Tweet Suite

How interesting to note that a centuries old Monarch is keeping up with modern times, and acknowledging the need to tweet, by allocating a 'Tweet Suite' in Buckingham Palace:

Source: What Kate Wore

Tweet Suite...I like the sound of that.

What's next?

Facebook Nook?

Blog Booth?

Check In Alcove?



Mascots: Humanising Animals

One has to be careful when humanising the product that one sells, especially animals. By humanising, I mean giving it human-like features and expressions, portraying emotions and human actions.

Here we have three little piggies, happily being boiled to death to feed you, the customers:

Kentucky Fried Chicken did fine by making the founder, Colonel Sanders, its mascot. But later advertisements, like the ones often shown in the cinemas, have the wee little chicks being best friends with Grandpa Sanders, encouraging him to go to the cinema to watch a movie. 

In which ecosystem do the prey gander about with its predator? Are pigs and chickens masochistic creatures that they enjoy being slaughtered, boiled or fried? Do we, who treat our pets almost like humans, want to have them for dinner afterwards?

It's only safe to humanise animals if you open a pet store, not when you serve them on a plate.

We are more alike than you think

(click image to enlarge)

Recent incidents I've witnessed have prompted me to create this poster:

A puppy,

who was kept in a cage for most of the day, hardly petted or played with.

A rabbit,

who died when its owners went off for a holiday, and its body rotted and was left for some days even after they returned.

Two kittens,

one died and the other left dying after a car backed over it and drove off. Another car came and, ignoring the tiny body still heaving for breath in the middle of the road, ran over it again.

And although some religion believe that animals do not have souls, they still feel pain and fear. Can we claim to be more evolved beings if we do not show a bit of humanity?

Tacky is Sticky

I was lamenting to a friend of mine that recent advertising taglines were rather tacky, to which she commented, "Tacky is sticky".

How true! For example, the "Happy birthday cake to you" line by one particular ice cream retailer is strange, but sticks firmly in my head.

I spotted another example in Manila by one of its local skincare brands, combining the word 'skin' with other relevant words that start with the last letters of the former: SKindulge, SKintellectual, Skinfatuated and, my favourite, SKingenious.

Slightly over the top, but utterly memorable!

MBO Promotions

MBO had been actively promoting their upcoming cineplex (now opened) at Subang Parade through clever boards throughout the mall.

I thought this was delightful:

Cans, Cannes; Cans Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival...Get it?

Of course this wasn't very clear. Not many would have gone online to understand better, like I did. 

But when I did, I thought it was quite clever:

(image: mbocinemas.com)

A charity event to collect can food in exchange for re-run movie tickets! Clever pun, good intentions!

Beautiful Ugly

As oppose to Dove's campaign of featuring naturalness to promote naturalness,  I love Nestle Yoghurt Drink's approach of showing what's unnatural instead.

They manage to feature beautiful unnaturalness which still gets the message across, without 'uglifying' their marketing campaign images 

(think of the pictures on cigarette boxes that are repulsive yet remain an ineffective campaign to deter smoking).

Sex(ual Innuendos) Sell, Genius vs Obvious

Billboard spotted off Federal Highway

I have to agree with Donald Trump that sex sells. It's not the only thing that sells, but probably the easiest to portray and improvise.

This billboard caught my attention with it's catchy tagline and not so subtle sexual innuendo. Although I wonder whether most Malaysians understand the term 'pop your cherry' (which means, to lose your virginity).

Which brings me to the lesson I've learnt over the years regarding marketing communications that are very clever but might not be understood by the general population versus something simple that is easily comprehended by most. Many a times, I've been tempted to go with the former, thinking that such a genius of an idea that I've come up with must not be wasted. But I've realised that there's no point being a genius when no one can recognise your ingenuity (unless you're really an artiste who lives and breathes beauty, surviving on water and air....alas, I'm a commercial copywriter and marketeer who doesn't want to know hunger).

A friend suggested that a better alternative would be "Pimp your berry yet?", using the slang that is popular among the younger people, who are the target audience of such a product. It would still be fun, contemporary and, most importantly, easily understood and identified by the target customers.