How do you advertise for China’s biggest holiday, when due to the pandemic, for the third year in a row, travel restrictions has limited and complicated family gatherings, creating much unhappiness and anxiety throughout the festive season? The traditional happy family gathering that were synonymous with the Lunar new year is no longer a representation of the reality for most consumers. Brands know that they can no longer rely on familiar CNY picture-perfect families reunion campaigns to get their holiday message across. As many brands want to stand out among the tidal wave of holiday advertising, many of them also want to show that they understand their consumers’ plight and what seems to becoming the new norm for the Spring festival. We’ve selected a few these spots that have captured our attention.
春节是中国人最重要的节日，但受新冠疫情影响，已经连续了三年的各种旅行限制，让一年一度的家庭聚会愈发复杂，还让整个节日期间平添了许多不快和焦虑，在这种情况下，广告公司们要如何为这个最重要的节日做宣传呢? 对大多数消费者来说，传统的春节家庭团聚已经不再能够反映人们真实的生活。各大品牌也明白，熟悉的、完美无缺的春节家庭团聚主题，不再是流量的密码。许多品牌都想在假日广告大潮中脱颖而出，同时也想表明，他们了解消费者的困境，了解似乎将成为春节新常态的东西。下面是一些吸引到我们注意的作品。
When her mother invites all the neighbors to dinner at their house through a megaphone, her young daughter is not impressed. In her eyes, her mom’s annoying ability and constant desire to talk to anybody and constantly gather people around is viewed as somewhat of a “weird disease”. As the daughter grows up and leaves home for a big city, she relishes in that fact that she can finally find peace in a life of secluded existence—by not knowing her neighbors, she happily disturbs no-one and in return is never disturbed herself. Until her mother comes for a visit during Chinese New Year… The commercial for Merchant Bank, envisioned by Yoya and brought to life by One Shooting is populated by vivid characters and has a sweet, yet subtle CNY message that focuses more on building relationships with your neighbors and appreciating your family for what you can learn from them.
主人公的母亲通过扩音器邀请所有的邻居来家里吃饭，但她年幼的女儿却不为所动。在女儿看来，母亲这种令人讨厌的号召力，以及不断与人交谈，不断将大家聚集在一起的欲望，都好像有那啥“大病”。随着女儿渐渐长大，离开家去往大城市，她享受着终于可以在一种与世隔绝的生活中找到平静，无需认识邻居，不打扰任何人，别人也就从不来烦自己。她一直自得其乐地生活着，直到妈妈在春节期间来看望她……这部商业银行的广告由有氧构思，One Shooting制作，角色生动，剧情感人，传递了甜蜜而微妙的春节谏言：请更注重邻里关系，对家人表达爱与感恩，因为你可以学到宝贵的人生经验。
Beautifully set in traditional tulou building, the cinematic 6 minute film for Oreo tells a story of a friendly rivalry between kids. Everything starts when by family seniority a boy has to call a younger girl “auntie”, and they go on little adventures to prove who’s got more courage. One of their adventures risks to destroy the festive New Year mood with dragon dance performance nearly cancelled. But in a story produced by Achill and shot by Ding Yuchen, Oreo cookies save the day.
这部时长6分钟的奥利奥广告片，但由Achill明晰制作制作、丁玉晨拍摄，讲述了过年回到传统土楼的孩子们，进行可爱竞争的故事。剧情是这样展开的: 年龄更大的男孩，由于辈分有别，必须叫一个比自己小的女孩“小姑”，不情愿认命的他们开始了一些小小的试胆冒险，以证明谁更有勇气。但其中一项冒险活动却闯了祸，破坏了节日的喜庆气氛，害的舞龙表演差点被取消，不过奥利奥饼干最终挽救了局面。
Nostalgia has become a global trend during 2020 and 2021, making its way to social media, tv series, fashion, and advertising. Our longing for happy memories and simpler times-gone-by make sense in worrying pandemic times. Warmly color-graded commercial films that feature visual travels back in time are not rare in China too.
