Why is this work relevant for Media?

As one of China's oldest and most beloved beverage brands, KangShiFu found itself in a peculiar position: it needed to win over China's new, content-hungry generations and fend off against new market entrants while not loosing appeal with its older, loyal consumer base. By harnessing one of China's most beloved festive songs and recreating it, inviting audiences young and old alike to upload their own recordings, KangShiFu was able to own Chinese New Year, while using the song as its core branded content to drive ales and awareness amongst both target audience groups.

Background

KangShiFu (KSF) Ice Tea is China’s leading brand in the RTD tea market with a dominant market share (45.7% market share, 10% more than the second brand, Source: Nielsen). Despite its mass brand awareness, the brand’s growth amongst younger audiences has slowed. Seen as a relatively old-fashioned brand, KSF has struggled to connect to younger audiences. Chinese New Year (CNY) is a pivotal time in China, seen as the most important period of the year. It is also a time of mass advertising, making it difficult for brands without innovative ideas to stand out. KSF ice tea had never advertised alone before during this period. As Chinese New Year approached, KSF needed to find an innovative way to connect to younger audiences, while not losing appeal with older audiences. In doing so, KSF wanted to enhance its brand image and increase brand love, driving sales.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

When it comes to CNY, Generation Z have lost many of the holiday’s traditions. Today, the event has become less fun – changed from a warm family reunion, to a period often spent alone entertaining themselves. As a result, a generational gap has formed between Generation Z and their elders, made ever more visible over this important holiday period. KSF saw this challenge as an opportunity to enhance its brand image, by reuniting Generation Z with the elders and getting them to celebrate together.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

To do this, KSF gave fresh life to one of China’s most beloved CNY songs, ‘冬天里的一把火’. Born 30 years ago during CNY, the song represents moments of reunion and Chinese New Year across generations. KSF took this well known festive song and decided to remix it, fusing hip hop elements into this 21st century version, creating a truly 360 degree integrated campaign that invited the whole family to get together and sing. To launch the remix, KangShiFu partnered with top celebrities, Weiting Chen and Meiqi Meng to perform the song on Weibo and at Tencent’s music festival, WeSing Gala, who called on KOLs and fans to share their own recordings of the song. To enhance awareness at a critical moment, we released a TVC featuring the remixed song on China’s six hottest drama shows during the holiday period, as well as OOH at key CNY travel spots across 44 cities.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

To build popularity, KangShiFu initiated a challenge to find the nation’s top singers on China’s number one online Karaoke platform, Tencent’s WeSing. We invited consumers to record their own version of the song together with their families, driving UGC and engagement. Once they had recorded their own version of the song, they could share it on WeChat, inviting their social network to vote for them, with branded KSF gifts up for grabs for the winners. In a final call for action and to drive sales, KSF designed a consumer engagement on Tencent’s music streaming platform, QQ Music, rewarding consumers who made KSF purchases, listened and shared the song, as well as recorded their own version with CNY-themed red packet rewards. We also harnessed Tencent’s network opening, a series of leading APPs of Tencent to drive traffic to KSF’s eCommerce store to better support sales conversion.

List the results (30% of vote)

Through its unique remix, KangShiFu successfully bridged the generation gap, helping families to celebrate CNY together! Additionally, the song was so popular it was incorporated into China’s 3 biggest offline Karaoke libraries.

Please tell us about the brand in relation to the locality or market where the product / service is distributed

KangShiFu (KSF) Ice Tea is China’s leading brand in the RTD tea market with a dominant market share (45.7% market share, 10% more than the second brand, Source: Nielsen). Despite its mass brand awareness, the brand’s growth amongst younger audiences has slowed. Seen as a relatively old-fashioned brand, KSF has struggled to connect to younger audiences.