BBDO and Guinness: Limited spend and Singapore’s small size is why ad only ran once
A limited marketing budget and Singapore’s small size were given as the reasons why an award-winning campaign for Guinness in Singapore only ran once in a listings magazine the week before the deadline for the Cannes Lions ad awards show.
Ad agency BBDO Singapore and client Asia Pacific Breweries were presenting their case for the ‘World’s Smoothest Launch’ campaign for Guinness in a bottle at the APPIES Awards in Singapore today, when they were asked why so little media investment went on a follow-up execution for the brand.
The one-off execution, a Picasso-style illustration of a pint of Guinness that takes the shape of a bottle, ran in a single edition of I-S Magazine and went on to win in the Press and Outdoor categories at Cannes.
The client services director of BBDO Singapore, Joe Braithwaite, said the limited media run for the ad was due to lack of marketing budget left over after the main campaign had run.
The World’s Smoothest Launch campaign, which has been awarded at a number of effectiveness awards shows, has been shortlisted for the APPIES, which recognises Asia’s best marketing campaigns through a series of live presentations.
“Guinness does not have a lot of money to spend [on advertising],” Braithwaite said, after saying that the budget had gone into the main launch push.
He added: “Singapore is small. You can reach a lot of people with a single hit in a magazine like I-S,” he said.
The campaign is to run again in Burda Singapore men’s magazine August next month, the agency said today.
Bravo Joe Braithwaite……you got us…..we’re so dumb for not realising this.
Tell us one more thing…
If a limited ad budget was the problem, why did your agency do 5 executions that say the same thing and run them all in the one issue of the same magazine
Why run 5 ads when just one ad would have done….after all the message/headline is exactly the same in all the ads.
When the client has limited ad spend like youre claiming, shouldn’t you be advising them against running 5 ads at one go in one magazine when one will do the job perfectly?
After all, as you yourself say, Singapore is a small sized place where everyone will see your ad if you run it in IS…..so (ahem)……
Why’d you run 5 executions when one would do just fine?
ReplyExcuses, excuses, excuses ….
ReplyThe brass neck of these guys entering this for the Appies. No shame any more.
ReplyIt’s funny how lying is just an extension of scamming.
ReplyDon’t they think people who questioned them are the people who work in then industry and fully are aware of how it works in agencies?
ReplyHey guys
Where can I get my Scam Klux Klan starter kit? I too haven’t won an award and got some down time.
ReplyYes, Singapore is small but not so small that you can reach a lot of people in a free giveaway magazine that almost no one wants to read because it is filled with cheap ads or scam ads.
Yes, I have read the magazine before. Never again
ReplyYou people really have the nerve to walk on stage and talk up this stuff like it was real. You are a funny little bunch. I am not sure what is more insulting, the fact that these ads are now being sold as real advertising, or that you think we’re dumb enough to buy it. I feel very bad that BBDO Singapore has to stay on course and defend their mistake this long. Singapore is small? Is that right? So five ads in the same magazine saying the same thing at the back of the magazine on the eve of the Cannes deadline is the new wave of marketing? What did your media company have to say about this one? Or did Ronald ******** and ******** Prim book it themselves with their credit cards? Seriously people, we aren’t that stupid. Just let it go and say you **** the pooch. We will forgive you and wait for the next giant blunder from another network. Nobody needs to resign over this, but maybe it is time to leave this campaign off your creds of greatness. This is what happens when a good agency cheats. It discredits the rest of the hard working people in the agency. Being an ex-BBDO staffer myself, I are really saddened at the lengths you are all going to pretend this campaign is legit. Joe Braithwaite. Let’s add his name to the list of scammers to watch on this little Jeep ride of pain. Now I really need a drink.
ReplyIsn’t Ogilvy the agency taking care of APB? What’s an incompetent agency doing a campaign for them? No pushback on the brief for ‘one run ad’? Might be time to change name to BODO….
ReplyGuys guys
I think I’ve found their hideout-HQ-base-camp. They’re so dumb they didn’t even try and hide the name, but hey you know scammers yeah? Hardly a subtle bunch: https://www.mumbrella.asia/2014/08/singapore-ad-tech-firm-adskom-eyes-southeast-asia-expansion-seed-funding/
Anyway, what say we get our Scam Klux Klan pillow cases on and head down there and egg them or print this article out and leave it on their desks all highlighted or something? I’ve got a free window from now until around the end of the month, so if like me you’re not very busy let’s get on this thing and bust it wide open.
Scam Klux Klan 4eva yeah!!!!!
ReplyWhy so serious guys? it’s advertising.
ReplyHey Not Naive, why would an agency push back on, in your terms, a ‘one run ad’ when the aim is to use it to win awards? In fact, I’ll not be entirely surprised if BBDO came to Guinness with that idea and convinced them to run the ad in time for the Cannes submission. At the end of the day, both the clients and agencies are made up of people whose KPIs include winning awards, so it’d make sense to go for it when a good idea comes by.
This is a smart ad and a very good one. It’s just that they got caught submitting ads for the sake of winning awards (something which is commonly done across agencies yet frowned upon by many in the industry) but do not have the balls to stand up and admit it.
Come to think about it, perhaps they could have gotten away with it, but the crowd got woken up when they said they could “reach a lot of people with a single hit in a magazine like I-S”. Hmm..
Reply“At the end of the day, both the clients and agencies are made up of people whose KPIs include winning awards….”
