In mid April this year DraftFCB Worldwide introduced a new mantra. The mantra, ‘6.5 Seconds That Matter’, puts prime importance on capturing people’s attention no matter where we talk to them because after extensive research, they found that the average time to capture people’s attention is 6.5 seconds.
It’s a tall order, but it is a discipline that has to be applied in every aspect of the agency’s work. From briefs that has to capture the creative’s attention to a piece of communication that does the same in 6.5 seconds.
DraftFCB Malaysia however has managed to put it into practice even before this, with last year’s CIMB Bank Save and Invest TV Campaign.
The result? It has been heralded as the best bank TVC in the Marketing Pulse Memorable Malaysian TV Ads of 2008 polls. The polls, the culmination of interviewing a thousand consumers throughout Malaysia is based on brand recall and brand impact.
It all started in June last year. The price of petrol has just been increased. CIMB Bank’s target for its savings and investments portfolio had also been increased.
CIMB Bank decided to hold a savings and investments drive where CIMB Bank’s customers stand a chance to win their daily expenses for free for 15 years. This includes expenses like electricity, groceries, holidays and of course, petrol.
DraftFCB Malaysia’s creative team, Lawrence Leong and Amy Tan, led by Jam, its new Associate Creative Director, was put to the task by Lakshmi Mohan, the Executive Creative Director. Working closely with the Brand Management team led by Jacqueline Li, the Account Director on CIMB Bank, a total of five brainstorms were held.
The effects of the rise in petrol price was just starting to kick in. A number of brands had come up with a few promotions linked to petro but none as good as CIMB’s offer. But the team had to do more than just relying on that. They had to create a campaign that will set the offer apart in terms of impact and memorability as well.
The prizes were devised to lessen the pinch of rising costs in the wake of the petrol price increase. The TVCs were conceived to lessen people’s pain in this climate of doom and gloom and highlight that saving and investing was the way out.
To lessen the people’s pain, it was decided very early that the TVC campaign should take a humorous approach to help entertain consumers and lighten their mood. All the TVCs are based on the big idea of showing how people can go to extremes in trying to save on expenses. At the end of each TVC, the consumers were reminded that if they’re trying to save on these, save or invest with CIMB Bank and win exactly what they’re trying to save.
The first idea was on electricity. The TVC showed a family trying to have dinner in the dark. And the mayhem that ensued was hilarious. The climax was when the son in the family realised that the grandmother was still groping in the dark when everybody else was already seated.
To tackle the message of 15 years’ free grocery, a TVC with a housewife was used. It was a typical scene of a housewife preparing a meal for the family. Except that the portions were incredibly tiny (she even sliced a beansprout into three smaller parts).
The third instalment was free holidays for 15 years. A man was seen going into a hotel room with a porter who was helping him carry a huge heavy-as-a-ton-of-bricks bag. He quickly shooed the porter away and rushed to open the bag. And his family popped out of the bag. They were stowed away there so he can save on flight tickets.
The last commercial was on petrol. The TVC showed close-up shots of a big boss being chauffeured on the road. At the end of the TVC it was revealed that he was actually ‘chauffeured’ on a bicycle.
From Marketing Pulse’s polls it was obvious that these four TVCs have passed the 6.5 seconds test. DraftFCB’s founder, Howard Draft, would be proud.