Ad Watch - May08

HOT - Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong's Demanding Diva TVC

There are only a few occasions in our industry when everything ‘comes together' - where the creative solution ‘ticks all the boxes', and still manages to retain an idea and interesting tone of voice.

In many ways the ad is forgivably hard selling, because of the tongue-in-cheek dives at the prima donna celebrity culture (well, Paris Hilton). That and it's a really simple idea - a celebrity's agent calls up the hotel to rattle off an impossible demands list of everything the hotel already does (including a bedside step ladder for a certain travelling companion ‘Fedrico' - a Chihuahua no less) the concierge says ‘yeah sure', fade to logo and two word super - the Mandarin Oriental ‘All new.'

Whilst it probably isn't the best or most memorable ad out there at the moment, I thought it was a really nice simple solution to an otherwise pretty complex and bland brief.

At least now I know where to recommend the next time Paris calls me up and asks for accommodation ideas.

Rating: 3/5

NOT - Citibank & the Singapore International Film Festival 2008

I've always been weary of the term ‘international' in International Film Festivals - sort of like the ‘world' category of music in a CD shop, it always just seems a bit too opaque and has a bit of a consolation-category feel to it.

Unfortunately the SIFF08 ads did nothing to change this.

In fact anyone who'd attended any of the shows would have been bombarded by the ‘whole set' of similarly oblique and rather vapid ads masquerading as ‘short films'. Leading the charge were ‘Family Reunion' and ‘Sushi Haiku', two rather contrived, and cheaply produced 90 second spots that drag every film school cliché howling from the vaults, then further suffocates them with vast amounts of product placement, corporate fonts, even a Citibank sign off line!

If you're going to show a commercial to promote a festival, please promote the content, and don't try to write a brief ‘for art's sake', it's still a piece of communication. These spots do nothing more than detriment our impressions of the local film scene not to mention destroy any brand equity the Citibank had for sponsoring the SIFF.

Rating : 0/5

Adrian Chan

Art Director

Ogilvy & Mather Singapore