Ron Samuel AdFest Diary: Day 3

Ron Samuel is executive creative director/partner Cooch Creative & Communication (pictured left) reports for Campaign Brief Asia from AdFest 2018.

Day 3. Friday 23 March

The day started with a compelling presentation from Dominique Touchaud and Vidya Murthy from Procter & Gamble Asia. It was titled ‘Breaking Bad. How To Transform a Brand Without Destroying Its Legacy’. The need to change brand perception at an accelerated pace means that you really need to know what stays, what goes and what your audience wants before you make a move. Dominque made the point that evolving a brand does not mean trying to be cool or popular, that’s for the audience to decide. He gave the modernization of Herbal Essence as an example. Vidya used the famous ‘Run Like A Girl’ campaign to highlight how to rewrite the rules without losing sight of your brand’s values. It was a great presentation with excellent examples, that had some people in tears. For me it highlighted the fact that a brand just can’t stand still for a moment anymore. It was also refreshing to see someone like P&G share some of the mistakes they made as well.

Continuing the refreshing thread, the film for Wacoal Sports bra‘s was certainly pushing the boundaries. I can’t even begin to think how you’d come up with an idea like this. In case you haven’t seen it (you should), there are four young guys each representing a different bra size, each guy has a pair of transparent bra cups strapped to their chest containing a pair of real small animals, including a set of hedgehogs. Each guy performs an exercise and you see how their animals react in slow motion. It was bizarre but captivating and I still remember the brand.

The Nike integrated campaign called ‘The Badge of Honor’ was a great demonstration of how to get kids off their screens and playing outside. In terms of low budget effectiveness the ‘Made of Flesh and Blood’ campaign which highlighted the daily difficulties and danger facing the Transgender community in Bangladesh, was a standout.

The day finished with a Campaign Brief party sponsored by Think Tank and PixelBox. There weren’t many people at breakfast this morning.

Today’s highlights

Making it to breakfast.

Wacoal film.