Festivities, family, fights and forgiveness: 2018 Hari Raya ads

This year's Raya campaigns run the gamut from family reunions to the great festive exodus to stories of forgiveness. A few standout pieces, notably from Toyota Malaysia, hit the sweet spot, with an equal amount of entertainment and commercial messaging. Ad Nut wishes those who are celebrating this weekend a very merryful Eid.

VIDEO ABOVE:
Client: Toyota Malaysia
Agency: The Clan
A father-and-son tale never gets too old, and Ad Nut loves the retro touch of this clip, which conveniently allows Toyota to put on a parade of its past and present models. Perhaps by going against the grain of the common homecoming-exodus theme during the festive period, Toyota may end up gaining extra mileage.

Brand: TNB Malaysia
Agency: Reprise
Everything comes up in epic proportions in this highly shared video by the national electricity provider. Ad Nut empathises with the claustrophobia experienced by the poor kid in the video. TNB is fast eclipsing Petronas (below) in terms of popularity of its festive ads, showing that it is possible to draw viewers’ attention without a sappy storyline.

Client: Coca-Cola
Agency: FP7 McCann UAE
This one is an interesting contrast to Pepsi's infamous fail of last year. It works a lot better because the product is smartly positioned as a small act of kindness, rather than an outlandish solution to all the world's problems.

Client: Petronas Malaysia
Agency: Unknown
Festive ads by the national oil and gas company have been highly anticipated since the days of Leo Burnett's ad doyen the late Yasmin Ahmad. This year's Raya ad has been released earlier than the company's usual practice of unveiling it right on the eve of the festivals. Some of Ahmad's diehard fans may find the recent works of Petronas, which have taken a more cheerful tone, lack depth compared to her signature emotional narrative style. This campaign keeps to the festive theme of family reunion with a few novel ways of bringing the festive decor back to the hometown. Ad Nut thinks the final scene captures the spirit of Raya really well for those who are familiar with the annual colour-coordinated family portrait exercise.

Client: Go-Jek
Agency: Unknown
Indonesia's ubiquitous ride-sharing app has again put its hardworking riders at the centre of its narrative. Released during the spiritual month of Ramadan, the campaign attempts to show what #caripahala (seeking reward from God), a Go-Jek theme for the Ramadan period, means from the point of view of a child.

Client: P&G Indonesia
Agency: Grey Group
P&G's 'Thank you, Mom' campaign gets updated for Eid in this video that starts with Indonesian athlete Sri Ranti apologising to her mother for not being at home during Ramadan. P&G said it wants to help 810 Indonesian athletes connect with their mothers by giving away a 'package of apology' to each mother who does not have her child home during Ramadan. 

Client: KFC Malaysia
Agency: Naga DDB Tribal
Hell hath no fury like a teenage boy scorned, but it can be soothed over with some ice cream and deep fried drumsticks. In the spirit of forgiveness during the festive period, Ad Nut thinks KFC should be given some slack for the overt product placement in this watchable clip.

Client: Watsons Malaysia
Agency: Naga DDB Tribal
Watsons plays it safe after the furore over last year's black face ad, stressing that inner beauty is indeed more important than outward appearance. Ad Nut thinks its effort this year makes up for its initial non-apology apology last year.

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