[Digital Buzz] This is a little old now, but a great view of what can happen when something goes viral in China! Earlier this year, the agency AKQA and Lipton Milk Tea created a viral campaign that was launched on China’s biggest IM and social networking site QQ to celebrate Chinese New Year 2010.
The campaign featured a website where people would select one of three videos (shot in first person) to personalise and send to a friend along with adding a special Chinese New Year greeting that was made of the steam from Lipton Milk Tea. The results were pretty crazy, with over 100 million people sending or watching a view in just a few weeks! Watch the campaign's summary below:
Challenge
Winter is a key season for sales of Lipton Milk Tea. Chinese New Year is also a heavy promotion period for the Lipton brand. The brief was all about communicating warmth during the festive season linking back to the milk tea product, and about allowing users to send Lipton Branded Chinese New Year Greetings to their friends.
Solution:
Lipton's agency created a viral tool that lived on QQ.com. QQ is China’s biggest IM and social platform. This tool was comprised of three short films in where users could simply upload a photo of their face, and instantly be part of any of the three films. They had the option to star in a schoolgirl dance, to perform in a rock band and to mime out greetings. In addition to this content, users could type in a customized Chinese New Year greeting to forward along with the film. When friends received this Lipton branded greeting, they saw a film shot in first person of somebody opening a door and receiving a box. The box contained a steaming hot cup of Milk Tea. When users blew into their built in microphone, the steam would then reveal the customized greeting. They then saw the film with the sender’s head in it.
Results:
This campaign has already received loads of free media exposure and proved that viral marketing, and a strong partner really deliver results. In a country with over a billion people, campaigns that reach the millions are not surprising. Lipton Milk Tea ‘A Cup of Greetings’ engaged over 100 Million users in less than two weeks since it’s launch proving that a simple Chinese New Year greeting, can truly go Viral.