Life after tobacco advertising

Over the weekend I spotted an interesting post from 'enter the sponsorship dragon' (Ben Flint) which broke down what the repercussions for Indonesia's sponsorship industry are should its Govt go through with a plan to ban tobacco advertising.

It's a topic A+M Bootleg has touched on before here shortly after Malaysia launched its latest anti-smoking effort.

Flint said the ban on tobacco advertising will include sponsorship and accounts for a whopping 62% of sponsorship in Indonesia.

Just some of the sponsorship money that will need replacing includes Djarum's USD4.75 million annual sponsorship of the Indonesian League, Sampoerna's USD5 million of the Indonesian Basketball League, and Djarum's USD250K for the Badminton Open.

Hopefully, the respective leagues mentioned will get the support from non-tobacco brands to keep it commercially successfully - nobody wants to see the Govt take over and run it into the ground (i.e. What happened with our Malaysian Football League after the cigarette money disappeared).

To end, I'd like to link to another industry blog which I sometimes so happen to come across. Saatchi's Andy Greenaway recently created this comic strip to poke fun at the way politicians show their concern about our health regarding cigarettes.



Over to you guys.

Samsung awesomeness

The market has been flooded with 3D products of late and while I have yet to be convinced about the idea of wearing special 3D glasses at home, this ad for the Samsung 3D TV is beyond funny - it's brilliant.

I just can't imagine inviting my friends around to watch football and having to buy 3D glasses for everyone.

The Tiger comeback

A vulnerable looking Tiger Woods faces the camera as questions are posed to him by the voice of his dead father. That’s the new Nike ad by Wieden+Kennedy which aired recently to mark his comeback to golf at the Masters 2010.



Day 1 of golf’s Masters this year at Augusta National is over. Tiger Woods played like he never left. He opened with a 4-under 68 – his best first round ever at Augusta National – and only two shots behind leader Fred Couples.

He must have been nervous out there. There was an incredible amount of observers waiting to see how he would respond this week – in our region ESPN STAR Sportshad more visible Masters lineup this year.

ESPN STAR started with coverage of the Par 3 contest on Thursday and was building towards the opening tee-off by Woods. An email from their PR department reminded me not to miss the exclusive coverage of Tiger Woods’ first tee shot at the Masters 2010.

"Time: 1.38AM – 1.45AM."

Inside… Woods must be feeling ecstatic. By most accounts, the support he received on his first day back at work was very positive. Fans stood along the first fairway, some a half-hour before he arrived, to wait for him to tee-off his golf career after five months of what must have been hell for him. Among those in the gallery watching was Nike chairman Phil Knight.

Nike was one of the sponsors who continued to back Woods at the height of his sex scandal. This advertising spot is a reward for the support. Yes, the ad is a little self-serving but it’s also brilliant. Those who have followed Tiger Woods’ career, even casual followers, will know he’s had a strong relationship with his father (Earl Woods).

Only Earl (whose had his own marital problems in the past) could ask those questions to Tiger - "did you learn anything?"

Tiger never speaks during the commercial. This morning, he let his golf do some of the talking – and perhaps a bit of mending as well.

The long haul

An advertising agency actually advertising. No, it's not an April Fool's Day joke - I know of at least one agency running an ad in next week's The Edge.

Fresh from helping four clients or brands win awards at the recently concluded Putra Brand Awards, Lowe will run a self-promoting / thank you ad in The Edge.

I expect to see more agencies doing the same.

Not a big deal. But according to Lowe MD, Khairudin Rahim the wins for his clients that night at the Putra Awards (which tracks consumer preference) show why it is important for brands to build longer term relationships with their ad agencies.

In case you were wondering, yes i've purposely skipped the debate on whether advertising actually builds brands - lets save that for another time.

"It is a fact that there is a high correlation of strong brand equity and market leadership being built, once an enlightened advertiser and its agency mutually commits to remain with each other for the long term. We are fortunate that Unilever (49 years), Sara Lee (15 years), Johnson & Johnson (16 years) and Cerebos (4 years) think so too," Rahim said.

"Many Asian or local Advertisers don’t share this opinion," he said.

SIA always comes to my mind as one account which went long term with Batey - perhaps too long term though for both parties.

Over to you guys.