Asia Work of the Month: May

“Work from Asia always seems to suffer from one thing – it’s too culturally loaded and specific. And so when work stands out it is so rich, so gratifying. I love the depth of thinking. The ability to solve specific problems at scale – an obvious need for the most populous and diverse continent. And this month’s work, does exactly that: brings a smile to your face like a cold beer at the end of a hot, humid, power-shortaged day.” – Neville Shah, chief creative officer, FCB Kinnect

Heineken – Trust Bars

This is peak fan-hack brilliance. It’s a love letter to football fans using their own culture. Because see, Heineken doesn’t just sponsor the game; they sponsor the experience of the game. And for fans that watch a game at four am, they deserve the communal lived experience of the game. So they gave them the keys to the bar.

It’s a social experiment meets fan service. The real genius? It’s not about tech or gimmicks. It’s about understanding behaviour and rewarding it with a communal lived experience.

Snap AR – Augmented Reading

‘Kids don’t read anymore’. But can we do anything about that? YES. WE. CAN. National Library Singapore and LePub flipped the problem into a format-first solution. They didn’t change the story, they changed the access point.

Through AR lenses these books get characters, voice, drama – essentially, they get life. It makes passive reading an active, gamified ritual. The kind of idea that doesn’t just market culture, it preserves it, in the format kids are fluent in. That’s how you future-proof storytelling.

Yangzhou Cultural Bureau – Towel Percussion

This is the kind of campaign that makes you smile first, then go, “damn, that’s smart.” Turning bathhouse massages into rhythmic performances is fun. Making the towels stream those songs via NFC? That’s delight layered over tradition.

What it really does is modernise culture without mocking it. It gives heritage the sonic identity it never had and makes it reel-ready. You don’t just watch culture here. You listen to it, interact with it, remix it. That’s future-facing respect.

Bar BQ Plaza – Sad KamaChan

This weaponises nostalgia. Using fan service not for a pop icon or a gaming community, but for foodies. And not the kind that only post reels with truffle foam. It mobilises a nation to go back to tradition. Save the food they grew up on with their favourite delight when they were young.

It shows how nostalgia, when done with affection and cultural fluency, isn’t regressive, it can drive today’s conversations. Because when you honour the past with wit and self-awareness, it becomes the language of now.

Aditya Birla Capital – Motherhood on Hold

Here we spoke about something that we usually don’t: mothers who delay motherhood because they’re not financially ready. Not emotionally, not physically – financially. On Mother’s Day, a festival usually drenched in flowers and sappy posts, this ad says, “Wait, can we talk about what stops people from becoming mothers at all?”

It’s not loud. It’s not angry. But it’s important. And it opens a conversation about financial independence that’s deeply current. Some campaigns ride trends. This one hopefully starts one.