Singtel unveils second phase of campaign to back Singapore’s SMEs with short film by Ogilvy
Singtel has launched the second phase of its ‘99% SME’ campaign in Singapore, a joint initiative with MediaCorp, DBS and others, to encourage Singaporeans to back small-to-medium size businesses.
A TV ad places the viewer in the shoes of the SME owner. “I am the uncle who runs the corner coffee shop,” begins the ad, created by Ogilvy.
This is the first time that a collective of brands and businesses in Singapore have come together to rally consumers to use products and services offered by SMEs, which make up 99 per cent of companies in the citystate.
In a press release, Eugene Cheong, Ogilvy’s regional creative chief, said: “In making this campaign, and the film in particular, our task was to ignite affection and empathy for the SME by humanising the abbreviation, and showing how the SME is, in fact, your neighbour who works very hard to make your life comfortable.”
“By catching the unsung local businessman in his element, putting in an honest day’s work with no artificial posing or ‘marketing’ for the camera, we give the small business owners of Singapore the pride, dignity and stature they deserve so that their fellow Singaporeans will be rallied to act by pledging their support for SMEs,” he said.
The campaign is running on TV, print, online, social media, direct email, SMS offers and on-ground promotions.
Singtel’s campaign is running along side activity by MediaCorp to encourage more SMEs to advertise on its platforms.
Credits:
Project title: 99% SME
Client: Singtel
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather Singapore
Chief Creative Officer: Eugene Cheong
Executive Creative Director: Melvyn Lim
Creative Directors: Stephen Kyriakou, Shawnn Lai
Art Directors: Andrey Danilov, Sean Liu, Diana Lee, Catherine Chow, Errol Workman
Senior Copywriters: Roger Yong, Grace Tan
Account Management: Lee Yee Hew, Andrew Boggs, Angela Chan
Production house: The Prosecution
Producers: Dan Li Lok, Alain Tan
Director: Roslee Yusof
The VO is what is commonly known as eugenespeak….where you patronise the listener with prose and pay no attention to the brand….why should we care for these SME businesses….because they employ a lot of people? Sorry, not convincing enough.
Grand opportunity missed….I would of just stuck with telling one emotionally rich story using one SME….but it’s easier to cobble together footage like this with a boring voiceover than it is to tell a powerful story that makes you give a shit about SMEs.
Reply99% SME? And the campaign by Singtel is handled by a international MNC advertising agency that is not SME?
Singapore have no SME ad agency? So Singtel is asking people to support SME but they themselves are using MNC to work on this campaign??
Bravo! Bravo Singtel! Well Done.
ReplyInstead of wasting money saying you all support SMEs,
ReplySingtel can lower telco bills for SMEs.
DBS can offer SME easier biz financing terms.
Capitland can offer rent freezes.
Get the picture?
LOL….cant do that….that might really help SMEs….just like Amex Small Business Saturdays did.
ReplyIt’s like Small Business Saturday…
without the Saturday
or a call to action
or brand involvement
Or branding
But good to see the SG50 branding getting a second airing.
Open goal, meet world’s worst striker
ReplyHave your say