THE CUBE

TitleTHE CUBE
BrandDANONE
Product / ServiceMIZONE
CategoryA02. Best Non-Fiction Program, Series or Film where a client has successfully created a reality, documentary or light entertainment show around a product(s) or brand(s)
EntrantOMD CHINA Shanghai, CHINA
Contributing Company DRAGON TV Shanghai, CHINA
Entrant Company OMD CHINA Shanghai, CHINA
Media Agency OMD CHINA Shanghai, CHINA
Media Agency 2 FUSE Shanghai, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Bessie He Omd Planning Director
Kevin Zhang Fuse Senior Content Manager
Calvin Fu Fuse General Manager
Siewping Lim Omd China Ceo
Newman Liang Danone Waters China Media Director
Alexandra Huang Danone Waters China Marketing Director
Todd Zhou Danone Waters China Sales/Marketing Vp

The Campaign

About 4 years ago, when PSTV took their first step to import overseas TV programs, the race for quality content became incredibly competitive. This raised the stakes for content across board. TV stations had to suddenly focus on program quality to ensure viewership in China. Now focus shifting to quality of content also naturally meant that the influence of brands in that content became less. In this evolved market, brands could now only get access to hot shows through bidding; and the hotter the show, the higher the cost. This made a brand’s participation in content a far more serious an investment. Brands today spend a great deal more time and money on research to ensure that their values match those of the content. Advertiser funded programs are faced with tough restrictions from the government and higher costs as well. Every program that gets put on TV has to go through a maze of approvals from the local and national governments. For example, there are extra regulations concerning content imported from foreign countries as the message or content may be seen as corrupting China's moral or societal values.

Results

Danone’s Mizone had already carved its name as a sports beverage. So the next logical question was where would growth come from tomorrow? The answer lay in strategically widening Mizone's appeal – from just a niche sports beverage to a wider vitamin beverage as part of everyday, healthy lifestyle of young adults. For this we needed to uncover a part of their life where a boost of vitamins would be relevant; a part that required an additional dose of wit, grit and mental acuity. Through numerous conversations with young adults we discovered an interesting aspect of their life; young adults in China were most worried about securing a good job. It signified success and status. Preparing for a job was also a time where vitamins could play a crucial role in getting that edge over others. To make this connection we partnered with a popular UK competition game show, The Cube, which was planning a version of the show for China. On 'The Cube', contestants competed against the clock to accomplish 7 tasks in order to win the final prize. Mizone was integrated into the show’s technology and showed the contest’s physical AND mental activity level and helped them to get ready for the task at hand, also demonstrating our philosophy of “Ready for Life.” This integration went beyond a simple sponsorship and became the theme of the show. Mizone helped to keep contestants’ energy levels up and allowed them to compete efficiently. In addition to the Mizone & The Cube partnership, we continued our partnership with the show to create the Mizone “The Cube App”. As the Chinese consumer becomes more and more digitally savvy, it provided an opportunity for Mizone to continue to engage people outside the program.

We maximized buzz around the show with 360 degree communications: 1) TV: program guide, promotion, TV News, Channel ID & Program ID 2) Digital: Mizone - The Cube minisite, Youku and Weibo pages 3) Roadshow: promote Mizone and the show in the most visited areas in major cities 4) OOH: Bus shelters, LED Screens, Taxi Touch Media, Bus Body ad 5) Mobile ap: people can follow the show and promotional deals from their mobile phone 6) Point of Sale: promotional pack with Mizone QR Code

The Cube became one of the hottest game shows during the summer of 2012 in China especially with Mizone’s core target of active and adventurous 18-35 year olds. The program reached 80.2 million TV viewers – 10.5 million online. 3.6 million consumers joined The Cube Tour 1.5 million consumers downloaded the “Mizone The Cube App”. By successfully linking Mizone with The Cube, from May to July 2012, Mizone achieved a 76% growth in sales vs. the same period the previous year.