So 2011 is drawing to a close, and in keeping of the tradition set last year, here is a round-up of some of the best creative work to come out of China this year. Please note this is not a top 10 list, also feel free to add your favourites in the comments section.

Campaign of the Year

Brand: Adidas

Campaign: Don’t Waste Your Wait “运动你的等待”

Agency: TBWA (Greater China)

chinaSMACK’s campaign of the year goes to Adidas’s ‘Don’t Waste Your Wait‘ campaign. The idea behind it was to encourage commuters in China to better use the time they spent waiting for their train or bus to arrive. As well as creating TV, Radio, and Billboard advertisements – the elements of the campaign that grabbed the headlines in China and around the world was the placing of punch bags in some of Shanghai’s subway stations. Spinning machines and speed bags were also installed at a number of bus stations in the city. It was a simple idea but was wonderfully brought to life.

Read more about the work here.

On Youtube



On Youku



Celebrity Endorsement

Brand: OPPO Mobile

Campaign: Find Me

OPPO Mobile jumped onto the ‘Inception‘ bandwagon by hiring Leonardo Di Caprio to be its brand ambassador and placing him in a series of commercials that echoed the plot and style the blockbuster film. Read more about the work here.

On Youtube



On Youku



Viral

Brand: Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical Company

Campaign: Itchercise

Agency: JWT (Shanghai)

Four viral videos were created to help make ‘Sanjiu’ the “talk of the town”. The videos parody exercises that Chinese students perform each day before their classes begin. The exercises targeted working adults and promoted the Sanjiu itch relief cream. They are aptly titled “itchercise(s)”. Read more and watch all the videos here.

On Youtube



On Tudou



TV

Brand: Nike

Campaign: Use Sports “用运动”

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy (Shanghai)

This Nike TV ad had one simple goal – to show how sports can help people achieve great things. Read more about the commercial here.

On Youtube



On Youku



Branding

Brand: Tencent

Campaign: Your Companion Of 12 Years

Tencent (owner of the popular instant messenger QQ) brought Chinese netizens to tears with the below commercial that aired during the Spring Festival. Read more about the advertisement here.

On Youtube



On Youku



Print

Brand: Samsonite

Campaign: Heaven and Hell

Agency: JWT (Shanghai)

Probably the most awarded piece of advertising to come out of China this year, was this beautifully artworked magazine and poster ad from JWT (Shanghai). It aimed to demonstrate the ultra-durability of the Samsonite Cosmolite suitcase and did so by contrasting between how “heavenly” it is in first class for a passenger but then show how “hellish” it is down below where the suitcase is handled. Despite the torture the suitcase emerges just like new. Click the image below see the all intricate details.

Ambient

Brand: Ariel

Campaign: Big Stain

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi (Guangzhou)

In order to demonstrate the cleaning power of Ariel, an outdoor interactive ‘Ariel Wii Game’ was created. The game was projected onto a massive digital T-shirt, and the Wii controllers were disguised as a sauce bottle or Ariel. Members of the public were invited to cover the giant T-shirts in sauce, and then remove the sauce with the Ariel Wii controller. Read more about the campaign here.

On Youtube



On Sina

Public Interest

Brand: BTDZ Traffic Safety Commission

Campaign: Dead Man Walking

Agency: Y&R (Beijing)

Many pedestrian victims were migrant workers from the rural areas of China, unused to the busy traffic in the larger cities. The Beijing Tongzhou District Zhangjiawan Traffic Safety Commission wanted to try to raise awareness of the problem that many migrant workers unused to busy city traffic were increasingly being killed / injured in traffic accidents. So on one of the busiest roads in the Beijing, a series of figures were installed. These figures were reminiscent of the outline chalked around the a corpse. These walking corpses appeared where it was not safe to cross, and carried a compelling message, which directed pedestrians to a safer place.

Weirdest Commercial Of The Year

Brand: KFC

Campaign: Taste of Ireland

KFC China showed us that fried chicken and Bailey’s Cream should never go together with this very peculiar commercial. Read more about the ad here.

On Youtube



On Youku



KFC did manage to top this commercial by creating an ad that featured a Barack Obama lookalike – unforunately the ad only aired in Hong Kong and was pulled days after airing. However, it can of course still be enjoyed online below:

On Youtube



On Tudou



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