Room 13 helps us spread the joy of Tet

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, we wanted to do something very special. Instead of handing out the traditional ornate and gold foiled designs of most lucky red packets (li-see) during Tet and Chinese New Year, we asked our kids in Room 13 to express Tet in their own meaningful way. The result was a wonderful variety of paintings and illustrations. Art director Khanh Mai and designer Tram Tran worked with the students to create the lucky lisee designs that expressed the holiday cheer like no other red packet. 


Well done Room 13! Chúc Mừng Năm Mới. 

You say goodbye, and I say hello

Every year at the stroke of midnight December 31st, people say farewell to the previous year in hopes of a better year ahead. Sometimes it's good riddance, sometimes it's see you later and sometimes it's f-off and die. Whatever it is, would saying hello instead to the past year of experiences create a better outcome in the coming year?

It seems that all too often we want to wash our hands of the past so badly we lose sight of what we could have learned from it, both professionally and personally.

So this year, we're saying hello to 2011 in hopes that 2012 can be that much more fruitful.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays with the first ever QRistmas Tree!

From everyone at TBWA\Vietnam, we wish you a safe and wonderful holidays. 

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

Okay, so a bunch of people are getting sunburned right now in the fields, but it's all in the spirit of the holiday season. Peace.

The TBWA\Vietnam conical hat xmas tree

They bloody hell won!!!!

Woooohoooooo! Big news. Big, big, big, big, big, big, big. Well, our young team Nhung and Minh will get fresh stamps in their passports next June when they head to France. (Reminder to Minh... apply for a passport now!)

Minh (back) and Nhung (front)

Last Friday night they were named the winners of the 2012 Young Lions Film Competition sponsored by Sun Flower Media. Now they'll be competing against the world's best Young Lions in Cannes this coming June. Not only will they be representing TBWA, but they'll also carry the weight of the entire country on their shoulders (No pressure guys).

No doubt there will be much preparation for the team ahead, but for the moment, enjoy your well deserved win.

Congratulations on a job well done.

Heaven And Hell

2012 Vietnam Young Lions Competition - Nov 11 - 13


HELL
9 am, 11 November 2011, we take the brief and start stepping into the hell. 10 am. Back to our room. Ideas and themelines are posted on the wall. We're looking for the really big idea. We have some thoughts but nothing really makes us fall in love yet. The clock strikes 2 am. We must decide the fate of each idea. Some are meant to be fun, but turns out to be so complicated. What about the other three ideas? Minh gets an idea. He writes down all the musts a strong idea needs as a check list and starts killing some. We begin talking, debating, listening and even keeping quiet instead of saying no to each other. 


HEAVEN
4 am. Phew…! Eventually, some ideas cannot see the light of the day. We finally get the one that we both fall in love with. The morning after, we begin shooting and editing. We know the crafting could be better but we hope the idea can speak for itself. 
What are the feelings after we get the work done? Half proud, half terrified, I may say. On the way back from the competition, Minh and I kept jumping up and down between happy and unhappy, love and hate, win or lose and so on and so forth. In the end, we tried our very best and feel good about what we’ve done. Some ad legends have said when they have an idea, they never know how big of an idea it is until everything is done. Let’s wait and see. Fingers crossed.


Nhung Nguyen, copywriter

Media has become one of  Vietnam's greatest bridges to the rest of the world.  So I asked the team to put together a timeline and show me some key events and the impact it is making.

They know my complete and total lack of an attention span.  So what do they do?  They put in lots of pictures so that I can follow along.  Smart folks

Check out the following infographic about Vietnam's relationship with media.

Cheers,
George