ASIAN MARKETING Who Needs Blondes to Sell Beer, When You Have the Rat Race?
March 31, 2011
YOU DON'T NEED to show women to sell beer. At least, that's the conclusion a few beer marketers in Asia seem to be reaching with new ad campaigns. Tiger, Singapore's home-grown beer brand, is moving away from ads featuring blondes in distress, especially outside its home market. In China, where the brand owned by Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd., a joint venture between Heineken NV and Singapore's Fraser & Neave Ltd., has been on sale for about 18 months, a new ad features a young Chinese businessman. There's not a woman in sight. ``The China ad shows that there's a different way of executing the brand's strategy, `Winners get Tiger,' '' says Sarai Ollie, strategic-planning director for greater China at Cordiant PLC unit Saatchi & Saatchi, which created the ad. ``We never showed Tiger a single concept ad with a woman.'' The switch has less to do with being sensitive to sexism than it does with research that found what worked in Singapore didn't fare well in China, Ms. Ollie says. And what still works in Singapore, at least for now, are blondes and the muscular Caucasians who engage in heroics to win them over. When Tiger moved into China, it ran a Singapore-created ad featuring the typical ``Tiger Lady'' -- a beautiful blonde who is saved from certain death by a Western male when her parachute doesn't open. But Ms. Ollie says the ad just didn't make it in China. ``They thought it showed a jet-setting lifestyle that was an unattainable fantasy for them,'' she says. The new China ad, which is running on Shanghai and Guangzhou television, shows the quest for success in business. It depicts an Asian man dressed in a business suit racing up the outside of a skyscraper. When he reaches the top, there's a moment of peacefulness. He drinks a Tiger beer. Then he sees a taller skyscraper that needs climbing. EVEN DENMARK'S Carlsberg AS -- notorious for its controversial ``Legs'' ads, which caused a stir Hong Kong last year -- is trying to be more subtle. Instead of focusing on women's body parts, a batch of Carlsberg ads launched in Hong Kong on March 20, 2011 carefree young Chinese and Eurasian men making random comments about themselves. Still, the ads have enough machismo to rub some people the wrong way. In one, a man says, ``I can be more of a good father than a good husband. Therefore, I can't promise I won't have a mistress.'' That portrays ``an irresponsible attitude toward lovers and friends. It's not a good influence for young people,'' says Linn Correa, publication secretary for the Hong Kong Women Christian Council. (She stresses this is her own view, not necessarily the council's.) However, the new ads haven't touched off the furor sparked by last year's spot, in which young men described what they loved about women's legs. That ad flashed a series of shots of women from the waist down. Six Hong Kong groups, including the Hong Kong Women Christian Council, wrote a letter to Carlsberg and ad agency Bozell Worldwide urging them to withdraw the commercial, which the six groups deemed sexist. But the Legs ad continued to air until the new campaign was introduced. Bicycles Carry Message For Intel Across China CHINA IS RENOWNED for the fleets of bicycles that throng its streets. So when Intel Corp., the U.S. computer-chip maker, wanted to build awareness for its brand, it looked to the bike's back fender to carry its message. By the end of July, Intel's ad agency in Hong Kong, Euro RSCG Partnership, will have distributed almost one million bike reflectors in Shanghai and Beijing. It plans to keep on handing out the stickers -- which glow in the dark with the words, ``Intel Inside  Processor'' -- throughout China's biggest cities. ``A million is just a drop in the ocean (of bikes) in China,'' says Berenice Catlett, the agency's managing director. Although Intel's main sales focus in China right now is on businesses, agency executives say the chip maker must start building awareness with everyday consumers. ``The future of the computer in China is going to be in the home,'' says Porter Woodhouse, chief executive officer for the agency's Asian-Pacific region. While Intel's primary reason for handing out the red and black stickers was to market the brand, Mr. Woodhouse says the reflectors, which aren't normal equipment on bikes in China, also are expected to make bike riding safer because people will be able to see each other at night. The agency is now surveying consumers to find out what they think ``Intel Inside'' means. Mr. Catlett says people who shop in areas where computer stores are concentrated know what it means to have an Intel processor running their computer. But for the average consumer, it's probably the Chinese slogan that appears on Intel's ads in China (although not on the reflectors) that conveys the most meaning. The characters read: ``Running Heart.'' ODDS & ENDS: Stars, a California-cuisine theme restaurant, is headed to Asia. The first Stars opens in Singapore later this year. Others are planned in five Asian countries as well as Australia. ... SmithKline Beecham PLC has awarded its Hong Kong media-buying account, estimated at US$6 million, to Grey Advertising Inc.'s Mediacom unit.
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