First impression: straight-faced Jay Chou Jie-lun is funny in a deadpan sort of way: a cool dude and nerd rolled into one. Here he is a kung fu wannabe in his Bruce Lee/Kill Bill yellow tracksuit. Despite having been 'the face' for this telecommunications company since 2002, the popular Taiwanese singer still musters a strong hold in One2Free's target group, phone users aged from 18 to 29.

Idea/storyline: like all martial arts hopefuls, Chou has to wait outside the master's house come rain or shine, or in this case, under attack by a swarm of mosquitoes, before being accepted. It is supposedly a test of patience and endurance. Finally, the master, with long white eyebrows and beard, takes Chou in. Exhilarated, he calls up a friend to say he has made it, before the master says: 'Sorry, no student card.'

What the ad man/client says: Ruby Lee, group brand director of Leo Burnett, says: 'Rather than come up with just one series of ads for one particular service such as SMS and MMS, last year we created a series of ads that features a number of data services catering for different users with different demands.

'We have featured Chou partly because of a deal between the star's management and our client [One2Free] and partly because he still has drawing power. We tried to explore his many faces and personality. He is not as wooden and introverted as he looks. Since the One2Free brand is a lot younger, the image of these ads has to be young and trendy, fun and energetic.'

But ... when the master says he doesn't take student cards, is that meant to be a joke? If so, the humour is lost in the message.