Tmall Double 11 returns to emotional storytelling

E-commerce platform Tmall, the birthplace of the world’s biggest shopping festival, prepares hard for the D day once again. Since 2009, released commercials have been taking every angle possible to break the sales records every year. Last year, total Double 11’s sales amounted as high as 498.2 billion RMB.

电商平台天猫，全球最大购物节的诞生地，又开始为一年一度的狂欢蓄力。自2009年起，该品牌的广告尝试了各种各样的秘技绝学，每年都在力争刷新上一年的销售纪录。去年，双十一的销售总额高达4982亿元人民币。

This year, as usual SHP+ watched for you all the commercials. Already on October 20th, we had a cute animated reminder about the start of the shopping spree. From there on, among others we’ve noticed a series of short stories, turning Double 11 into any holiday you want— Mother’s Day, Valentine’s, Father’s Day…. and a trendy-looking spot that appeals to Gen-Z audience. To drive the message home Tmall, of course, relies on longer formats and so far we have seen two: a commercial on this year’s theme “美好生活，共同向往” （Let’s Go to Happiness) and a mini-film 《王小乐不乐》 (Wang Xiaole is Not Happy). Interestingly enough, these both major Double 11 promotion spots were produced by Keypoint production house, and shot by a prominent local Chinese director Zou Fei.

See Tmall start of Double 11 animation here

Tmall “过节了，过节了” commercial

“不完美但有点新东西” commercial

今年，SHP+也帮大家品鉴了所有相关广告。早在10月20日，一部可爱的动画广告，就在提醒我们购物狂欢已经开始。从那时起，我们注意到有一个系列的短篇广告，正在把双十一变成任何你心中的节日：母亲节，情人节，父亲节……而另一部时尚潮流的短片则尝试着抓住Z世代的心。但若真的想好好传达天猫的心中所想，得需要更长的篇幅，目前我们看到了两部比较长的广告：一部紧扣今年主题“美好生活，共同向往”的影片，还有一部微电影《王小乐不乐》。有趣的是，这两部大热的双十一广告的制片公司都是聚点影视，由知名本土中国导演邹飞执导。

Titled 《我们普通的一天》（Our Ordinary Day ） , the nearly 3 minutes spot is tightly packed with action and populated with different characters. With brand ambassador Jackson Yee in the opening and closing scenes, the commercial jumps through 9 other locations from megapolises like Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing and Guangzhou, to locations off the first-tier cities track like Zhoushan, Xinjiang, and Cao County, showing brief scenes from lives of factory workers, fishermen, fashion designers and more.

Production House 制作公司: Keypoint 上海聚点广告有限公司, Director/Script 导演/编剧: Zoufei 邹飞

一部是名为《我们普通的一天》的广告，在将近3分钟的影片中，安排了各种动作场面和不同的角色。这部由品牌代言人易烊千玺出演了开场与结尾的广告跳跃了9个不同的地方，既有像北京，上海，杭州，重庆和广州这样的大都市，也有像舟山，新疆和曹县这样的非一线城市。一段又一段的场景，短暂地展示了工厂工人，渔民，时尚设计师以及其他各行各业人们的生活。

《王小乐不乐》（Wang Xiaole is Not Happy ) takes a different tone, a more nostalgic look and feel to tell the story of a little boy, who suddenly stops smiling. Through cinematic twists and turns, the audience gets to the surprising, and touching end. The spot, that looks like a straightforward commercial only 30 seconds out of total 4,30 minutes manages to organically connect its emotional story to the shopping bonanza that is Double 11.

而《王小乐不乐》这部广告则选择了不同的基调，风格更复古怀旧，讲述了一个突然不再笑的小男孩的故事。观众在目睹了曲折的剧情和反转之后，惊喜地知晓了真相，迎来了暖心可爱的结局。这部时长4分半，看起来直截了当的广告，其实只用了30秒将这个感人的故事有机地与双十一购物节连接起来。

Agency广告代理商: Ogilvy, Production House 制作公司: Keypoint 上海聚点广告有限公司,

Director/Script 导演/编剧: Zoufei 邹飞

This year, of course, is not the first time Tmall uses emotional storytelling in commercial films to bring more meaning to the shopping festival beyond the “buy, buy, buy” message. Last year, perhaps due to the pandemic, Tmall didn’t allocate resources to lengthier, story-based commercials, as all the films seemed more down-to-earth, directly pointing to instant benefits of Tmall’s promotions. Nevertheless, Tmall’s platform has long established strategic combination of promotional videos (including commercials that showcase changing every year main theme) and story-based mini-films (that often don’t appear as straightforward advertising, like this year’s “Wang Xiaole is Not Happy”).

当然，今年不是天猫第一次在商业电影中使用感人的故事，为购物节带来更多的意义，而非一味地要大家“买、买、买”。去年，或许是受疫情的影响，天猫没有把资源分配给篇幅更长的故事广告上，所有的影片看起来都更接地气，言简意赅地指出了促销带来的实惠。尽管如此，天猫平台早已建立了广告宣传（包括每年宣传主题都会更新的主打宣传广告）和故事微电影（一般不会很硬广，比如今年的《王小乐不乐》）的战略组合。

So, It’s great to see this year Tmall, the platform that started this now global shopping craze, returning to longer stories. They might not link bluntly to the festival, but help the brand deliver the message like no other.

所以，今年的天猫又开启了全球购物节，能够看到长篇广告的回归真是太棒了。虽然这些长篇广告一般不会直接点题，直白地促销，但有助于天猫更好地传达想要输出的价值观。

If you want to be reminded of some emotional stories from previous years. Here are some of them:

如果你想再欣赏一下去年的佳作，下面是部分广告：

2018 commercial film “A Dream of Decade”, based on true story.

2019 mini-film 《第11代许愿望》

2019 mini-film 《一一的魔法》（Yiyi Magic）