What’s the best way to compete with a tidal wave of advertising in the noisiest time of the

year?

Don’t behave like an ad at all.

This case demonstrates how smart media thinking captured mass attention for Apple’s Shot on

iPhone film during the noisiest moment of the year: Chinese New Year.

Rather than show up like any other ad, we elevated our film to must-see blockbuster status. By

creating never-before-used placements, we established the film as a movie in its own right,

which viewers actively sought to watch, rather than just another commercial to tune out.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year (CNY) is a singular moment in the Chinese calendar. Once a year, hundreds

of millions of people return home to gather and celebrate with their families.

CNY is a moment charged with cultural and emotional importance, seeing it evolve into the

busiest, noisiest, and most crowded commercial moment in China.

With every brand clamoring for consumer attention, the challenge to achieve cut-through for a

single campaign is herculean.

Not only is this period dominated by messages from brands all vying for attention, but the

messages are often saturated with tired clichés typical for this festive time of year:

homecoming and family gathering. Tonally, the mood is almost always light-hearted and overly

positive.

Youth Insecurity

The impact of social media and influencer activity on our insecurities is no secret. But China’s

online culture is on another level.

China is home to over 10 million influencers with more than 100 thousand followers, more than

any other country. Generating over 38 million posts daily, their influence on a vulnerable young

audience is undeniable.

This was deepening the impact on a generation suffering with low self-esteem.

70% of China’s youths feel anxiety caused from studies, work, appearances, or health. 80% of

college students, roughly 9 million in 2023, say they have social anxiety. Record-high youth

unemployment of 21% has left this generation feeling insecure about themselves and their

futures.

China is the largest, most competitive smartphone market in the world. Establishing camera

superiority is an essential way to drive consideration and preference over rivals.

To differentiate iPhone, Apple launched a Shot on iPhone film in 2018, the first local execution

in China under this global platform.

The film launched at Chinese New Year, a moment of high cultural significance, and established

an annual platform that drove long-term relevance for Apple.

With more and more brands targeting this high-attention moment, our Shot on iPhone film was

at risk of being perceived as “Just another CNY ad”.

To meet our overall objectives of increasing brand affinity for Apple and consideration for

iPhone, we had to reinvent the media playbook completely.

Our goals for media were:

1. Scaling the film to maximize reach

2. Keep people engaged as they watched

Facing unprecedented competitive pressure, rather than go toe-to-toe with other brand

campaigns in typical media spaces, we elevated ourselves into an entirely new conversation.

1. De-positioned every other CNY campaign as “just another ad” and took the high ground of

blockbuster status.

2. Reinforced cinematic credibility for iPhone through the ‘movie-like’ context and

associations of our media buy.

Not only that, but our media target, young people 18-34, were the segment most willing to

spend money to avoid advertising. Up to 50% of the China’s video site users are paid

subscribers that can skip regular video Ads in these channels.

We launched our Shot on iPhone film “Little Garlic” like a blockbuster.

This involved the coordination of several initiatives, which would drive cinematic perceptions

and capture seasonal nuance:

1. Catapult our premiere event into headline news: Position “Little Garlic” as a must-see

blockbuster by dominating discussion trends across social and news and securing top-

recommended status by influential editors in the film industry.

2. Craft a blockbuster watching experience for viewers: Dominate large screens via impactful

takeovers, guaranteeing heightened visibility and anticipation.

3. Capitalize on festive sharing behavior: Tap into seasonal sharing behavior on Weibo

(China’s leading trending news platform) to encourage users to share our film when they

pass on blessings and share New Year resolutions.

We launched a behind-the-scenes content with similar approach, adding even more

blockbuster pedigree to our campaign. We capitalized on viewer excitement and curiosity to

drive purchase action from within the BTS content-view.

Our media executions crafted a truly cinematic experience.

'Little Garlic' dominated homepages in top video platforms and was featured as top content

recommended by esteemed editors as a must-watch blockbuster.

In an unprecedented move for the Chinese market, we took over “Homepage tabs” on leading

streaming sites to spotlight our film as an unmissable cultural event. Usually, only major

national events such as Olympics would merit a dedicated tab. This format is not permitted for

other brands, ensuring distinction for Little Garlic and Apple.

We secured headlines, embedded keywords, and hot topics on top social sites. These ensured

our blockbuster launch became breaking news.

On Weibo, we designed a customized decoration for user posts that enabled people to

seamlessly share their personal CNY greetings with just one click.

We prompted immediate engagement and action in BTS. Shoppable units allowed consumers

to browse and buy iPhone from within the video.

- Massive reach: 498M views (equivalent to one-third of China’s population)

- Engaged viewership: 10m 21s average watch time, over 65 million hours watched across all assets

- Conversion: 228M clicks to apple.com, 1.8x higher YOY

- Earned buzz: Social buzz hit 13x times the volume YOY

- Engagement: Most shared digital Red Packet, generating 650K earned views

Lifted brand perception:

- 79% of young Chinese people agree “Apple respects Chinese culture” (+19% YOY)

- 75% among young Chinese people agree “Apple is emotionally relevant to me” (+11% YOY)

- 67% of young people agree the film motivated them to “stay true to myself”

Growing product preference:

- 82% of the exposed audience agreed “I want an iPhone for its high-quality camera” (+16 lift vs

unexposed)

- Among young Chinese, 70% agree iPhone camera captures professional-grade film (+22% YOY), 77% agree iPhone has a better camera than others (+11% YOY)