NTUC Income and BBH Asia Pacific scoop $5,000 Warc Asian Strategy Prize at last night’s event
A case study on the repositioning of Singapore’s NTUC Income has won the 2012 Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, the cash prize for the most insightful marketing strategy in the region.
The entry, titled ‘Modernising Singapore’s Oldest Insurance Brand’ and submitted by Adil Ismeer of BBH Asia Pacific, took home the $5,000 prize at an event held in Singapore on Thursday night.
Warc, the marketing intelligence service, gives the $5,000 Prize to the region’s best strategy case study, plus a $2,000 prize to the best example of low-budget strategy. The prize is judged by a panel of senior clients and agency-side marketing directors.
Further analysis on the Prize entries, plus notes from the judging, can be viewed here on the Prize website.
Judges praised the “very real and authentic” way NTUC Income modernised its brand while emphasising its roots in the market. The long-term project delivered improved brand metrics and revenues for the client.
The low-budget prize was won by ’50 Must-Do Things in Asia’, a branded travel guide created by JWT Bangkok for Tiger Beer in order to target tourist drinkers. Judges praised the idea for being a “gutsy and different” approach to a hard-to-reach audience. The writers of that case study were Iain White and Yingyos Vuttisant.
The final round of voting was conducted by secret ballot, with the NTUC Income and Tiger Beer entries emerging as clear favourites.
Says Charles Wigley, chairman of BBH Asia-Pacific and the 2012 prize chairman: “The NTUC Income case study I think impressed the judges as a total package. The results are very strong, the creative work fresh and intelligent for an often cliched category, and strategically it is interesting because it is a brand-insight-based strategy – going back to the company’s roots to present a more modern face for the future.
“The Tiger Beer case impressed because of its audacity and cheekiness: a great content idea, done on a very limited budget that clearly worked.”
As well as the two winners, 14 entries were named as Highly Commended across the two Prizes (see full list below). In the main prize, the ‘ShaveSutra’ campaign for Gillette by BBDO India came a close second. In the low-budget prize, the ‘Chok! Chok! Chok!’ mobile app for Coca-Cola by McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong was the runner-up.
Says David Tiltman, International editor of Warc: “Following the judging process this year was fascinating. The judges were looking for cases that showed fresh thinking in answer to real business problems – and there were plenty of these in the final round. Together, the entries form a hugely impressive body of work.”
Full list of awarded entries (Agency / Client / Campaign Market):
$5,000 Main Prize
WINNER:
Modernising Singapore’s Oldest Insurance Brand
BBH Asia Pacific / NTUC Income / Singapore
RUNNER-UP:
Shave Sutra – Or, How To Turn A Mundane Solitary Chore Into A Pleasurable Duet
BBDO India / Procter & Gamble / India
HIGHLY COMMENDED:
Be Idiot Safe with CEAT Tyres
Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai / CEAT Gripp / India
Flavors of Life
BBDO China / Wrigley’s Extra / China
Getting India to love chocolates – Cadbury Dairy Milk’s growth story of 2004-2011
Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai / Cadbury / India
Launching the Lynx effect in China
BBH China, Razorfish Shanghai, PHD China / Unilever / China
Mothers Against Secret Sugars
OMD Malaysia, BBDO Singapore / Anmum Essential / Malaysia
Polident Kilauan Emas: Breaking A Psychological Barrier and Improving Lives of Denture Wearers
Grey Group Singapore / GlaxoSmithKline / Malaysia and Singapore
Tiger Beer ’50 Must Do Things In Asia’
JWT Bangkok / Tiger Beer / Thailand
Whisper Gives You Wings
Leo Burnett Mumbai / Procter & Gamble / India
$2,000 Low-Budget Prize:
WINNER:
Tiger Beer ’50 Must Do Things In Asia’
JWT Bangkok / Tiger Beer / Thailand
RUNNER UP:
Chok! Chok! Chok!
McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong, UM / Coca-Cola / Hong Kong
HIGHLY COMMENDED:
I Hate Slow
McCann Worldgroup / Smartfren Telecom / Indonesia
I Quit: From Anti-Smoking To Pro-Quitting
Ogilvy & Mather Singapore / Health Promotion Board / Singapore
‘Jaani Na’ (I Don’t Know)
BBH Communications India / Nihar Naturals / India
Love Karaoke
DDB Group Singapore / Action for Aids / Singapore
Messages Interrupt, Utility Delights
Advocacy WOM / Dettol / China
Polident Kilauan Emas: Breaking A Psychological Barrier and Improving Lives of Denture Wearers
Grey Group Singapore / GlaxoSmithKline / Malaysia and Singapore