Saturday, September 6 2008
PAGE C25 (World Section)
ZENITHOPTIMEDIA WINS TOP PRIZE
The annual Singapore Media Awards is into their fourth year and being a student whose first major is Communications, how can I miss out on the juicy bites of this prestigious event?
ZenithOptimedia's winning piece is a successful campaign that is aimed at drawing more crowd to the museums and libraries.
"Operating on a tight budget, advertising agency ZenithOptimedia made museum ambassadors out of local actor Mark Lee and a fleet of taxi drivers. It then splashed images of these people in newspaper advertorials and online platforms like Facebook. Its campaign, Explore Singapore! 2007, which aimed to draw more people to museums and libraries, attracted more than half a million visitors. For that dazzling success, the agency received the most prestigous Grand Prix Award at the annual Singapore Media Awards last night."
_________________________________The Straits Times
People normally associate libraries and museums to the 'keen learners' (or as most of the schooling society so cruelly taunt them to be 'Nerds') and avoid these places if they do not seek interest in what they provide. Idols of the cave, that is what most of us are, cookie-cutter mentalities within a narrow understanding, assuming libraries and museums to be a haven for the knowledge-thirsty freaks. And that is where the role of Mark Lee so aptly comes in.
I doubt I have to go into detail about Mark Lee's history and reputation since I assume my readers to be mainly Singaporeans or residing here (Idols of the Tribe, I know, I am a careless thinker) thus Mark Lee should not be foreign to any readers here. His comedian background acts as an ice-breaker between the general public and the libraries and museums.
The older generation who were intimidated by the overwhelming use of English and technology were won over by Mark Lee's humorous and (I know this may sound a little brutal but) less-than-English-speaking nature. The museum managed to banish the former image of being cold and exclusively-for-elitists, appearing more welcoming because of Mark Lee's charming, less-than-serious joker profile. Appealing through one's character to gain favour and appealing through emotions, that is Ethos and Pathos. The younger generation will be attracted to the cool technology and the interesting manner that history and arts were fused together to be presented to them, appealing through logic, that is Logos completing the equation.
ZenithoOptimedia also did a great job when it came to audience analysis. Their target audience is the general population of Singapore thus there is no specification when it comes to age or gender.
(Credits to MediaCorp)
Mark Lee was given a three-part series, Amuse Me, where he and co-host Vivian casted as intrepid museum guides and allowed the viewers to embark on a whimsical adventure. Viewers followed their lead and enjoyed their humorous adventures and antics as they explored Singapore’s museums and libraries while unearthing many fascinating but little known facts about Singapore’s past. The style of the show was very lighthearted yet educational, lively and engaging and the delivery was natural and varied. It was little wonder that the show received great response from all walks of life especially the seniors, families and children.
For the group of teenagers and 20-somethings who surf the net more than watch the television, ZenithOptimedia splashed advertisements on popular networking platforms such as Facebook and Friendster, knowing specifically where the "on-liners" crowd will be dwelling at.
All in all, congrats to ZenithOptimedia and salutes to the awards for providing a platform to showcase and appreciate the best campaigns and innovations in advertising. It is, in my humble opinion, not only a chance to bestow upon the worthy candidates their deserving attention, it is also a very good opportunity to induce a bit of positive rivalry amongst the advertising firms and show the world that we Singaporeans are not babies who require nannying - we can rock your socks off when we want to. We definitely know how to apply what we have learnt in the classrooms to our future work.
What do you think? Feel free to elaborate in the comment! =D
11 comments:
Advertisements can make or break a product, and I believe that a good ad can have a lasting impact on us. Just take the recent (but has since been removed) ad from KFC, the one where the guy held a burger and did a stupid dance. IMHO, the ad did not manage to get its message across to me and all I felt was that it was a retarded advertisement, not only to me, but to my friends as well. Since then, I have not stepped into a KFC restaurant.
