Singapore – Now they’re really looking to the East. Just to see how it’s really ticking. McCann Erickson, a division of McCann Worldgroup, kicked off an unusual marketing campaign last week for this year’s CEO Power Breakfast, a part of The Singapore Advertising Hall of Fame Awards organized by Institute of Advertising Singapore (IAS).
In line with this year’s theme for the forum “The Untapped Asian Goldmine – effective communication in Asia”, McCann Erickson drew the inspiration for the campaign from key Asian cultural insights to drive home the point that with the right knowledge and insights, you can maximize your brand’s potential in Asia.
Elaborating on the idea behind the campaign, McCann Erickson Singapore’s ECD, Farrokh Madon said, “Despite Asia having one of the oldest cultures in the world, one seldom sees Asian insights at the heart of advertising campaigns in Asia. The CEO Power Breakfast on October 14 focuses on this Untapped Asian Cultural Goldmine and so the promotional materials for this event play on Asian insights.”
Running across outdoor, direct mail (DM) and electronic direct mailer (EDM), the culturally-shocking but thought-provoking campaign features a cab shrouded in black (an inauspicious color in the Chinese culture), zipping around town and the Central Business District area as well as a DM package which includes a set of fortune sticks (used in Chinese temples).
Black, traditionally an inauspicious color according to the Chinese belief, was painted on a cab that was sent to roam Singapore’s busiest streets in town and CBD area during peak hours with the line “Would you take this cab, most Chinese wouldn’t”. Curious CBD crowd stopped in their tracks for a closer look at the black cab and read its message, while interestingly; most in the cab queue hesitated to approach the cab. Concurrently, DM packs of fortune sticks typically found in Chinese temples with a message “Will your next marketing campaign succeed in Asia” were mailed out to the key target audience of the CEO Power Breakfast forum.
The forum on October 14 at Shangri-La Hotel, will feature a case study presentation by Farrokh Madon of the multi award-winning case study of GMP Raffles Place Ghost campaign which tapped on an Asian insight to win the first-ever Grand Prix in Effie Singapore Awards history. At the same event, Madon will also be a part of the panel discussion which will be moderated by Goh Shu Fen, Partner of R/3 with other panelists including Kenneth Tan, COO, MDA, Rahul Welde, Vice President (Media) of Unilever, Asia, Africa, Middle East & Turkey and Leonardo O’Grady, Director of Sparkling Activation Platform, Coca Cola Asia Pacific.
Mark Ingrouille, Region Director, Southeast Asia, McCann Worldgroup, who is also CEO for McCann Worldgroup Singapore said, “In a region that is so rich culturally, it is surprising how little we, as an industry are tapping into the cultural resource which we all have access to, to better connect with our consumers. This year’s CEO Power Breakfast will serve an important purpose in facilitating a discussion on how we can maximize brands’ potential in this area.”
