McDonald’s uses Singapore National Service anniversary to launch nasi lemak burger
Fast food chain McDonald’s has paid its own tribute to the Singapore National Service’s upcoming 50th anniversary with the launch of a bespoke nasi lemak burger.
In an ad created by DDB to promote the limited-edition burger, a national serviceman is shown taking his first army leave and returning home to his family. However, much to his family’s anxiety, his return was somewhat delayed.
When his lateness is questioned by his mother, the serviceman reveals he went to McDonalds to bring his family the new burger using his first army wage.
As a soft piano score plays in the background, a voiceover says: “The things you love are best enjoyed with the ones you love… Just for you Singapore.”
The ad concludes with the National Service’s 50-year anniversary logo juxtaposed against that of McDonald’s.
The American giant launched the nasi lemak burger – plus a chendol McFlurry – to coincide with the Singapore Food Festival 2017 this month.
Just for you, Singapore. Now we know why Davey Tang floated Blk J – Asia’s answer to (breathe in, keep in) Droga5 and Adam/Eve. He first tried to float a gig called Neil J, but ended up with Medulla Moms and THIS kinda lazy McD stuff. Chris C also didn’t quite stack up because he also displayed a compelling need to be very close to camera, when being interviewed at hallowed award shows like SPH Ink and The Laurels.
So now we have Blk J. Well, here’s something for you, Tang. The management of Droga5 and Adam/Eve were global giants way before they founded their shops. You seriously can’t have us believe that even one of the team is a threat beyond our shores. Blk J may eventually end up earning more than your own agency, but that’s only because Joji J towers way above Neil J and Chris C.
ReplyLolol, Medulla Moms hit such lows, Droga, Priest and Golding must have cringed at the mere mention of their agency names in the same breath as Blk J. But Joji J surely trumps Neil J and Chris C. He should go truly independent by snapping all ties with Tang and his charitable home for ostracized industry creatives.
ReplySession Fleetwood Mac guitarist isn’t a bad career option for a guy who’s waited more than a decade and a half for a regional CEO role that the two other regional Omnicom chiefs earn well over 200% more for. His creative partner’s probably the lowest paid Executive Chairman as well, but bombastic titles like that attract floral garlands rivalling the girth of anacondas, back home. Evidently, that’s a better draw that creative recognition.
ReplyAs rice bowls go, there’s only one guy in DDB who brings in the truly big bucks. Jeff Cheong. No Jeff, no money.
ReplyHello? Can we talk about the Nasi Lemak burger instead?
ReplyHow does it taste?
Tastes like it was prepared by a Medulla Mom trapped in some lacklustre male Executive Chairman’s body, assisted by a family of rescued creatives that true blue hotshops like BBH and BBDO will never hire. Heartburn!
ReplyI think you ate the wrong burger. You sound salty! Haha
ReplyI think you’ve spent too much time imbibing the Executive Chairman’s English. Salt, not salty. Hahaha.
ReplySurprised your taste buds still work with all the bile and gastric reflux inside.
ReplyThe two known cures are Gaviscon
(cheap plug) and doing work better than those you clearly dislike.
Downsize your spite.
Upsize your work.
And chill dude.
DDB, the only Omnicom shop in Singapore with a creative Executive Chairman, also churns out the network’s most awful work when compared with BBDO and TBWA. That’s terrifying.
ReplyObjectively speaking, the Omnicom group seems to be performing better than the others in Singapore.
ReplyAnd the biggest and most successful of the group seems to be DDB.
Anyone familiar with scale and the complexity of managing a few hundred staff spread across so many accounts will understand that these titles come with responsibilities.
Of course its completely subjective when it comes to creative quality.
The 5:95 rules apply here.
You front your best 5% and ignore the other 95% of your work.
This applies to all shops regardless of network.
Everyone has and produced turkeys. It pays the bills.
To dismiss an entire agency by its worst is as honest as parading creative excellence just on the back of the few that actually merit praise.
BBDO has its moments of creative excellence with Guiness and nothing worthwhile to show for its tenure on Mercedes-Benz.
