Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

In Chinese social media, the LGBTQ community faces heavy discrimination and hate crimes, and the media actively censors LGBTQ topics on the Internet. In this case, how to deliver the key message of celebrating 'all love is love' is a big challenge.

Background

Qixi, the traditional Chinese Valentine’s day, is the time for people to express their thoughts about love and celebrate for their love stories. It should be a festival for everyone but in current society, LGBTQ community has not been fully understood. In Chinese media environment, the LGBTQ topic and content have always been blocked by censorship. Budweiser launched the #All Love Is Love# campaign on Qixi, encouraging the LGBT community to express their true self and be brave in their love.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

Seizing the meaningful moment is a key for Budweiser to build brand equity. In this case, we care about people's tension and want to communicate brand value of BE YOUR TURE SELF. Qixi, the traditional Chinese Valentine’s day, is the time for people to express their thoughts about love and celebrate for their love stories. It should be a festival for everyone but in current society, LGBTQ community has not been fully understood. Budweiser wants to engage with LGBTQ community and celebrate all kinds of love in this traditional valentine's day.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

People always have imagination about love before it really comes – imagine he/she is adorable, funny, share same hobby and lifestyle. But after true love comes, you will find out it is not important if he/she was like who you imagined before. There is no standard solution in love.

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

Product - We continued to use the creative format of kiss bottle and illustrated a new pair of lovers. When two bottles were combined, they created a kissing couple. And when different bottles were combined with each other, different kinds of lovers were represented.   Content film - We invited 9 real couples with different sexual orientations to share their true love stories in a special way. One stated his/her imagined lover via voice while the video was presenting his/her real lover. They revealed the same sincere love in all of these varied love experiences. The video showed that it doesn’t matter whatever your sexual orientation is in front of sincere love. There’s no define solution in love, your lover is the best answer.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

The online video ignited passionate discussion as all consumers witnessed the same dedicated emotion in different loves. Overall, we’ve received: 250 million views and 41 thousand discussions on QIXI topic Ranked No1. social buzz in the beer industry , 175% more than the second place. 50 % sales increase for the Kiss bottle compared to 2019. Record high of 16% engagement rate for the content film on our owned media-Weibo. 

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

Qixi, the traditional Chinese Valentine’s day, is the time for people to express their thoughts about love and celebrate for their love stories. It should be a festival for everyone but in current society, LGBTQ community has not been fully understood. Budweiser has brand proposition of energizing people to be them-true-selves so that we want to celebrate all kinds of love in this traditional valentine's day.