As the year comes to an end, LBB would like to celebrate all the excellent work that has come out during 2023.
LBB’s Tom Loudon asked creatives from all over Asia - why they believe craft is worth celebrating – the only caveat being that they couldn’t discuss work that they had produced.
Below are some of our favourite responses.
Shahn Devendran, executive producer – electriclime°
There have been two APAC pieces this year which have particularly caught my eye.
The first is ‘This is a bit precarious’ for Macpac. I love a bit of New Zealand humour, and this spot is simple and hilarious - set in a spectacular location. It ticks all the boxes for me.
The second is ‘Masterpiece’ for Coca-Cola. It is a quality work from earlier this year that borrowed from the AI toolbox to blend some of the world's greatest artistic styles into a commercial "masterpiece". It’s a very clever concept and extremely well executed.
Storytelling is one of the most powerful devices of humankind. It gives us strength, inspiration, courage and a deeper understanding of who we are and what we can be - and one of the most impactful mediums of storytelling is film.
At electriclime° we constantly aim to not only drive our own way of thinking forward but also push the art of visual and audio possibilities in our work.
Asheen Naidu, executive creative director – TBWA\Singapore
The latest NRMA “Until Then” campaign gets my vote. Such a lovely brand platform, which could go on forever.
I actually think this instalment is stronger than the first.
The “Hailstorm” film is beautifully directed, with exquisite music and sound design. To give rise to that much emotion and nuance in the way that little car was humanised was a joy to watch.
But as a writer, the single element of this campaign, which blew me away, was the OOH line - “Until clouds stop throwing stones”.
Wow. A welcome return to considered, crafted, beautiful writing.
Tarvinderjit Singh, senior ECD – Cheil India
Think impressing a jury of 12 is hard? Try 1,434,749,584 argumentative Indians. Surprisingly, a piece of advertising managed just that. And more.
A routine Instagram Live clip that had India in its thrall for months brought over a million followers for the brand and seduced showbiz royalty, including Nick Jonas, Ashley Graham, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, and Karan Johar, into eagerly reenacting the on-fire ad/punchline. All this without burdening any talent agency’s gilded coffers.
(ECDs with fragile hearts, please grab a chair now.)
An advertising agency didn’t make this extraordinary piece of advertising. Surprise surprise, it was a lone wolf influencer. Jasmeen Kaur, owner/endorser/CEO/MD of Design Machine.
Jasmeen’s campy sales pitch for her modest fashion business broke the subcontinent’s internet with millions of organic impressions of her saying - So beautiful, so elegant, just looking like a wow.
Jasmeen Kaur’s fortuitous success reiterates what we’ve always known but only sporadically remembered. Authenticity works, creativity is beyond definition, ‘grammatical errors’ matter only to proofreaders, and all ideas have NOT been done already.
The fountain of creativity has been thrown open by the internet. And isn’t that just like a wow?