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Sunlife; Strength avoids danger?

Jul 28, 2009

This recent campaign by Sunlife, created by JWT Guangzhou, is a bit of a puzzler. It won the bronze at Cannes, and at first glance it’s a bit difficult to figure out why. The first impression I had when looking at the child avoiding danger, along with the name “Sunlife”, made me think of an insurance company; however upon deeper analysis, low-and-behold, it’s actually an ad for powdered milk!

So what is it about this ad that makes it a winner? Besides its unique artwork, and immediacy (vs. similar brand campaigns) there’s a key cultural element in this ad that may of led to its success.

LiNing; Basketball Kungfu Demon Killer.

Jun 22, 2009

As seems the trend in China’s youth marketing; messages tend to focus on super-fantasy elements (check out a full article on this here).

Marc Goodman: Nice. Good find. You are pretty good at finding interesting advertisements. Amongst today's westernized Chinese youth, it's not uncommon for…
Rand: @marc, Ya I agree, when I go to internet cafe's I always see a lot of students playing Chinese games,…
Mao Ruiqi: The heroic, romantic figures that prevailed during the early daze after '49 seemed bent on service to nation. Now, the…

DHL.. I mean Jie Yun; express déjà vu.

Jun 17, 2009

Jie Yun’s latest print ads – I guess they get the point across, but it all seems like something we’ve seen before. I guess having the Jie Yun Logo a pretty close straight knockoff of DHL’s logo doesn’t help the overall “déjà vu” of these China ads.

Anonymous: One of the reason is that one of the Mr. Chou was previous ex-Oglivy Shanghai. Ogilvy was the ad agency…

Metersbonwe; Bringing a broadsword to the apocalypse.

Jun 12, 2009

Nothing sells in Asia like mixing World of Warcraft with a Transformers inspired apocalypse… so it would seem. At first glance I thought to myself: “what in the world is this steaming pile of shi- oh wait, consider the target audience”.

Guangzhou I/E Fair; I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a banana today.

Jun 5, 2009

This series of ads is for the 104th Guangzhou Import/Export commodities fair. Very cute campaign drives home the idea that no matter what you’re looking for, you’ll certainly find bananas at the fair.

SG Auto; So powerful, its print ad can pickup an entire newspaper column.

Jun 4, 2009

Excellent example of print advertising; upon closer inspection we see the pickup “picking up” a newspaper column. Eye catching, and very witty.

Chinese netizens express mixed responses to seeing Mao Tze-Tung’s image used in condom advertisement.

Apr 15, 2009

Recently, huangqiu.com (a website belongs to Global Times) reported a German condom advertiser used Mao Tze-Tung’s image on their product advertisement, which was also produced by a world renowned advertising agency, Grey Worldwide. This “brave creativity” raised lots of attention from Chinese people. Below is the new article, and netizen comments from three different popular forums.

Harry Poker: Mao killed more innocent people than Hitler and Bin Laden put together.
Rand: @Harry Poker Well that's arguable, but its important to remember Mao started off as a leader that helped the Chinese…
FOARP: @Rand - Dude, Mao was out to help himself, end of. If he had been out to help China, he…
warped0ne: I did read one translated comment above that I agreed with, "搜狐陕西省网友/(from Shanxi) Kao (something like F***)! Why not put…
xfrontier: @warped0ne Bush has not such a exciting haircut like the other opinion-rapers in the compain and he was elected by…

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Construction cranes in the bamboo forest; Balancing nature and urbanization in China PSA Advertising.

Apr 13, 2009

Great PSA ad campaign focuses on China’s preference for urbanization over environment. This style of Chinese landscape painting is very traditional, and can be seen pretty much anywhere in China.

By mixing elements of urbanization (ie: construction towers, etc) the message twists from the “seen that painting before” to “whoa, wait a sec”; the implication of China’s recent materialistic urban sprawl’s negative impact on China’s historic natural roots.

Nike; Targeting Chinese youth with Kungfu hiphop culture.

Apr 7, 2009

This is an older campaign (circa 2007) but looked pretty interesting – and gives some insight into Chinese youth culture. Focused on a 3-on-3 basketball tourney and centered around the 9 gates of “Old” Beijing, we see the obvious fusing of western and eastern pop culture to create what I guess would be hiphop kungfu.

Kelly Hammond: You should check out Kam Louie's book "Theorizing Chinese Masculinity" for an interesting discussion about the interplay between the wen/wu…
dehsetcrew: Thank.

