Ad Watch - Apr08

HOT

RSAF Recruitment ad

Most people sit in office cubicles the size of cages that would get animal activists up in arms. The other challenges of office life are just as daunting. Faulty coffee machines, recalcitrant computers and printers that refuse to co-operate when you need them the most.

So the promise of an office the size of the wide blue sky is alluring. Add to that challenges that involve the skill of man over at machine at twice the speed of sound, and it sounds like the perfect escape for urban office rats.

The ad for RSAF highlights the thrill of working with the latest and most sophisticated machines, yet emphasizes that the human skills needed are even more rare and commendable. The tagline ‘Above All' is a line that effectively marries the unique aspects of life in the air, as well as the message of a career that rises above the mundane.

Overall, a good recruitment ad that's sure to elicit a good response.

Rating: 3/5

 

NOT

NTU Recruitment Ad

If you want people to think you are funny, don't tell them you're funny.

Tell them a joke. This old adage seems to have passed by the good folks at NTU like Ogilvy's proverbial ‘ship in the night'

Life is supposedly ‘fun and exciting' at NTU according to their latest ad. Pity then, that the ad is about as enjoyable as a joke by Joseph Stalin.

It has nothing to catch the reader's attention. The visual shows two bland college students smiling. The unimaginative visual is only surpassed by the uninspiring headline: Take the lead. Discover L.I.F.E. @ NTU. The reader has to hurdle over the sub-headline and three lines of copy before he learns that L.I.F.E. stands for Learning Is Fun and Exciting.

Firstly, is this the most compelling proposition NTU can claim? If it is, can't they communicate it in a more interesting way? And finally, how can NTU deliver on this promise?

If Singapore is to create a creative culture amongst its students, educational institutions should begin by displaying more creativity in their communications.

Rating: 0/5