Matthew Miller
Jan 24, 2014

Weekly wrapup: ANA's fake-nose fail, Gome's talking box FTW

ASIA-PACIFIC - A costume nose causes trouble for Japanese airline ANA, while a Chinese retailer enhances its human side via confessions in a dark booth. Plus, we review the top stories of the week, a Twitter conversation hooks us with fishy puns and Isaiah Mustafa saves men from poor judgement.

FTW or fail

Each week we select one campaign or marketing move that we agree is 'FTW' (for the win) and one that...isn't.

FTW: Chinese retailer Gome, with JWT, for giving people an opportunity to embed heartfelt messages into gifts sent to their distant parents for Chinese New Year. A gimmick? Sure, but effecting nonetheless.

Fail: ANA for indicating a western person in stereotypical fashion by attaching a fake big nose (video above). Please note, some controversy exists over whether this is actually racist. Answering that question is not our purpose here. Clearly, the brand would have preferred to avoid the hullaballoo, so it's a clear fail.

Top stories

The most-read items on CampaignAsia.com for the week of 17 through 23 January.

Distractions

Random items that caught our attention this week, most of which are at least tangentially related to marketing.

1. Isaiah Mustafa intervenes to save guys from poor decisions in this clever Old Spice campaign using a series of delightfully fake websites. It's good fun whether you actually try to prank a friend (as the brand suggests) or visit with full knowledge of what's happening—or just want to gawk at Mustafa's freakish physique. Click below for one of the sites offering a dubious product; you'll find the links to the rest of the phony sites after the video plays.

 

2. Sainsburys carried on a punny Twitter conversation with a customer regarding seafood. The tweets below kicked of a back and forth so long and pun-tastic that it seems a bit fishy, though the participants swear it was not premeditated.

 

 

3. Subaru proves you can't go too wrong with dogs, in this series of ads starring a canine family called the Barkleys. See their website for more videos and, yes, backstory.

 

4. A hipster version of the American Psycho business-card scene? Yes, please, although perhaps they didn't need to go all the way through the resulting murder. We suggest you exit at the 4:45 mark if you don't like gore.

Thanks for reading Campaign Asia-Pacific. See you next week.

 

Source:
Campaign Asia

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