ADWATCH: Pizza Hut challenges McDonald's despite far lower spend

Pizza Hut has closed in on McDonald's in the TV recall chart in Singapore, with both scoring 93 points to share the number one spot.

Pizza Hut's sister fastfood company KFC took third place with 90 points.

Pizza Hut and KFC marketing manager Lynette Lee said the two could not compete with McDonald's when it came to advertising budgets, but strategy has helped its commercials make an impression with TV audiences.

"Pizza Hut does not have the kind of money McDonald's has. In fact, the Adex report shows that Pizza Hut spent less than a fifth of what McDonald's did in September," Lee said.

"The ads were created based on consumer insights that are relevant and real. I think the relevancy of the TVC makes it highly memorable to our customers."

Meanwhile, furniture and appliances retailer Courts took the fourth place in the chart, with its 'Credit revolution' TVC, which was attributed to the pure simplicity and focus in the message, as well as the spot's clean lines and sleek 3D-animation.

"Creativity can be the most pragmatic tool a businessman can employ.

Courts understood what retail creativity is all about - keep it simple, keep it sweet, keep the sales ringing up," said David Tang, managing director of DDB, which created the Courts TVC.

The newly-launched Visa Mini card took fifth spot.

Shailesh Baidwan, Visa International Asia-Pacific's director for premium products, marketing and product sales, said: "The campaign created significant consumer awareness of Visa Mini's innovative product aspects and complemented the issuing banks' marketing and sales promotional activities."