Monthly Archives: September 2014

Marketing

Inspiration from Spikes Asia 2014

Leave a comment

IMG_1754Sometimes it’s good to just take a day break and get out of the usual work routine. I’m a B2B technology marketer and it’s a well known fact that B2B marketing is not as sexy as B2C; Think demand generation, pipeline building, account base marketing, thought leadership content marketing, and combine them with  in-memory computing, software as a service, omni-channel experience, predictive analytics, these sort of make-you-smart jargons… so some creativity juice sprinkle into my daily work will make my eyes spark.

Spending a 1/2 day at Spikes Asia 2014, did provide me with some sort of inspiration. I’m not talking about the full day seminar or forum, but those creatives that were on displayed, It’s just a shame that an entrance ticket to the hall as Spikes Delegate cost a whopping S$1250 (I’m lucky to have my agency sponsoring my ticket) and will be great these works can be shared to the public.

I walked around many of the creative entries on exhibit and here are the top 10 that caught my attention:

1. Lancôme Advanced Génifique – A Daughter’s Greatest Fear

Client: Lancôme
Agency: Publicis Singapore

“You just look like your daughter!” Tapping on daughter’s greatest fear but mother’s greatest compliment.

2. The Gift Box by Crown

Client: Crown Relocations / Salvation Army
Agency: Leo Burnett Hong Kong

Smart idea. When moving house, it’s also a time to give away many of the junks in the house. So Crown provides 2 boxes: One to “keep” and one to “give”. The “keep” boxes are delivered to new address, while the “gift” boxes, will go straight to Salvation Army.

IMG_1786

3. How a Newspaper helped stop an epidemic

Client: Mawbima Newspaper
Agency: Leo Burnett Sri Lanka

To help fight against dengue fever, Mawbima published  mosquito-repellant newspaper – a newspaper where all the letters coated with citronella essence, a highly effective natural repellent.

IMG_1757

4. Omo – Tablet v.s. Outdoor

Client: Unilever
Agency: Lowe, Saigon, Vietnam

Dirt is Good is that Big Idea for Omo and Big Idea has that ability to morph into different forms: One of which is this piece of work, by comparing the electronic gadgets that kids obsessed and outdoor.

So when was the last time your kids play hide and seek?

5. Omo Play Bottle

Client: Unilever
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Singapore

Another campaign idea build on top of “Dirt is Good”. This time round, turning bottle into  ‘bucket & digger”.

6. Share my Dabba – A small sticker trying to make a difference

Agency: McCann Worldgroup India
Client: Happy Life Welfare, The Dabbawala Foundation

A share sticker that allow customers to share untouched-uneaten food in their dabbas (lunchboxes).

7. The Digital Fashion Critic – Colourmatic

Client: AS Colour
Agency: FCB New Zealand

A machine which rates your outfit out of 100 and provides expert tips how to look best. Probably I should have this at home.

IMG_1773

8. Stop One Stop them All

Client: WWF
Agency: Leo Burnett Australia

At the top of pyramid is the consumers. Stop the demand and stop the killing. Simple.

9. Neuro PS – Kindergarten, Primary School

Client: Neuro PS
Advertising Agency:Grey, Beijing, China

My favourite. Take a few more second to get it, but once you get it, you just thought “This is brillant!”.

10. Zhang Xiao Quan – Cut Above

Client: Zhang Xiao Quan
Agency: Y&R, Shanghai, China

Meat doesn’t look more beatiful than this. Creating a Chinese landscape art using meat.  Btw, Zhang Xiao Quan sell cutlery, not meat.

Check out the winners here. And as you can see, none of the above make it to the “Gold” or “Grand Prix” category. So that’s the different in opinion between professional jury and layman I guess.

Life

It’s time again for… mooncake

Leave a comment
(Courtesy of Peony Jade)

It’s time of the year again for Mid-Autumn Festival and to quote Mr. SGAG:

Yes, for me, mooncake fall into this category alongside rice dumpling, pineapple tart that I will only remember them once a year, and stay dormant for rest of the year. These are type of festive food that I don’t really have a craving, as compared to say bah kwa, that I will eat it all year round just because I simply love it!

Speaking of mooncake, I know that mooncake are getting more creative these days, when I can see fusion of mooncake and cookie, tart, ice-cream, fruits, custard, with a mix of cheese, chocolate or truffles. Add in a western or hotel brand, slick packaging, and here we are: 4 pieces of small cakes, which can easily sell more than $40 per box. BTW, check out the wide range here for latest, most trendy 2014 selections.

But something more innovation I would like to talk about here, the act of giving mooncake, without giving actual mooncake! Instead, mooncake will be given in form of mooncake vouchers, made by many mooncake manufacturers, and only available in China.

Say if you are a recipient of mooncake voucher, there are 2 ways you can do about it: Redeem the voucher for mooncake if you happen to really want to eat a slice of mooncake, or, if you like me, are not mooncake lover,  you will probably want to sell the voucher to black market and get some cash.

And yes,  in China, there is a black market that willing to accept your gift voucher at a lower face value. And this turn out to be a pretty good economical and environmental sense.

There was a weibo post circulating around for quite a while that best describe the scenario:

  1. Mooncake manufacturer print $100 worth of mooncake voucher and sell to retailer for $65.
  2. Retailer in turn sell the voucher to A for $80.
  3. A give the Mooncake voucher to B.
  4. B resell the voucher to black market buyer at $40.
  5. Mooncake manufacturer finally buy the voucher back from black market buyer at $50.

In this process, mooncake manufacturer earns $15, retailer earns $15, A earns a favour from B by giving mooncake, B earns $40, black market buyer earns $10. Mooncake manufacturer just print vouchers and nothing else. And we called this? Securitization of mooncake. Reduce food and material wastage and thus environmental friendly.

Of course in reality, mooncake will still going to be around for quite a while. What else can beat that moment of family and friends gathering, admiring the moon, children playing lanterns, while the adults figuring out the taste of fusion of mooncake and cookie, tart, ice-cream, fruits, custard, with a mix of cheese, chocolate or truffles.