Adwatch MMHK October

HOT: Adidas Olympics (4 Stars)
With the Olympics having just finished there is a bit of a lull of new, fresh work on the box in China. In retrospect to the Games' sportswear marketing, points probably go to Nike for its overall Olympic program with a host of other brands such as Puma and Li Ning joining Adidas fighting it out for share of mind and wallet. However as a piece of creative the Adidas work wins hands down. Of course we all know it was insightful, dramatic and beautifully crafted but more importantly it was a very rare thing in China; it was a big holistic campaign idea. It captured the national sentiment of collectivist China in their hopes and dreams for games success. And it has also continued to evolve from this pre-games execution through to the great new post-game executions. Bravo!

NOT : Seven-Up (1 Star)

Chinese TV is filled with these types of cliche FMCG TVCs that wallpaper most ad breaks; we all know them, we all shrink when we watch them and unfortunately most of us have 'had' to do them. Appologies to the agency in advance as I am sure this was not its first, tenth or even thirtieth creative recommendation. Set to a boppy sound track we open on pretty girl in park, product and good looking young boy introduced by brand icon (in this case Fido), the two are now perfect together (coincidentally just like the two variants of 7-Up), we see refreshing moments of them together as they discover new and exciting things and end up in a beach scene, hero drinking shot, love hearts made from the slices of lemon in the ice filled product demo, happy-ever-after as they play romantically with the product and a whole host of other wonderfully strategic mandatories from the brief. End on voice-over asking us to 'Open Yourself Up'. Oh please, I assume this sells truckloads of product but I am sure the consumer would love to see an idea for Fido that could actually connect with them (or just shoot the dude and move on).

Dean Bramham, managing director Northern China, Leo Burnett Worldwide