PHILIPPINES & AUSTRALIA, DECEMBER 2010 – Unusual holiday greetings are upon us. Two long copy print ads came out in newspapers within days of each other in the past week, on either side of the equator. Independent Filipino agency IXM placed an ad in the Philippine Star asking boxer Floyd Mayweather to reconsider fighting the Filipino eight-time world champion Manny Pacquiao using reverse psychology. Down south, Droga 5 Sydney came out in The Australia with a message to the industry penned by creative partner David Nobay.
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IXM’s self-promotion is a good idea; the subject got the public, not just agencies, talking. But imagine the concept in the words of a copywriter who would not write an awkward headline and could truly provoke an impassioned response from the addressee himself, and in the hands of an art director who can set a “notice to the public” in a typeface worth noting by discerning readers, not just the general public. Take Ogilvy Singapore’s World War II ad, which broke just a day before it, as an example. Tojo and Mayweather may be two different warriors, but the ability to incite the dead to protest–that is a true talent.
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Droga 5 Sydney has a different fight in mind, this time with industry bloggers. Did they really take the fun away from advertising? Can this business be fun again? This may not be the golden age of advertising, but the brave adman can have a good year.
