What would you give for one more moment with a loved one you’ve lost? What if you had a chance to spend a perfect day together but couldn’t because of work, or because you felt you didn’t have time?
In a stirring new campaign video titled “Live Life to The Fullest,” Thai Life Insurance urges you to ponder these powerful questions.
The video opens as a mother and daughter sit by the sea at sunset. Wearing a cartoonish yellow wig, mom licks a taro ice cream bar with a wide smile as her daughter looks on longingly, clearly emotional.
Over a soft piano soundtrack, mom begins to read a letter, reciting the highs and lows of an unforgettable day she spent with her daughter.
Mom thanks her daughter for her thoughtfulness – for allowing her to have an ice cream, for buying her a fizzy drink, for letting her cheat at a game of checkers, for trying to knit her a scarf even though she was swamped with work, for cuddling with her like they were young again and for getting her a wig, even if it’s itchy.
If the wig weren’t enough of a sign, it soon becomes clear that her mom is fighting cancer. As the action picks up, viewers start to realize that she won’t be alive when the video ends, either.
The closing scene cuts back to the beach, where mom finishes her taro ice cream and says, “Live your life,” leaving her daughter in tears. Even though she’s stricken with grief, you get the sense that she is grateful for this wonderful day she spent with her mom and all the small moments they had together.
The message is clear: life goes by fast; you have to remember to savor it with the ones you love.
“Live Life to The Fullest” is the latest video campaign from Thai Life Insurance to wrench hearts and leave you on the verge of tears yet feeling inspired at the same time. And it’s a perfect example of how the “sadvertising” trend that has swept through Thailand’s commercial universe continues to transform everything we thought we knew about brand marketing.
Sadvertising is a fascinating rebuttal to aspirational commercials. Instead of simply urging you to buy products, sadvertising campaigns seek to create an emotional connection by tugging at your heartstrings and bringing out a wider range of emotions we all feel beyond desire or joy through moving narrative journeys. Most often, they do so by featuring everyday people rather than celebrities, too.
In other words, sadvertising brings marketing down to earth.
In 2015, Thai Life Insurance released one of the most successful sadvertising examples of its time.
The video campaign “Unsung Hero” featured a young working-class man going about his life. Every day, he made small acts of kindness, from helping a street vendor move her cart onto the sidewalk to giving bananas to an elderly neighbor and even sharing his grilled chicken with a hungry street dog.
The message? Be kind to others, because small acts of generosity can have a big impact on other peoples’ lives and the community around you.
“Unsung Hero” racked up 114 million views and counting, and it elicited incredible emotional responses from audiences.
One YouTube user commented that “This should be aired as a commercial in every country on earth in the respective languages,” while another admitted “I [have] watched it more than 1000 times yet I always tear up when I [see] the little girl in her uniform smiling happily [at the end].”
In 2018, another Thai Life Insurance campaign, titled “Opportunity,” took on a life of its own beyond its message of recovery and redemption. The ad inspired an organic viral moment, as YouTubers commented on the merits of self-motivation and hard work to overcome life’s obstacles.
While sadvertising has existed for many years, Thai Life Insurance today is going even deeper into the well of human emotion to share inspiring messages.
“Live Life to The Fullest,” for example, tackles one of the most powerful human reactions to life events we have: regret.
Dealing with regret is especially difficult because it’s almost always accompanied by emotions like remorse and sorrow. It’s a universal experience, and as Thai Life Insurance points out, one we overlook.
When life gets busy or complicated, we can retreat within ourselves. We forget to be empathetic and fail to remember that life is fleeting and precious, believing that our loved ones will always be there.
Whether it’s sharing a sweet treat, calling loved ones or carving out time for a campout on the beach, “Live Life to The Fullest” plays as a rallying cry to seize the day and cherish every moment.
You don’t need a special occasion to make memories together, the video says. Every day is meaningful.
