Before the age of the Internet and the glorious days of OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, analog TVs used to be our only source of entertainment. Those were simpler days when we used to sit glued to our seats waiting for our favorite songs or TV programs to air. At times, even for commercials!
Whether you see it as a pure marketing genius or an absolute disaster, some commercials from the past got so deeply lodged in our brains that we’ll remember those for life. So, here we are with 5 Singaporean commercials that will take you down the memory lane with the best and the worst of what early advertising had to offer, which shaped most of our childhoods.
1. McDonald’s: A Day in Singapore
A combination of freshly chopped vegetables and water droplets moving in slow-motion through the air, meat pieces being grilled to perfection, and juicy components of a burger falling into place! These are shots from modern-day fast food commercials. But back in the 90s, they did it differently!
This commercial from McDonald’s doesn’t merely focus on their food items but a sneak peek into Singaporean society. Well, who needs high-resolution food porn when a commercial can offer you 60 seconds of absolutely unadulterated feels!
2. Singapore Airlines: A Great Way to Fly
This one-minute ad may not make much sense to people today as there’s hardly any image of the airline or its routes and destinations in this ad. However, the “Singapore Girl” personification of Singapore Airlines worked wonders for the brand.
Not only does the commercial greatly glamorize the airline industry but also sparked fires in the hearts of young girls to make the skies their home when it first launched. Inspiring an entire generation to take up a profession, now isn’t that awesome!
3. Tiger Beer: It’s Tiger Time
Ever been answered with an “it’s tiger time” upon asking what time it was. Well, this campaign from Tiger Beer is what made a popular alternative answer to someone who asked you the time. Not to mention how easily some people got irked by this response.
Well, thanks to this inadvertent word-of-mouth, Tiger managed to attain the top-of-mind awareness that it wanted through this commercial.
4. Singtel: 17 -31707 -1
While the young population today would find it hard to imagine a world without their phones, people born before the smartphone age would remember a time when they could go hours without checking their phones. And the simplicity of this Singtel ad bears ample testimony to this.
There’s nothing like a throwback to the age of pagers and secret numeric codes to unlock the floodgates of nostalgia in our minds.
5. Out of the Box: Anything & Whatever
Do you remember “anything” and “whatever”? They made waves in the advertising industry when the company, Out of the Box, rolled out two drinks called ‘Anything’ and ‘Whatever’. Made for the indecisive, “Anything” was a carbonated drink that offered a range of flavors from citrus to cola. On the other hand, “Whatever” was a non-carbonated drink that had a similarity to Pokka’s fruit teas.
Well, as things turned out, this commercial was much more memorable than the taste that these drinks left in our mouths.
Wrapping Up
With the emergence of the second and third screen phenomena, brands can no longer trap us in front of the TV for the entire duration of the ad. This makes understanding the impact and future consequences of disruptive technology extremely important. That’s why marketers need to come up with memorable marketing campaigns. Hopefully, the commercials listed here will give you some insights into what needs to be done to come up with top-notch advertisements.
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