From the category archives:

ii. Chinese Brands

Rejected China TV Ad Receives 2M Views Online.

08.03.2010 CCTV
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Picked this one up via LRB Forums; In an interesting twist, a commercial banned by China Central Television (CCTV) once posted online received 2M views in only 8 days. There’s a bit of celebrity power behind this one though; the ad features Yan Liu, a famous, beautiful TV anchor for Hunan TV getting her faced [...]

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Acuma; Beautifully Irrelevant China Advertising.

07.16.2010 Acuma
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Here’s some beautiful ads that have zero demonstration of Brand USP, and are actually a bit forgettable in the end after the initial “ooo thats nice” reaction fades into “… zzzzz”.

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HP vs. Haerbin; What Level of Branding is Acceptable in China Viral Videos?

06.28.2010 HP
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I pulled these videos from LRB forum, a viral by HP and Haerbin (a Chinese beer brand). They’re both great virals, but a few things stuck out for me, namely the overall level of branding in each video, and then the engagement based on prevalence of branding. Why so curious? First, clients build awareness by being in [...]

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Netizens React to China Geely’s 1.8 Billion Purchase of Volvo.

04.29.2010 Geely
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Below is an article from our new writer, Jeane Xun; in it she discusses Geely’s recent purchase of Volvo and Netizen comments. Take note of the effect on the Volvo brand after this purchase; the general consensus is that being bought by a Chinese company hurts your brand in the eyes of Chinese locals. This is interesting, [...]

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Part 4: China Social Media on the Move

04.15.2010 China Mobile
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Welcome back to class; for those of you who are still here, Social Media 101 applauds you!  It’s safe to say you enjoy satisfying your statistical palette.  To re-satisfy your appetite, please revisit Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Reason 7:  233 million mobile Internet users Brilliant!  This is rarely discussed in the realm [...]

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Selling China to the Chinese.

01.12.2010 JiaDing
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Or rather, selling Shanghai to the Shanghainese. I picked this one up from LRB forums; JiaDing district in Shanghai is known as rural, “end of the line” district… generally speaking its the kind of place you don’t want to live or really even want to visit. With Shanghai’s breakneck development pace, even the fringes are getting a [...]

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Jinkela; Purposefully idiotic China ad creates massive viral success.

12.18.2009 JinKeLa
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I found this on LRB’s forum; it’s an ad for Jinkela, some sort of fertilizer. What’s crazy is the clownish way they went to advertise it; and the surprising reaction from millions of Chinese viewers. Here’s an interesting question; let’s say you are an unrecognized brand, and you want to go “viral” to spread the word as quickly [...]

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Domesticated Ancient Chinese Warriors.

12.16.2009 Print
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I picked this one up from LRB forums. It’s  campaign for YangHe, a famous alcoholic spirit in China. What’s interesting? Looking online many non-Chinese think this campaign is great; but to a local Chinese it looks totally ridiculous. The campaign depicts several ancient heroes including Zhang Fei, a warrior general of the Three Kingdoms period (around 200 A.D.) [...]

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Lenovo ThinkPad; Easily Tackle 38,756 Sticky Note Tasks.

11.04.2009 Lenovo
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When talking about office life, perhaps the only couple of items that come into your mind are desktop/laptop, sticky-notes, pen and the forever handicapped printer… How to enjoy working? I’ve seen advertisers encouraged white collars to yogurt-dance, to steal Lay’s, to play basketball for distraction. Or, we can simply work and just enjoy it. The [...]

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Fear & Loathing in Chinese Advertising.

10.21.2009 BWCDF
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Here’s a cute campaign, excellent art direction and visuals tie together a memorable piece, sort of like a knife wrapped in hello kitty pajamas. Pretty universal in message: parents be paranoid; the message is communicated through a typical landscape of childhood dreams, which upon closer inspection reveal dangers such as eating pins, stepping on mines, [...]

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CCTV; Stunning TVC perfectly balances Chinese Art Aesthetics and Nationalist Spirit.

10.13.2009 CCTV
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I picked this one up from LRB forums; this is truly a stunning commercial; with a distinct nationalist tone, similar to the Adidas Olympic ads from last year, this commercial uses Chinese water painting aesthetics to weave inspiring visuals. It’s difficult not to feel a sense of pride when watching these commercials; they’re perfectly tuned [...]

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