WE ARE SOCIAL ASIA TUESDAY TUNEUP #244

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Apple’s 2016 Christmas ad featuring… Frankenstein
Apple has jumped on the Christmas ad bandwagon and released its 2016 holiday commercial, which aims to capture the notion of acceptance. Centered around Frankenstein’s monster as an outsider of a village, he stands in the middle of the village square during a Christmas carol in hopes of sharing his festive joy with everyone. Slowly, everyone around joins him as they sing the cold away. It’s a heartwarming video that shows how everyone deserves some love this Christmas. Apart from the unrealistic possibility that the ostracised Frankenstein monster is able to possess an iPhone 7, the advert is also exceptionally sweet and different from the usual take on spending time with just our loved ones.

UK supermarket Sainsbury’s has James Corden singing for their Christmas ad
Not missing out on the Christmas ads galore, Sainsbury’s releases an ad titled “The Greatest Gift”, which tries to remind everyone to spend time with their family this season. The animation story revolves around the main character Dave, who is a workaholic that wishes he could be with his family for the holidays. Whilst still retaining the warm Christmas spirit, the song – as sung by James Corden – also brings a humorous twist to the truth around the holiday season. From seeing your boss twerk at the company’s holiday party to tolerating the long Christmas queues, the video is an enjoyable one to watch. For James Corden, I guess all those Carpool Karaokes worked out for him. How do you think this Christmas ad fares among the rest? If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.
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‘Tis the season for the ultimate Christmas ads showdown
With Christmas nearing, brands have been busy tugging at the heartstrings of their fans with over the top Christmas adverts. This year’s contenders are John Lewis’ #BusterTheBoxer, M&S’ Chrismas with love from Mrs Claus, Waitrose’s Home For Christmas and Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot to name a few. While they’re all very heartwarming and festive, it does seem like all you need is a little bit of snow and x’mas-y music and BAM. Which one’s your favourite though?

Johnnie Walker tackles drunk driving with new VR campaign
While most brands have been putting out holiday campaigns that aims to touch our hearts, Johnnie Walker is keeping it real. The brand hopes to raise the awareness of drunk driving this holiday season with their latest campaign. The video showcases a virtual reality experience that combines three stories together to illustrate how decisions such as drink driving can impact the lives of many. Johnnie Walker hopes that this video will remind everyone to be socially responsible and think twice about the decisions they make. Watch it on YouTube 360 or Facebook 360 to capture the intensity of the message.


JW

Instagram debuts live video streaming
Instagram has recently launched a new feature – the disappearing live video. It will now allow users to share live videos of up to an hour on their Instagram stories, which will disappear when streaming ends. Users will also be able to notify their friends when they are live and can also opt for comments to be turned off. In addition to that, they are also copying another idea from Snapchat, by including the feature of disappearing photos and videos for direct messages. Since updating its direct messaging feature last year, the app has reported an increase of users from 80 million per month to 300 million now.  The new updates will be made available globally over the next couple of weeks so look out for the app update on your phone.


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YouTube – A portal to anything you desire
YouTube recently launched their VR app for Daydream View – a VR headset and controller by Google. Since its launch in early November, YouTube’s VR product has surpassed in popularity, compared to other VR apps like Google Street View or Google Play, both have been said to feel less polished compared to YouTube’s VR interface. While this has turned YouTube into a physical space for consumers, there are some drawbacks that advertisers will face. One notable challenge comes from your eyes being just inches away from the screen, making ads seem a lot more invasive and jarring. On the other hand, this also means a whole new world of possibilities when advertisers figure out how to seamlessly integrate their messaging into the VR space.