The Campaign

At the stroke of Chinese New Year, we aired a film inviting people to reflect upon the meaning of their name. Because unlike others, every Chinese name has a literal and symbolic meaning. We created a massive online map where people could pin their name and its meaning to their hometown. This drove an even more massive discussion on social. People passionately shared, from big name celebrities to, more importantly, every day Chinese from every tier city. Chinese name is an important part of Chinese culture. It has the simplest form, but with the most extensive and profound meaning. It’s not only the unique identification of every Chinese, but also a close bondage of family and miniature of Chinese civilization.

Success of the Campaign

This drove an even more massive discussion on social. People passionately shared, from big name celebrities to, more importantly, every day Chinese from every tier city. It was the number one topic for the season. And it turned the one thing common in every person’s social post—their names—into an element of our campaign. The film had earned 1.4 billion total views—11x the entire Super Bowl audience—and the campaign created a national conversation. It made CCTV the biggest name of Chinese New Year. And in a time and country where names have started to lose their meaning, diluted by nicknames and brand-names and online-names, we did the impossible: We made names mean something once again.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

Firstly, we aired a film and invited people to talk about their names and the meaning behind it on the biggest Chinese media – CCTV during the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, known as “Chinese Super Bowl ad”. Then, a massive online map were launched which allow people to participate and pin their name and its meaning to their hometown.

CCTV, China’s top TV network, wanted to be the biggest name of Chinese New Year, China’s most sacred season. Nowadays, China is washing over by globalization: more people are getting used to western lifestyle, but meanwhile, the original Chinese culture is gradually falling into oblivion. As the “Chinese Super Bowl ad” that watched by 1.4 billion people, CCTV Spring Festival Gala PR ad is an opportunity to raise the public attention towards Chinese culture. But how do you create a campaign broad enough to resonate with the billion-plus Chinese, while unique enough that each would have something to share?