They're grrrrreat: Our favourite Year of the Tiger campaigns

Campaign Asia-Pacific editors voted on their favourite Year of the Tiger work, sorting the year's crop of festive campaigns into a top three, a few runners up, and...the rest.

THE TOP THREE

1. Nothing but sheer joy
Brand: BMW
Agency: TBWA Bolt

By a unanimous vote, BMW drives away with the best CNY ad of the year, according to Campaign's editors. Where some brands try to make us cry with sweeping epics, our pal Ad Nut observed, BMW has done the opposite, with nothing but 90 seconds of vibrant, branding-heavy eye candy.

2. The Worst Fung Shui Master
Brand: Julie's Biscuits
Agency: GOVT Singapore

The brand tells the tale of a fortune-teller so bad, people start doing the opposite of what he recommends. Since Julie's put out the "hands-down best Raya ad of the year" last year, we've had high expectations for the brand. This 10-minute film is funny and engaging in a non-cringe way. Plus, it's easy to root for the main character despite his various mishaps.

3. The Comeback
Brand: Apple
Agency: TBWA Media Arts Lab Shanghai

The brand's 23-minute film shot on iPhones is about a film shot on iPhones. Ad Nut thought it worked a bit less well as a story than as a showcase of the iPhone's capabilities, but it certainly looks amazing, and the ending was satisfying in its refusal to be overly satisfying.

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RUNNERS UP

Crazy Real Singaporeans
Brand: Amazon Singapore

A young couple faced with hosting reunion dinner solves every problem—including new clothes for their cat—by shopping on Amazon. Overt in its brand relevance, the film connects the pressures of CNY with the many ways Amazon can assist in relieving those pressures in an engaging way, connecting traditional expectations with the ease of modern day services.

KaiKai MaiMai (ft. Dharni, Mamiko, Wanglei & Qiao'Er)
Brand: KaiKai

Who can argue with the time-tested tactic of having some popular figures repeat your brand name 75,000 times in 90 seconds?

A spark for change
Brand: RHB Bank
Agency: FCB Malaysia

Chinese New Year is merely the setting, not the focus, for this campaign underlining the brand's ESG aspirations. But it worked for our pal Ad Nut who responded to the heartwarming family angle about a dad who learns something from his kid.

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THE REST

WonderFu Fortune
Brand: Tenaga Nasional Berhad
Agency: Entropia
Market: Malaysia

Aunty Choi experiences a run of bad luck so bad that she decides not to see her family during the festival, fearing her bad luck will rub off on them. You can probably guess that her family is having none of that.

 

The Visitor List
Client: Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI)
Agency: Grey

Selling the idea of keeping gatherings small is a tough brief at this stage of the pandemic, but Grey gives it a solid effort for Singapore's MCI..

 

Abundant Joy
Brand: Lego

Produced in collaboration with Malaysian TV personality and YouTube creator Danny Ah Boy, Lego's entry focuses on keeping cultural traditions alive. The family in the film ends up playing with some a special Lunar New Year Lego set that focuses on those traditions, but Ad Nut would prefer the neat-looking tiger set.

 

Auspicious Dishes, Spritzer Wishes
Brand: Spritzer
Agency: FCB Malaysia

Start the year with shiny hair, strong nails, and glowing skin, by cooking with silica-rich Spritzer mineral water, argues this new-year ad, the agency's first work for the brand since becoming its agency of record in Q4. Ad Nut presumes you can also just drink the water.

 

Real Magic Lunar New Year
Brand: Cola-Cola
Agency: Ogilvy Shanghai

The brand pulls out all the stops with a campaign including a cinema-quality animated film, 3D OOH, mobile games, ecommerce integration and limited-edition packaging. The new cat clan looks great, and the breadth of the campaign is impressive, but overall the story lacks the fizz that would put it over the top. 

 

全民利是，一喜逗PayMe！祝你一pay發財
Brand: HSBC PayMe

The electronic-payment app features youthful celebs Keung To, Ivana Wong, Marf Yau, Day Hui, Ray Chan alongside the real star—the app's mascot, 'PayMeow'. The campaign promotes a group laisee feature that lets users send red packets with festive messages to up to 100 recipients in one go.

 

A Taste of Home: Savour Your Moments of Reconnection
Brand: Prudential Singapore
Agency: MullenLowe Singapore

A Chinese New Year meal with loved ones joining over Zoom? What is this 2020? The twist in this film is that the agency got well-known chef Ivan Yeo to recreate dishes made by the mom of a Prudential customer who's unable to be with her parents physical this year.