Thursday, March 4, 2010
DAILY TIDBITS 04/03/10: SMU go head-to-head with NTU with their undergraduate open house; Citibank fail to impress; and Standard Chartered score full marks for clarity
All four ads are from the main section of today’s Straits Times.
1. SMU’s open house fails to leave an impression
With A-Level results out tomorrow, the competition between Singapore’s local universities for undergraduate applicants is hotting up. Whilst we were impressed by NUS’s “Be the change” ad (see here), SMU leave us unconvinced with their promise to “DISCOVER A DIFFERENT U” at their open house on 6th and 7th March. Take a look at the ad below:
First, the muted colour scheme of burgundy red and indigo blue fail to catch the eye and, when used together as they are here, make reading the copy difficult, even painful. When combined the colours mute each other, preventing the message from popping out at you as it should. Second, the visual is uninspired and, we would argue, obsolete. It looks like a last-minute addition to convey a “personal touch” to an otherwise impersonal invitation to attend an open house. Compared to the visual sophistication of NUS’s (see here) and NTU’s (see below) ads, this is a comparatively lazy choice that shows a lack of creative vision.
2. NTU impress undergraduate applicants with employment prospects
NTU are straight to the point in telling potential undergraduates why they should apply to NTU – because “TOP EMPLOYERS CHOOSE NTU – WHY DON’T YOU?” The brazen directness of the slogan sits perfectly with the visual of a busy city street covered with advertising billboards, as you can see by having a look at the ad below:
At first glance you would never guess that this comes from a university, given the P&G, Shell, Oracle, Citi, Philips, DSO and Toshiba brands emblazoned across the billboards. These big brands provide an effective that easily attract attention. At second glance, the concept becomes a powerful reason to apply to NTU. It suggests that when you apply to NTU, you are not just applying for a university place, but also a job with one of the world’s largest, most recognised companies. By suggesting that NTU is good enough for the biggest companies in the world, they challenge the reader to find a reason not to apply. In telling prospective students that this is what they can get by choosing NTU they harness not just the attraction of the university, but the companies that employ NTU graduates as well. Excellent vision – we love it.
Interestingly, the call to action for this ad - found in small print in the bottom left hand corner - is to attend NTU’s open house on 13th March. Whilst SMU simply provide notification of their open house by shouting it out (more like whispering, given the drab colour scheme!), NTU give you reason to want to study at NTU and, as an afterthought, let you know that they will also be having an open house. A far more sophisticated and value-added approach, we find. Based on these two ads, which open house would you rather attend?
3. Citibank Singapore become repetitive in their drive for accessibility
This is the third ad Citibank have run as part of their “accessibility” re-branding campaign, this time trying to woo you with their instant services (for the instant access ad see here, for instant connections see here). We find that visually this the weakest of the three, and whilst it drills home the message that Citibank is accessible, it still leaves us wondering what else the bank has to offer prospective customers. Three ads telling you that Citibank offer you something that all local banks can also offer (accessibility) is hardly much of a catch. As we have argued before, such re-branding should be used to complement the features that are truly unique to Citibank in order to effectively differentiate their brand positioning, and service offering.
4. Standard Chartered use their branding template to powerful effect
The slogan – “You stock up on groceries / we reduce the bill” – fits perfectly with the idea that Standard Chartered make life easier for you by allowing you to save money on the mundane yet necessary expenses of day-to-day living. The visual in the form of a simple white outline of a shopping trolley fits perfectly with the idea that “stock[ing] up on groceries” is mundane, whilst Standard Chartered are seen to inject some colour and excitement with their “5% cashback” shopping bag. Very simply, very direct, very effective.
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4 comments:
how fair can comparing a brand ad to a notice ad be?
would love to read your critic of ntu/nus/smu ads vis-a-vis since all three unis have launched theirs
Hi there,
Haha - good point!
You're right about the comparison, although we feel that drawing such a distinction between brand and notice ad is a bit misleading, as both contain elements of each, albeit to varying degrees. It's how they found a balance between brand/notice that interests us, especially seeing as both arrive at the same call-to-action. In light of this we would say that SMU are probably clearer, although NTU are more persuasive in the message they convey. Would you agree?
Haha - thanks for the suggestion! We will try and get around to it... Although would you like to provide a critique and we publish it for you?! We would love to hear more of our readers' analyses.
Thanks for the interaction,
TVP
I just stumbled upon this blog, and although I am not doing anything related to advertising, I must say this is very impressive!
I rarely read the newspapers except during the weekends. But I do get attracted by the better advertisements and always wonder how they are created. This blog does a wonderful job in the analysis and compares advertisements with their counterparts. It is nice to read how others feel about them, so keep up the good work! I will be back to read more of your work!
Hi Anonymous,
Super! You are just the kind of reader we welcome with open arms! So welcome! Haha...
Glad you appreciate the content and thank you for your kind words of support. Please do check back regularly - we try and update as frequently as possible, but unfortunately this past week has been a bit manic for us so our posting has become a little erratic. Apologies for that.
Also, please continue to comment on our posts and, if you're feeling particularly brave (or bored!) we would love readers like yourself to submit your own analyses for us to publish. It doesn't have to be long - just a paragraph or so and we can beef up the rest. Interaction keeps us sane, and grounded!
Thanks again, and we look forward to hearing more from you in the future!
TJR
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