ABSOLUT
Client: Absolut Vodka
Brief: to launch an engaging brand experience with Absolut Voyeur.
Agency: Whybin\TBWA and Tequila
Creative director: Gary Godkin
Copywriter: Stuart Clark
ABSOLUT VOYEUR: A peep-hole is not new, but here the concept seems to work by challenging people's curiosity. The voyeur in me would definitely look into this hole. And the surprise? When you peep into the hole, you see a video of yourself peeping (shot from a hidden camera.) This is a fun concept that could evolve in the future. This is a chance for the creative team to develop this concept and have more fun, which I'm sure is a chance the team won't miss.
PINGAN
Project: PingAn IPO campaign
Brief: to celebrate PingAn's IPO in Hong Kong.
Client: PingAn Insurance
Agency: Lowe China
Creative director: Simmom Wang
Art director: Alex Zhang
Copywriter: Frank Zhao
PINGAN OF CHINA: I'm sure the team had a better solution but, for all the usual reasons, this is it. From time to time, we do produce ads like this. I bet it has happened to you too.
Osim
Project: Osim iSymphonic AV launch TVC 'What you see, what you hear,you
feel it'
Brief: to launch the world's first synchronised audio, visual and
massage chair experience.
Creative agency: LH Marketing Communications
Art director: Peter Teo
Copywriter: Jane Koh
Production house: Gravity Films
OSIM: 'Having a massage while enjoying TV/audio' deserves a more unique creative solution. Or, if the task was to make it look/feel expensive to justify the price (US$4,000 or so), it wouldn't have been a bad idea to go the 'B&O way'. But you're going nowhere by combining both, showing a cool-looking model and fancy supertitles, 'what you see, what you hear, you feel it ...' with tap dancing.
4. PRUDENTIAL
Project: 'Hands'
Brief: To promote a new fund product.
Agency: Leo Burnett M&T Vietnam
Executive creative director: Jonathan Swanepoel
Art director: Paul Busschau
Copywriters: Piet Human, Pete Watman
Director: Stafford Robinson
Production house: Chas Films, South Africa; The Bandits, Thailand
PRUDENTIAL: Family. Love. Care. Past. Present. Future. These standard ingredients make up a very standard insurance ad. Using a pair of hands to make the ad slightly different is a good idea, if all the 'standard' ideas or routes are unavoidable. The emotional route is a safe but guaranteed formula. If it had been real emotions reaching out to us, with real people, that would have moved us. It would have been better. Perhaps fewer dolly/track/wedding ring/cute grandchild shots could have resulted in a less fake/cliche/corporate feel.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Project: Anti-violence campaign
Brief: Anti-violence campaign for the Office of the Status of Women,
Federal Government, Canberra
Client: Australian Federal Government
Agency: Grey Global Group Australia
Creative director: Nigel Dawson
Art director: Tim Holmes
Copywriter: Nigel Dawson
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Using points of view from both the male and female side is the beauty of this campaign. If it had shown each woman's point of view right after every man's, that would have been lovely.
7-ELEVEN
Project: 7-Eleven
Brief: To promote the real benefit of 'instant satisfaction'
Client: 7-Eleven
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Hong Kong
Creative directors: Shaun Branagan, Patrick Tom and Vivian Fung
Art director: Tiffany Huang
7-ELEVEN: In one spot, 'Coma', we see a patient wake from a coma. He sees the bill and his faith is back. Then, the ad cuts to the promotional message 'Need money? Scratch and win $5 million'. The build-up isn't there, most likely limited by the length of the commercial. What about taking the emotions we saw in the Prudential ad and using it in this story to build up contrast between the start of the commercial and the end? The second spot in the series, 'Mahjong', sees a woman cheating at a mahjong table. Then we see the product, a scratch card, and the same message as the first spot. Had the focus been more on the consequences of cheating, viewers would have found this ad more entertaining.
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.