The new spots, mixing basketball with ancient Chinese theatre, mark an ongoing shift for Li-Ning, which is placing more emphasis on its oriental heritage to differentiate itself from international rivals such as adidas and Nike. A larger campaign is also expected to break in early 2006.
The new-look slots on NBA Programme, which will start airing in January, replace current work which show a basketball bouncing frustratingly on the edges of the hoop.
Li-Ning's AOR, Leo Burnett, developed the creative, using puppeteers from Beijing, with the feats performed by the puppets helping underscore Li-Ning's tagline, 'Anything is possible'.
"With the shadow plays, there's quite a lot of flexibility with the executions," said Burnett Beijing business director Luis Da Rosa.
Burnett Beijing's group CD Attlee Ku and associate CD Annie Sun developed creative, while Olivia Zhang assisted Da Rosa on client servicing as associate brand director.
An online guerilla campaign will launch before the debut of the new spots to stir up anticipation about the change.
Revamp plays up China heritage in Li-Ning TVCs
Chinese sports label Li-Ning has revamped its five-second slots supporting its sponsorship of CCTV's basketball show NBA Programme, with new executions depicting figures from traditional shadow puppet plays.