TBWA has a truckload of craft awards for airbnb but nothing worthwhile for SIA or done any work to date on STB.
Let’s not throw bricks for we all live in glass walled open plan offices.
Don’t condemn anyone by their worst work or believe our egos when we do work that doesn’t stink.
(Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy)… You can tell a ddb ad at once these days…..it will have a sappy, corny theme that they pass off as “localness”….which usually consists of poor dialogue and artificial acting. Im not a fan of bbdo either….their work is equally terrible but that is because the agency has long been under the reins of people who did way too much pro bono jobs. TBWA seems to be to most respectable….although their last remotely interesting work was for STandard Chartered “Here For Good”.
ReplyLaddat?
Replyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH0Dn7dcRzQ
ReplyDudes, the marketing head of McD Singapore used to be an ex-CD from DDB. Can’t remember her name though.
Like everything in advertising, its all about network and connections. They have been doing all these McD ads for years already.
Everything they did was local this local that and apparently they are making big money and tat encourages clones like GOVT which also does everything with a Local taste.
Singapore advertising is doomed.
ReplyAll the recent Asian powerhouses (Thailand, India, Japan, Malaysia by way of Yasmin, RIP) succeeded by creating ads of their own culture and flavour so I would say there is merit in pursuing local insights and behaviour patterns. But two problems persist.
One, Singapore is not homogeneous and therefore, very often what is considered Chinese is mistaken as being Singaporean (e.g. many Singaporeans speak Chinglish these days and assume it to be Singlish. It’s NOT!) or a local issue is only an issue when the majority of Chinese see relevance in it.
Case in point – Malays are the biggest sufferers of Diabetes, Singapore’s fastest growing health concern, and yet Tribal convinced some government agency with deep pockets to do a big budget TVC for Chinese New Year. And nothing visible was done for Hari Raya.
And two, there are no agencies around who can pull off a local insight competently anymore like the Batey/Saatchi/DYR of old. BBH seems to get by with gimmicks passed off as clever strategy (Honesty? Start Retiring? Really?). Ogilvy-TBWA-BBDO-Y&R-Grey, all work off ‘insights’ that only appeal to award show judges. Can’t expect anything good from Publicis ever. Havas and JWT are journeymen as of now. So what are you left with? The likes of DDB who get by with bare minimum and get heralded as champions of ‘local’ advertising.
Dear DDB/Tribal, there is a big difference between mining a great local insight (LB did a wonderful spot with 4D/car breakdowns years ago) and a TVC/ad that does a cursory nod to being local which is what you guys seem to do repeatedly. It’s like you guys fill out an Effies entry form and work your way backwards to a ‘local’ ad/TVC. Be better. Please.
Replyhttp://www.marketing-interactive.com/regardlessofcolour-starhub-encourages-unity-in-diversity-through-new-ad/?utm_campaign=20170721_mktdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=SG&utm_content=listing
ReplyApple 1984ish. Everyone’s tried one of those, at some point of their career or the other. No harm done. Just not an original format, and certainly not an opportunity that Droga5 or Adam/Eve would have squandered away.
What baffles me is the lack of local cues/relevance/patriotism in the script. Surely StarHub could have noticed that.
Couldn’t Starhub have chosen quotes by our own founding father(s), instead of MLK. Lee Kuan Yew’s speeches and books have so many rich references to racial harmony. Not only would that have been more relevant, but also more current. And fresh.
ReplyYeah, StarHub. Was also trying to figure out the MLK link. Bit of a random, overused cliché, and out of sync with Asian/Singaporean racial harmony, at any point of his movement. Moreover, a good opportunity lost to showcase Singapore’s local heroes (and their secular values) to the world. Nice production, all the same.
ReplyUnsure if colour was ever a problem in Singapore. The continuous need to promote racial/religious harmony, more like it. Was colour used merely to justify inclusion of the speech? In which case, why this particular speech? A planner or smarter client could have helped avert that glitch.
ReplyAwesome article!!!
ReplyI love Like mcdonalds burger.everything in advertising, its all about network and connections. They have been doing all these McD ads for years already.
Thanks for this uses singapore national service
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