KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s largest electricity utility, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), is renowned for producing fun-filled, memorable festive advertisements, and its campaign this Chinese New Year is no different.
Produced in collaboration with Entropia, part of Accenture Interactive, TNB’s latest festive campaign titled “WonderFu Fortune”, brings to life the kind, but gullible Aunty Choi, in a humourous film filled with great fortune and even greater misfortunes.
The film has the golden touch of Quek Shio Chuan, veteran Malaysian filmmaker from Reservoir Productions in Kuala Lumpur, and no stranger to Entropia’s client campaigns.
Utilising the allure of comedy to draw viewers in and give a light-hearted feel to an otherwise sombre topic, the story follows the main character, Choi, as she becomes the target of a troop of scammers while shopping for her family’s annual Lunar New Year celebrations.
Through an elaborate plan involving a series of unfortunate events, these scammers, led by a bogus fortune-teller, convince her luck for the year is dire, and her outlook is grim.
Feeling dejected, she opts to celebrate the New Year alone. But in a surprising twist of events, revealing the film’s deeper message that “true fortune and prosperity lie in the bonds we have with our family”, Choi’s relatives rally together to overturn her luck in epic proportions.
It is their collective efforts to celebrate together as a family that make her realise she isn’t unlucky after all.
Cherry Lee, creative director at Entropia said: “Every Chinese New Year, the practice of fortune-telling sees a resurgence. Inspired by this age-old practice, we tried seeing this festive campaign from a fresh perspective, questioning if it was truly necessary for us to go out of our way to seek fortune, or if fortune can be found much closer to home.”
April Toh, principal at Entropia added: “Centred around the core thought of good energy, the film aims to inspire Malaysians to share their positivity with those around them.”
“Brands usually pull out all the stops at this time of the year, tapping on the rich customs and traditions that attract good fortune to the household or protect the family during the Lunar Year,”
“And with so many remarkable festive campaigns already in their repertoire, TNB turned to the Entropia team to bring to life their latest vision for the festive period – highlighting the dichotomy of fortune and misfortune in an experience many of us can relate to.
“Brilliantly executed by an award-winning director, a committed creative team, and an insightful client, the film is comedic, but deep in its meaning – culminating in a heart-warming moment where family trumps all. We are delighted at the final product.”
Consulting and technology services provider Accenture acquired Entropia last year as the former expands its digital capabilities by offering experience-led transformation services for the first time in South-East Asia.
This is the New York Stock Exchange-listed company’s largest acquisition of an advertising agency in the region which saw it absorbed more than 200 Malaysian creative talents of Entropia.
The consulting firm has been in an acquisition spree since it founded its unit, Accenture Interactive, which is the world’s largest digital agency for the sixth year, according to Ad age.
The growing demands of traditional businesses are also reflective of a unicorn’s approach of doing business which has blurred the lines of conventional businesses in the era of digital disruption.