McDonald's: Wow! They're quite funny, and different from most McDonald's ads. But since McDonald's is now telling me that its crew can save the Queen and stop a runaway train, I'll be a bit disappointed if they ever get my order wrong. (He thinks: "Yes! She thinks I'm funny and different.
Note: must remind my client to crack the whip internally. A memorable ad is disastrous if its promise is not delivered.")
Sony: I remember that. It's quite cool. Are you saying that the picture quality of a Sony is so good that it'll stop me in my tracks? (He thinks: "Yippee! Keeping it simple works every time.")
Vicks: Not bad. The house falling apart due to a bad cough is quite funny. You have a sense of humour. I like that. (He thinks: "Funny is good. Funny works. Let's see, none of the ads blew her away, but most of the work kept her interested. Now it's time to close the sale.")
Chevrolet: Oh, okay. My uncle owned a Chevy once. (He thinks: "Okay?! What do you mean okay?! Why aren't you blown away by how we strategically linked our target audience's choices in 'life journeys' to the thought of 'trusting one's choices' and finally to the fact that Chevrolet is 'chosen and trusted' by 30 million people, including her uncle? We ticked all the boxes in the brief for goodness sakes!")
MobileOne: It's the one with people behaving like chickens right? My friends were talking about it. But what does it mean? (He thinks: "Whew. Well, at least it got talked about. Maybe I should make the idea clearer by writing a whole series of 10-second ads featuring even wackier situations and then demonstrating clearly that it is M1 that makes them possible? Sort of like how the 'Lynx/Axe Effect' is demonstrated.")
Surf: Whoa. What's with the music and cinematography? It's like a detergent ad by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. But ... there's something really sweet about how ordinary people going about their lives are portrayed as heroes. (He thinks: "Hmm ... Everybody's a movie buff. I'm glad we went over the top with the treatment of this spot. If you can't zoom in on the funny bone, reach for the heartstrings, I always say. Hope she now thinks I'm a sensitive guy.")
Certain that his career achievements impress her a little, he leans over to ask, "So ... what do you do?" She responds between sips of champagne, "I'm a rocket scientist. Currently, I'm writing a feasibility study for a manned mission to Mars."
(In the real world, beautiful women do not approach copywriters. But in a real world, people do respond to what's entertaining and surprising.
So if our ads do not stand out from the morass of cliched communication that already exists, do we truly deserve to get laid, whoops, I mean paid, for what we do?)
Andrew Lok is a copywriter at BBH, and the next ECD of Ogilvy Guangzhou. He is married
MCDONALD'S</Paragraph[xyz]Campaign: 'Runaway Train'
Client: McDonald's
Brief: acknowledge the outstanding job that McDonald's crews are doing.
Agency: Leo Burnett Sydney
Creative director: Glen Ryan
Art director: Adam Rose
Copywriter: Ben O'Brien
Production house: Curious Films
SONY WEGA V
Campaign: 'Freeze'
Client: Sony
Agency: Leo Burnett/M&T Vietnam
Executive creative director: Jonathan Swanepoel
Creative director: Piet Human
Senior art director: Paul Busschau
Copywriter: Tong Thanh Nguyen
VICKS
Project: Vicks F44
Client: Procter & Gamble Indonesia
Brief: maintain efficacy as the main reason why people need Vicks F44
for their toughest coughs
Agency: Publicis Metro
Executive creative director: Donald Ee
Creative director: Emmy Kartika Soetrisno
Senior art director: Shinta Leilany
Senior copywriter: Bunga Fitra Manan
CHEVROLET
Project: brand campaign</Paragraph[xyz]Brief: announce Chevrolet launch and build brand awareness
Agency: McCann Erickson Guangming
Creative director: Lee Chi Chuan
Art director: Chu How
Copywriter: Adam Wang
Production house: Match Box
MOBILEONE
Campaign: 'Flash Mob'
Client: MobileOne
Brief: reinforce M1's brand positioning
Agency: TBWA\Singapore
Copywriters: Parag Tembulkar (lead writer), Jason Ng
Art directors: Loh Swee Chen (lead art director), Chris Tan
Production house: Play Films Singapore
SURF
Project: 'Hanap Buhay'
Brief: promote the product awareness
Agency: Lowe Manila
Creative director: Raul Castro
Copywriters: Chachu Lascano, Frances Posa-Ramos
Art directors: NJ Mijares, Noel Bermejo
Interested in having your campaigns reviewed? Send submissions to Atifa Hargrave-Silk in the form of trims, transparencies or video printouts for TVCs plus the TVC itself, and proofs for print ads and posters.
Please send all material to Media, 2201, 22/F The Centrium, 60 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong.