TV entertainment shows and TV drama still form the majority of content in China. With TV Drama accounting for 50% of TV viewership and 53% time viewing on Digital Video channels.

The past three years has seen the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) introduce regulations that has dramatically reduced the quality and quantity of prime time advertising inventory:

Oct 2011: Decreasing the number of programs broadcast between 1930-2200pm across 50 provincial satellite channels.

Oct 2012: Cutting in program ad breaks during between 19.30 – 22.00pm.

Oct 2013: Stations only allowed one music reality program.

The end result is Chinese TV audiences are down 25% over 5 years, people watch more TV shows than ever, but are watching them on digital devices. In some cities, video is bigger than TV, for instance, WuHan is TV about 60% vs. video 75% and SuZhou is TV 55% vs. video 69%.

This has also led to of a dramatic increase in branded content opportunities, however with constraints on number of programs this has driven a rise in the cost of branded content sponsorship on TV, pushing brands to explore online content as an effective way of reaching and engaging their audience.

The campaign was designed to inspire Chinese teens to be brave and express their love on May 20th, China’s Love Day.

The films integrated with the Vine of China - Tencent's Weishi 8 second video app functionality that allows users to create and share 8 second videos with friends. Weishi innovation is first of it's kind with a brand in China. With shorter attention spans on their Mobile devices, the 8 second video app was a perfect fit. Cornetto creating 26 Weishi video invitations from the films cast encouraging teens to videos create their own 8 second expression of love.

Through matching our audiences media behavior with a deep insight into their love challenges, Cornetto’s Love Tense branded content not only reached our audience, but also got them directly involved in the content.

298 million movie views & highest views volume on Youku, with mobile video views contributing 30%.

35 million MV views

34 million music plays

100+ sites adding the films and music video

7.8 million song downloads

70,000 Consumer Generated Weishi Videos created

6.5 million Cornetto branded assets downloaded and shared across social platforms

Tripled the brand’s organic search volume vs 2012

3.7 million posts on Sina Weib (China’s Twitter).

The end result of all of this love?

Sales up +5% vs 2013 same period (summer)

Unaided Awareness increased + 10%, and big shifts in key brand attributes:

Delicious from first bite to last bite + 20%,

Brand that appeals to teenagers +5%,

Brand that helps me express love +10%

The mobile lead, cross media interactive campaign saw Cornetto maintain its position in China as the leading ice cream brand and expert on young love!