BMW China launches 14-minute Lunar New Year mockumentary titled, ‘Project Jupiter’
BMW China has released their Lunar New Year campaign via TBWA Juice Beijing\ TBWA BOLT Shanghai, which joyfully captures the complexity of ancient traditions and superstitions, setting a path to good fortune.
The Year of the Dragon is recognised for good luck, strength, and health, but for those born in the Year of the Dragon, it’s their ‘Ben Ming Nian’, or lunar zodiac year and according to ancient Chinese superstition, potentially a time of uncertainty. This phenomenon is believed to be caused by Jupiter’s orbit cycle* which takes place every 12 years resulting in the lunar zodiac year aligning with one’s birth sign.
This is the case for BMW. Born in 1916 – the Year of the Dragon. Instead of shying away from the superstition, BMW boldly embraces its predicament with the launch of a highly engaging and entertaining 14-minutes ‘mockumentary’ titled ‘Project Jupiter’, which intends to banish the uncertainty of ‘Ben Ming Nain’ and create a good luck universe for all, regardless of one’s zodiac year.
Stéphane Koeppel, VP Brand Management, BMW China, said: “Chinese culture is enshrined with fabulous insights, stories, and superstitions, and we’ve always prided ourselves on our ability to celebrate and connect BMW to this wonderfully rich culture.
“Leveraging the creative opportunity of our brand being born in the Year of the Dragon, this year’s campaign playfully continued our obsession to bring joyful surprise, sincerely wishing people good fortune and happiness in 2024.”
Ronnie Wu, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA China, said: “The conundrum this Lunar New Year presented BMW was an exciting opportunity to navigate, while allowing us to continue to celebrate the brands deep respect for Chinese culture, tradition and sharing joy.
“‘Project Jupiter’ is BMW’s mission to banish the superstitious uncertainty from ‘Ben Ming Nian’ by exploring solutions to avoid Jupiter’s influence. Fueled by engaging humour and special guest star appearances, the 14-minutes film follows the mission led by four BMW engineers and scientists. After many attempts, they devise the Red Luck Theory, ending the uncertainty from ‘Ben Ming Nian’ forever.”
Red as a colour has a prominent role in Chinese culture. During “Ben Ming Nian’, or one’s lunar zodiac year, tradition recommends people wear red year-round to ward off uncertainty and bring good luck. This has become intuitive behavior for many people in China including donning red accessories, red clothing, red underwear, red socks and so forth!
In applying the theory, BMW goes to extreme lengths; transforming its global headquarters to red, to ramping up production of red BMWs, to executive management, employees, dealers, and customers, all decked out in the auspicious colour.
In the film, the four hero characters are joined by special guest stars including Jackson Yee (Actor), Ning Hao (Film Director), Zhang Chaoyang (the founder, chairman and current CEO of Sohu, PhD in experimental physics), Yi Lijing (famous media person), Yang Haoyu (Actor), AC Milan footballers, Olivier Giroud和Tijjani Reijnders, Dashan (Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and several Influencers in different territories (HandyGeng, Liu Boyang, An Senyao).
In addition to the 14-minutes film, the campaign includes a film trailer, a bonus film and film posters. Red themed Lunar New Year decoration kits and merchandising packs were developed for retail, dealers, and consumers to ensure the colour red was widespread, in support of the Red Luck Theory.
The campaign was created by TBWA Juice Beijing and TBWA BOLT Shanghai in collaboration with BMW and will run until 28th February across cinema and online TV, in addition to social and digital media and dealership and retail channels.
Credits
Client: BMW China
Creative agency: TBWA Juice Beijing\ TBWA BOLT Shanghai
Production: TBWA BOLT Shanghai \ BMW China\ MOD