Midea rolls out celebrity ad campaign

The campaign, which includes TVC, print and point-of-purchase (POP) for its bath and kitchen appliances, was created by McCann Erikson Guangming Guangzhou, and Chinese celebrity Gong Li is brand ambassador. The TVC was shot by French art director Jean Bocheux in Shanghai with post-editing in Paris.

The campaign has a futuristic feel which is enhanced with taglines such as, “get hot water within 10 seconds”.

“The creative execution projects a futuristic and fairytale-like style,” said Danny Chng, group creative director. “We want the brand image to move forward, with Midea being the contemporary home appliance products that you need in your ideal home of the future.”

As the target consumer for Midea is the modern housewife who is often the main decision maker for home buys, Gong Li was chosen as brand ambassador, as she personifies the modern mom.

A few days after signing the contract with Midea, Gong Li accepted Singaporean citizenship, which stirred some controversy in China.

“She is still an influential showbiz personality in China,” Chng said “In China, using celebrities as brand spokespersons is still a short-cut to building brand awareness and trust, as there is still a strong ‘follow the herd’ mentality.”

The 15- and 30-second TVC is running with national coverage on CCTV Channel 1, supported by print and POP.

The property boom in China over the past decade has stimulated intense competition from the overseas kitchen and bath appliance brands, such as Siemens and LG, and many local brands. Midea hopes to expand their market share from tier-three and tier-four grassroots cities to the tier-one and tier-two cities.