Results tagged “marketing”

Shanghai-based wool clothing brand, Hengyuanxiang (恒源祥) has scored yet another epic advertising fail that is destined to be a top case study in the "What Not To Do in Advertising 101" course with this Chinese New Year commercial (aired between 25-31 Jan this year) that promises to rape the eyes and ears of its audience. The company, one of the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, unleashed a torrent of (well-deserved) criticism from netizens with its Year of the Goat television commercial last year, igniting a public furore so huge the ad was eventually pulled. Watch this commercial above and then watch last year's commercial at your own risk. You'll find that things have actually improved. We really can't wait to see what's in store for us next year.

Get it on with Durex.

   

Advertising Agency: Euro RSCG Life, Shanghai, China

Shanghai lawmakers are taking Chinese tobacco giant Chung Hwa to task for its ubiquitous billboard ads that carry the four Chinese characters “爱我中华“ (Ai Wo Zhonghua, or "Loving my China"), and feature an image of the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, along with the warning that "Smoking can damage your health". Zhonghua (or Chung Hwa in Wade-Giles) refers to China and the Shanghai Tobacco Corporation which produces the Chung Hwa brand, has maintained that its slogan "promoted patriotism and was therefore a public service campaign". City lawmakers, however, are not buying the argument and are now calling for all tobacco ads to be "banned in line with the law".

Beginning Jan 1, Mengniu, one of China's leading dairy firms, has launched a new advertising campaign entitled "Happy Niu Year" which is scheduled to run on television, in print and online, all the way through to Feb 9. The word "Niu" is a play on the Chinese word "牛" which means cow (as well as ox and bull) and this year happens to be the Year of the Bull. This is the first major ad campaign by a Chinese dairy company since the melamine scandal struck late last year. The television commercial for this campaign follows after the jump

By Sam Jacobs

Well, for one, we guess it gets you the Olympics in Beijing. And loads of infrastructural upgrades. But China was banking on the Olympics for an image makeover, and judging by Futurebrand's 2008 Country Brand Index, the results were at least somewhat encouraging. China placed 56th out of the 78 countries ranked, with 29% of respondents giving the country a "very good" or "excellent" overall rating. It did, however, make the biggest gains in overall brand rating, improving by a full 13%.

Danwei points us to the funniest thing we've seen in a long while. We're not sure if this was actually produced for television or just the internet, but this infomercial for a Chinese magic pill which claims to help cure 快男 or "fast men" (a play on Hunan TV's "Super Boys" talent show) of male erectile dysfunction sho' cracked us up!

Eric Hu points us to this great TV ad by Chinese PC maker Lenovo entitled "Grandma-proof" that's getting forwarded around by his colleagues. We're not sure where this ad was aired but it does make us wonder why they don't run similarly ingenious ads back on their home turf in China?

For sports apparel brands, the Olympics are arguably the most important stage for marketing. So how did the sports marketers fare with the Chinese market in these Olympics? Here's a look at how things played out for Adidas, Li-Ning, Nike, Puma and Speedo.

There's no Olympic medal for sports apparel marketing, but the race this summer between the category's top two brands is hotly contested. Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Nike and Adidas are employing very different strategies to court the Chinese market.

The tale of the Apple Computer Corporation in China has been a story of false starts, misadventure and curious competition. Like the all seeing eye of Mordor peering at China from the 3G enabled land of Hong Kong, Apple has sent its minions into the mainland many a time before but never with the success that they have enjoyed in markets like the USA. Even with success in Hong Kong and the rest of the world, the battle to put iPhones into the hands of Chinese consumer will be a tough one.

Coca-Cola's latest commercial push before the Olympics features the TV commercial "Shuang City," starring Yao Ming as a torch bearer leading fans to the "Bird's Nest" stadium and shot by cinematographer Christopher Doyle (best known for working with directors Wong Kar-Wai and Zhang Yimou). Of course, as WSJ's Sky Canaves describes it, the commercial plays up the "feel-good" aspects of the Games: divers jump from skyscrapers, gymnasts leap through the streets and giant balloons emerge from a Coca-Cola truck dangling glass bottles of refreshing Coke.

