5 Best Ads That Catapulted Their Brands Into The Spotlight At The Marketing Excellence Awards 2022

Brands know that effective marketing makes all the difference when it comes to top-of-mind-awareness, reaching out to untouched audiences and bringing in the dough. But in the cut-throat world of advertising, it’s not easy to produce an ad that stands out in the sea of offerings and services.

Here are 5 ads that have been executed so well, they’ve landed themselves a spot as finalists of Marketing Interactive’s Marketing Excellence Awards 2022.

1. AIA Scared What Scared

Not many of us want to admit it, but insurance is a touchy topic. Not only do some of us avoid insurance agents like the plague, but most of us are quick to write off insurance ads as pushy and cringey. AIA knows that all too well. That’s why they teamed up with local musicians with the likes of Benjamin Kheng and Tosh Rock to come up with original jingles under their Scared What Scared campaign.

Whether or not you’re a fan of Ben or Tosh – or are in need of any insurance, there’s no denying that both songs that were just around a minute long were so catchy, you couldn’t just watch them once.

Agency: Ogilvy Singapore
Nominated for: Excellence in Content Marketing

2. CPF: #YouGrillWeSpill: Honest Talks with CPF

CPF is another heavy topic in Singapore – no prizes for guessing why. Adulting is tough, and sometimes, it’s easier to just skim the surface than really face the facts – especially when it requires digesting a lot of text.

Enter the #YouGrillWeSpill: Honest Talks with CPF campaign where citizens’ burning questions about CPF are addressed in an informal talk-show setting. It helps that the guest of honour is Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng, and the panel features some familiar faces such as Xenia Tan and Jai Kishnan.

Image adapted from: CPF Board

The 8-minute-long YouTube video addresses tough questions such as “How much is enough to retire?” and “What if I don’t live enough to use my CPF money?” and has garnered 296,954 views since it was aired on 13th Dec 2021.

Agency: Wild Advertising & Marketing
Nominated for: Excellence in Content Marketing

3. SCDF: WHAT’S THE EMERGENCY?!

In most scenarios, a generous dose of humour definitely sweetens the pot for a memorable ad, but tasteful humour isn’t always the easiest to execute. That’s probably the reason why SCDF and its agencies teamed up with the funny folks of SGAG to produce a comedy-peppered game show to educate people far and wide about what constitutes an emergency, and when to dial for help.

Perhaps the winning ingredient in this recipe is the smart use of local comedians and celebrities such as Annette Lee as the host and veteran comedian Mark Lee, Nurul Aini and Eswari Gunasagar as the contestants.

Agency: GOV@Publicis, Publicis Content, SGAG
Nominated for: Excellence in Content Marketing

4. Viu Singapore: Again My Life (Back in Time)

While increasingly rare in this day and age, on-ground activations are one of the most effective tricks in the advertising playbook. Why? They work wonders to create a sense of excitement and wonder around a product. Better yet, marry it with a little guerrilla marketing and you’ll have a pretty successful campaign. 

Possibly taking a leaf out of Netflix’s global on-ground activations, Viu Singapore tried a few tricks of their own through the promotion of the streaming service’s very own Original K-drama series, ‘Again My Life’ – a series about a prosecutor who is murdered but miraculously is sent back in time to relive his life. 

The creative agency behind Viu, Bread Butter Bacon, conjured up a “time machine” named Time Bolt that was set up at Waterway Point. Under the pretence of taking futuristic celebrity-style music videos of willing passersby, the on-ground activation team actually used augmented reality (AR) to send almost 1.2K participants “back in time”. 

The end product revealed a younger version of participants, successfully raising awareness of the original series’ storyline, and piquing their interest in the show.

Agency: Bread Butter Bacon
Nominated for: Excellence in Content Marketing

5. Carousell: Save the Earth, Choose Secondhand

Nothing elicits excitement within us Singaporeans like a good sale, and almost all of us are guilty of indulging in a little retail therapy every time a special sale day rolls around. That’s exactly what makes Carousell’s Save the Earth, Choose Secondhand hit so close to home.

The 15-second ad is simple and doesn’t show anything more than an ever-moving timeline of sale days against a sea of waste in a landfill. Also a campaign by advertising agency Bread Butter Bacon, this campaign shines light on the atrocities caused by the aftermath of online shopping, presenting Carousell as an option to save the earth.

Agency: Bread Butter Bacon
Nominated for: Excellence in Communications / Public Relations

Marketing Excellence Awards 2022 best ads

The annual Marketing Excellence Awards is a time for brands and agencies alike to shine, and these ads have certainly earned their spot as finalists of the Marketing Excellence Awards 2022. Which of these brands will end up snagging trophies? We’ll find out in just a couple of weeks.

Until then, check out our other content here:

• Epic out-of-office emails you’ll want to copy
• Leadership lessons I learnt from an introverted manager
• Is quiet quitting an excuse for laziness?

Cover image adapted from: SingaporeAIA, CPF Board