Singapore’s youngest Olympic medallist, Max Maeder, made headlines when he snagged the bronze medal for kitefoiling on Singapore’s birthday.
Not only was the 17-year-old’s thrilling feat documented the following day on the front page of our national broadsheet, The Straits Times; his sponsor, DBS, also leveraged the coverage with a Page 1 ad that hijacked its own tagline.
Riffing off its regional brand campaign tagline, “Trust Your Spark”, the bank sent an inspiring message to the country with the line, “Trust your spark to the max, Singapore”.
Underlining the word “Max” in the DBS shade of red, the ad pays homage to the kitefoiler and his win, and also sends a message that is aligned with their brand campaign.
Contextual and timely
While the entire Singapore was eagerly hoping for a successful Olympic campaign, there was no guarantee for a win.
But thanks to its own creative spark and a close collaboration with SPH Media's newsroom, sales, and ad operations teams, DBS was able to catch lightning in a bottle.
Not only was the ad timely, it was also set in the right editorial context of Max’s win. The print environment provided a prominent, eye-catching space for the ad that is directly related to the front page, top-fold story of the day.
In the same issue, DBS also placed a strategic ad on a double-page spread dedicated to Max Maeder in the Sport section — from his path to Olympic glory, facts to know about the medallist, and feature stories about Max and how he won the bronze.
This time, the ad said, “Winds pull, waves push, just ride ‘em to the max!” with the now-familiar red underline of the word “Max”.
Congratulations on a large scale
Beverage company Yeo’s, who also has a partnership with the Olympian, likewise took the opportunity to congratulate him on full page ads on both The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao. DBS also took out a full page ad to congratulate Max, and invited members of the public for an exclusive meet and greet session.
The ads’ vibrant red background on the broadsheets created a striking, page-stopping moment to send Yeo’s greetings. The company then further amplified these via leaderboard and IMU ad units on the titles’ websites, adding longevity to their efforts.
Prior to the Games, official timekeeper Omega also published print ads expressing their support for the Olympic athletes.
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