CHENGZHEN

TitleCHENGZHEN
BrandNESTLE
Product / ServiceCHENGZHEN
CategoryE01. Launch / Re-launch
EntrantOGILVY BEIJING, CHINA
Idea Creation OGILVY BEIJING, CHINA
Media Placement MINDSHARE Beijing, CHINA
PR OGILVY BEIJING, CHINA
Production OGILVY BEIJING, CHINA
Production 2 AARDMAN ANIMATIONS Bristol, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company NESTLE CHINA Beijing, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Stephanie Lim Nestlé (China) Ltd. Head of Marketing (Nestle Ice Cream Greater China)
Skye Wong Nestlé (China) Ltd. Head of Communications (Nestle Greater China)
Jeremy Webb Ogilvy Beijing Senior Vice President
Arvind Srivastava Ogilvy Beijing President, Strategic Planning
Andrew Low Ogilvy Beijing Executive Creative Director
Callum Ng Ogilvy Beijing Associate Creative Director
Lynn Lin Ogilvy Beijing Senior Copywriter
Erik Huettenberger Ogilvy Beijing Senior Account Director
Genevieve Kwek Ogilvy Beijing Senior Account Director
Scott Zuo Ogilvy Beijing Senior Account Executive
Fannie Chen Ogilvy Beijing Creative Director
Since Shi Ogilvy Beijing Art Director
Nini Chiang Nestlé (China) Ltd. Chief Marketing Officer
Annie Su Ogilvy Beijing Managing Partner
Choo Chee Wee Ogilvy Beijing Creative Director
Alice Chu Nestlé (China) Ltd. Senior Producer

The Campaign

We established our creative idea as “Good Cow vs. Bad Cow” and built a campaign to deliver a “same-same but different” message of ‘our ice cream is good because it is made from real good milk.’ Character design became key, so we decided to work with Aardman—the animation studio behind “Shaun the Sheep.” 15 second OTV spots told the story that Nestlé Chengzhen is only made with milk from cows with good behavior, showing only good cows getting into Chengzhen. Pre-launch on-the-ground events built intrigue with 50+ life-sized cows lining up, hoping to get into Chengzhen. Visitors eager for a photo to share on social media soon lined up to snap themselves with the cows, turning them into viral sensations. We followed up with a billboard campaign like no other. Advice from our good cow was written for 50 specific locations around Beijing, which took form of hyper-targeted OOH ads.

The Brief

Year: 2017 Production budget (OTV, Event production): RMB 1.35million Media budget: RMB 6million Social KOL engagement: RMB 700k

Creative Execution

Our message needed tongue-and-cheek humor, with delivery by characters that people could love. Character design became key. For this we worked with Aardman—the animation studio behind the Oscar winning “Shaun the Sheep.” They designed lovable models of the Good Cow and the Bad Cow. 15 second OTV spots told the story that Nestlé Chengzhen is only made with milk from cows with good behavior, showing only good cows getting into Chengzhen. We took the Good Cows on-the-ground to build intrigue and did over 10 sampling activations — visitors were eager to snap photos with the cows and eat a free ice cream, driving up our impact online as the experience was shared on social media. We followed up with a billboard campaign like no other. Advice from our good cow was written for 50 specific locations around Beijing, which took the form of hyper-targeted OOH ads.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

KPI#1: Reverse three-year negative growth of -3% to deliver +5% in 2017. Result #1: Delivered +16% growth (3.2x over the set target) KPI #2: Increase top-of-mind awareness from 23% (2016) to 30% (2017) Result #2: Post-campaign top-of-mind (aided + unaided) grew to 57% in 2017. KPI#3: Brand image uplift on key parameters like ‘authentic’, ‘real ingredients’, ‘will pay more for’ etc. Result #3: Wide improvement on critical parameters directly attributed to the campaign- especially among the core TA. Significant because these factors drive ‘Permission’ & ‘Assurance’ or purchase. And this all happened in a stagnant market! China’s ice cream and confectionary business had taken a hit—even posting zero to negative growth over the past 2 years as Chinese consumers slowed spending.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

In a rational category conversation, we decided to go irrational and redefine “goodness” in the context of… cows! Fifteen-second OTV spots showed that Nestlé Chengzhen is only made with milk from cows with good behavior, with the bad cows left out. On-the-ground events built intrigue with 50+ life-sized cows hoping to get into Chengzhen. Our cow theme also spread to social media conversations, turning the cows into viral sensations. A billboard campaign like no other with advice from our good cow was placed in 50 specific locations around Beijing, which took the form of hyper-targeted OOH ads.

Our strategic insight came from how consumers behaved while choosing ice cream. Consumer research proved that once a consumer gets the urge to have an ice cream while in the store, the first brand that they think of is the one they will choose. This is even more so when buying a basic ice cream like a milk stick. A reputation for quality helped put a brand into consideration but was not actually the primary driver (especially as trust in the branded food category has started to bounce back after regulatory and industry measures since 2015.) The need to drive top-of-mind differentiation for impulse buyers landed us on our strategic insight and direction: Reframe how ‘good’ ice cream is defined in the category by moving the conversation from rational milk, to an irrational but engaging take on the cow that produces the milk (and is the source of its goodness).

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