More than 700,000 people have seen this ghost video. While there is certainly room to doubt its authenticity, many–at least those who are not from Singapore—didn’t really think it was a viral video ad campaign of McCann Erikson for the GMP Group, a recruitment agency in Singapore.

The video features two executives coming to work late at night when in the office elevator, a ghost mysteriously appears. The Raffles Place Ghost campaign won the top prize, at the 2009 Effies Singapore Awards in July. The video bagged more awards in Asia Interactive.

Excerpted below from the blog, http://adverteasements.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/gmp-the-raffles-place-ghost-viral-campaign/

“The challenge: GMP faces competition from bigger, more established manpower agencies. GMP needed to increase market presence and position themselves as the ideal choice for jobseekers.

Two objectives were set; primary objective was to drive brand awareness among target audience – working adults, 20 to 35 years old; second is to generate candidate leads through CV uploads on its website.

The idea: GMP believes in work-life balance and that no one should have to work late if the job is right. The right career will present the right challenges, prospects and benefits hence leading to greater job satisfaction. A happy employee is more productive, and therefore the need to work overtime diminishes. And GMP believes its stringent placement process will help candidates find the right career.

Given the understanding that Singaporeans like to share paranormal sightings and stories, McCann came up with the big idea – “No one should work late” and the ghost-themed viral video was conceptualized.

With a S$100,000 budget (about $70,800), GMP had to find a creative and effective solution. Viral marketing was an excellent platform as the ghost theme, being a sensational topic locally, will cause a self-replicating effect that encourages advocates to spread the message.

The reveal made primetime news locally (e.g. CNA) and overseas (e.g. CNN). It was also featured by local dailies (e.g. Straits Times), trade publications (e.g. Media magazine) and discussed on over 300 websites. Everyone from paranormal societies to video-makers gave expert comments.

PR value from local media coverage alone is approximately S$200,000.

Discussion in the cyberspace was overwhelming. A Google search on “Raffles Place Ghost” shows 36 pages of relevant results. Of which, 82 bloggers (23%) embedded the video and discussed the campaign. There were 64 forums discussion (18%) and 81 sites where the video was uploaded (22.5%).

Besides attaining massive awareness, the number of CVs uploads increased by 48% on a YTY comparison.

It is a definitely a defining piece of Singapore advertising and a fantastic example of how a big idea can magnify a small advertising budget.”

Some people frown, even scoff at the way I tend to rely on Wikipedia when I do some research  I understand  the antagonism. Information  can be skewed to the person posting an entry to this pseudo-encyclopedia. But the trick is to go way past that.  Go down to the References section where a Wikipedia entry links to: original sources.  I use market research studies, Google to do my research and other websites, too, but it doesn’t hurt to use Wikipedia’s references section.  For a comprehensive study on the Asian-American market, one of the most extensive one that should be on your top shelf should be the Pheonix Multicultural with Interviewing Service of America study released this year.  For Asian behavior online, go to emarketer.com.

We need talents for an Asian-American print ad

One girl aged between 5 and 9 yrs old

One guy aged between 26 and 37 yrs old

Please send recent pictures (head shots, preferably) to Oi Ling at oilinga@admerasia.com or kaipol@admerasia.com not later than Tuesday, 9/9.

Casting will be on Wednesday.

Admerasia produces so many great award-winning ads I am almost tempted to put them here every time they come out in their respective ethnic media. But it can be so difficult to have those displayed here when an ad campaign is currently running. I learned that, even if the ad is out there, Admerasia has to ask permission from its clients before we can put them here.

I know a lot of things going out there happen in real time. For instance, a TVC can instantly be replicated in various social media sites, such as YouTube. But stay tuned. I’ll see what I can do about it.

“Which is harder,” someone asked me, “being a journalist or being an advertising copywriter?”

Being both, I would say advertising copy is harder to master, for lack of a better term.

So where does the hard part factor in? It boils down to direction and process.

In terms of direction, the more it is narrowed down, the writing becomes easier, flowing almost organically. This is if one writes for the general market audience. Once other cultures come into play, the ballgame changes entirely. Even the expression, “the ballgame changes entirely” will no longer be culturally relevant translated to the Chinese, Korean or Filipino corridors. This means that as an Asian American advertising copywriter, you are even more specialized.  You are not only writing ad copy, you are trans-creating or culturally adapting an ad copy.  It has to suit the ethnic market it is targeting.  So when people ask me why I don’t argue my point about a certain headline, it’s because I am aware that if I am writing for a different ethnic segment, there may be a cultural nuance I am missing.  I learned this from being a journalist (read: trained skeptic).

The ratio of your input as a copywriter, though,  is 20%, more or less. One must understand it is a collaborative process. Once you are finished with the ad copy, it goes through an approval process, the second hard part about this profession, although some would also argue its merits; that’s an off-tangent angle best written elsewhere.

For approval, an ad copy can pass through as many as 20 people–from the agency’s departmental team to the entire agency (assigned to the account) to the client and its legal department. You must be aware that when you pound the keyboard, it will go through a legal team.  And that revising the ad copy is common. But I agree. As E.B. White would say, “The best writing is rewriting.” But it doesn’t stop there.

In journalism as in ad copywriting, there’s selling involved. If you cannot sell it to the client or your agency, what more to your audience?