We were fortunate to have a client who was brave enough to actually want to do different sort of advertising.
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AMBIENT
Ambient initiatives which the client, after spending much of their production budget on the 2 TV commercials, couldn't run.
They were a series of billboards fitted with sensors. As a woman passes by, the sensors will trigger a series of flashes simulating paparazzi/fashion photographers.
Lifts/Elevators were also fitted with a similar device whereby "camera" flashes will go off upon the lift door opening. And where permits, we had voices of the photographers shouting "smile for the camera" "that's it, that's it..the camera loves you" etc..
Credits :
AGENCY : Grey KL
CD : Chris Kwok
ACD/CW : Izwar Zakri
AD : William Chien
EP : Sulaiman
Prod House : Superwonderful
Director : Al Isaac
EP : Sunita
Open to anything - provided they get their ROIs (return of investment) in the ads that they did - they were constantly producing tv spots on a monthly basis to fill up the prime time news segment they sponsored on TV3.
Positioning themselves as the bank for Malaysians, all their TV spots featured scenes of Malaysian life.
These series were written when their homeloan rates were at its lowest.
Simple spots, yet it managed to not only get people talking about the ads, but actually mimic the "why you don't believe" phrase.
Heck, it even made the main talent a 'star' - even parking attendants recognised who he was.
Credits
AGENCY : Leo Burnett KL
ECD : Ali Mohamed
CW : Izwar Zakri
AD : Shafie Othman
When this brief came to us, we scratched our heads till our hair nearly dropped off (well, my Art Director partner had the lead, as he was halfway there already) , as amongst all the 4 terrestrial TV stations, TV3 had the WORST World Cup games. Oh, the perils of drawing lots.
After coming up with a campaign that we thought would sweep all the award shows locally and internationally thus making us famous and getting phone calls from agencies offering us Creative Director positions in New York or London or Madrid or San Francisco, our boss threw EVERYTHING out the window.
At 7.30pm.
On the eve of the presentation.
Which was to be attended by the big wigs of TV3
Damn it.
What followed an hour of lecture - about the target audience NOT being judges of "this award show" and "that award show" etc - was an "invitation" by the boss himself to a few games of snooker (yes, we had a snooker table in the office)
Three hours later, 20 scripts (I kid you not) was written.
To cut a long story short, all 20 were presented the next day. Clients bought 12 of them, but had money to produce only 3.
They were shot and they went on air.
"Makan bola" - 60 secs
"Pasu pecah" - 60 secs
"Free trip/grafitti" - 60 secs
A month later, TV3 emerged as the 'most watched station during the World Cup'.
(Much as we would like say that it was due to the TV spots, but we cant... but it certainly is a nice thing to have written here)
Credits
Agency : Leo Burnett KL
ECD : Ali Mohamed
CW : Izwar Zakri
AD : Shafie Othman
Producer : Nisha Khiruddin
Film Director : Yasmin Ahmad - "Makan bola", "Pasu Pecah"
Briant Wong - "Free Trip"
Prod House : TV3
Edit House : Mirage
There were a lot of misconceptions about the act of donating one's organ upon demise - be it religious or conscience. Some didnt even know what it was all about, or how to go about signing up.
Featured here are 2 of a series of 4 posters developed for the Ministry of Health for Organ Donation.
Print - "Pen"
Print - "Beliefs"
Credits
AGENCY : Spider D'Arcy KL
ECD : Kins Lee
CW : Izwar Zakri
AD ; Tarsha Lim
What started as a brief asking for the usual hypermarket print ad featuring 1001 of Carefour's in-house brands evolved into an ambient campaign as an agency initiative.
Alas, it ended up here instead, as the agency and client parted ways soon after.
Good fun though.
Credits
AGENCY : Grey KL
CD ; Chris Kwok
ACD/CW : Izwar Zakri
AD : Joe Teoh
Volvo, in keeping up with the brand heritage did an initiative to educate consumers (drivers and non drivers alike) on the safety aspects when driving a car.
Some of the alarming facts we found when doing this project was that people are blatantly ignoring the basic safety aspects when they get into a car.
Like how pregnant women did not wear their safety belts in fear that they might injure the baby.
(The irony).
Or how kids were made to wear safety belts designed for adults.
Or improper baby seat application.
Hence the campaign.
(Pregnant lady headline reads : Some simple pointers on protecting your unborn children in cars)
Task was to project Putrajaya as the city that will take Malaysia well beyond 2020, our then Prime Minister's vision he had 20 years ago.
With all the latest amenities - ie the utility tunnel, intelligent buildings etc - cutting edge architectural designs and supreme town planning, it did (finally) look like a city of the future indeed.
Clients loved the campaign. But couldn't find the finances to actually run them.
Putrajaya is now the new capital of Malaysia. While there are not many grumblings about the traveling time and distance now (about 45 minutes from Kuala Lumpur), it was a rather big issue back in 2003.
And quite obviously, sales of houses were extremely slow.
Task given to us was to launch Precinct 10, a prestigious neighborhood where the elite rest and play.
Insight we got before doing the project was : the Rich and Famous like being...well, Rich and Famous. They pride themselves in rubbing shoulders with the "who's who" of the socialites - the higher the ranking in the government, the better.
And there is no one higher than the Prime Minister himself.
Print - "View"
Print - "Bump"
Print - "Good neighbour"
These exclusive homes were sold within the day of the launch.
Credits
AGENCY : Leo Burnett KL
ECD : Ali Mohamed
CW : Izwar Zakri
AD : Eadie Jasli
We actually made a trip to Kedah and spent a few days to do this one - Thanks to my account director's extensive traveling experience, we managed to dig up loads of gems (and myths) from the locals there.
Coupled with a few historical facts, these witty ads were born.
Credit AGENCY : SPIDER D'ARCY
ECD : Thomas Low
CW : Izwar Zakri
AD : Izwar Zakri / Remus Lim
Problem : Malaysians had serious issues about Petronas' involvement in Formula 1. Many were under the impression that Petronas was being lavish by spending millions of tax payers' money to simply project their "name" on a car.
(you'd be surprise how damaging 'coffeeshop talk' can be)
Solution : Demonstrate that Petronas is in fact doing more than just putting their "name" on the car, but actually placing their own engineers (18 in total) in the race teams - so the experience gained will help build a better nation.
Campaign started off with "Learning Curve" comprising of a 60-second TV and a series of print ads in 2001.
2002 saw the campaign featuring the engineers and the part they played in the development of the race cars in the Sauber Petronas Race Team.
While we are not sure whether the "waste of tax payer's money" perception was eradicated, but one thing for sure, these engineers became national heroes.
I was sitting at my desk minding my own business when the FAs for these marvelous cars landed on my lap. They were adaptations of some ads done out of Singapore.
Having copy checked the darn thing, a thought struck me that the ads could be better written based on the central "a car ahead of its time" idea.