Jiangzhong; Selling a pill that allows you to eat more crap.

Apr 3, 2009

Ok, so I realize the headline is a bit “low-brow” but hey, you’re reading the article now right? My Machiavellian scheme has worked! Also as a bonus, it’s relevant to the main subject (today must be your lucky day).

Raid; In the West, bugs fear death; in China, bugs fear Homocidal Anime Devils.

Apr 3, 2009

This campaign seemed off the mark when I first viewed it, but considering the results of the campaign (ie: measured by China internet buzz) serves as a reminder that you never know until you see the numbers.

Kai: Actually, the first three art pieces look strikingly similar to Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic. Either Raid has recruited McFarlane or…

Yahoo; Baidu gets bitch-slapped by Yahoo 360° Search China ad.

Apr 2, 2009

This ad plays on an alternate meaning of Baidu. If you’ve studied Chinese before, there’s no doubt you will have run into problems with the language “tone” structure. Pretty much every word in Chinese can have a different meaning based on your tone. For a quick idea of this, imagine the words “pale” and “pail”; both sound the same but have completely different meanings right? Ok now imagine that’s the case for every word in the English language, and you’ll get a sense of how necessary context is for understanding Chinese.

Johnson & Johnson; Big girls don’t cry… or let their bones break.

Mar 26, 2009

Johnson and Johnson’s latest calcium health supplement campaign targeted to women; very nice ya? The market for health supplements in China is very intense; however the market for supplements targeted at women specifically for calcium that strengthens bones? Well that little niche market is still open (well, until these ads appeared anyway).

Inst: This one actually confuses me. I can get the gist of the message from the context, but the shattered porcelain…

Zhuyeqing; Branding the “zen” of Chinese Tea Culture.

Mar 19, 2009

In the West, there is coffee; in China there is tea. Ya, I know you can find a Starbucks on every major Street in Shanghai (most times, you’ll find 2-3 close by, ala-strip mall fashion). But Shanghai is not China, and China prefers tea; if all those traditional poems, paintings, and local teahouses serve as any indication.

China Telecom; Becoming the telephone version of Google.

Feb 23, 2009

China Telecom’s latest China advertising campaign expanded their information service 114 (yes, the exact opposite of the US’s info service 411) from the basic database driven directory search into a comprehensive service center; their goal: “to become the telephone version of Google”.

Citizen; Watches, not for telling time, but for marking great events.

Feb 17, 2009

Watches just aren’t as necessary as they used to be; beepers, then cell phones really removed the need. Therefore, Citizen’s China advertising campaign focuses not on the everyday casual tracking of time, but rather those precious moments that define our lives.

Nanfu; style over substance (and logic).

Feb 17, 2009

Here’s a study in advertising sin; it doesn’t tell you much about the camera – oops sorry, the batteries – the number of pictures taken is too low (any battery can take what seems to be less than 100 pictures); this idea would work better if it was one of those collages with thousands of pictures that when looked at a distance form an image (in this case the pictures should form a battery or the brand name “Nanfu”).

GE; China ads leverage both “green” and Beijing Olympics for emotional impact.

Feb 17, 2009

GE’s latest campaign focuses on both “green” and the Beijing Olympics; nice dramatic visuals allow for immediate communication/understanding of GE’s push to solve environmental challenges.

Josh: I’ve enjoyed seeing these ads pasted along airport boarding gate tunnels. Creative, light, and aesthetically pleasing. I wish more China…
Crane鹤公子: For your information: The original English version slogan equivalent to 绿色创想 is (if I’m not wrong) Ecomagination.

LiNing; Olympic Aftermath; “Uh, so now what should we do?”

Feb 16, 2009

LiNing’s latest campaign is the first published AFTER the Olympic games. After China’s turbulent 2008, which include the high of the Olympics counter balanced with the low of the SiChuan earthquake, LiNing’s “newborn” message uses famous sports stars to push audiences to let the rollercoster ride of 2008 pass, and become “newborn” and ready for what the future holds.

Wang Liqin: Wang Liqin... “Forget the world champion; forget the gold medal; forget the Hall of Fame; I am GUO Jingjing; [...]...

Hermes; Playing with the Dreams of Young Chinese Women.

Feb 9, 2009

Living in Shanghai, a quick walk down some shopping streets will leave you bombarded with fashion advertising, full of beautiful models, celebrities, and the like; usually striking similar poses, to the point where it all just fades into the background.