December 5, 2009
inSingapore: In the mobile phone world, smaller is better, but… the fine print is ridiculous!
This morning found me reading mobile phone ads again, this time because I know that a friend of mine lost her phone, and needs one. And the fine print got me all frustrated again. The mobile ads from the various providers in Singapore are nice and huge, often spreading over two pages, but the way the prices are presented is absolutely ridiculous. They show low, low prices, but some of the prices are based on sign-ups “with data plan”, and some are contingent on signing up for higher-priced plans.
If you don’t want a data plan, or if you just want to sign up for a basic plan, you have to squint at the fine print at the bottom to find out how much you have to add on to the advertised price. Very annoying!
It would definitely be more useful for consumers if they were to show the price for the phone you sign up for the most basic plan, and provide a table for how much you have top up if you’d like to choose other plans. And that, if I remember correctly, is what they used to do, which makes me conclude that the objective here is to upsell, that is, steer people towards signing up for high-priced plans and/or other value-adds. Entice them with a seemingly low price for a coveted model, and to get the phone at that price, why, all they have to do is sign up for the high-priced plan, whether the plan suits their needs or not.
February 21, 2009
AdNotes: Nice Moo-ve, Marigold
There are lots of ugly taxi ads on the road in Singapore, so it’s refreshing to find one that catches my eye in a good way.
Marigold Taxi Ad
I like that the black-and-white background makes the colourful milk cartons pop out in the design. This should promote visual recognition – I can see myself spotting them quite easily among the many different milk brands on the supermarket shelves.
Cow spots, while not exactly an original design motif, always seem fun and friendly, even warm. I love them, at any rate.
An ad which sells hard without being hard-sell. I approve!
October 2, 2008
inSingapore: Tuition, anyone?
As anyone who’s lived any amount of time in Singapore should know, tuition is a huge industry here. Anxious parents engage tutors to come to their home, or faithfully ferry their children to one of the myriad tuition centres here.
But surely even with demand at a high, no one will trust their children to this tutor with his “extensive 5 year-old experience” ???
Notice found on a board outside a tuition centre in Jurong.
(all identifying information has been blacked out to protect the guilty)
September 4, 2008
AdNotes: Toilet Tales
So, it was COMEX 2008 time last weekend. As usual, that computer fair was crowded. Exhausting just to fight against all the crowds. But my friends did get a few bargains.
And I spotted this:
It kinda fit in with my theme of advertising being EVERYWHERE these days. This particular idea, advertising the Panasonic Toughbook’s spillproof feature with a sticker ad right in the sink is actually quite clever. Of course, it’d be even better the product identifier is more prominent, nearer the tap instead of away, in the part of the ad not seen in this pic (Rather remiss of me, that, to not take the whole ad. My excuse? I was feeling really self-conscious pulling out my camera in the restroom. Note to self: stop worrying about people thinking you’re crazy to photograph the sink!!!)
Crooked Turret 