Week in review: Elections and underwear provoke strong reactions

News

By far the biggest story of the week, judging by our traffic statistics, was our story confirming that Rapp KL is the agency behind some Malaysian political ads that have been criticised for "fear-mongering" about Islam. As of this writing, we've updated the story with information about an online petition to boycott the agency.

(To lighten things up, today we take a look at the charming tradition of politicians who sing in Malaysian campaign ads—with varying degrees of success.)

Turning to the kind of campaigns we cover more frequently, the Singapore Tourism Board awarded its sought-after creative account to JWT (the incumbent was BBH), while retaining MEC and XM Asia for media and digital, respectively. JWT had a good week: The network's Hong Kong shop scored a high-profile win in Hartmann and High Sierra—Samsonite sub-brands that will launch in Asia in the third quarter. And today, Nestle in Thailand awarded JWT Connect digital duties for a bunch of brands.

The shortlist for our Festival of Asian Marketing Effectiveness (FAME) came out yesterday. It includes 136 entries from 14 countries, from a total of 881 entries received. The festival takes place in a mere two weeks, 8 and 9 May.

In other news:

• Six agencies vie for Petronas Malaysia creative account
• EQ Diaper TVC deemed "grave insult" to history
• Y&R Indonesia named LG Mobile's creative agency
• Proton Malaysia puts Naga DDB and Pico agencies on 1-year trial
• ADK scoops Nikon Taiwan's creative account for high-end DSLR series

Analysis and Data

Our reporters this week took in-depth looks at:

• McDonald's plan to change its fortunes in Japan by raising prices
• How brands can engage with fans through the power of music on Spotify
• The aggressive regional expansion plans of the two most popular MMA (mixed martial arts) organisers
• The credibility problems of the government-backed Chinese Red Cross
• The pervasiveness of showrooming and why it's a great opportunity.

The Work

As mentioned above, Malaysia's election ads created quite a stir.

Creating strong feelings of a different kind was condom-maker Durex, which scored worldwide press by announcing that it had invented underwear that allows distant lovers to enjoy 'sexy time' over the internet. In reality, the company only developed prototypes of underwear with built-in vibration capabilities, but you can't argue with the tactic in terms of marketing, because the online video has been viewed more than 4 million times. 

We also showed you:

• Jim Beam helicopters delivering giant cans of its beverage to partygoers at Bondi Beach
• Stinky cheese and fish talking about the virtues of Mentos
• A star-studded effort for WeChat in Singapore
• Snickers combining the 'Harlem shake', 'Gwiyomi', and Hong Kong bloggers
• A hapless person in a crab-claw suit who gets a brief respite from the heat thanks to Tempo tissues
• A campaign by Hong Kong's Pricerite that may sound slightly familiar because it's an exact copy of the Tesco campaign a couple years ago that won a Grand Prix at Cannes for Cheil Worldwide.

And finally

We'll leave you with the feel-good hit of the week, the latest irresistable entry from Evian. How did these babies learn such moves?

Thanks for reading Campaign Asia-Pacific. Have a great weekend.