AD WATCH: A Dentsu ECD's most/least favourite ads

AD WATCH features marketing industry figures providing their opinions on what they think is some of the most inspiring and disappointing work they?ve seen. As long as it?s not their own!

On this edition:

Rick Kwan

Executive creative director

Dentsu Hong Kong

HOT:?Ocean Park?- Halloween Fest 2019 ?????

Ocean Park?s Halloween campaign started in 2001, and is a Hong Kong staple. Many people can?t wait for what it will come up with each year ? and this year it raised the bar frighteningly high!

Taking local cultural cues from urban legends and ghost stories involving public housing, the city?s school uniforms, minibuses and haunted lifts, this campaign pushed the censorship boundaries of what would normally be too much for a mass viewing audience. It ticks all the right boxes with a cinematic look and feel, super intense moments, mixed with a bit of humour.

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Definitely more treat than trick, making audiences look forward to what it is going to do next year.

NOT:?Liquid Death - 'Certified Cursed'? ??

It?s the ?extreme? mountain water brand, founded by a former Netflix creative director, for people who are too cool for alcohol. Now, if you start a water brand and are brash enough to name it Liquid Death with a hashtag #MurderYourThirst, you?d expect that the campaigns would be just as daring. Its other videos have a sense of humour that appeals to a very specific target audience.

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But this latest Halloween stunt just doesn?t feel edgy or scary at all. It holds some merit by doing something no other water brand has ever done, but at the same time, it feels more like an elaborate joke that caters to a very small niche. This one is full of tricks that murdered more than just thirst.

This article was produced for the November issue of?Marketing Magazine Hong Kong. For more features and other magazine-exclusive content from this and upcoming issues, you can subscribe to receive your free monthly print copy?here?or you can read the digital version in its entirety?here.