage on existing handsets. These are benefits that can help drive small businesses and customers to overcome the challenges they are facing now. It was more than a telecommunications network but a network of support and progress,” said Ong. 

More than 1,500 dtac customers and businesses participated in this campaign, with 120 businesses given free ad spaces to promote their businesses – directly infusing a lifeline back to their businesses.

Singapore – In August this year, top e-commerce platform Shopee unveiled its newest endorser, probably its biggest ambassador to date – global superstar Jackie Chan. 

Following the announcement, Chan’s first visibility was for the platform’s 9.9 sale, and now the renowned action celebrity is back to grace Shopee’s campaign for 11.11. 

Both advertisements with Chan were nothing short of the e-commerce’s creatives DNA – a cheerful and upbeat mood, animated movements, and of course, Shopee’s staple soundtrack. 

Screencap from Shopee’s latest 11.11 ad

However, on the back of the recent release for 11.11, some marketing and creative professionals on social media gave their verdict on the ad – which leaned towards disappointment and frustration over its creative execution. 

On Monday, October 25, Richard Bleasdale, a specialist advisor at media investment analysis firm, Ebiquity, shared an article about the ad on a LinkedIn post with the comment, “Is it just me? Or is this without doubt the worst ad ever made? I challenge anyone to nominate better (worse).”

The post attracted other creative experts and advertising leaders to share opinions of their own, which had a resounding rejection of the ad’s conceptualization and overall direction. 

“The bar is very low…”, one ad leader wrote, while one marketing leader pointed out how the ad made him “lost for words.” 

Another agreed to Bleasdale, commenting, “I know what [you] mean. Very disappointing. Was hoping for more [Jackie] action.” 

MARKETECH APAC‘s Inner State reached out to some of the marketing executives that jumped on the post for their official insights on the ad.

A common sentiment among the marketing executives was how the brand failed to leverage Chan’s superstar imprint of action coupled with comedy. 

Shopee’s 11.11 platform-wide sale is running from October 25 to November 11, and the campaign was launched on October 18 on the platform’s YouTube channels across its covered markets.

The ad showed Jackie Chan on the street, being slowly approached by dangerously looking men. With an impending fight scene, Jackie is seen mustering his strength to prepare to defend.

Throughout the 30-second ad, Jackie is able to fight off the men with Shopee’s ‘Big Sale’. Using only his phone, Jackie magically defeats the men by powering through Shopee’s ‘big discounts’, where for every press of a button, discount bubbles pop up, such as “$60 CASHBACK ALL DAY” and “$6 OFF EVERY $50” off the phone and beat the men down. 

Anand Vathiyar, managing director of Cheil Singapore, describes the ad as an ‘orange mess’, a reference to the platform’s orange branding 

“Jackie Chan’s brand equity is action-comedy…Shopee could have done something [on what] we’ve come to love Jackie for instead of the orange mess they’ve rolled out,” said Vathiyar.

Echoing this, Rob Sherlock, advisory board chairman at martech solutions DAIVID, said, “I do think they could have taken Jackie Chan’s trademark antics and dialed them up into something even crazier, more ‘action’ exaggerated – and still have Shoppee fully integrated into the story.” 

He adds that instead of handing Jackie a mere phone in an attempt to inspire action to the ad, Shopee should have had “some whacky martial-arts impossibility performed by Jackie.” 

“And make the Batman & Robin pow-wow cartoon bubbles more integrated into everything we love about the man,” continued Sherlock. 

Meanwhile, Bleasdale, the one who published the LinkedIn post, shared to MARKETECH APAC that he thinks the ad has been “devoid of any idea.” 

When asked what Shopee could have done better, Bleasdale said, “Start with a real brief – with a clear objective and a compelling consumer insight. Anything that responded to that would be better and more effective than this.”

On one hand, executives were also quick to poke on the past Shopee ad with professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, saying that the e-commerce brand had been underperforming with its campaigns even before when it signed the Portuguese sports personality in 2019. 

Shopee’s 9.9 ad in 2019 with Cristiano Ronaldo

The two-year-old ad puts Ronaldo on a football field where shortly after scoring a goal, audiences in the stadium start changing into an orange-wearing army with the trademark Shopee pop-ups coming out of each one. At the middle to the end of the ad, Ronaldo performs the Shopee dance together with his team. 

