Malaysia Airlines's Chinese New Year ad on YouTube follows a mean-spirited dentist who has a change of heart and celebrates CNY eve with his family as he realises the importance of tradition. – YouTube pic, January 21, 2016.A 12-minute clip titled "Blessings, A Malaysian story" produced for Malaysia Airlines took the top spot in the YouTube Malaysia ads leaderboard for 2015 released by Google Malaysia yesterday.
The video follows a mean-spirited dentist who has a change of heart and celebrates Chinese New Year Eve with his family as he realises the importance of tradition.
In second place is Petronas's 2015 Hari Raya video called "Sampai Hati".
The beautifully shot seven-minute video details a sibling rivalry between a stern army man and his younger brother who aspires to be a writer and filmmaker.
These two videos had elements of three trends that Google Malaysia identified in successful Malaysian ads, namely a touching storyline, longer videos and movie-like qualities.
Six out of the 10 ads in the leaderboard were pegged to two major festive events, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri, while five revolved around emotional themes of homecoming, family and nostalgia.
Malaysia Airlines also bagged third place with "Fitrah, A Malaysian Story", a Hari Raya short film.
Malaysians are also opening up to the idea of longer ads as eight of the clips were well beyond the traditional 30-second time limit, said Google in a press release announcing the winners.
First place, "Blessings, A Malaysian story", comes in at the longest duration while Clear Malaysia's webisode is the second in a six-part series.
A majority of the ads also prioritise cinema-quality cinematography and storytelling.
For instance, Gempak's and cooking oil Knife's short films emphasised story first and product second.
"These ads show the amazing creativity alive today in the Malaysian ad industry – and it’s creativity that would not otherwise exist without digital canvas," said Sajith Sivanandan, managing director of Google Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and New Emerging Markets.
"Sometimes digital can seem to be all about technology, but the real promise of digital video ads is that it frees up brands and agencies to spend more time doing what they do best – getting creative." – January 21, 2016.
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