Marketing guru says... #3

There are good ads and there are bad ads. The good ones will make you laugh, cry and leave a lasting impression in your head. The bad ones, obviously, will make you go 'Aiyoh? What on earth was that about?!'.

Examples of the former: the new McDonald's 'Serving you great moments, anytime, anywhere' campaign. I think they ripped the 'KFC moments' campaign but that's another story for another day. The emo TVC shows different people engaged in different activities throughout the day, all involving McD products and some in a McD restaurant. Tugs at my heartstrings and makes me wanna cry. Brings back memories of the McD in World Trade Centre (the old one facing the sea, the site where the Cruise Centre sits presently) where I used to hang out with my buddies after 'house practise', when the Cheesburger was still $1.20 and a small soft drink cost only $0.90. But the real reason why I wanna cry is because I recall an occassion where we ran after the bus to go back to school and dropped my soft drink. Half my lunch gone in a whiff. Major bummer.

Examples of the latter: 987FM's 'Live life dangerously' campaign. Or 'on the edge' or whatever. See, it's so bad I can't even recall the tagline. The cringe-worthy TVC has this guy walking down the street with a boombox on his shoulder and almost gets the antenna entangled onto some power lines hanging overhead. Then the tagline comes out. Maybe I'm just dense or maybe I'm not the target audience (i.e. the 'cool' and 'funky' crowd), but I totally don't get that at all.

Then there are others in between. They are neither good nor bad, but rather just make you scratch your head. Examples would include the Axe Oil bus ad. Makes me wonder who approved that creative. It never fails to give me a headache whenever I see it. But perhaps that's the whole idea, to link the bus ad to headaches. On that note I would say that ad works.

Another exmaple would be the Sheng Siong TVC. The 'All About You' tagline reminds of an old Hokkien evergrenn Long Si Wee Tio Li. Translated it mean 'it's all for you' or 'it's all because of you'. It's one of those heart-wrenching songs about unrequited love (but then again most Hokkien oldies are) that is always a hot favourite among senior citizen recreation clubs on karaoke nights. Given the target market of Sheng Siong, I would say this one works as well. Though the cheesy acting on the TVC makes my hair stand.

*MORAL OF THE STORY: if you got something to say, make sure you say it right so that people will remember it! Ask anyone about the old Ribena TVC, they'll tell you 'My mother said it's good for me'.