In the car on the way back from dinner earlier, I was talking to Shorty about the TV ads I still remember from long ago. It’s funny.. when you sit down and think about all the ads you remembering watching on TV growing up, you’ll remember quite a lot of them. Ahh those were the days where TV ads was the best way to reach kids like us. When I look at the kids today grow up, they do so many other things and consume so many other media it’s so complicated for marketers to reach them.
20 years ago, if you wanted to hit 6 year old Timothy Tiah with you ad… easy. Just buy a spot between 5.30PM-6.00PM on weekdays where 6-year old Timmy will be watching cartoons on RTM2. The ads those days were really good too. Here are some of the ads that I always will remember:
1) 7-5-5-2-5-2-5 Pizza Hut Delivery
This is one phone number I will never forget. Do you guys remember the Pizza Hut jingle/song back then? The TVC will come on with singing that goes 7-5-5-2-5-2-5 … 7-5-5-2-5-2-5… 7-5-5-2-5-2-5 … Pizza Hut Delivery.
2) Fern Leaf
There are two types of Fern Leaf ads I will always remember. The first one is in Chinese. It’s a song that goes like this : “Zhi shang zhi you ma ma hao…”
The other one… is this one.
Who remembers this song?
Ibu… ibu… engkaulah ratu hatiku 🙂
3) Tora & Ding Dang
Man… these were exactly the kind of ads that hit 6-year old Timmy when he was watching cartoons between 5.30PM-6.00PM on weekdays. These cool ads for Tora and Ding Dang will come on and showcase kids playing with the fun toys they got from the chocolates they bought.
I don’t know what happened to Tora and Ding Dang and if they still have them…. but I always remember two things. The actual chocolate sucks ass. I don’t think anybody ever bought it for the chocolate. Everybody though bought it for the cool little toy they have inside. The other thing I also remember is feeling disappointed when I eventually see the toy. When the kids play with their toys on the TVCs it looks so cool, like it could fly and do all sorts of things that even toys today can’t. But when you actually buy the product and open up the toy packaging… you see just some crap piece of plastic.
I keep falling for it though. Over and over again I will see a new Tora and Ding Dang TVC and buy the product over and over again.
4) Milo & Ovaltine
I always remember these ads. There were so many of them… and they always had the say sort of theme. Energy or sports. Milo had this really jingle at the end of each TVC that went “IT’S MARVELOUS WHAT MILO… CAN DO FOR YOU!!!”.
HAha!
Ovaltine on the other hand had this ad.
5) Nano Nano
This is probably my most favourite ad of all time growing up. Yes… Nano Nano… the sweet with a taste so confusing it still baffles me why I used to like it so much. Why I love the ad?
Well.. listen to the song and you’ll be hooked too 🙂
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space