OREO YouTube Ad: “Fiercely Together”

OREO YouTube Ad

The OREO “Fiercely Together” advertisement, with the 2021 Olympics theme, may only be 30 seconds long. Still, it packs a punch in each of those 30 seconds. But at the end of the video, you’ll feel like you have run a marathon yourself. The advertisement has a fast and furious pace. Keep up with it if you can!

Back to school

It begins with the words, “The more we play together”

It seems like the very feel of the words, the echo and the atmosphere, will take you back to your school days when you loved to share with your friends and play with them. So music-wise, there is no music. However, there is this pure, evergreen, sing-song choir tune. The viewer will be transported back to their school days, of innocent playfulness and sharing of the best things in life.

The tension

Now, at the beginning of this ad, this line is often repeated ““The more we get together, together, together…”. At precisely 0.08 seconds of the advertisement, the viewer sees two girls on the playing field, looking or glaring at each other, perhaps with hostility. Their parents and the audience in the gallery watch with anticipation. Will the two girls be friends? Will they learn to share? 

“…the happier we’ll be!”

That’s when the two girls are shown sharing Oreo cookies. It is indeed a sweet and kind gesture between them, the feeling of which is enhanced since they are not fighting!

“Your friends are my friends, and my friends are your friends.”

The overall feeling from the ad

As the ad progresses, it shows sportsmen from various sports like rowing, wheelchair basketball and more. In a gist, the choir, the actions on screen, and the fast-paced movement leave a pleasant feeling, a sense of belonging and togetherness. 

Viewers may not mind watching the ad repeatedly since it brings a joyful feeling while showing the role of Oreo in all the joy. And with the theme of the 2021 Olympics, the ad is certainly timely and brilliant in execution.

If you are looking for advertising your business on social media, contact us today!

Marketing Disasters and How To Avoid Having One

marketing disaster

Marketing campaigns are part of everyone’s lives. From the massive giants like Apple promoting their latest iPhones to an online entrepreneur asking you for 35 seconds of your time to promote his online investment course, marketing campaigns are omnipresent.

They are vital for the business’s survival regardless of its size. Companies pour millions of dollars every year to devise a strategy that effectively targets their consumer group and stands out from their competitors. 

Creativity is an absolute must, and year on year, businesses try and outdo one another by trying something different. An example of a job well done would be Coca-Cola’s Christmas ad in 2020, a heartwarming and emotional masterpiece that was perfectly executed.

However, this is easier said than done. Even multinational corporations with budgets in the many millions have dropped the ball. Sometimes, ideas that are so sinister and egregious have escaped rigorous testing and been approved to be shown to the public.

Why do marketing campaigns fail?

Frankly, marketers lose track of who they are advertising to. When the goal is purely to be creative or unique rather than target the consumer base, mistakes are made. 

Of course, standing out from the rest is vital in creating a good marketing campaign. However, there is a line in the sand; when being ostentatious is over prioritized, and the target audience is estranged. 

A marketing campaign’s primary goal is to inform potential customers what needs of theirs the company’s service or product can fulfill, why the company can do it better than its competitors, and share its type and brand.

When the campaign forgets about this premise, disasters are bound to happen

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the most significant advertisement flops to date and see how to avoid making the same errors in the future.

Beware: Laughably Terrible Advertisement Campaigns Ahead

Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Debacle

Kendall Jenner's Pepsi Debacle

This is an iconic and infamous advertisement. Pepsi launched a two and half minute advertisement called “Live for Now”. The advert featured 21-year-old supermodel Kendall Jenner leaving a photoshoot and showing up at a protest. 

Tensions were growing between police and protestors until she stepped up to offer an officer a can of Pepsi. This fixed the issue. 

The advertisement was branded as “tone-deaf”, and the backlash overgrew, forcing Pepsi to back down and pull the spot and issue an apology.

Dove’s blatantly racist Facebook Advertisement

dove racist Ad campaign

Dove launched a Facebook ad campaign of the above four images. The four-panel image shows a young African American woman removing her shirt. By the time she has done, she has turned into a young white lady.

The disastrous advertisement shows up on Google as “Dove’s Racist Ad”.

To make matters worse, this was the second terrible advertising campaign launched by Dove in 2017, with them having to issue another apology after receiving intense criticism on social media as well as bad reviews on their product.

Volkswagen lies again?

An ongoing disaster, Volkswagen had decided to play a prank for April Fools this year. Volkswagen America changed its name to “Voltswagen”, implying that it sells electric vehicles.

Not too long ago, Volkswagen was caught in the carbon emission scandal; they lied about how much carbon their diesel cars emitted. 

Now, this publicity stunt seems like they are lying about producing electric vehicles. Moreover, VW lied to reporters in a situation where simply saying “no comment” would have been sufficient. 

Now, talks of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cracking down on them, and it looks like Volkswagen is April’s fool.

Wix Slaps Itself

Wix recently launched an attack ad campaign against its competitor, WordPress. This advert portrayed WordPress in an extremely negative light in the context of a web developer seeking help for a mental health crisis. 

Almost instantly, Wix received backlash for their distasteful and insensitive ad. With so many people around the world suffering from mental health issues, especially due to the ongoing pandemic, it seemed like a very poor decision by Wix to greenlight a campaign like this. 

This ad campaign has received and is continuing to receive a lot of criticism over social media and is sure to be one that Wix regrets.

How to Avoid Marketing Disasters

Let’s find some nuggets of wisdom from the abysmal foolishness above and learn how NOT to make these mistakes.

Don’t ever lose touch

As you can see above, Pepsi lost touch with its audience. They came across as tone-deaf. Remember to consider the implications of the marketing campaign. Even when making jokes, remember that to take into consideration other perspectives and angles.

By sacrificing your brand value for a few jokes, you may risk offending your audience. Insensitivity and tastelessness can quickly alienate the audience and result in a marketing disaster.

Keep current affairs in mind

Marketing campaigns take a long time to plan and execute. They require extensive testing, planning, and, for larger companies, a lot of red tapes. This makes it easy to overlook what is ongoing in the real world. 

A campaign that may have been acceptable a few months ago may no longer be so. If the marketing campaign aims to educate consumers about a situation, it needs to understand the issue and its implications genuinely.

Constantly review the campaign and ensure that it is up to date with current events.

How to create a good marketing campaign

If you are running your own business or part of a giant corporation, you understand the need for marketing. It can be an absolute nightmare to navigate the inner working of creating a successful campaign. What would help alleviate this would be someone who could take this burden off your hands.

MIU offers a range of marketing services that will help your company successfully launch and maintain a marketing campaign. With experience and skills, the disasters mentioned above can be avoided with our help. 

Feel free to contact us for a free digital audit or check out MIU’s website to learn more about how we can help you.

 

Wix vs WordPress: Wix’s Negative Ads against WordPress

wix vs wordpress

On April 6th, 2021, Wix launched series of ads to promote their services on providing website solutions for business. But unfortunately, it did not end up well on some website developers and search marketing communities. Wix’s ads campaign “You Deserve Better” has seen as negative ads against WordPress, and the WordPress community did not feel happy with it.

Who is Wix?

Wix is an Israeli software company, which provided cloud-based web development services. It allows users to create HTML5 websites through the drag and drop tools that already provided.

Wix’s Ads Campaign Caused Anger

Wix’s latest ads campaign causes controversy among search marketing and the website developer’s community. The ads themselves focused on WordPress negatively, and a web developer was coming to a psychiatrist, seeking help for his mental health issues. This portrayal seems caused anger in the WordPress community.

In the ads titled “The Update Button of Doom”, WordPress portrayed as a grotesque person experiencing some glitching during a conversation, and that becomes of the causes that make the web developer experiencing mental health issues. The video ads below have considered typical attack ads.

Through video ads, the “You Deserve Better” campaign by Wix, along with Bose headphone, shipped to some developers and marketing influencers. Most of them are confused with Wix’s approach because they think Wix only wasted their marketing budget by sending those headphones to those not pleased with the campaign.

 

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On the other video titled “White Screen of Death… Is That You?”, “WordPress” was asked by a psychiatrist for the updates, and suddenly he felt sick and dead. The web developer on the ads mentioned that there could be any problem like plugin issue, hosting problem that caused “WordPress” death.

Maya Grill as the representative of Wix, say, “The campaign shows in a clever way that WordPress users don’t need to be stuck in a bad relationship with their platform, and they should consider the alternative which allows them to focus on their actual work,” Grill said. “Each video in the campaign revolves around user pain points, which also highlight Wix’s strengths.”

But instead of a clever way of a marketing campaign, Morten Rand-Hendriksen, one of the influencers who received Bose headphone, said that the campaign was “All Nuclear Troll-Marketing” and indeed not pleased with that.

Anti-Wix Responses Online

As mentioned before, the new ads campaign by Wix has caused furious and Anti-Wix, not only from website developers but also from the search marketing community. Wix’s ad campaign described as distasteful and bashing.

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Meanwhile, Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress gave his responses on the Wix’s ads campaign as below,

“Wix is a for-profit company… whose business model is getting customers to pay more and more every year and making it difficult to leave or get a refund. (Don’t take my word for it, look at their investor presentations.)

They are so insecure that they are also the only website creator I’m aware of that doesn’t allow you to export your content, so they’re like a roach motel where you can check in but never check out. Once you buy into their proprietary stack you’re locked in, which even their support documentation admits…

So if we’re comparing website builders to abusive relationships, Wix is one that locks you in the basement and doesn’t let you leave. I’m surprised consumer protection agencies haven’t gone after them.”

Wix vs WordPress Tensions

After all negative comment and responses to Wix’s ads campaign “You Deserve Better”, Avishai Abrahami, as Wix’s CEO, given his responses, by mentioning that Matt Mullenweg is angry and not telling the truth and accusing him by being hypocritical for criticizing Wix for negativity by claiming it was Matt that begun the bitter exchanges by being first to go on a damaging attack.

With the open letter by Wix’s CEO, Wix offers a public apology, as long as from the WordPress side, they also clarify regarding the issue mentioned on the Wix’s ads. Avishai Abrahami said in the open letter that they try to make the ads funny, but if the ads ended up offended the WordPress side, he apologized.

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Positive Campaign and Brand Goodwill

Given the example of how Wix marketing their services with their latest ads campaign, we can all agree that the way of Wix advertise it was terrible and it brings negative assumptions about Wix from the audience. Even Wix mentioned the truth about the issues that WordPress has. But by bashing and imposing other brands to make your brand stand out is not a good marketing campaign. Most consumers will choose a brand that gives them positivity and goodwill through their campaigns or their products while not making other brands looks terrible.

Running a good marketing campaign

If you are running your own business or part of a giant corporation, you understand the need for marketing. It can be an absolute nightmare to navigate the inner working of creating a successful campaign. What would help alleviate this would be someone who could take this burden off your hands.

MIU offers a range of marketing services that will help your company successfully launch and maintain a marketing campaign. With experience and skills, the disasters mentioned above can be avoided with our help. 

Feel free to contact us for a free digital audit or check out MIU’s website to learn more about how we can help you.

5 Creative Lessons We Can Learn from the Best Advertisements in Singapore

5 Creative Lessons We Can Learn from the Best Advertisements in Singapore

Advertising. Such a key component in marketing. Did you know that in 2018, the most watched ads on YouTube, by Singaporeans, were made in Singapore?

That’s right. According to the YouTube Ads Leaderboard itself, six of the top 10 ads in the first half of the year came from Singapore. In fact, the top 4 places were dominated by ads with a compelling and emotional story. What these ads do well in is portray a heartfelt story driven by a goal to connect, rather than to sell. And that’s the key to truly engage your consumers.

Evolve your advertising strategy with the times

In 1984, a psychologist by the name of Walter Fisher developed a communication theory that we can put to use when we talk about ads. Known as the narrative paradigm, it posits that humans, at our core, are storytellers, and thus we thrive on narrative communication.

This is perhaps one of the reasons why emotional content performed so well in the YouTube Ads Leaderboard. Since storytelling is one of the oldest modes of communication, humans today still make decisions and act within this narrative framework, approaching the social world in such a mindset.

With this knowledge, we can confidently construct effective ads that will capture the heart and minds of Singaporeans alone. Today, there are so many advertisements floating around in the digital space that it can be hard to stand out amidst the clutter sometimes. Here’s some lessons on how to better stand out that we can learn from the top ads themselves.

1. Disrupt the conventional

Singapore Airlines – The Briefcase: You’re never far from those you love

The Briefcase is an advertisement that balances the fine line between heartwarming and bittersweet. Inspired by the experiences of many travellers, The Briefcase captures this universal feeling of homesickness to bring us on a journey — even when we’re not flying.

Powerful yet emotive, this ad pulls on the heartstrings of its viewers and leaves them with a bittersweet feeling. By inspiring viewers to think about their families during the festive season, The Briefcase successfully manages to connect with its audience on a topic that all of us can relate to — family — driving home the tagline, You’re never far from those you love.

Produced by TBWA Singapore, the ad by the Paris-based agency taps into their core philosophy, “disruption”. Taking notes from Todorov’s narrative structure theory, TBWA Singapore seeks to “disrupt the peace” with the unconventional. Using this system, they identify recent changes or action in culture to develop their advertising strategy.

Todorov’s theory states that there are five stages of narration and that all stories begin in a state of equilibrium. Disruption – the second stage in the narrative cycle – refers to an event that disrupts the peaceful state of equilibrium. By using this theory to their advantage, TBWA manages to stand out amongst competitors and implement their own unique flavour in each of their ads.

2. Animation is key

GoBear

Not convinced with this advertisement? Animated videos are all the rage right now, particularly when it comes to explainer videos, and here’s why. 75% of adults turn to YouTube for nostalgia rather than tutorials or current events. With animation, your imagination is the limit.

In a way that live-action videos might be unable to, animation videos bring concepts to life and simplify them for viewers to easily digest. Just look at TED-Ed. Knowing how helpful animations can be in engaging their audience, they have begun incorporating it as part of their content.

Not only that, animation suits just about any marketing need imaginable. Be it explainer videos or other forms of content, marketers recognise this great trend and are all adopting it as part of their strategy. This might explain why more than 60% of the best explainer videos collected by Hubspot, Video Brewery and Switch Video are animated.

In fact, did you know that 92% of consumers watch videos with the sound off? And only 50% of them rely on captions to understand the video content!

You could be potentially losing 50% of your consumers just because your content is not reaching them. To rectify this, you need to make sure your video is able to portray whatever message you want to bring across. In this scenario, a live-action video might present some restraints where an animated video does not.

The ad by Invisible Artists does just that — it explains the brand perfectly while remaining concise and engaging. The adorable animation is what draws the audience in at first, where the topic of finance is then presented. Everyone needs money — so this is a perfect point to focus on since viewers can relate to it.

Invisible Artists is an award-winning company that has worked with famous brands like Coca-Cola, Facebook, and The Body Shop. In 2014, they were titled the Investment Into The UK Award, just three years after their establishment. This advertising agency has definitely proven its potential, to say the least.

3. Gamification

If you want to go above and beyond, the best way to capture your audience’s attention is to involve them in an activity. Sticking a video in front of their noses might work, but do you know what’s even better? Games!

The amount of information absorbed by a viewer cannot be calculated or determined even if they have watched your video — but you can be sure that your brand is going to leave an impression in their mind when you present them with an activity to engage in.

This is what Hashmeta does well. They understand how pivotal a game can be in propelling an advertising strategy to success, and capitalise on it to generate leads and engagement for their clients. Even a simple quiz can be quite entertaining, as you can see for yourself!

The advertisement for NTUC LearningHub in fact reached more than 8000 players. Better yet, the average number of times a user played was 2.09. That means that players were actually hooked onto the quiz itself that they decided to replay it once more! Talk about engagement. Certainly, games might be the future of online advertising, so why not jump into it now?

4. Use the environment to your advantage

What can we say? These creative environmental ads just blow our mind. By taking an ordinary space into something funny.

Billboarders are here to help — by going against the norm. Despite the soar in the popularity of digital marketing, they recognise the potential in physical space. Instead of going with the flow, they decided to think out-of-the-box and offer a multimedia solution instead.

By creating the idea of human billboards, Billboarders give business a chance to build interpersonal relationships with their consumers while at the same time seeming witty. Comprising professionals who interact with audiences, they are able to deliver advantages that no other medium can match.

Such an innovative way of advertising not only grabs immediate attention, but is also interactive and fun. Not to mention, these human billboards can go anywhere and anytime, based on your preferences!

If you have been searching for a clever and extremely unique concept for your next advertising campaign, consider Billboarders’ direct media solution of limitless opportunities and remarkable results.

5. Let others do it for you

Ahh, yes. Social media advertising is yet another at the height of the marketing industry. With 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, it is no wonder businesses are turning to such platforms to drive their advertising campaigns. Of these users, 1 billion of them are active monthly on Instagram.

We’ve talked about how sponsored videos get thrice more comments than sponsored photos. But we have not yet talked about the potential of Instagram Stories, and how you can tap into it to bring about the best benefits for your brand. So let us.

Just based on statistics alone, there are 500 million daily active stories users, of which one-third of the most viewed Instagram Stories stem from businesses. In fact, Socialbakers found that brands can generate over four times more interactions on Instagram compared to Facebook!

What does this mean? Well, perhaps it’s time to look beyond Instagram Ads and Instagram posts for marketing — and dive deep into the world of Instagram Stories. Your consumers are already using it, why shouldn’t you?

In fact, Stories stickers can increase video viewership 83% of the time. This means that there is a huge potential in grabbing consumers’ attention via Instagram stories, by creating your own branded stickers and filters.

Introducing the Spark AR Studio, Facebook now lets anyone create their own augmented reality filters, which means that businesses can use this tool to further their marketing needs. Filters can even be used while streaming on Instagram Live, which gives you even more reason to use it!

Here’s a little fun fact: the heart love sticker is the most popular Giphy sticker in Instagram Stories, and the most used face filter is the one with the heart eyes. With this interesting tidbit, perhaps you now have an idea of what sort of stickers and filters you want to create for your brand?

The Secret Little Agency partnered up with Circles Life to address one issue brought about by the pandemic. Targeting working adults who are now working from home, they adeptly created an Instagram filter for those who are too lazy to put on proper clothes when answering a work-related video call.

Comprising a few different “outfits”, these filters are not only available on Instagram but also on Snapchat, Zoom, and Google Hangouts. Talk about being handy! Indeed, this tongue-in-cheek advertising stunt brought about many laughs for consumers who had an amusing time playing around with the filters.

Is your brand in need of a clever advertising and marketing strategy?

If you thought the list above ended at the fifth point, you’re in for a treat. There are so many ways to creatively express yourself through different marketing stunts, the possibilities are endless. Why not let MIU think of one for you?

So if you’re looking for a professional company to kickstart your digital marketing campaigns, consider contacting us today. Get ready to go on the wildest journey with our crazy ideas and innovative experiences — for both you and your consumers.

Shopee SG introduces Phua Chu Kang as new brand ambassador

Shopee SG introduces Phua Chu Kang as new brand ambassador

This year, Shopee Singapore is going for a hyper-localised approach with their 9.9 Super Shopping Day campaign. They have decided to prominently feature local icon Phua Chu Kang in their ad as their brand ambassador. Such a partnership hints at Shopee’s tremendous efforts to involve themselves in the local market.

Phua Chu Kang is a character from a local sitcom that features the life of an eccentric contractor in Singapore. Played by Gurmit Singh, he was greatly adored by the Singapore audience due to his comedic yet relatable persona.

Since the show aired, Phua Chu Kang has become a household name amongst many Singaporeans. His ability to engage Singaporeans of all ages aligns with Shopee’s vision of connecting with the locals. By choosing to have Phua Chu Kang as the face of their campaign, Shopee’s ad manages to significantly appeal to the local population. In addition, his over-the top personality and comedic nature make for a lighthearted and lively advertisement, which goes well with the whole vibe of the ad. They have even incorporated his classic catchphrase “Don’t play play” as part of the campaign!

“PCK has always been a celebrated local icon and at Shopee, it was particularly meaningful for us to appoint an ambassador that creates a sense of oneness amongst local communities,” said Shopee’s chief commercial officer Zhou Junjie.

This ad cleverly coincides with the recent release of “Best of Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd” on Netflix, which helps to garner more attention and generate buzz around Shopee’s 9.9 Super Shopping Day event. Indeed, the marketing team at Shopee has not left anything up to chance. The use of an extremely catchy tune further serves to drive the impact of the ad as it leaves a lasting impression in the viewers’ minds.

Overall, having Phua Chu Kang as their brand ambassador this year was definitely a smart move on Shopee’s part. With Phua Chu Kang spearheading Shopee’s advertising efforts for their 9.9 Super Shopping Day, this big sale event is bound to kick off without a hitch.