The Campaign

In a country where 42 billion packages of instant noodles are consumed per year and that is half the world’s consumption, our consumers are spoilt for choice. Communication does not allow for competitors’ mention but at the same time, consumers are being bombarded with a large variety of noodle brands. This variety means, there are challenges for any key product to stand out and be memorable in our consumers’ minds.

Results

The key objective was to enforce in the minds of our consumers, the product which serves the perfect meal of noodles with a side of soup. In China, every meal usually includes a side of soup. Yet with instant noodles, while consumers are spoiled for choice, they don’t have the option of fried noodles with a side of soup.  We took this opportunity to remind our consumers that while other products have separated fried noodles and soup, Master Kong have brought together fried noodles and Soup, making it a perfect meal. We launched a video showing our two protagonists “Noodles" and "Soup" who have gone through seven lifetimes of being separated. Each lifetime in this endless journey took place in parodies of TV shows and films familiar to Chinese audiences. This was launched on a video site where live streaming of comments were allowed and encouraged. Several conversation topics such as identifying the movies from the 7 different scenes, to singing along to the catchy songs had our netizens sharing the videos with their friends This catchy song and repeated scenes from the video was repeated over and over again in the heads of our consumers. Riding on this popularity, we partnered with a singing APP to give consumers the chance to sing the song in the film. This meant they would share their singing of this song and creating new renditions, creating yet another round of publicity and talkability. This app was also tied with retail promotions and e-commerce offers, letting our consumers who have never tried the product, have a taste of this perfect meal of noodles and soup. Eventually, “Noodles” and “Soup” became inseparable in the minds of consumers…

With “Noodles” and “Soup” being repeated over and over again, our product name is stuck in the minds of our consumers. With the help of the catchy song, our consumers could not help humming the song which also carries the product name. They start sharing our videos on social media platforms, hoping to “Brainwash” their friends too with this catchy tune. They even created their own versions and sharing it on their social media platforms With the popularity of the song increasing, we partnered with an App which allows consumers to sing popular songs, karaoke style. More of our target audience start singing their own rendition and sharing it with friends

In two weeks, the video received over 500 million impressions and was reposted more than 30 million times, sales increase 12% in China. We had consumers re-enacting scenes from our video and voluntarily posting them on their own social media sites. Not only did they post videos, they even posted pictures of the actual product of Noodles and Soup, driving other netizens to try this product. Whats most important, this gave Master Kong the elevated leverage that this was a superior product and that other competitor products of just dry noodles with no side of soup is not a complete meal.

Our insights are based on the Chinese consumers’ meal habits – Soup is key in complimenting every meal. Unlike other noodle brands of the same category, they only offer noodles with no side of soup. Hence we created two characters – “Soup” and “Noodles” (which also reflects the name of the product – A Meal of Noodle and Soup). In all our communication, our two characters “Soup” and “Noodles” are cruelly separated across 7 lifetimes. Each lifetime in this endless journey took place in parodies of TV shows and films familiar to Chinese audiences. This is accompanied with a catchy song which is easy to sing along to and memorable. In each lifetime, during the painful moments of separation, they are calling out to each other, which forms the product name, as well as communicate the ideal of noodles and soup being the perfect combination for a meal.