ESPN Star Sports: Great! It stops me straight away. Life is easy when your products are super stars. The ads ask me questions. They want me to think. I'm neither a racing fan nor a soccer fan. However, I know how sexy these headline questions are. To an average viewer like me, I would love to be asked "Did you see how they crashed?"
Institute of Advertising Singapore (IAS): If this ad only appears in a trade magazine, it's alright. However, if this ad is aimed at non-industry people - clients, family, friends, new blood thinking of entering our industry - I feel sad. We don't normally carry a portfolio briefcase and the 'hot and egg' idea is an old one.
Recruit: I think everybody in Hong Kong knows what Recruit stands for as a brand, even without actually seeing the ad. I would, therefore, choose radio over television as the electronic medium since people would readily identify the brand with the slogan: 'If you like your current job, you don't need Recruit.' They only need to listen to understand. But one thing I would like to suggest to the client: Nobody doesn't know Recruit; nobody doesn't know when to read Recruit; most important, nobody will only read Recruit when they need a new job. Perhaps consideration could be given to a product/brand reinvention.
Samsung: I like the concept behind these two ads, especially the 'female butcher' version. However I don't think it is right to put these ads on four-sheet light boxes in the MTR. How many people can take in this beautiful idea within three seconds as they walk by? But, it works well in magazines and newspapers. One more thing. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the client. You haven't forgotten why you hired your agency.
Also congratulations to the agency. Your client is running ads that fight against the norm.
Mitsubishi Trium Sirius: I feel sorry for these ads and the creative team which has put so much effort into this campaign. I wonder what the client's strategy brief was. I may be wrong but I guess it might have been, "Here are all the product features, please tell me what can I do to sell to young people or "Young people love good-looking stuff, so let's sell them our good-looking products."
Dell: If the client's brief was to make it a new trend to order computers by phone then this campaign is right. It tells people 'how' but not 'why'.
Will people buy a computer without touching it? For the computer-illiterate, I doubt it. So I am guessing that the ads are talking to computer-literate people. If this is the case, try 'why' in the next series of ads.
1 ESPN Star Sports
Project: English Premier League
Client: ESPN Star Sports
Brief: Promote England's top soccer league in Hong Kong and Singapore
Agency: Litt Linden Design Associates
Creative and art director: Suvajit Das
Copywriter: Charles David
Production House: CMYK
2 IAS
Project: IAS Portfolio School
Client: IAS
Brief: Drive student recruitment
Agency: BBH Singapore
Creative director: Steve Elrick
3 Recruit
Project: Recruit
Client: Recruit
Brief: Reinforcing the message that Recruit is a career tool for
everyone
Agency: FCB Hong Kong
Creative director: Patrick Tom/ Nathan Lin
Art director: Patrick Tom/ Benny Lam
Copywriter: Gilbert Po/Erica Sham
4 Samsung
Project: Digitall and Electronics
Client: Samsung
Brief: Increase brand awareness in Hong Kong
Agency: Freeway Communications
Creative director: Timothy Chan
Creative group head: Ming Chan
Art director: Eddie Cheung
Copywriter: Achilles Li
5 Mitsubishi
Project: Trium Sirius
Client: Mitsubishi
Brief: Trium Sirius launch campaign
Agency: D'Arcy Beijing
Creative director: Eddie Wong/ Tina Chen
Copywriter: Tina Chen
Art director: Eddie Wong
6 Dell
Project: Shanghai, Lock
Client: Dell
Brief: Launch campaign
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Guangzhou
Creative director: Vincent Pang
Art director: Chong Beng, Wendy Chan
Copywriter: Joe Liang
