ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Let's finish the year with a funny TVC. You might have seen this before but it doesn't matter. It's really fun and worth watching again. Best wishes to all of you in 2008. Will be back on Jan 2.

This is the second VISA TVC for the Olympics featuring Jackie Chan and Yao Ming. In comparison, the first version is more interesting to watch as being fresh. However, when the similar formula is used, it has become very boring in the second version. Don't know what has happened but the production of this second version is not really up to it. All the stunts look faked, the quality of the special effects are as sloppy as "歡樂今宵" and Jackie Chan is like an idiot side by side with Yao Ming. I just wonder whether this second version comes from the same agency of the first one. It's a big disappointment considering the big bugs spent on getting Jackie Chan and Yao Ming into the act.

This TVC has been on air for a couple of weeks but it can be easily missed as the media weight doesn't seem to be very heavy. It's a brilliant ad and I laugh every time I watch it : the pastry shell of the Hargow is so soft and delicate that it reminds you of the lips of your first love. This is what we call creative, an association that is surprising and humourous while articulating the central product benefit at the same time. Best of all, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to produce. Creative idea is more important than production value. We see too many mega productions featuring big celebrities yet lacking creativity. This is an example of what a great ad should be like.

One of the readers sent this link to me asking me whether these ads of HKICPA would downgrade the professional image of CPA. They potentially do but what the hell ... they are funny and it's X'mas ... Enjoy. My daily post will resume on Dec 27. Have a joyous holiday.

O2 Xda Atom Life for free. Thought that it was a promotion ad from one of the telecos again. Surprise surprise, it's not. It's from an IT education centre called Feva Works. The offer is that if you take this Microsoft Mobile 6 course at HK$5,380, you will get an O2 Xda Atom Life for free (worth HK$5,280). Sounds like a good bargain, doesn't it ? What's the catch ? You can figure it out if you think about it the other way round. You are actually paying for phone and taking a a complimentary course about how to use the Mobile 6 platform in business applications. My fair guess is that the course costs Feva Works nothing to run as it must be taught by Microsoft personnel. Look, it's a good opportunities for Microsoft to educate and hence soft-sell its mobile system platform to IT people who may consider using it for their companies. That's a pretty smart line-up for win-win-win. Feva Works can make a profit, Microsoft can do communications to IT people and the IT p...

I'm putting this TVC for you to "investigate". Is it 林憶蓮 in the TVC ? I keep watch it many times. I guess it is 林憶蓮 but I can't be 100% sure. I 'm puzzled as I don't see her adding any value in the TVC selling pizza. Maybe it's not her at all. I'll leave it for your investigation.

Don't know why Wrigley's relaunches Double Mint. It was the leading brand in an once declining market of chewing gums years ago. The chewing gum market has then been revitalized by Extra with Xylitol, the first sugar free chewing gum for dental protection. Extra is owned by Wrigley's which has made it so successful with such a pioneering positioning. With its other brands like Airwave and Eclipse added up, it should be able to forget about Double Mint in terms of sales and business. The truth is when a brand is so dated, revitalization is not going to be easy. While consumers already have many choices of sugar free gums and candies for fresh breath, I just doubt if Green Tea + Mint for fresh breath as the proposition works for Double Mint. I would rather put the resources elsewhere and leave Double Mint as the giveaway brand in Thai and Korean BBQ restaurants.