CReATION: Controversy swirling around O&M's racy ads for online guide doAsia

Ogilvy & Mather Singapore has just launched a print ad campaign for doAsia.com, an online no-holds-barred city guide to bars, clubs and restaurants, revelling in controversy and attitude. The ad that launched the company was barred from the Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) and sparked a high-level meeting at the International Herald Tribune before it was agreed that it could run. It was accepted by Business Week. According to O&M, the reason given by the AWSJ was because it featured transvestites. The journal felt that these kinds of people were not appropriate for their readers. "The fact that the AWSJ banned the ad is ridiculous," said Mr Andy Greenaway, executive creative director at O&M, which created the campaign. "The message we're delivering is completely relevant to the service provided by doAsia. The characters in the ad are real people in a real bar. It's real life and I can't see why AWSJ would shy away from reality and pretend this kind of world doesn't exist." Created on a budget of S$500,000 (US$300,000) for four print ads and Zo cards, the campaign has a dual purpose, Mr Greenaway told CReATION. To capture the interest of doAsia's target audience of professionals, businessmen, as well as potential future investors, and to get talked about. That is why an irreverent, humorous, satirical and pointed style was used, reflecting the attitude of the reviews, and creating the founding characteristics of the brand, he said. Headquartered in Singapore, doAsia claims to feature more than 2,000 reviews taken from an online community of residents across Asia. These are compiled and presented by anonymous editors in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bombay, Bangkok, Manila, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai. The information can be accessed through mobile phones and its website (www.doasia.com). Its WAP service is available to users in Singapore, the Philippines and Hong Kong. By courting controversy and leveraging on the PR opportunities, doAsia appears to have stretched their dollars further and formed the foundations of their brand. O&M regional director Tim Isaac said too many companies had been spending wildly to seek further investment and "put their name up in lights rather than build brand values". "Spending has not been sales-driven or on building a brand, but on a brand name and building confidence to go to IPO," he said. "It is cloud-cuckoo land. People haven't stopped to look at brand equity or positioning, other than to the financial community. "It was difficult to see what many dotcoms were offering and what their identity would ever be. The dotcom collapse hasn't arrived here yet, but I'm sure it will happen. "Financial heartache is just round the corner. There won't be so many buses being painted as in the past 12 months as spending contracts." Among O&M's other dotcom clients are Indigoz, Asiatravelmart, Netlock and Giant Oak.Giant Oak is an ecommerce search engine that trawls the Internet for appropriate content to match its users' profiles, and is a JV between Andersen Consulting and Overseas Union Bank (OUB). Giant Oak will have its consumer launch in late October.

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