Ducks in power suits and mermaids on bikes. TSLA gets weird for EnterpriseSG

Ad Nut has always believed in the underduck. (Not underdogs, damn those murdereous beasts can chase their own tails)

And now, thanks to Enterprise Singapore and creative clutch The Secret Little Agency (TSLA), so can you.

In a campaign that truly waddles off the beaten track, 'Never Doubt a Duck' gives the classic Ugly Duckling tale a biotech twist, chronicling the true story of Singapore medtech startup, Lucence, that has waddled through ridicule and general condescension before ending up in the boardroom (not the pond) looking sleek, corporate, and TED Talk–ready. 

Cinematically, it leans hard into startup clichés of rejection montages and slow-mo strutting and yet lands somewhere between ridiculous and oddly rousing.

It's really just duck (with a better LinkedIn headshot than most marketers Ad Nut knows), with one big dream of pioneering cutting-edge cancer-detection techniques, and a whole barnyard of naysayers.

Ad Nut has to admit: watching a duck give a live interview in a tie did stir something. Possibly indigestion. Possibly admiration.

Slow claps to TSLA that made a B2B ad that doesn't feel like B2B punishment. That alone deserves a nut or two. 

In the second strange instalment, the government agency takes the audience underwater. Well, to the seafood aisle, with 'The Mermaid’s Market', a modern parable of Tankfully Fresh, a second-gen wet market business trying to make a digital splash.

This one is fishy, silly but undeniably fresh. Eye rolls were had. But Ad Nut also caught the scent of awkward, earnest ambition in the creative craft and yes, also raw squid.

Now go, watch the two spots for yourself. And repeat after Ad Nut: Never doubt a duck in a power suit (or a mermaid with a business plan).

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.