Recently I have been noticing 2 commercials running on Mediacorp’s Channel 8. Both ads got my attention, and myself thinking about the effectiveness of the ad. While not attempting to do a postmortem, I would like to highlight some of the elements of the ads which led to me to like and dislike them.
The first ad that got my attention is this ad titled “Growing up girl”. I doubt this is the official name of the ad but it does depict a girl’s tribulations in her childhood and how she grew out of it.
Mediacorp TV’s Channel 8 has come up with a winner with its recent branding campaign, “Singapore 加油!” (Translated: Press on, Singapore!). One of its recent TV commercials for the campaign has stuck on my mind.
Go to the bottom right of the video screen and click on “CC” for the English subtitles
The ad came in small segments (portions revealed weekly) that piece together eventually to form a mini-movie of sorts. The story narrates a girl who was ostracized by her schoolmates for talking to objects. No one, her parents, the psychiatrist or the school could explain why she was behaving in that way. One day in school, two bullies decided to surround her and poke fun at her “strange behavior”. Fortunately for her, a boy who seems to have a crush on her rescued her. Eventually they became friends and the dialogues alluded they became more than friends (romantic couple?) with the final scene ending with the girl, now grown up and acing an acting audition. The ad closes with the girl hugging the now-grownup boy with the screen blacking out showing this slogan that loosely translates as ‘Believe in your strength, Unleash your talents’.
This is a feel-good ad. Period. Ok… I have more to say than just this. Generally, for the average viewer who has followed through each “episode” of this ad, you come to love it. But initially, you feel bewildered about it. Since the ad started off with showing a girl talking to objects, from basketball post to soft-toy. What is this ad about? This was the clincher the ad used.
I like this ad because this is the best material Channel 8 is able to come up with since its mega flop-buster drama serials (i.e. The Ultimatum). The plot is fresh. A girl that speaks to objects whose real deal is that she was just into acting and make-believe. Her friend believes in her acting potential, encouraged her and told her she was special, not weird. The ad ends with her succeeding in her acting audition (happy ending ☺).
The ad has been paced up pretty well such as that at the end of each “episode” it leaves you anticipating and thinking what is going to happen next in the following episode. Despite its feel-good theme, the ad does not cross the boundary into cheesiness, nor does it feel overtly like propaganda. It caught me by surprise that this ad was for a branding campaign for Channel 8, and not some mental health PSA from the Health Promotion Board ( probably preferring clay animals to cinematics).
The intention of the ad is to portray Channel 8 as a television channel that cares for its viewers. Channel 8 wants viewers to love it, and perceive it from a new perspective. This ad has certainly got me thinking differently about Channel 8, and liking the direction they took to promote themselves. The ad looks like a genuine effort, though I personally think it is more practical that Channel 8 works on improving its in-house productions if Channel 8 wants viewers to love it.
The music provides the dynamics for the movie. It prepares and pulls the viewers into the emotions of the ad and become involved in it. It certainly has a psychological (specifically emotional) impact on the viewers. If the ad ran only with dialogue and no background music, the impact will be so much different. Most liking, the ad will lose its impact and effectiveness in drawing the viewers to connect with Channel 8.
I have a wishful thinking… I wished this ad was a genuine trailer for an upcoming drama serial. Alas, this is just fat hope.
Now for the second ad… Tiger beer: The Last Tiger.
This Tiger beer ad features 2 guys at a pub sharing bottles of Tiger beer, when they came down to the final bottle. It was a start of a showdown between the guys. They start morphing themselves to motley of characters among which includes a Luchador (masked wrestler), gorilla, cyborg, Tarzan, and final an “attractive” woman. The humor lied in which the guy who morphed into Tarzan morphed into a woman. The saving grace of the ad was the superbly flawless CGI, which is by far one of the best I have seen on television commercials. This ad has all the makings of a hit, but the reason why it failed to work for me is that the ad is too selective in its target audience: men.
Wrestling, gorillas, cyborgs, Tarzan and especially a hot babe are imagery that appeal specifically to men. Tiger is bent on hitting the male demographics. However they fail to realize that men are not the only ones that drink beer. This male-centric ad has alienated the female demographic, leaving me, a female consumer skeptical if Tiger is interested in doing business with me.
Also noted was that the ad seemed to be designed for the eyes of North American consumers. Luchador reminds me of the American movie, Nacho Libre, though it is really just a Mexican costumed wrestler. A gorilla that looks like a stereotypical mini King-Kong, again so not Singaporean. So was the cyborg, as well as Tarzan. Do not get me talking about the blond babe… Tiger has again alienated their home market, Singapore. What happened to Tiger beer? Is this not the beer Singaporeans are so proud of? Clearly the love is not reciprocal. Singapore may love Tiger, but Tiger does not love us back. Tiger prefers the international market, Tiger prefers the US.
Tiger may be a domestic brand, but unlike brands like Heineken or Carlsberg, getting Caucasian actors to woo viewers in the ad is not going to make Tiger a Western brand. Why Tiger markets itself as if it were a brand from the Western world makes me question if Tiger is ashamed of its Singaporean heritage.
While Tiger could have made use of its Asian heritage, its Singapore roots in its advertisements, instead of just sponsoring Singapore-related events overseas, it decided to dilute itself by pretentiously shaking off all its connections with Singapore and becoming a generic “Western beer”, something it never was and will never be.
I may remember the ad for the cool graphics, but it will not make me pick up a Tiger beer.
