I don't think 2000 turned out to be the cake walk that everyone
seemed to think it was going to be, but at least it was a return to
helping clients create more value in their brands.
It is a much more preferable pastime to discussing how long the crisis
will last.
My observation would be that the industry has reaped the rewards of zero
investment during the crisis.
We are now paying the price of shortage of good people in account
management and competing with ridiculous freelance rates for creative
staff.
And what are all these expensive freelancers producing anyway?
I said last year we were in a period of transition at BBH and I think
that this year that has started to show the results. A return to the
simple pleasure of doing great and effective work.
The creative highlight was undoubtedly having creative work running in
four different countries almost simultaneously for four different
clients that were the most talked about ads at the time.
In China, our Alpenliebe commercial made that brand the most famous
candy in the country.
In Japan and the region, our work for Levi's Engineered Jeans played its
part in creating the most successful launch since 501s.
The launch commercial for Unilever's Refresh brand in Indonesia has not
only created a new star in the main character (a fish) but also created
fame for the brand that drove immediate trial.
And in Singapore, the SingTel ICC Card became famous again with the
Irene Ang Diner commercial. I'm just bursting to tell you the tracking
results, but I'd have to shoot you and SingTel would shoot me!
And now I think of it, the real highlights were: the ecstatic internal
client email about the Alpenliebe performance, a drunken journalist
going on and on about the Levi's work, seeing the Levi's sales figures,
hearing consumers say they bought Refresh because of the advertising and
hearing people talk about and enjoy the SingTel ad in the cinema.
After all, and we should never forget: isn't that why we got into this
business?
Creativity in all we do is far more likely to end up with creative
product at the end.
What kills creativity more than anything? Focus groups. One highlight
for me this year was actually a piece of research we did. Research?
Yep.
But not focus groups.
In a region where it is notoriously difficult to get any kind of handle
on consumers across borders, we developed one of the most interesting
and insightful pieces of work I've seen or been involved in. It was
called Elixir.
Elixir was co-sponsored by Unilever, DeBeers and MTV, and it gave us a
powerful insight into the hopes, dreams and motivations of the youth
market around the region and their implications for marketing.
Thanks to our sponsors. It was not only of value to them but helped
inform our creative output by helping understand what will really get
the attention of youths and young adults across the Asia-Pacific
region.
When we set up here, we wanted to create a regional business from our
office in Singapore.
The two challenges were consumer understanding and opportunities from
this geographic location. This year I believe we have really started to
achieve it.
And when you add Unilever to your client list you have to believe you
are starting to get some of the basics right.
Thank you and happy new year to our staff in Singapore and Japan, and to
our clients.
