How about a not-so-subtle branded music video to go with your groceries?

As it becomes harder for traditional marketing to cut through the noise online, brands are increasingly looking at ways to insert themselves organically into content, through sponsorship or product placement. Music videos have become a fertile ground for brands, such as Beats by Dre's many many many product placements in videos for Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and more. It is possible for brands to do this in a subtle way that makes viewers, including this squirrel, forget they are being sold to.

But HappyFresh didn't get that memo.

Here we have an original music video by Malaysian singer Hunny Madu (Hani Farhana) that couldn't be more overtly branded if it tried.

From dressing every character in the video in HappyFresh's bright orange and green brand colours, to the branded lyrics, to even using delivery drivers as back-up dancers (or dressing backup dancers as delivery drivers, probably), it's difficult to know when the ad starts and when the music video begins. There's even two scenes of the singer using her phone to order groceries, just to hammer down the point.

Here's the chorus, for your pleasure:

I wanna be happy
I use HappyFresh
They freshly handpick it for you
I know I stay fresh
With my babies (?!)
Now you can see the way I do.

Hold the Grammy.

The ad does have a storyline: Madu gets pestered by her mother-in-law to buy groceries. She struggles to balance employment with quote "my work, my chores, my babies". Finally she discovers the wonders of online grocery delivery. This somehow solves all her deep-rooted issues with her mother-in-law, as the video ends with everyone joyously dancing together, a happy cacophony of orange and green.

It is not the most belieavable scenario Ad Nut has witnessed. Are you telling me a judgy Malaysian mother-in-law wouldn't think grocery delivery is lazy? But Ad Nut was so distracted by the orange and green that it didn't even matter that the plot was nonsensical. To HappyFresh's credit, the song does—disturbingly—stick in your head, so perhaps it achieves what it set out to.

The campaign concept was created in-house (Ad Nut doesn't even need to say...) and the brand worked with local agency MindFlux for the video production. This is the Malaysian iteration of a regional campaign under the theme ‘Make in-laws happy’ that will feature different ads in Thailand and Indonesia. 

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'.