JWT helps re-brand Vietnam TV station K+ to look ‘beyond football’
J. Walter Thompson has unveiled a campaign to reposition Vietnam’s pay television network K+ as more than just a football broadcaster.
The agency created the tagline Cang Xex Cang Yeu, which loosely translates in English to ‘the more you watch the more you love’, as part of a campaign promoting K+’s content diversification.
Previously focused on sports broadcasting, K+ will branch out into airing romantic dramas, international and Vietnamese films.
Created by JWT’s Vietnam office, the TV commercial centres on the country’s “obsessive” TV-watching habits.
The campaign will be the first in a year-long series promoting the channel’s relaunch. According to the agency, the following TVCs will employ a ‘Mo Lei Tau’ style of humour, which captures how Vietnamese audiences fantasise about cinema.
JWT Vietnam CEO Saby Mishra said: “The TV landscape is changing fast and full on but content is still king. This requires re-thinking TV not as a channel but as a brand, addressing multiple demographics but built on a single, cohesive brand story. This journey is a truly productive collaboration with VSTV/K+ team and Canal International in the transformation of K+.”
(Shocked into speechlessness.)
ReplyThis film offers some illumination into why JWT Vietnam hasn’t won awards in either creativity or effectiveness, ever since Chris Von Selle’s departure. Content may be king (ouch, damn cliché). Not lazy mediocrity.
ReplyProduction’s so tacky, my senses reel even before trying to connect the thinking behind it. Not that a strategy of “movie fantasizing” is uniquely Vietnamese. It’s not even exclusively Indochinese or South East Asian, but a continental phenomenon. Merely letting us know that it’s called Mo Lei Tau locally doesn’t make the insight uniquely Viet.
ReplyMystery how a creative powerhouse like JWT that wins Cannes and Effies in other Asian markets hasn’t even made it to Vietnam’s AOTY Top 3, let alone win a shard of metal. But I’ll award the CEO chappie a Grand Prix for having the nerve to share this.
ReplyClassic case of some crafty biz dev boss kowtowing shamelessly before a pitch, and not having a clue about ways forward after winning it. Vietnam’s rich creative culture deserves agency leadership with a conscience.
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Trying to understand how it got to the point where several people put their time into making this is one thing, as for concocting a press release about it, thats another.
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ReplyFirst, they aren’t in the news for either creative or effectiveness awards, for years. Second, they aren’t even ranked Top 3 in the AOTY country hustings, for years. Finally, they also lose globally prized network biz like Unilever. Given this situation, they’ve clearly been pressured to make regional bosses see something/anything that the team has been busy with, however adversely it affects the global agency’s image.
My guess is they’ll explain it away with some press releases about how well this work resonated with the locals. What they won’t have answers for is how much better it could have resonated and with how much smaller a budget, were it to have been more sensitively and creatively conceptualized and executed.
ReplyAccording to the agency, the following (sic) TVC’s (typo: TVCs) will employ a ‘Mo Lei Tau’ style of humour, which captures how Vietnamese audiences fantasise about cinema.
However, besides the point of this not being a remotely unique Vietnamese insight, such pan Asian fantasizing is tiered in intensity, with greater market share and viewer loyalty assured for a combination of script strength, casting, cinematographic prowess, slick editing and overall finesse in post production. This film for K+ fails across all that. Yes, they will back it up with some research to justify its results, without having the nerve to table the potential glory of a better effort – in terms of greater market performance, lower client expenses and glorious industry accolades. Creative excellence is a 360 degree reward.
ReplyAm seriously confused. This isn’t quite the standard of work that the global leadership of Canal+ can be expected to swoon over. The French do have their moment of pride with a distinctive Viet creative/cultural legacy, from the civic layouts to architecture to coffee and even the humble baguette. Unsure what Fred Berardi or Cedric Connan really think of this film and what went through their minds when they signed off on the contract and subsequent creative direction. Would be worthwhile to know.
ReplyWhile I agree that the work is appalling, I also believe that the intensity of the feedback is linked to the high expectations set by the PR. There’s always a danger doing that. Then again, poor PR wouldn’t have got us clicking on that video. So it all boils down to caution and discretion when sharing work. Assuming that what’s being sought is praise, not condemnation. The Vietnam team should be commissioned to craft the PR for all of JWT’s global creative submissions. Except their own.
Reply“This requires re-thinking TV not as a channel but as a brand, addressing multiple demographics but built on a single, cohesive brand story. ”
Amazing knack for BS…I’d be embarrassed to spout such rubbish with a straight face.
ReplyPerhaps, just perhaps, it’s only his/her (?) face that’s straight? He/She may need that BS in the absence of all those missing laurels mentioned in this thread. No awards. No country ranking. Unilever losses. Are there more?
Reply“This requires re-thinking TV not as a channel but as a brand,…” What’s Promax all about then eh?
“…addressing multiple demographics but built on a single, cohesive brand story. ”
ReplyThe BBC? Al Jazeera? Nat Geo? History Channel? Not a single one of them addressing multi demos via a cohesive brand? All waiting with bated breath for your enlightening K+ insight eh?
Vietnam’s “obsessive” TV-watching habits? Errm.
ReplyTVC K+ 30s Master with Eng Sub VO – North.
Iconic time capsule kind of posterity. Raw. Let all the people see it in its untamed glory. Love it. Who are the Eng Subs for though?
Reply1. Was there regional (Indochina/SE Asia/Asia) strategic and creative guidance sought/offered? Ogilvy Vietnam is productively aligned with the regional leadership, so this WPP mechanism should also be in place for JWT.