It's hard to name a global brand that has had smarter China marketing practices than Nike. The series of advertising shorts above, first posted on YouTube two years ago, features everyday Chinese who can't help but turn their day-to-day lives into athletic showcases. A flat round cracker in a university cafeteria becomes a discus; a pair of boys use a repairman's bucket as a basketball hoop; a young woman uses judo moves to take down her boyfriend and snatch a bouquet of flowers from him. The commercials have a raw look, like they could have been shot by amateurs. And they will ring true—and funny—to anyone who has spent time in China.

This latest video from China's Green Beat takes a look at the waste that results from excessive packaging in food, the associated cultural reasons that come along with it and how we can do our part to solve the problem.

This cute little ad was created for Mentos by ad agency BBH Shanghai [h/t to Punk Planning]

Less than a month after airing this commercial featuring Richard Gere driving the new Fiat Delta from Hollywood to Tibet, Italian automaker Fiat has been forced to withdraw the ad, and issue a statement extending its "apologies to the Government of the People's Republic of China and to the Chinese people". Readers of this blog (a group which no doubt excludes anyone from Fiat or their agency) will be aware that Richard Gere is a vocal proponent of Tibetan autonomy/independence. Earlier this month, when Fiat's Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne first showed the ad to journalists, he was reported to have said in no uncertain terms:

"I obviously like it."

Nationalism has made its way into Olympic advertising as as this new television commercial by Chinese sports brand Anta shows. JWT Shanghai (part of the WPP Group) conceptualised the ad for Anta, saying it was "inspired by Chinese people’s response to the earthquake". Said the China chief executive of the agency, Tom Doctoroff:

“We decided to extend the brand message from individual glory to national glory, encouraging everyone in China to stand tall through these obstacles.”

- Russell Taylor, Unilever -

Thomas Crampton, on a recent trip to Shanghai, catches up with Paul French of Access Asia. French says that so much of what Doctoroff, CEO, Greater China of J. Walter Thompson, and others claim as pioneering was done 80 years ago by adman Carl Crow (of whom he wrote a biography). We're still not quite sure what to think of French's views yet, but we know Doctoroff's Twelve Facts about the Confucian Consumer left us all but confused.

In this latest pod, Patrick Carr from Current TV takes us from Shenzhen to Shanghai and Beijing, and does a commendable job uncovering China's obsession with brands by looking at how affluent Chinese youth today are choosing to express themselves through fashion, nightlife and sports. Features Phil Dorman of Shanghai-based marketing agency Confucius Says.

The above Coca Cola ad image used in the window of a shop in Bremen, Germany, which features Tibetan monks with the caption "Make it real" has come under the spotlight lately, as Chinese netizens question if the company supports Tibetan independence. From Guardian Unlimited:

First Tibetan exile groups attacked Coca-Cola for sponsoring the Olympic torch relay. Now the soft drink company is under fire from the other side of the political divide - with Chinese nationalists boycotting the brand after a blogger claimed one of its adverts supported Tibetan independence.

Continue reading "Ad of the Week: Coca Cola feat. Tibetan monks"

Sam Flemming, founder of the Internet word-of-mouth research firm CIC Data observes in his latest blog entry that while some of the brands that had used the stars involved in the Edison Chen sex photo scandal as spokespeople were scrambling for help (by calling up his company of course) when the scandal broke out, some netizens were “more interested in the brands in the background of the photos than the people themselves".

While reading up on the latest lawsuits brought against Baidu by the world's top music labels, we were alerted to this old Baidu advertisement that stars Hong Kong funnyman Stephen Chow (周星馳) as Ming Dynasty poet Tang Bohu (唐伯虎). In the 1min 50 sec long spot, Tang Bohu endeavours to charm over a girl with a Caucasian man who says nothing apart from “我知道” (I understand) in all the wrong tones. The Caucasian represents Google, the foreigner that apparently knows nothing about China. And guess who wins over the girl eventually!

We are once more going to put in motion all the machinery of our technological ability, in order to repeat in 2008 the successes obtained in previous years.Needless to say, the ad invoked the fury of the Chinese community in Spain and Citroen was forced to issue an apology, though we bet their ad agency are secretly congratulating themselves for grabbing worldwide attention this way.

Talking out of the ass takes on a new meaning with this highly arresting environmental ad campaign by the Guangdong Advertising Agency [1], conceptualised and put together by an entirely Chinese creative team. We couldn't help but notice the underwear marks left on the guy's ass. Just what kind of underwear leaves that kind of a mark? Also: we wonder if this ad will ever see the light of day in China? [1] This...