Uniliver is paying a tribute to the eastern traditions and is marking Chinese New Year with its Lipton milk-tea product line. The celebrations are starting on February 14, when the west will be busy sending flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day.
The warm yellow ad hoc micro-site is developed to bring warmth and happiness to Chinese families and congratulate them on the holiday. The «Cup of Greetings» (lipton.act.qq.com) encourages visitors select one of the three videos created by Unilever and uploaded to the website (the spots feature mimes, schoolgirls or a rock band), and then upload a photo of their faces to share with friends by e-mail or on the site.
The project is hosted by the QQ.com service, which began as an instant messaging site and developed into a popular social network.
The sender’s photo appears in the video as 3-D image instead of the main actor’s face in the spot. The warm personalized greeting appears as a steam coming from the hot cup, and it can be blown off with a computer mouse or microphone. The message is based on the Chinese character for steam, qi, which can go together with other characters to make up phrases referring to good luck, prosperity and popularity.
Over the first two weeks after the launch on January 1, the site of campaign was visited by 17 million people, and 6.4 of them sent the greeting to their dearest ones.