Rich Asians and crazy holiday mishaps

Heineken is in the midst of a campaign that began just before Christmas and is slated to run through the new year holidays, rolling out to 15 Asia markets in Q1, including China and Vietnam.

The through-the-line campaign includes TV, supported by an "extensive outdoor blitz", and retail activation, according to the agency, Publicis Singapore. It includes three 30-second TV ads, plus 15- and 6-second videos and GIFs, all under the title of "Holiday troubles." The agency says the campaign was designed in a modular way, so it could deliver new local content on Chinese New Year, Vietnamese Tet, Christmas and New Year's.

Ad Nut loves the message of the work. Having lived through holidays where certain relatives got uptight or disappointed when everything wasn't picture perfect, to the point that their uptightness or disappointment rubbed off on others and turned the day into an ever-worsening spiral of recriminations, counter-accusations, slamming doors, revisiting of ancient wrongs, and shouting...so much shouting...

...

Sorry, lost the train of thought there for a moment. Anyway, the idea of laughing off mishaps, preferably while cracking open a delicious beverage, is one Ad Nut wholeheartedly supports because of...reasons.

As in another campaign Ad Nut wrote about today (such a busy creature!), the agency has taken pains to describe the amount of research it did across APAC in search of "creatively inspiring insights" for the campaign. This is a seriously good sign. Ad Nut and colleagues have heard a lot of talk about the importance of local insights, so it's good to see it's not just talk.

As you might gather from the headline, Ad Nut has a quibble with the fact that the only people really being shown here are the wealthy and good-looking. Take the couple in the pink-shirt scenario. Their closet is bigger than the apartments of most people Ad Nut knows.

Yes, yes, aspiration. Ad Nut knows that's what it's about, and railing against it would be like defying a century of successful ads. But still, it would be nice to see a little more diversity, it terms of income strata, sometimes.   

CREDITS

Brand
Senior Director Global Heineken® Brand: Gianluca Di Tondo
Heineken® Brand Development & Communication Director Asia Pacific: Maud Meijboom – van Wel
Heineken® Communication Manager: Eunjung Oh

Agency: Publicis Singapore
Global Chief Creative Officer: Bruno Bertelli
Global Executive Creative Directors: Marco Venturelli, Luca Cinquepalmi

Executive Creative Director: Axel Grimald
Associate Creative Director: Ivan Loos
Associate Creative Director: Henrique Zirpoli
Associate Creative Director: Macky Mina

Chief Strategic Officer APAC: Ed Booty
Planning Director: Noa Dekel

Executive Vice President: Donatien Souriau
Senior Account Director: Matthieu Morteau
Senior Account Executive: Kinzah Iqbal

Agency Producer: Lillian Chan
Production Company: The Royal Budapest
Director: Justin Reardon
DOP: Glynn Speeckaert
Editor: Michael Houlahan
Post production: Prodigious Singapore

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.