Can A Foreign Ad Be Relevant Locally? | Campaign Asia Blog - Thanks for the mention, Roger Pe!

CAN A FOREIGN AD BE RELEVANT LOCALLY?
By Roger Pe

Does creativity have a citizenship? How far can a good idea travel? Can foreign campaigns transcend borders and appreciated in places other than their own? Can a local ad do the same?

Way back in the 50s, Philippine media, had already acquired some sprinklings of foreign flavor. Hundreds of years of Spanish rule and largely being Americanized afterwards, these influences helped shape what is Filipino pop culture today.

America gave us a great fill of imported shows on television. We, too, feasted on Uncle Sam’s tv commercials like Marlboro, Nike, Levi’s … to kids teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony, Coke.

From the 80’s, 90’s, to the last decade, we grew up not only with American brands but knew others as well: Rolls Royce, Armani, Volvo, Louis Vuitton, Sony, BMW, to name just a few.
Colonial? Maybe it’s about time to drop the word. Progressive thinking? More like it. We learn from the world, the world learns from us. Afterall, that’s where the world is heading and being too insular isn’t exactly a good mindset for business.

Long before the upheaval that changed the world’s advertising landscape, multinational ad agency networks in the Philippines have already pushed the globalization process, airing foreign-made ads to enhance their brands’ global presence.

Symbiotically and though not as frenetic as other foreign brands, the Philippines has also made inroads, going regional, even global in some markets, using true-blue Filipino concepts.

So what’s the big noise in using a foreign ad in local media? Let’s listen to the experts, local and foreign, of course, but let’s pause for a commercial break:

“FALLEN ANGELS”

Seven pretty and sexily clad angels portrayed by world-famous fashion models Adewole Bretty, Sara Samson, Josipa Jankovic and Magda Klebanska, drop one after the other from heaven with a loud thud creating a raucous.

In the town plaza, they stare at a gorgeous, innocent young man with sexual innuendoes. The song “Sexy Boy” by “Air” sneaks in and the ‘seduction’ unfolds.

An angel suddenly smashes her halo to the ground. All others follow in succession. Viewed as strongly suggesting public sex, a comment on the web sees it as “right at the point when public sex is about to begin.”

For sure, the Bartle Bogle Hegarty London-made tv ad would make the catholic church blush, and the bishops, the ones who also balked at a seemingly innocent local tv ad recently, would have none of it on Philippine tv.

Sacrilegious? Judge it for yourself.

“It is just a tv commercial, for Christ’s sake. The device is figure of speech to dramatize consumer benefits,” a local copywriter fumes.

The creative idea behind the ad was to show that Axe’s new variant Excite is so good that when you spray it, women can’t control themselves.

CREATIVITY WITHOUT BORDERS

Asked online, via Skype and social media, ad people from across the globe sent in their nuggets of wisdom:

Multi-awarded tv commercial and film director Sockie Fernandez, says: “It really depends on the ad and insight of the material. If it resonates with me then I may enjoy it but if not, I may not connect with the material inspite of its excellent production values.”

McCann Worldwide New York, Senior Vice President and Group Creative Director Marco Cignini, says: “It really depends on the brand and the market in which you’re considering airing the spot. Some markets translate quite easily. Some definitely do not. It’s always best to create a spot tailored to a specific market but being what the economy is these days I can understand why brands would try to capitalize on the savings. If the idea is simple and smart it will usually carry across cultures.

Hongkong-based Creative Underground ECD Sherri Maxwell has this to say: “A foreign commercial in a local market will most probably only work if it deals with universal human truths, global humor or insights that transcend culture. I always liked: “Think global, act local.”

It is definitely possible, but the person creating the commercial, needs to have a proper temperament. If the person creating the commercial is too rooted in their own culture, then their ideas will always go through that cultural filter. A goal of a television commercial is to reach audiences and deliver branded message. Print could probably achieve that a bit easier.

It also depends on the brand. Coke or Nike for example, they still maintain their brand essence, yet in every market globally they adapt a bit if needed. The concept of drinking, for Coke or playing soccer, for Nike are activities that happen globally. The flip side of this discussion, is that I think if you really want to reach an audience you need to speak their language a bit, become somewhat culturally relevant, but also weave in the brands philosophy. You many need to find commonalities regionally which is being done. Now local brands becoming global, that is an interesting challenge and here in lies the difference between the two. Red Bull is a perfect example of this, a Thai brand, that is now a successful global brand, but look at what they needed to do to become that.
I think there will always be room for failures in this area, if the strategies are not solid nor the creative concept well executed,” Maxwell points out.

Brand Mentors President and CEO Willy Arcilla, enumerates the good and bad side of using foreign ads: “Good, because it is cost-effective, consistent, provides foreign cachet and leverages on global best practices. Bad, because it lacks local relevance, discourages local creativity and employment.”

Newly hired JWT Hongkong Executive Creative Director Sylvester Song says: “It really depends on what your brand stands for. A luxury brand trying to create a premium brand image or lifestyle, it makes a lot of sense to be running foreign commercials rather that recreating them locally. Sports brands like Nike and Adidas frequently create global campaigns that ran in all markets with great success.
I don’t really see any negativity or disadvantages of running a foreign commercial in a local market. Ok, so maybe dubbing foreign talents in Cantonese language is laughable but seriously I think at the end of the day, I do believe that a universal idea transcends boundaries, races and cultures. And yes, even if it ran in Kazakhstan!

A recent example I can think of is a Cadbury commercial which was quite a hit when it ran in Hong Kong a while back ago. It features two white Caucasian kids doing a funny eyebrow dance. The idea is universal, so is the humour and that’s all the relevance you really need,” Song says

Leo Burnett Manila Associate Creative Director Don Mangente says any foreign commercial with a clear message can be easily understood by anyone. He finds Axe “Falling Angels” tv ad great because it’s idea is universal.

“A global ad helps you if your brand is known and used worldwide and you want people to experience the same communication wherever they are,” says
Trackworks Chief Marketing Officer Bing Kimpo.

Rafik Belmesk, Strategic Planner of one of Canada’s biggest ad agencies, nails it on the head: “It depends. On the one hand, the local market card is massively overplayed by some agencies for obvious reasons. In the end, ideas are ideas, and the good ones often translate pretty well.

So in those cases, yes it can, and will be very good for a brand.
That being said, some commercials play on insights and issues that are so peculiar to certain cultures it wouldn’t make sense to air them anywhere else.

To summarize, a universal idea will always acquire citizenship anywhere. If it inspires, culturally sensitive, helps improve local production standards, introduce new way of thinking, and make technology transfer useful, it will be embraced and not seen as invading local creativity.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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