It may have been just barely pipped to the post for the Best of the
Best prize at last month's Asian Advertising Awards, but Thai entries
endeared themselves to the regional advertising community with their
trademark humour, wit and edge.
As other markets in Asia continue to blame the late '90s financial
crisis and shrinking ad budgets to justify a poor showing, both factors
don't appear to have stopped Thailand from producing some of the most
creative and inventive campaigns in the region. This despite
challengingly low budgets that are also a fact of life in Thailand.
Which may explain why Leo Burnett Thailand's managing director Pornsiri
Rojmeta is so nonchalant about the issue of Thai creativity. "Thai ads
are creative. Everybody knows about that already."
Pornsiri's right. Thailand continues to rack up awards from top shows
around the globe, including five of the past 13 Best of Best prizes at
media's Asian Advertising Awards, although it lost the top prize to
Mumbai this year.
Thailand was one of two Asian markets along with Japan to make the top
10 list of most awarded countries in last year's second annual Gunn
Report.
Compiled by Donald Gunn, Leo Burnett's former director of creative
resources worldwide, the creative dynamism of eighth-placed Thailand is
unmatched in Southeast Asia. Its creative vitality places it ahead of
regional economic powerhouses like Singapore (in 10th place) or Hong
Kong (16th spot).
But the point is to determine what makes Thai advertising sparkle, to
find an explanation for its success. Is there a uniquely Thai creative
process. Some strange secret? Is it something in the water? Perhaps the
water theory isn't too far off. "Look at the food we eat - it's spicy,
it's sour, it's hot, but it's never ever bland. And food is very
reflective of a society," says Pornsiri.
Indeed, relatively undisturbed by colonisation or war, Thailand has
developed an expressive culture that stands apart from its neighbours,
says Kriengsak Niratpattanasai, social commentator and committee member
of the Top Advertising Contest of Thailand Awards. "In comparison to
Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism, this culture encourages
individualism, youthful idealism and tolerance for divergent views,"
Kriengsak says.
Charuvarn Vansiri, chairwoman and chief executive of Lowe Lintas and
Partners, agrees. "I think it goes back to Thailand being a free
country, never having been colonised, so we are very tolerant of other
beliefs. That fosters an environment where the creative mind
thrives."
Charuvarn is speaking from experience - her agency's creative thinking
earned it a place among the world's top 10 creative agencies last
year.
"There's a tremendous lust for life here and that comes through in
everything, in the food, in the way people express themselves, the
nightlife," says Philip Eisenbeiss, senior vice-president and business
development director at Lowe Lintas. "When it comes to the visual arts,
Thailand is absolutely, stunningly rich. There are so many great Thai
artists, great draftsmen, you can see their work in the architecture, in
the wall paintings and murals in the temples. There's a great natural
talent that fits in well with advertising."
Yet despite the wealth of native talent, many cite Australian Barry
Owen, who headed Ogilvy & Mather's creative team, as the man who put the
local industry on the winning track. Owen, now 54 and retired, sparked a
trend in the late 1980s by creating television spots for Singha beer
that incorporated lush scenes of Thai life coupled with conservation -
images and ideas never before seen in Thai advertising. Younger
creatives like Ctar Sudasana Na Ayudhaya of Siam Studio, and Thor
Santasiri of TBWA Next & Triplet Advertising followed suit, eager to
look to their own culture for inspiration.
Korn Tepintarapiraksa, creative director at Ogilvy & Mather, also
adopted the idea. "I try to project the reality of Thai life in my work.
It can't feel fake at all, the characters have to be sincere for
me."
Thinking Thai has paid off for Korn, 45. He picked up the Best of the
Best at the recent Bangkok Art Directors Awards for Wrangler Jeans'
"Torture" TVC, which was a serious contender for the top prize in the
Asian Advertising Awards.
"I give credit to Barry Owen. He used to tell me, 'If you don't feel
free, you can't create good work.' That's what I remind my team, to do
whatever they want - keeping the budget in mind, of course. Later we can
figure out how to make the idea relevant to the product."
In a nation that enjoys a good chuckle, thinking Thai has also
encouraged creatives to douse their work with a liberal dose of humour.
Gunn describes humour as one of the more powerful tools in advertising.
The use of it, he adds, is particularly strong in the top-ranked markets
like the US and Britain. It also accounts for Thailand's strong showing
in Gunn's 2000 report.
In Thailand, the humour is both light and dark, evident in the "Torture"
TVC. A young woman washing her philandering partner's jeans and finds a
note in one pocket and a red bra in another. Angered by her find, she
takes her frustration out on the jeans, literally torturing it with
every brush stroke.
Having an understanding client helps too. Korn says: "Fortunately, with
Wrangler, the client was very trusting. They didn't really agree to the
idea at first but they finally trusted our judgement and they were very
happy with the results. I give a lot of credit to good clients, clients
who let us take risks."
Of course ideas that win awards are pointless unless they sell the
product, but a focus on the consumer is at the heart of the best Thai
work. Ethan Schoonover, e-business director of Lowe Lintas, observes: "I
think it's something cultural, maybe it's to do with the service culture
here, but there is a tremendous focus on what will please the consumer."
The best creative executives are focused on what the consumer responds
to, rather than - as Korn says - just "trying to impress the
juries".
So what is it that speaks to Thai consumers? "Thais want to be
entertained. People's lives, especially since the economic crash, are
difficult and they want something to make them feel good and get their
minds off the bad things," says Maitree Ariyasajjakorn, executive
creative director at local agency SC Matchbox and a Cannes award winner.
"Finding a new way to do this is my challenge."
Another possible source of the fresh ideas is the youthful idealism that
Kriengsak mentioned. At 37, Eisenbess confesses he's already beginning
to feel like a veteran thanks to art directors as young as 22 taking
hold of the reins. "It's true, the average age is very young, even the
account executives are really young," he says. "You walk around and you
see all these kids, and then you go to Hong Kong or Singapore and the
age difference is quite dramatic. And that's a big part of it - it's a
young industry, and those that aren't young physically are young at
heart."
Back in Burnett's Idea Room, Pornsiri contemplates the future of the
industry. "It's a difficult time for advertisers, you have to compete
with the remote control, the web, so many more distractions." As well,
the financial crisis has taken a toll on many of Thailand's smaller
agencies, and the larger ones have been forced to come up with leaner
management strategies to stay competitive.
But fortunately there's a crop of upcoming creatives who have retained
the Thai touch, complete with the dark humour, which makes Thai
advertising so memorable.
Maitree of SC Matchbox recounts: "As part of a workshop we run, we gave
some students a brief to develop a Nike ad. And one of the students came
up with an ad that featured a Nike-clad jogger, walking his dog.
"The jogger is holding a leash, and the leash is attached to a collar -
but in the collar is just the dog's head, leaving a trail of blood. Nike
shoes make you run fast! What a great way to say that!"
Maitree can't wait to set his proteges loose on the world. And with
cutting-edge ideas like these in the works, Thai entries could well take
home the prizes for a long time to come.
