Marketing Stunt Archives - MARKETECH APAC

Australia – Pepsi Max has launched a new campaign, highlighting a design flaw that’s been hiding in plain sight in the name of the brand’s biggest competitor, reminding Aussies that food tastes better with Pepsi Max.

The cheeky OOH-driven campaign, conceptualised by Special, lets drinkers of the competitor’s product know they’re settling for just ‘OK’ when they don’t choose Pepsi Max, with ads appearing on OOH sites across the country. The media strategy also spans print, display, publisher partnerships, an influencer program, and social signs.

The ‘Tastes OK’ campaign, is the latest iteration of the established Pepsi Max ‘Tastes Better’ brand platform, also highlights the unfortunate comparative term ‘OK’ in the spelling of the competitor’s name and invites consumers to choose a better tasting partner for their favourite meal by ordering Pepsi Max.

Vandita Pandey, chief marketing officer, snacks and beverages at PepsiCo ANZ, said, “We have long known that Pepsi Max tastes better than our main competitor and this latest campaign helps us reinforce our position as a challenger brand. Australia’s meals are not being done justice, palates across the nation are being deprived, whilst consumers settle for OK. Working with Special Group to bring to life our bold and disruptive nature with a little light-hearted fun is something we know resonates well with customers.”

Meanwhile, Simon Gibson and Nils Eberhardt, creative directors at Special said: “Getting briefed to work on the ‘Tastes Better’ campaign is exciting and intimidating in equal measure. It’s such a bold and direct line and it’s led to great work in the past, so we all knew we needed to do something that lived up to it. Then, our competitor did it for us. We saw an image they put out into the world and noticed something we couldn’t unsee.”

Manila, Philippines – Following the recent launch of their agency, Filipino indie agency Leron Leron Sinta has debuted its first agency film–and in true hilarious fashion features a tirade of various ad industry cliches most are familiar with now.

The film features local content creator Armando Loko as he wanders through the streets holding cardboard signs that pose clever questions about advertising tropes. In the film, he approaches people in wet markets, jeepneys, and parks to ask them these thought-provoking questions but none of the people seem to have a clear-cut answer.

In the film, Armando spewed questions to the public like, ‘Why do commercials show menstruation blood in blue color?’, ‘Why isn’t there an ad for rice?’, and ‘Why are little people not shown in ads?’.

The film, and its other versions, garnered millions of organic views on TikTok without any paid media spend.

According to Dionie Tañada, co-founder and creative partner at Leron Leron Sinta, the partnership between Leron Leron Sinta and Armando Loko is a testament to the agency’s capability and commitment of championing the masses and Pinoy grassroots creativity.

In a previous exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, the agency noted that their roots of being catered to the masses is what makes them unique in contrast to other agencies.

“We’re the only agency that’s 100% founded by people with an attitude and perspective that came from the grassroots, streets, and rural settings. We’re masa, and we’re proud of it,” they explained, further adding, “Leron Leron Sinta specializes in work that is ‘pang-masa’ (for the masses) and is anchored on creative ideas that help businesses sell and grow,” they stated.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippines was inundated with reports that the well-famed ‘Globe’ located at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) has been ‘stolen’, to which the management has responded with a statement that it has been ‘working’ with authorities regarding the incident.

https://twitter.com/TheMallofAsia/status/1459555603232157697

Adding to the saga fuel was a video uploaded by netizen Chester Allan Tangonan on Facebook, in which his dashboard attached to his motorcycle captured the ‘moment’ that the Globe had been taken away by a helicopter.

The MOA Globe has been a well-known landmark in Metro Manila that has greeted SM MOA customers since its opening in 2006. In 2009, the ‘Globe’ was equipped with LED lights, and therefore called ‘Globamaze’. The Globe is Asia’s first and only fully global video display installation.

*The SM MOA Globe. Photo Courtesy of Charles Gaisano/Flickr*

The ‘accidental’ blame on IKEA Philippines

Netizens have speculated at first that the latest ‘stolen MOA Globe’ saga was a marketing stunt by the Philippine arm of multinational furniture giant IKEA. It should be noted that IKEA Philippines, known to be the largest IKEA store globally, is set to open in November 25 this year after delays.

As the ‘stolen MOA Globe’ saga continued, IKEA Philippines recently posted a statement across their social media channels that clarified that their local brand mascot, Tito Ball, was not to be blamed for the incident. They also added that while their mascot was last seen at the vicinity during November 11 this year, they ‘asked’ the public to await ‘investigation’ results.

https://twitter.com/IKEAPHP/status/1459753960886378496

It was Netflix’s ‘Red Notice’ stunt after all

Hours after the ‘incident’ was made public, Netflix Philippines announced across their social media platforms that the Globe is ‘back’, and it was all part of a marketing ploy to promote the platform’s newest film ‘Red Notice’.

The film follows the story of an FBI agent John Hartley, played by Dwayne Johnson, who reluctantly teams up with an international art thief Nolan Booth (played by Ryan Reynolds) to capture Sarah Black, played by Gal Gadot.

Industry insiders have estimated that the film has made US$1.25m to US$1.5m from 750 theaters in the United States before its streaming debut on 12 November.

https://twitter.com/Netflix_PH/status/1459732845488852996

So, who stole the ‘stunt’? Netizens react

Netizens were quick to assume in the first few hours of the ‘stolen MOA Globe’ incident that IKEA Philippines was the brand behind the stunt due to the nearing opening date of IKEA’s first-ever store in the country. Furthermore, netizens also joked that the Globe might be stolen, only to be replaced by Tito Ball, which takes the personification of a meatball, a known food staple served across IKEA franchises globally.

After the revelation of the marketing stunt by Netflix Philippines, netizens were disappointed with the execution, with many saying that the stunt lacked a ‘surprise element’, a huge contrast to Netflix Philippines’ widespread stunt for the Filipino occult series ‘Trese’, which ranged from ‘slashed’ billboards to taking over the facade of media conglomerate ABS-CBN.

Netizens were also quick to point out that IKEA Philippines got free publicity out of this ‘saga’, due to the lack of information prior to the true nature of the marketing stunt.

Apart from the brand stunts, the ‘incident’ made it to the top trending topics in Twitter Philippines. According to aggregate results from BrandMentions, the hashtag ‘#MOA_GLOBE’ has been shared 26.5k times, with a total reach of 209.5k across the platform.