Tag: Campaign

Australia – Following the recent launch of Riverina Dairy Co.’s new range of flavor-infused cheeses, the dairy brand has released a new campaign series, aimed at convincing consumers to create an adventure in the kitchen.

The campaign, which is created in collaboration with independent agency Paper Moose, features a series of micro-narratives that highlights the brand’s new range of cheeses by bringing food to life – such as summiting a mountain of basil pesto fetta and hiking across spicy jalapeno halloumi slabs, among others. 

Riverina said that each spot was filmed entirely in-camera, utilizing miniatures of varying scales coupled with sound design to transport the viewer’s imagination to intrepid culinary scenarios.

Karen Prebble, the head of marketing at Riverina Dairy Co., shared that they needed an agency partner that understood the importance of standing out from the crowded dairy aisle while growing their category at the same time. 

“Paper Moose was the perfect fit to bring our fresh-thinking new fetta and halloumi range to life,” said Prebble. 

Jeremy Willmott, Paper Moose’s creative director, commented, “What better way to showcase Riverina’s ‘daring’ range of flavored cheeses than a daring miniature adventure set atop your dinner. Who says you can’t play with your food?”

The campaign has already rolled out on 1 November across online, social, and print, as well as retail.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – RHB Premier, the premier banking services arm of RHB, has launched its newest integrated campaign which aims to convey its belief in applying the century-old bank’s tried and tested financial wisdom of the past to the wealth and investment landscapes of today and tomorrow.

Titled ‘Golden Wisdom’, the campaign depicts two renowned custodians of Chinese art – traditional calligrapher Ong Chia Koon, and contemporary visual artist Jaemy Choong, who unknowingly go head-to-head in bringing to life three wealth management concepts using their own respective art forms. As they both finished their artworks, both of their works were dramatically combined to create artistic masterpieces that were greater than the sum of their parts. 

The two artists, meeting for the first time throughout the whole co-creating process, then came to a realization that the wisdom of yesterday can indeed guide one today to the success of tomorrow.

The campaign, made possible by creative agency FCB Malaysia, aims to mark the bank’s long-term aspiration to become the bank of choice for affluent Malaysian Chinese. 

Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, group chief marketing officer at RHB Bank, noted that as the ‘Golden Wisdom’ campaign marks its first-ever brand campaign, they did not only stop at embarking on something that no other financial institutions in Malaysia had attempted before, but also establish the philosophy behind the bank’s approach to wealth management and investment.

“I believe we’ve achieved that with the help of Chia Koon and Jaemy, two personalities from different ends of the artistic spectrum who managed to leverage on their respective past and present techniques to co-create something that neither of them could achieve alone. To me, this collaboration is a true encapsulation of our brand belief of ‘Together We Progress’,” Murad said.

Aside from their appearance in the film, the three Golden Wisdom artworks – which feature fusions of traditional strokes and modern touches – were then used as print advertisements, social media content, and other communication materials for RHB Premier’s suite of wealth management products.

Speaking about the creative process, Tjer Wang, creative director at FCB Malaysia, stated that selling the idea of ‘Golden Wisdom’ during the pitch was an exciting experience for them, because it was such a refreshing, bold, and ambitious take on a subject that is generally perceived as uninteresting due to financial institutions always choosing to ‘play it safe’ when it comes to premier banking communications.

“And if I’m going to be totally honest, that was also the reason why our excitement quickly turned into nervousness after we had won the pitch. Pushing the envelope of creativity to introduce a brand that’s as well-regarded as RHB Premier could only end in two ways — a complete disaster or a resounding triumph. But thanks to the good people at RHB Premier who never stopped believing in us and the idea, and the amazing efforts of our production partners in Restless Productions and GT Records, this campaign came out a winner,” Wang added.

Meanwhile, Ong Shi Ping, co-owner and chief creative officer at FCB Malaysia, commented, “What we’ve achieved with ‘Golden Wisdom’ is building a sustainable platform for the bank to continue introducing their wealth and investment products around a compelling and unique story behind the brand’s philosophy. So, ‘Golden Wisdom’ marks the start of a long and exciting journey for RHB Premier, and you can expect to see a lot more audacious work from the brand in the near future.”

Shanghai, China – Chocolate brand Dove in China has launched a new campaign aimed at driving top-of-mind awareness and a new consumption occasion by targeting an area where pleasure is too often forgotten – in the workplace.

Led by advertising agency BBDO Shanghai, the campaign was produced with neuroscientist, Paul Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University, in order to incorporate expert consultation at the storyboard and planning stage, specifically the use of immersion neurological response testing to make iterative choices for the final two films.

Titled ‘Put Pleasure First’, the campaign is composed of two stories that were set against two low emotions– ‘disappointment’ and ‘stress’ in the workplace. It features Dove’s brand ambassador, Zhou Dongyu, who finds herself on these occasions, but rather than being let down, playfully decides to create an ‘oddly pleasurable’ video out of the things that made her disappointed or stressed.

The brand experience is completed by a series of special packs, featuring five different taglines that express pleasure attitudes towards low emotions at work, giving shoppers instant encouraging messages to have a piece of Dove and put their ‘pleasure’ first. 

Harry Chen, BBDO Shanghai’s group planning director, shared that workplace low emotions are becoming such a ubiquitous phenomenon in China as the competition and pressure have intensified in recent years.

“Dove has always been a brand that stands for pleasure, so we felt we had the opportunity and responsibility to help Chinese people cope with these low emotions a little bit better and experience more pleasure,” said Chen. 

Meanwhile, Arthur Tsang, the chief creative officer at BBDO Shanghai and the global creative lead at Mars, noted about the campaign’s strategy of banking on videos for the campaign, that while Chinese office workers don’t look to chocolate as a stress-reliever, they do on videos.

“We asked ourselves, can we interrupt their break sessions with videos that can make them feel the pleasure of chocolate directly? That’s what we call ‘Oddly Pleasurable’ videos, short audio-visual experiences that can scientifically bring a pleasurable feeling of satisfaction and relaxation, much like the sensation of eating Dove chocolate,” said Tsang. 

On social media, Dove has also released a behind-the-scenes documentary, chronicling the making of the whole ideation, production, and neuro testing process, while on Douyin, a re-edited Zhou Dongyu film was released to encourage consumers to experience the content. 

Moreover, Dove has launched more videos that leverage the actual chocolate product with influencers on Weibo and Douyin, which also encouraged consumers to create their own oddly pleasurable videos.

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.