According to a survey done by consumer research Milieu, 24% of audiences in Singapore ‘dislike’ the 9.9 ad with Ronaldo in 2019, with 56% ‘liking’ it. Of those that disliked the ad, stated reasons were they found it “silly” (60%), made them cringe (60%), and was “annoying” (47%), and lacked product information (37%).

For Sherlock, Ronaldo was the worst use he’s ever seen of a mega-celebrity and thinks if Shopee had done a low-quality ad the first time, it would be difficult to redeem itself.

“It probably worked, drove sales, and tattooed the brand in the consumers’ brains. But, like any sequel, it’s hard to improve on the original – or in this case, be intentionally ‘so bad it’s good’,” said Sherlock.

MARKETECH APAC has already reached out to Shopee for a comment. 

Shopee’s presence expands Southeast Asia and Taiwan. For the latest 11.11 ad, the Thailand market paid the ad a staggering 30 million views on YouTube as of writing. 

The e-commerce platform continues to be the top platform in Southeast Asia with the most visits by consumers in 2020, trailed by Lazada. 

Inner State is MARKETECH APAC’s dedicated platform for industry deep dive.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Smartphone brand vivo in Malaysia has launched a new campaign called ‘Memories of Life’ where smartphone users are called to document their everyday life through video footage. Vivo will then collect these footage which will be made into a full-on documentary dedicated to everyday life.

For the smartphone brand, the campaign’s inspiration stems from the fact that anyone’s ordinary life contributes to the history of humanity, be it a simple sentence or a smile, where every unique story forms the memories of this era.

Interested participants may submit their videos from 27 October 12am to 10 November 11:59pm, film a video within 15 to 60 seconds according to the themes of love, care, hope, dream and joy. To submit the video, participants must upload the video to social media with the hashtag #vivoMemoriesOfLifeMY, and tag @vivo_malaysia on Instagram and Twitter or @vivoMalaysia on Facebook.

In addition, participants are required to send the video through email to [email protected]. 

Participants whose videos have made it to the final cut of the documentary can win prizes from vivo, including vivo X70, vivo TWS 2 ANC, and vivo TWS 2e smartphone units.

For Mike Xu, chief executive officer at vivo Malaysia, the company has garnered positive support from users around the world, and they are honored that their smartphones have become a part of their lives.

“Vivo has witnessed and captured users’ truest memories, the ups and downs and the joy and sorrow. It also provides users with convenience and pleasure for their lives and accompanies them through every trivial matter in their lives. This is indeed the most significant and valuable purpose of vivo smartphones,” Xu stated.

Vivo will launch the documentary from 6 December until 10 December 2021.

Manila, Philippines – Following the announcement of the partnership between global platform for user-generated stories, Wattpad, and Filipino live streaming platform, kumu, in July, the tie-up has finally come out with its very first ‘Wattpad Fan Fest’, a virtual event where fans, readers, and authors can engage and celebrate with the Filipino Wattpad Community. 

The ‘Wattpad Fan Fest’, which will happen on 31 October 2021, aims to bring exciting shows and surprises to delight the reading and writing community for a full day, starting at 10:30 am until 10:00 pm PHT on the @wattpadPH kumu channel. 

Through the event, fans can get a chance to attend multiple ‘Meet and Greets’ throughout the day, play interactive quiz games such as ‘Guess The Story’ and ‘Guess the Star’, and attend a workshop called ‘From Stories to Stars’, featuring writers Loridee DeVilla, Claudia Tan, and Wattpad representatives Aron Levitz, the president of Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and Maria Hall, the international writer lead of Wattpad. 

In addition, the virtual fanfest includes a panel discussion on ‘Publishing as a Passion’ by Wattpad authors Greenwriter, TheCatWhoDoesntMeow, Patyeah, heartlessnostalgia, and kissmyredlips, as well as publishing experts Ryan Benitez of Wattpad, and Anvil’s Arlyn Dimayuga and AJ Villamar. It will also feature ‘Wattpad Fanfest Special’, a live reading of excerpts from Wattpad story ‘He’s Into Her and The Four Bad Boys and Me!’.

