In the film, which is slated to debut in Mainland China on 21 July, Yili‟s Shuhua Milk makes a ‘cameo appearance’ in a Mindshare-negotiated branded content deal. The Shuhua brand was weaved into the movie script, with what both parties hope will be a famous line, “Let me finish my Shuhua Milk”.
“Transformers 3 was the platform which first came to mind as we are all aware that a strong core is key to winning when a Transformer goes to battle," said Sarah Yi, managing director of the Yili account at Mindshare China. “Shuhua milk's key product benefits of 'fast-absorption building stronger bones' is synonymous with these.”
In addition to the branded content execution, the campaign also has an online search component to drive further 'buzz'. Search engine users who key in Transformers 3 in Chinese, will be directed to the latest Shuhua Milk online page. When users continue to click through, they will be directed to an online contest on Sina-Weibo, where 5,000 movie tickets will be up for grabs.
The Yili-Transformers 3 campaign will run for a total of six weeks, starting from today until mid-August 2011. Mindshare has also deployed extensive above-the-line executions such as television commercial placements across 12 provinces and 20 cities across China, radio and bus shelter advertisements across dozens of key Chinese cities, as well as print advertisements placed across tier-one magazines.
“We are very pleased with the Transformers 3 media strategy which Mindshare China has drawn up for us. They have executed our long-term brand building plan perfectly, always finding the right platforms to take the Yili brand out onto the world stage,” said An-Na, marketing director, Liquid Diary Products, Yili.
This is the third time that Yili has entered the global arena. The first time was via a campaign sponsorship at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the second time, at the Shanghai Expo in 2010.
Reported this month, Mindshare and Wunderman China have rolled out a series of virtual graphic novels for Land Reover's Evoque launch campaign.
