Phillips; “Better Technology, Better Life”.

Picked this one up via Adquan; it’s a Phillips campaign recently launched by DDB Shanghai, in conjunction with Shanghai Expo and the theme “Better City, Better Life”.

The primary focus is viewing Phillips’ “better life” value-add through the eyes of a child. This is a route thats been done before by many giants; normally when the product isn’t at the forefront of day-to-day life, the easiest, most relevant default is to go for kids.

So why kids? Well, one-child-policy aside, Chinese parents put a lot of hope on their children to attain the “better life” they didn’t have when they were growing up through China’s very turbulent times. In their children, Chinese put the hopes, dreams, and aspirations they themselves didn’t necessarily achieve; but due to the influx of information from TV, movies and the web, they know others enjoy.

Therefore by presenting Phillips through the eyes of an innocent child, this campaign thus grabs the attention of parents who aspire for a better life, not necessarily for themselves, but rather a bright(er) future for their kids.

Talking about innovative technology that will change the world may not matter to someone who lived through/experienced the aftershocks the Communist revolution (such concerns can be perceived as a luxury, when faced with day2day drudgery), but talk about that same person’s kid growing up in a better world, and you’ve just increased your chances of cutting through the mental clutter.

Related articles from around the web.

• During World Expo, Artist Brings Chinese Peasant Inventions to Downtown Shanghai, Highlighting Individual Creativity Over Expo’s National Pavilions (prnewswire.com)
• Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo Exposes Challenges for China’s Cities (thecityfix.com)
• Somehow I Found This So Touching (Shanghai Expo Dept) (theatlantic.com)
• Why the Chinese Energy Policy is Important to Everybody (solarfeeds.com)
• The Shanghai Expo is a worthy symbol of today’s China (telegraph.co.uk)

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Tagged as: Asia, Business and Economy, China, People's Republic of China, Shanghai, Shanghai Expo, Technology, Television