Latest Spot For Telunsu's 2017 TV campaign “Forever”
Directed by 2016 campaign Director Alexander Paul.
Mengniu is one of the two biggest dairy manufacturers in China and Telunsu is their premium milk brand. After the 2016 TV campaign with celebrity actor Chen DaoMing (the George Clooney of China), which boosted sales in the double-digit percentage range, the Mengniu’s CEO and the marketing team insisted that Director Alexander Paul and the team from Balance Film/Beijing also realizes the 2017 Telunsu TV campaign. And to tell you right away also this commercial received standing ovation by dealers at their sales convention in late December 2016 and let the pre-sale volume increase in the high double- digits again.
Already the 2016 campaign was completely different to any other dairy commercial and made quite a mark in the industry in China. Main differentiating aspects were:
a) presenting Chen DaoMing not on a high horse telling you what to do, but in a regular sports outfit as a common jogger and run through the city like everyone else trying to improve their health and observing the challenges of everyday’s life.
b) Telunsu being honest in expressing that their product is not going to make all problems going away, but just like jogging and because its product simply more pure and superior to any other milk can help to make you fit to compete in modern society.
With the launch of the campaign in January 2016 Telunsu’s products had imitators like crazy. So for 2017 Mengniu’s message to the audience is that Telunsu is the undisputed market leader in terms of quality and will always (forever) remain better, because it’s in their DNA to strive for the best. The briefing from the marketing team was very simple: “Run with this message and come up with a commercial that hits it out of the park. Simply go further in concept, locations, etc.”
Other than on the first commercial this time Chen DaoMing was only available to shoot in Shanghai and not in the very remote pasturelands of Mengniu. Together with the agency Hylink Alexander Paul developed a concept that took the campaign a step further. Paul: “Conceptually we introduced a hiker who is now spiritually led by Chen DaoMing in his search for perfection. And this hiker is actually the less prominent customer of Telunsu and in his search for his personal excellence out in nature he ends in unsurpassed Telunsu pasturelands. And its there that he realizes what Chen Dao Ming knew all along, that this is the place, where the best milk comes from, which makes his personal life better - forever.” Lots of worrywarts needed to be convinced who doubted that another character next to Chen DaoMing would work in the commercial. Luckily the marketing tests proved the opposite.
The idea was to portray Chen DaoMing as he’s on his way to the Gym at night passing at busy city locations which turn magic when he brakes the 4 th dimension of film and connects directly with the audience just like e.g. Kevin Spacey does in “House of Cards”. Radiant neon lights represent the aggressive demands of a life in the city. Now the production challenge was to pre-light and shoot with a heavy weight celebrity at the busiest location in Pudong with thousands of people around you. Producer Susanne Porzelt explains: We needed wet downs, mount all our neon lights on railings, move our celebrity discreetly in and shoot with him basically without being allowed to control the crowds moving all around us.
DoP Leandro Ferrao adds: “We needed to be fast as lightning as neither the set-up nor working with such celebrity in such a crowded place would allow for more than a couple of takes before hundreds of cell phone cameras start shooting your set. Hence, we shot everything with multiple and sometimes hidden camera set-ups.”
For portraying the unspoiled pasture lands production looked into all sorts of different options in the southern hemisphere. We had scouts in Argentina and Columbia, but in the end New Zealand made the race again. For the 2016 campaign we were shooting around Queenstown on the South Island, where in fact most dairy commercials worldwide get shot in the northern hemisphere’s winter. The client was clearly convinced that for this new commercial we needed to go somewhere different. “Going really remote basically meant taking the local crew completely out of their comfort zone.” adds producer Susanne Porzelt. So for over a week we scouted locations way further south of the southern Island and finally ended up in the Catlins. Paul adds jokingly: “After a week of scouting for pasturelands with a chopper I can call myself a true expert for dairy locations in NZ. You have everything from locations like out of a fairytale to locations where you go on a natural high by feeling the power of nature.” Some locations could only be reached by helicopter so in get this done multiple helicopters were used to move talent and a really minimal crew around and cover lots of ground on a shooting day. In fact it felt a bit like a military operation, just we were only shooting cows – on film.
Susanne adds: “Being remote created another aspect that makes this commercial magic. Alexander and Leandro both operated cameras and with just one talent and two first AC`s first AD, myself and a safety person, your atmosphere on set is completely different. You shoot what is boarded of course but after that you have time and freedom to try a few things quickly since now you have come to this place in fairytale land you let this atmosphere inspire you.
