If there's nothing unique about the product, surely we can find a unique personality or attitude for the brand.
Pepsi Blue. How refreshing. I could see lots of ideas coming out just by looking at the product name. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the creative team had taken the easy way out. It's the very first thought that comes into most creative people's mind - let's make everything blue.
What's the idea? I can't figure this one out, apart from seeing blue everywhere in the campaign. Strategically, it fails to capitalise on the overall positioning of Pepsi - 'Ask for more'. It's not just about the colour of the cola. It doesn't matter whether it's green, purple or white, but what this new colour cola means to the consumers and the brand. It's about the brand living up to its promise and the consumers having an alternative attitude towards their lives. They should have turned the colour into an emotional benefit, which is never settle for what you have, create a life you want to live.
Wow! a three-minute commercial from Toyota Unser just to sell a car on spaciousness. What a luxury. Using an old, black-and-white movie genre is not new. The spot was well put together with the right talents, props, music, cut, backdrops and a clever use of different languages mixed in.
It's entertaining to watch, it's funny to see the wooden acting and the imperfect cuts. Creatively, I don't think it needed three minutes to communicate the story; you probably could do it within a minute.
I adore the thinking behind this Diesel ad. It's the only campaign that's taking the piss out of cliche advertising. Because everybody is into research these days, it seems that research is the only way to justify our existence.
It's a great idea to tell the whole world that there's a better way to make use of research findings. The campaign was beautifully art directed with models integrated into pie and bar charts and figures. Words were well crafted with terminology that is commonly used in research. I could see this campaign was put together painstakingly by some brilliant creatives, and I'm sure they had lots of fun doing it. Can't wait to see the next installment.
The idea with One Beacon Hill was to show highly-respected people who enjoy status and recognition. If you're one of them, this property is exclusively designed for you. Strangely though, out of the three highly-regarded people in the commercial, not one of them was Chinese. I began to wonder; it seems to me that this ad does not acknowledge the fact that Chinese can have the same status and recognition as Westerners, particularly in a Chinese market. The message would be more relevant to its target audience if it had at least a Chinese figure in it.
These days, it's hard to come by a great product like Singapore Airlines.
Unfortunately, the commercial didn't do any justice to the airline's superior inflight entertainment product, Kris World. Apart from the well-executed animated character, I can't seem to be able to see the real benefit of Kris World. It makes me think that I am watching a Sony PlayStation ad.
Personally, I think there's a better way to sell Kris World than just seeing an animated character jumping in and out of video screens.
SATELINDO
Project: Matrix and Mentari
Client: Satelindo
Brief: promote the pre- and post-paid telephone cards under the 'Freedom
to be you' tagline
Agency: Bates and 141, Indonesia
Creative group heads: Stephen Husein (Bates)/Aditya (141)
Art directors: Ifan Bachrum/ Nouha Saleh
Copywriters: Wira Hadiprakoso/Darrick Subrata
PEPSI
Project: Pepsi Blue
Client: Pepsi
Brief: build the Pepsi Blue brand
Agency: J. Walter Thompson, New Delhi
Creative director/art director: Soumitra Karnik/ Prashanto Mukherji
Copywriter: Surjo Dutt
TOYOTA
Project: Trojan Goat
Client: Toyota
Brief: reinforce the top-selling Unser brand in the MPV category
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Malaysia
DIESEL
Project: The global Diesel individuals market research
Client: Diesel
Brief: underline Diesel as being in the forefront of fashion
Agency: Diesel creative team and KesselsKramer
Photographer: Luis Sanchis
ONE BEACON HILL
Project : Flair
Client : Cheung Kong Holdings
Brief : An unspoken flair
Agency: Leo Burnett Hong Kong
Creative directors: Connie Lo/ Ray Lam
Copywriter: Connie Lo/ Yvonne Kwan
Art Director: Ray Lam
SINGAPORE AIRLINES
Project: KrisWorld
Client: Singapore Airlines
Brief: highlight the airline's inflight entertainment system as the best
in the world
Agency: Batey Ads, Singapore
Interested in having your campaigns reviewed? Send submissions to Alfred Hille 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, 28/F, Dorset House, 979 King's Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong.