ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Will you be more inclined to support the 2012 constitutional package after watching this ad ? It just provokes more criticisms. Advocacy advertising is an two-edge sword and it's not easy to handle. When done badly, it would only work against you. Advertising is considered not so credible and using advertising to advocate an issue would easily attract more rejections and cynicism. Our government should learn more from the political advertising in countries like the US and the UK . They have one common characteristic, that is, emotional appeal.

What does it mean by Da咩"火羅" ? Da咩 is Japanese meaning No/Stop. "火羅" is Cantonese slang meaning embarrassment. So the ad is trying to say you are smart drinking Fanta and there is no more embarrassment. Yes yes yes you are clever enough to understand what Da咩"火羅" means and there is no need for me to explain. This was exactly what I had in mind when I heard the radio ad of Fanta explaining what Da咩"火羅" means ! The ad is intended to create some kind of new buzzword for the young in the hope that it will be a 潮語 among them. Yet it is feared that this new buzzword is not understood. So an radio ad is produced to explain. Who planned all these ? The adult marketers. Buzz is not created by advertising. It tells in your face. It's not quite the way of communications to the young.

PCCW Wi-Fi is offering 2-month free trial of its hotspot Wi-Fi service. Don't get too excited about it. First, only users of mobile phone can enjoy this free trial. Why ? Data volumes used by mobile phones are usually smaller than computers. So it would be safe to offer free trial to mobile phone users only. Even if many people try it for free at the same time, the network wouldn't be overloaded so that the speed experience is maintained. Another catch is that the ad trumpets about the 100M speed. Yet in fact it's only available at certain hotspots only... how much longer can telco kid consumers with small prints ? I wonder.

When I saw this ad, I said to myself I must be getting old and dumb. I didn't understand this clever ad. It's selling non-stick pan alright but there is a creative idea which I found it hard to understand. I tried look at it closely, turn it upside down and even flipped a few pages of the magazine to look for follow-up explanation, presumably it's a teaser. None... I managed to figure it out after spending some more time on it... know what it's about ?

Thanks to a friend who sent me this. This video only lasts 5 minutes or so. It's worth the time to watch it and think it over. Everyone is talking about the importance of social media in marketing communications. It's free and it can reach the younger generation. Is it simply about posting your TVC onto YouTube ? And you expect people to send and share it ? If it's not creative or anything funny, people would not share it at all. Heineken here is a good example. You may call it a PR stunt, with the use of internet to spread it out.

得力素, Detrox, is such a long forgotten brand name. It was a glucose drink at the start and later diversified into lemon candy with glucose in the middle, said to be healthy (because of the Vitamin C) and give you the energy (because of the glucose). Now it re-appears as a candy that gives you brain energy after so many years. Does the positioning sound familiar ? It's like the candy version of Lucozade. Will that sell ? Maybe. If consumers buy on the brain energy positioning of Lucozade, there may be room for a brain energy candy which is more convenient. Yet it will takes a lot of resources and commitment to build/re-build such a brand.

Quite many people are talking about the new launch of GUM 5 by Wrigley's. I bet the heated talk abouts must be generated by the TVCs and the packaging design which resembles to condom packs. I have clipped all three ads from YouTube for your enjoyment. The campaign has centred around taste sensation. No doubt these are great ads which are of high production value as well as successfully set up the expectation and build up the excitement for trial. The risk is there when consumers try it and find the taste nothing special. It will become an over-claim and the heat will only be like fireworks that last for a short while.