TBWA\Shanghai’s mythical figure ‘Nian’ appears at McDonald’s for Chinese New Year campaign
TBWA\Shanghai and McDonald’s China have launched a new Chinese New Year (CNY) campaign featuring the mythical figure, ‘Nian’.
The campaign aims to reignite interest in the traditions of CNY, engaging a multi-generation audience in a new way about the well-respected historical traditions of the most important Chinese holiday.
As tradition goes, the ‘Nian’ figure is repelled with fireworks and food offerings to satisfy his cravings. In this new campaign, the legendary ‘Nian’ returns for the McDonald’s CNY menu.
The campaign’s hero is a modern day ‘Nian’ – a fun character with widespread appeal – and only McDonald’s seasonal CNY menu can satisfy its cravings. McDonald’s customers are reluctant to give up their meals, so the stage is set in this impactful, lighthearted, fun campaign, which is already sparking debate in China. The campaign features a series of four TV commercials, which will air over the coming weeks, where the Nian tries to get its hands on McDonald’s customer’s food.
Brian Swords, Managing Director of TBWA\Shanghai commented, “We’re delighted with this work. McDonald’s is a global brand that always strives to connect locally. That was a very important goal for this campaign period. I think we have managed to do that in a fun and engaging way in this campaign.”
“We wanted to really take a fresh approach to the CNY period and surprise and engage our audiences with something new and yet still locally relevant,” said Christine Xu, VP of National Marketing at McDonald’s China. “We challenged the agency to develop something breakthrough and that would provoke a conversation.”
Credits – Managing Director: Brian Swords. Group Account Director: Jane Lim. Head of Creative: Edmund Choe. Group Creative Director: Gordon Shu. Creative Director: Joe Zhou. Associate Creative Director: Steven Chung. Art Director: Popo Jin. Copywriter: Jeff Zhang. Strategist: Jocelyn Tse. Head of TV: Raymond Lau. Director: Wang Zi Zhao. Director of Photography: Ronnie Ching. Production Company: PRO Films Shanghai. Production Company Executive Producer: Jack Tsai. Media Agency: OMD. OMD Media Team: Tracy Luk, Yinling Lin, Shelly Shen, Lily Gu, Bei Pei, Joe Wang, Joyce Zhang, Kevin Zhong, Ivy Weng, Maruken Zhang. McDonald’s Media Team: Gavin Quan, Colin Chen.