A NEW YEAR SONG FOR YOU

TitleA NEW YEAR SONG FOR YOU
BrandAPPLE
Product / ServiceBRAND
CategoryA09. Excellence in Music Content Production & Distribution Strategy
EntrantTBWA\MEDIA ARTS LAB Shanghai, CHINA
Idea Creation TBWA\MEDIA ARTS LAB Shanghai, CHINA
Production TBWA\MEDIA ARTS LAB Shanghai, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Stephen Kong TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Creative Director
Lisi Davis TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Management Director (of Client Services)
Rachel Macbeth TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Director of Planning
Ken Nakamura TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Group Account Director
Samuel Minns TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Senior Account Director
Adams Ho TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Senior Art Director
Zebra Hua TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Senior Copywriter
Mesu Lu TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Senior Art Director
Wendy Leung TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Senior TV Producer
Lesley Tse TBWA \ Media Arts Lab TV Producer
Tak Yin Kwong TBWA \ Media Arts Lab TV Producer
Kelvin Ngai TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Digital Producer
Yvette Han TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Account Supervisor
Ted Li TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Account Executive
Scarlett Wang TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Associate Account Executive
Reynaldo Canlas Jr. TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Senior Planner
Maggie Chan TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Planner
Benny Zhang TBWA \ Media Arts Lab Business Affairs Manager
Stanley Kwan Post Production Office Limited Director
William Chang Suk Ping Post Production Office Limited Art Director

The Campaign

The idea is very simple. Before Chinese New Year, we wanted to present a musical gift to everyone in China while wishing them a happy New Year. But this gift was not an ordinary one. Through this gift, we wanted them to think about the tradition of going home in a refreshingly modern and different way.

Creative Execution

Apple invited the Godfather of Mandarin Pop, Jonathan Lee, with his two protégés Jianqing Li and Ann Bai to reimagine a classic holiday song as a gift to China this year. Together the talent utilized Apple products to create a lyrical reminder to young people that going home is never a burden, but a perfect reunion with their family. A 90-second film launched on 22.01.16 on TV and online. It was accompanied by a music video and interviews with the trio describing their intentions behind the new arrangement of “Gong Xi Gong Xi.” These appeared on multiple platforms, including Youku, apple.com, WeChat and also a media first custom designed mast head banner on the Youku App. During the campaign period from 22.01.16 - 08.02.16 the artists posted on their Weibo accounts to help spread the message and wish China happiness with their family. The full version of the song launched exclusively on iTunes.

A multi-faceted engagement strategy cut through the complex media environment in China to connect with our audience. The response was amazing. Overnight the film and song on iTunes ‘A New Year Song for you’ became #1 on iTunes’ Mandarin Pop Music list and #2 on International Pop Music list. The film garnered 582M organic impression and 137K likes on WeChat. Subscriber growth on the Apple Brand Youku Page rose 17% due to our launch on the Youku Masthead App. Tim Cook loved the song so much he posted the campaign on his Weibo account.

For years, this song served as a tradition in respect to Chinese New Year that celebrates the joy of new beginnings. After being re-recorded over the last 70 years the song unfortunately became an overused background track for supermarkets at Chinese New Year and lost its traditional significance. In this campaign, we gave a second life to this song by recreating this classic with a modern twist. More importantly, this gift of music has revitalized the once lost tradition of Chinese culture.

Revamp a well known song “Gong Xi Gong Xi” or “Congrats! Congrats!” that has lost it’s cultural significance and, at the same time, shed light on the fact that that many young people are avoiding going home at Chinese New Year due to the pressure that their parents place upon them. Chinese New Year is the greatest human migration in the world, but as it has become stressful for the younger generations and the tradition of appreciating home is drifting away.We aimed to alleviate this and remind our audience of the importance of going home for this holiday.

Links

Website URL