2. Is there a regional evaluation mechanism in place for pre and post campaign development in markets like Vietnam? Especially where global client sensitivities are concerned?
3. Was the CEO clear about JWT’s own regional and global creative benchmarks? Amply immersive orientation/onboarding? Does he/she have regular engagement during regional/global sessions to be updated of these standards?
ReplyIm firmly of the opinion that the CEO of a vietnamese communications firm should be vietnamese….there would be an outcry and total lack of co-operation if a vietnamese were to be appointed CEO of an ad agency in india.
ReplyIndia’s way ahead on the ad scene, so they’ve not just earned choice of local leadership, they’re even exporting it. Mullen Lowe’s Joseph George is a recent example. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/15/india-and-russia-are-strongest-global-markets-for-advertising-growth-us-and-france-the-weakest-report.html
Reasons for relocating from India to Vn? Maybe the person was just a Business Director in his/her mid forties back home, splashing on hair dye like it was Brut, Tabac or Old Spice. Then suddenly, he/she is fired. Then along comes this CEO sort of role in a smaller market, in which the person can enjoy free reign. Don’t know man. All very upsetting.
Reply@tag
ReplyAgreed about the India scenario. But Vietnam’s also had some solid expat CEOs. JWT’s own Chris Von Selle who brought home the agency’s only Cannes Lion to date, along with countless PMAs. MullenLowe’s Michel Borelli who brought home Vietnam’s first Cannes Gold Lion in 2014, along with countless Effies and PMAs. Burnett’s Lukasz Roszczyc who has consistently kept the agency within the Top 3 at AOTY. Alex Clegg who’s kept Ogilvy in great shape with awards and biz wins, for years in a row. So don’t agree that it’s an expat thingy in Vietnam.
Reshoot?
ReplyBetcha this chappie’s chuckling, as he irons out the wrinkles off a dazzling OMO-white Armani jacket in some ritzy villa, numbed by the false security of the lowest priced spirits, even by DFS standards. Then a drop of jet black hair dye trickles down his neck, and on to the freshly ironed OMO-white jacket. Out, out, out damn spot. Heard the one about an emperor who fiddled while a great city burned?
ReplyJWT may have a regional budget for situations like this, to reshoot and produce an outstanding film that befits their global image. Seems like a shame to let it keep airing this way, until the global client team figure they’ve been shortchanged.
ReplyAny idea what those six frames (a heart and X) are for and why they’re part of the PR? Looks like something out of the nineteen twenties. With colour.
Reply@Creative Conscience
ReplyMore than the client, believe the TV audiences deserve a more conscientious piece of work. Vietnam has a rich cultural heritage and it isn’t fair that an expat head rewards that native legacy with such indifferent stuff. Someone’s already mentioned the likelihood of him/her justifying the effort (or lack of it) with some viewership data. Only hope people like Matt Eastwood can ask him why he didn’t aim for better viewership results via better work. Hate this sort of discriminatory media approach that emerging markets are subjected to, time and time again. Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.
So where’s the Global Executive Creative Director for South East Asia when such ill winds blow? Probably rolling out interviews about Pasadena Art School, an obscure Los Angeles Creative Competition award and Linda, between some effete skyving at Cannes and the upcoming Spikes.
ReplyBake me a cake as fast as you can.
ReplyYou can do it cos you’re the wheelin’ dealin’ man.
(Loosely translates in English to…)
Wife (winks): I have a headache. But am up for some action, if you are.
Husband (black eyed): Not tonight. Just saw a few seconds of that K+ Channel ID on TV.
ReplyNow here’s what the CEO should be reading to get the agency forward, instead of shortchanging global clients and underestimating Viet TV audiences.
Replyhttp://www.campaignasia.com/article/four-vietnam-marketing-myths-busted/438045?eid=21&edate=20170713&utm_source=20170713&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter
@CEO Tips
ReplyShouldn’t he be posting such thought leadership content, instead of passively reading it? Though anything he writes should get vetted by regional management before going live, lest we all end up with another eyesore.
Let’s be honest. Vietnam is a tough market for creative.
ReplyClients are clueless. The local ones are arrogant and won’t listen. You could be David Droga and they still wouldn’t give a shit. Even the expats at the top on the client-side are the dreggs, out posted to SEA. Production values are very low, along with acting talent. Vietnam has raced to the bottom far too quickly in terms of shooting budgets and of course ‘the’ back handers.
@Ex-Nam
ReplyNicely put. Just that the client plague hasn’t quite stopped CEOs at agencies like MullenLowe and Ogilvy from posting stuff about respectable work that’s won effectiveness awards, besides creative ones. The effectiveness juries are pretty sound guys, not just based in Vietnam. Quite a few of them are even global biggies. Point with this particular PR is that it amplifies expectations way beyond what’s called for. When I read the CEO’s spin, I was expecting a game changer. Because it’s JWT, not some local gig. Client is one thing. But we can’t fault any client for this trash. Moreover, with the inane strategic jargon that’s spinning it.
I really like the way that charming old Viet man is watering the plants in the video thumbnail. Beacon of hope.
ReplyJ. Walter Thompson has unveiled a campaign…
No specific mention of Vietnam in that opening sentence. Was this PR posted by the regional management? Because later in the article, they mention the Vietnam office when talking specifically about production. Not that it makes the work look any better. Just saying.
ReplyThe beginnings of an anguished diagnostic murmurfest, finally emerging from Hanoi this morning? Almost a week. Though better late than never.
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