Like you mentioned, an effective ad should thus appeal to all the aspects of ethos, logos and pathos. And with good access for everyone, including online platforms, it is bound to be a success.
I think you gave really good explanations for their choice of Mark Lee! Also, it's true that we've cookie-cutter mentalities, and that without a successful ad like this one, most would not have actually gone to visit the museum. Having a general population of Singapore as the target audience is not easy because they've to reach out to everyone, but they did a good job in reaching out to both the older generation and the active "onliners" of today's youth!
There was a huge controversy when Mark Lee was chosen to represent the museum and libraries because people have the notion that these places are meant to be more "high-class". However, these places are a collection of people's history, ordinary or extraordinary so we should not think of the library or the museum to be meant for just the upper class. Having Mark Lee as the ambassador will help to dilute the "high-class" image that these places have and help the common people bond with our history and culture. I think it is a fabulous move.
I am really impressed that ZenithOptimedia managed to reach out to such a broad spectrum of audience. Like you mentioned, they really did a very thorough job on their audience analysis to ensure that no group of people is left out of this advertising equation.
It shows that no one way can reach out to all the audience effectively and that a few different methods have to be employed to achieved the desired results. I think it is a great job done!
Kudos to the advertising firm for exploring new mediums. Especially Facebook, the hotspot for all domesticated youths.
I am slightly disappointed, however, with the choice of broadcasting the show in Mandarin. Albeit the existence of subtitles, this move would wipe out a large group of potential audiences, the non-mandarin speaking group. I chose the word non-mandarin speaking group because even the Singaporean Chinese are increasingly losing their ability to master the Chinese language. By airing the advertisements and show in Mandarin, the English speaking population might get excluded as well. Unless of course, that was the plan from the audience analysis they did.
No doubt, the selection of a amiable comedian to showcase the nation's history was a good move; bridging the gap between the "high class" galleries from the "common" folk. However, I have never thought of the museum being too prestigious, "high class" or "atas", thus deferring visitors. Based on my limited experience, the reason why most of us decide against visiting the museum is because we had already done so in the past. Repetitions tend to be boring in my opinion. However, the advertisements were able to capture the new aspects of the National Museum of Singapore, such as the new technology and layout. That is the factor that will draw in the new wave of local visitors.
Advertisments need to reach out to a target audience with a specific message in hand. Importance should be placed on who the msg will reach out too..and how effective it will be. Like the previous comment stated. By having a mandarin commercial, even with subtitles it loses its essence. Something to consider, but otherwise a good write up.
The way ZenithOptimedia used ethos was also very good. They used Mark Lee's tremendous appeal of an "everyday" man to gain a connection to the audience. That usage of rhetorical device is effective and powerful.
Also, the use of social networking sites is a form of CMC: Computer Mediated Communication (You will learn that soon). They knew youth of today are networked and they hit on that!
In short, they cast their net WIDE but in a cost effective manner. Utilizing effective forms of mass communication to gain wide reach is what let them gain such critical acclaim!
I like this article by the way :D
Lucas, I do agree that advertisements can make or break a product and in the case of KFC, their ads may have put you off since you are a very logical person (thus logos appeals more to you) but I am pretty sure that the ad may have amused several others because they think it is cool or that they love dancing and they just love the moves in the ad... though I assure you that I am not one of them. =D
Nethermost, I guess that is one point which they failed to tackle - to appeal to people from all races effectively. Mark Lee is a comedian which is known to not just the Chinese since he is quite a household name. But as you mentioned, the television programme is casted in Mandarin and that may turn the non-Mandarin speakers off. I like the way you define non-Mandarin speakers to be not just the non-Chinese, but to include the growing group of Chinese who cannot speak their native language. That is one big fault of their campaign but being able to make history appeal to the majority of old folks who speak in dialects is pretty impressive already. Very wise input there though! =D
Yes Sonzel! Mark Lee all the way!
People should read this.
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