在2020年和2021年这两年，不论是社交媒体、电视剧、时尚还是广告领域，怀旧风已经席卷全球。在让人焦虑的疫情大流行期间，人们渴望快乐的回忆，思念往日的简单时光，这很自然也很合理。在中国，以时光倒流为主题，色彩明丽，热情洋溢的商业电影也并不少见。
Weekly AD｜Motorola X KARMA X Shanghai Kuiyou Advertising
Weekly AD｜TMALL x Ogilvy奥美 x 北京三川传媒文化有限公司
Weekly AD｜BMW 宝马 x JUICE NETWORK x MOD茂田
But a new commercial film for a car brand Nio envisioned by W doesn’t fit the description completely. It takes the central theme of CNY— coming back home, and travels back in time to show how the road home for one family changed for better over the course of 30 years.
但W为汽车品牌蔚来汽车设计的一款新的广告却并不完全符合这一风格。它以春节回家为主题，穿越时空，展示了一个家庭的回家之路是如何在30年的时间里越变越好的。
In the commercial for Robam, a retired chef played by actor Li Chunli is inexplicably forbidden to cook. His family locks the kitchen cabinets, leaving him to invent excuses with his granddaughter, and hide his trips to the market and pretend to order ‘food delivery’. This film is another example of a new perspective on the festive New Year commercial. The 10 minutes mini-film shot by director Taylor, explains why he was restricted for cooking to begin with and finishes ambiguously with a holiday family dinner.
在老板电器的新春广告中，知名演员李立群扮演的退休厨师被家人莫名其妙地禁止做菜。厨房的橱柜被上了锁，迫使他和他的孙女一起编造借口，并可以隐藏他去过菜市场的信息，甚至自备外卖盒假装叫“外卖”。这部电影是新春广告转换新视角的又一个好例子。这部10分钟的微电影的由导演Taylor拍摄，为观众揭秘了为什么主人公一开始被限制烹饪，又在最后的春节家庭晚餐中微妙地团圆。
A commercial for snack brand 良品铺子 looks the most like what you expect from a holiday ad. Food-centered, splashes of red and happy family on screen. If not for one twist— the main character is spending the holiday alone, only present at family gathering through phone screen. The commercial, produced by KingProduction does not specify why the son is not home with everyone, but it seems to strike a cord with the viewers especially in light of travel restrictions preventing people to get together at home for the third year straight.
而零食品牌良品铺子的广告看起来最符合大家的对假日广告的期待，以美食为主题，随处可见的中国红，以及屏幕上幸福的一家人。如果没有主角独自过节，只是通过手机屏幕联线家人的转折，这则广告可谓是经典过年套路了。虽然这则由KingProduction制作的广告并没有具体说明为什么儿子不能回家过年，但如今禁止聚集的新冠政策已经进入了第三个年头，在团聚难的时代背景下，主人公的遭遇似乎引起了观众们的广泛共鸣。
We’ve seen the behind the scenes, “making of” an ad concept being used into commercials before, but this year’s Tmall’s CNY commercial does it well.
我们以前也见过类似的幕后场景主题，“制作”一个广告概念被用在商业广告中，但今年天猫的春节广告做得尤其好。
When Filmmaking Production Realities Slip Into Ads｜当广告开始揭秘制片的内幕
The 2-minute film by KeyPoint shot by Zou Fei opens with a script page and a VO narrating “This is Tmall’s New Year commercial”. The narrator goes on frankly admitting that “This commercial may not make you feel emotional. Or make you laugh. But it’s a small reminder”. And yet somehow, frame after frame it does just that, creating an effortlessly warm holiday mood.
这部2分钟的电影由KeyPoint公司拍摄，邹飞担任导演，开场映入眼帘的是一页剧本和温柔的旁白一边告诉你：“这是一支天猫的新年广告”，一边还坦率地承认:“它可能没法感动你。也很难逗笑你。它能做的，只是给你一个小小的提醒”。然而，不知何故，一幅接一幅，它做到了这一点，毫不费力地营造出了温情的节日气氛。
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