This is about the only thing I’d agree with….do the KPIs also state that you have to do this by any means available…including cheating and bending the rules?
ReplyGuys, please. Can we have some focus and get back to the task at hand…a lynchin!
Now, muggins here has just been down to Toys R Us and bought a load of water balloons. I’ve also picked up a couple of spare pillow cases from IKEA too, coz there’s always one who forgets to bring their Scam Klux Klan regulation uniform.
However, if I’m to pee into these water balloons all by myself I’ll be doing it until the Appies 2015 and justice wouldn’t have been served. So, show your commitment (like I did by cancelling my client lunch at Wendy’s) and get down to Clarke Quay and do the indecent thing.
Plan is to get em as they’re leaving (in Mercs no doubt) and steal all that precious award metal. I was thinking we could melt it down into food for starving kids somewhere.
Let me know who is coming down no later than 5pm coz that’s when this internet cafe closes.
Scam Klux Klan 4eva!!!
ReplySorry guys, I was mega excited about this lynchin and posted twice. Given I’m under time and financial pressure in this internet cafe I needed to make sure you got the memo.
See ya soon for the cause.
Scam Klux Klan 4eva!!!!
ReplyRonald and Prim won! Just take it. So what if it was bullshit scam. Give them some credit.
ReplyThey may have won but they have lost the moral authority to lead…who would take anything a couple of scammers say seriously any more? As a client I certainly wouldn’t.
ReplyIm not even concerned about the possible scam status of the ads….what disappoints is that a one dimensional. repititive and childish visual like this can be given a prize. Zero insight, zero entertainment value….picks right up where those horribly scammy jeep ads left off.
ReplyGUYS!!!
Can we talk about this once we’ve got the water balloons filled with pee? We’ve got a lynchin to prepare for and quite frankly it’s starting to feel like no one is taking the Scam Klux Klan seriously and you’re just posting coz you’ll do anything to avoid doing timesheets!!!
I’ve been drinking Mountain Dew all day coz it’s on promo at Fairprice and I’m starting to feel like I’ve gone back to the future and a bit light headed.
Where are you if you’re not for the cause?
ScAm KlUx KLaN 4 eazzzzzzzzzzz
ReplyPoor Joe, the ones that have done the scams have gone into hiding. While the poor suit has to defend their lies. Where’s the CCO and ECD? Please stand up and defend your own work.
ReplyYou can’t get anymore scammy than these ads. Everybody at BBDO knows that the first execution was lifted off the Dubonnet work Saul Bass did a million years ago. Not exactly fresh Ronald and team. Surprised nobody called you out on it.
ReplyThe ads will be run once and never again. You guys are lucky D&AD didn’t call you out on this sham of shams. It is embarrassing for BBDO across the region. BBDO is known for real work, and takes its job very seriously. This isn’t Malaysia, time to grow up and do the big boy job.
ReplyIt’s pretty obvious the scammers are not gonna retract, own up or go away.
ReplyIf you are working under them, stop complaining online, show some spine and either confront them or leave. Staying and putting up with such negative emo ain’t good for anyone.
We own up with every creative review. It took an agency to rebel against the Juggiwalki. Now we can have our say here too. And we will put our names out there as soon as the Malaysian’s say something in their names. But they won’t, they laughed and hide like a bunch of scared mice. Now that they kept their Lions they smile even broader when they walk in. Case closed for all of you out there in the Mumbrellaland but around here we still have to deal with these mots. Malaysia Boleh!
ReplyThis conversation is over. The facts said enough for your common sense to put two and two together. They ran these bull**** ads to qualify after they won in D&AD. They had to because D&AD doesn’t check for verification and Cannes does. Cannes used to check to make sure the show wasn’t being conned out of one of its Lions. Now Cannes checks just enough to find an excuse they can fling at the rest of us to say it was a qualified entry. The good news is that since BBDO Singapore creative ran this quarter page fake work just in time to qualify as a ran once entry it squeaks by the committee of one called Terry. BBDO regional buys Terry enough dinners to look the other way. Last thing Terry wants is another Neil Friend type boycott. So say the work is qualified, and open the flood gates for next year. Mumbrella did a good job here in Malaysia calling out the agencies that cheated. Good on you mate, of course Scampaign Brief Asia will always look to throw a stone at you but who cares. Only the creatives read that rag anyway. BBDO Singapore really blew it sure, but I wish they hand the courage to own up and give the Lions back. That would have been the right thing to do but in our current business, doing the right thing is the last thing these boys will ever try. It is sad that everything out of Malaysia and Singapore has that question mark over it. You just can’t trust people to be ethical up there and win a contest fairly. Congrats BBDO Singapore, you kept your prized Lions but trust me boys, they don’t weigh as much as the real ones. Keep that in mind next time your a polishing up your bios.
ReplyGold Lion for Toshiba The Beauty Inside = GOLD
Gold Lion for Guinness IS ads = GARBAGE
ReplyWonder if the company CEO has considered the bigger problem coming out of this mess….the problem of attracting talent to the agency.
Who in their right mind is going to respect and report to a ECD known for doing scam?
ReplyMaybe other scammers but no one with real talent.
I agree with MM.
ReplyI don’t care, as long as these scammer ECDs hire the right freelancers to do the real agency business.
ReplyWhat a great strategy CEO.
ReplyThings have not improved for the better in Singapore
ReplyHave your say