Kyla Relucio, kumu’s content partnerships director, said, “kumu has always been groundbreaking in its efforts – from its digital capabilities to innovative show concepts, to its culture that celebrates all creative talents. Kumu is the world we’ve always wanted to build, and we’re so happy to be growing along with them every day.”

Chris Stefanyk, the head of brand partnerships at Wattpad, commented that they appreciate kumu as its safe space allows people to directly engage with their readers, fans, and even idols.

“Through the different live streams, activities, and events, the community is able to come together in a new way and build this exciting culture powered by fresh, creative energy. This is what the writing community has always sought to achieve on a deeper level, and it’s been amazing,” said Stefanyk.

Sydney, Australia – In a bid to promote vaccine equity for all, dentsu’s media agency arm Carat and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Australia have launched the second phase of their ‘Give The World a Shot’ campaign, which targets to drive donations from Australians to ensure vaccine equity for all. In addition, the agency also called on the business community to get behind this initiative.

For AU$5, the amount will be able to deliver two COVID-19 vaccine doses – enough to fully vaccinate one person. A donation of AU$500 can help to deliver enough vaccines to protect 100 people from the virus.

Dentsu had announced last month that they had joined the COVID Vaccination of UNICEF Australia to support positive vaccine advocacy and encourage donations for the global COVAX initiative, which has to date seen 398.9 million doses delivered to 144 countries. The expectation is to deliver 1.4 billion doses by the end of 2021, with a target of 2 billion in early 2022.

https://youtu.be/EHRHPh3H0tE

Sue Squillace, CEO at dentsu Media ANZ, stated that working with UNICEF Australia has been such a rewarding experience for all of them and that they look forward to seeing the campaign come to fruition, adding that they have seen Aussies rise to the COVID-19 challenge and believe they will rally again behind this worthy cause to help UNICEF deliver vaccinations across the world.

“Leveraging our understanding of the Australian context and how people are feeling right now, we have created a tailored ‘Give The World A Shot’ campaign unique to this market with a sense of positivity and optimism. We could not be happier with the message we are putting out there,” Squillance said.

Carat hopes that the campaign encourages all Australians to pay it forward and donate to UNICEF’s ‘Give the World a Shot’ initiative. To aid the campaign, the media agency has triggered its ‘Compassionate Explorer’ audience, identified through dentsu’s proprietary planner tool CCS.

Furthermore, the agency has also triggered its media channels by state in line with Freedom Day, particularly across NSW and Victoria. The dynamic digital large format sites are placed in high quality locations and display contextual messaging, comparing the local suburb vaccination rate with that of low-income countries. In addition, digital homepage takeovers across state mastheads align with print ads to drive cut-through and impact in topical environments and will be staggered based on the level of restrictions in each respective state.

For UNICEF Australia CEO Tony Stuart, the organization is working on the largest procurement and supply operation ever to ensure that countries around the globe have equitable access to 3 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. And yet, no organization can do it alone, and everyone has a part to play so nobody misses out, which is why the campaign is vital to drive donations.

“As Australians reach high vaccination rates and we begin to open up to the rest of the world, now is the time for each of us, as individuals, to know the small, but crucial, part we can play in vaccine equity. Thanks to Carat’s help to grow greater awareness of UNICEF’s Give the World a Shot campaign, we can do this,” Stuart stated.

Meanwhile, Amanda Florence, client manager at Carat, commented, “Working with UNICEF to bring to life an incredibly worthy cause has been a humbling experience for our team. We are very lucky to be in a position where we are able to help those less fortunate than ourselves and believe that no matter how big or how small, everyone can help.”

Singapore – With remote work now grounded as the norm, ‘workplace horrors’ have taken on entirely different forms. This is the spotlight of BBDO Singapore’s new in-house campaign for Halloween. 

Titled ‘WFHalloween’, the campaign aims to let employees share their horror stories ever since the work-from-home setup has become their day-to-day. The campaign creatively uses creepy imagery formed through staple objects found in a remote work setting. 

For example, a Dracula formed by paper clips and a phone, which represents the anxious experience of getting a text from the boss in the middle of the night. Another is a Spider formed by messy computer wires. And lastly, ‘Scream’, a worn-out ominous electricity socket which stands for the intense fear employees get every time they put a plug, “only to realize it doesn’t work when your laptop shuts down in a crucial meeting.”