«Time is calling us» ｜《时代在召唤》
Recent Minsheng Bank’s video, released in time for Labor Day, is a 2.5 minutes ode to Chinese workers. To the triumphant sounds of Edit Piaf’s most famous hit, seemingly ordinary people are recorded…taking power naps on the way to work, and in between work tasks. Ending on a more serious note with a plethora of archive footage, the video sends a message that «with a labor participation rate of 76 %, China ranks first in the world». Emotional, real, and relatable, this video is actually a part of bigger 12 months content push, executed by a Xiamen-based creative house Wondering Media (舞刀弄影) almost single-handedly.
民生银行最近在五一劳动节发布了一个时长为2分半的视频，赞颂了中国的工人们。伴随着伊迪丝·琵雅芙（Edith Piaf）最著名的歌曲中那高昂的声音，视频拍摄了在上班路上积蓄能量打个盹和在工作间隙中睡觉的普通人。视频展现了大量的档案影像，以一句较严肃的话结束，它传递了一个信息：「中国人民劳动参与率达76%，居世界第⼀」。这个视频带有真情实感，能引发共鸣；它实际上是更大的内容推广（长达12个月）中的一个部分，几乎由位于厦门的创意公司舞刀弄影独家操刀执行。
Themed «Time is calling us» (“时代在召唤”), the long-term project aims to introduce Minsheng Bank’s Credit Center from a new angle and «communicate with consumers on a deeper level through real and relatable content» according to Wondering Media’s PR manager Nan Feng (南风).
For this, in addition to producing the videos, Wondering Media matched Minsheng Credit Center with H-Lab (人类实验室), it’s flagship self-media account. With more than half a million followers in Weibo alone, in other words, H-Lab is an in-house KOL developed since 2016. Influencer marketing is a big game in China where the Internet almost equals social media platforms, and creative houses often toy with the idea of establishing their own KOL instead of outsourcing one. H-Lab is one of the successful examples, that became a platform allowing Wondering Media to create more «user-oriented» commercial films, that increase awareness for brands they collaborate with and reach wider audience.
据舞刀弄影的公关经理南风说，这是个以《时代在召唤》为主题的长期项目，目的是从新角度来介绍民生银行的信用卡中心，“期望通过最贴近大众真实生活的方式塑造全新品牌内容IP，并以此诠释品牌内涵，与消费者进行深度交流。”
为了达到这个目标，除了制作视频，舞刀弄影还让民生银行信用卡中心与其旗下运营的自媒体栏目“人类实验室”联手。人类实验室仅在微博上就有超过五十万的粉丝，换句话说，从2016年起，它就是个in-house（内部）的KOL。在中国，网红营销是一场大局，互联网几乎等同于社交媒体平台，相比外包，创意公司经常会顺带打造自己的KOL。人类实验室就是这样一个成功案例，它让舞刀弄影在广告创作上依然秉持着利他的“用户思维”，提高人们对合作品牌的认知，触及更广泛的受众。
Focusing on hot social topics from a young audience’s point of view through original short videos, experiments, and interviews, H-Lab was a good match for promoting Minsheng Bank Credit Center’s «young and positive brand attitude». For this 12-months content plan, Wondering Media often goes offline introducing different forms of advertising, including a number of commercial films in the series include shooting real people interacting with situations that modeled by the creative house.
通过通过态度短片、社会实验测试、访谈报道等形式，聚焦于年轻受众关注的社交热点，让人类实验室来推广民生银行信用卡中心的“年轻积极的品牌态度”，太恰当不过。对于这次12个月的内容推广计划，舞刀弄影经常到线下介绍不同的广告形式，包括一些广告系列，拍摄人们在创意公司建造的模拟场景中的真实互动。
For the documentary-style video «Time ATM», they’ve built a pop-up store and invited discussions relating to time in our busy urban lifestyle, asking several people that appear in the video to answer the questions on screen, and evaluate the value of their time. They then receive a cash payment for their time documenting themselves doing things that they’ve kept putting on hold in a video. Concluding the commercial film with «In the new year, leave a little time to yourself, your loved ones, and to do things you’re passionate about».
在这次采用纪录片形式的视频《时间ATM》中，他们建造了一个快闪店，以繁忙都市生活中的时间为话题，邀请人们参与讨论，让视频里的人们回答屏幕上的问题，并且评估自己时间的价值？然后参与者要花自己的时间拍摄视频，来记录自己一直想做但没做的事情，并获得现金作为报偿。这个商业电影以一句“新的一年，给自己、给爱的人和热爱的一切多留一些时间”来结尾。
«Time ATM»｜《时间ATM》
In another video, a number of hurtful stereotypes about young people are projected on the cinema screen for a handful of participants to read out loud. The video opens a discussion on what success really is and whether having a mortgage, a car and a job with hefty salary are the only ways to measure it? Spoiler alert: its not and Minsheng Bank’s video proves this point with stories of ordinary people.
在另一个视频中，一些打击年轻人的刻板印象被投射在电影院荧幕上，由参与者大声朗读出来。视频引发了一个“什么才是真正的成功”的讨论：房、车和高收入工作是否为衡量成功的唯一标准呢？剧透警告：答案为否定，民生银行的视频用普通人的故事证明了这一点。
The quest to «shorten the distance between Minsheng Bank Credit Center and the audience through emotional communication» is far from over. Perhaps, along the way, it has became a little too emotional and intentionally tear-worthy, but we’ll have 6 more opportunities to see what Wondering Media invents next time.
追寻“以情感沟通来拉近民生信用卡与大众的距离”的道路远还没有结束。或许，在这条道路上，这种方式会过于煽情，在故意催泪，但是我们还有六次机会（即六个月）去看舞刀弄影下一次会创造出什么。
Credits – Labor Day
Production and Creative Agency 制作兼代理公司: Wondering Media 舞刀弄影
Director/Executive Producer导演/监制：Liang Kun 梁锟
Producer 制片人：Mars Chen 陈小黑
Editor 剪辑师：Ye Tingting 叶婷婷
Camera 摄影：Wu Qiliang 吴启亮
Colorist 调色师：Zhang Heng 张恒
Credits – Time ATM
Production and Creative Agency 制作兼代理公司: Wondering Media 舞刀弄影
Director/Screenplay 导演/编剧：Liang Kun 梁锟
Executive Director执行导演: Bian Xi卞玺
Producer 制片人：Mars Chen 陈小黑
Editor 剪辑师：Ye Tingting 叶婷婷
Camera 摄影：Wu Ye 吴也
Credits – Success Experiment
Production and Creative Agency 制作兼代理公司: Wondering Media 舞刀弄影
Director 导演：Liang Kun 梁锟
Executive Director执行导演：Lin Hongbin 林鸿斌
Camera 摄影：Wu Qiliang 吴启亮
Editor/ Post production 剪辑/后期：Ye Tingting 叶婷婷
Colorist 调色师：Zhang Heng 张恒
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