Which of the Ads Squeezed Into the Minutes Before the Spring Festival Gala Is Your Favorite?

At last, we get to see who the real big spenders are!

Anyone can jump into the Spring Festival ad season, but only the real big spenders dare to buy time on the Spring Festival Gala.

Watching the Gala is no longer the only thing people do on Lunar New Year's Eve, and complaints about the show are everywhere. Even so, as of last year this broadcast, which has never once missed a New Year's Eve, still held the night's top ratings without challenge: in 2014, 704 million people watched it on TV. Because commercials may no longer interrupt the Gala's performances, the dozen or so minutes before the broadcast begins have become the scarcest, and most expensive, advertising time of all.

First, a look back at the results of CCTV's auction of its 2015 prime advertising slots, held in Beijing in November 2014. Among the closely watched Gala packages, Tencent won the "2015 CCTV Spring Festival Gala Exclusive New Media Interactive Partner" deal, paying 53.03 million yuan for it. Shaking your phone to grab red envelopes became both WeChat's biggest advertisement and a way for the Gala to keep more people in front of their TVs. In the ten minutes of the Gala's first wave of red envelopes, WeChat reportedly logged 7.2 billion shakes, peaking at 810 million a minute; over the whole Gala, shakes on WeChat totaled 11 billion. On the day of the auction, more than ten companies also won "2015 Spring Festival Greetings Package" ads, worth over 310 million yuan in all.

Between the viewing notice and the Gala's promotional trailer, Dongfeng Nissan, Vipshop, Baidu Maps and others made appearances. In the prime ten minutes before the Gala, we saw these names: Didi, Budweiser, SAIC Maxus, Kuaidi, McDonald's, Xiaomi Note, Changan Suzuki Alivio, Junlebao, Samsung GALAXY, Red Bull, China Pacific Insurance, Snow Beer, Mengniu Chunzhen, Ganji.com, Weidian, Satine Organic Milk, Midea, Beijing Hyundai Sonata, Sibu Group, Dianliandian Discount Network, Jeep, Hanhoo and Mengjinyuan.

The list reflects, more or less, the hot topics and lasting marks of 2014, such as the boom in taxi-hailing apps and the rise of selling through social media. Liquor and insurance are drifting away from the Gala: only China Pacific Insurance is left to represent insurers. The cash-burning taxi-hailing apps fought a fierce battle for users last year, and then the two rivals merged on Valentine's Day. Perhaps for that reason, Didi and Kuaidi kept their ads out of each other's way, one promoting its premium car service and the other its ordinary taxi-hailing. And Weidian, the shopping app from Koudai that closed a US$350 million Series C round last October, splashed out on the Gala for its very first commercial.

The skincare brands Sibu and Hanhoo, which also sell through social media, both have money to burn. Sibu, which shot up out of nowhere in 2014, now has more than 2 million sales agents across the country. It reportedly spent 25.01 million yuan on this Gala appearance, showcasing its brands Dailaimei, Tianshi Zhimei, Sujia, Zhimeicun and others. Hanhoo is just as aggressive in its marketing. Last year it spent 300 million yuan on its "919 Gaogao Festival," 200 million yuan to take over Guangzhou's Canton Tower, nicknamed the "Slim Waist," and 120 million yuan for exclusive title sponsorship of Beijing TV's reality show Dream Makers. At the earlier auction, Hanhoo also won special sponsorship rights to both the Spring Festival Gala and the Lantern Festival Gala, reportedly for sums in the hundreds of millions. Its name appeared at least three times in the ten minutes before the Gala, and its logo sat in the lower right corner of the public-service ad Only Hoping for This Day.

On the other hand, the domestic PC brand Hasee, which had boasted it would run nearly 30 ads on CCTV on New Year's Eve, did not appear in the Gala's prime ad slot. Its ads ran mainly around programs like Dream Gala and Year After Year.

As for iQiyi's exclusive online livestream of the Gala, opening up on-screen comments (danmaku) was clearly a highlight. For the past few years people have watched the Gala on TV while mocking it on Weibo and WeChat Moments; now they could do both in one place. Not many people have abandoned the TV for the internet yet: this year's Gala on iQiyi drew over 40 million viewers in total, with a peak of over 14 million watching at once, most of them aged 18-30. Last year, by comparison, more than 700 million people watched the Gala on TV.

At an earlier press conference, iQiyi revealed that as soon as it won the on-demand rights to the CCTV Gala, Wong Lo Kat snapped up the exclusive naming rights for on-demand viewing across iQiyi's PC and mobile platforms and its variety and entertainment channels. The two sides then ran a New Year marketing campaign called "Lucky Stars Gather to Watch the Gala." The price was not disclosed, but advertising online is far cheaper than on TV.

Unlike the rest of the Spring Festival season's ads, Gala ads need not have anything to do with the New Year or holiday greetings; simply "being on the Gala" is the point. We picked out some ads from CCTV and iQiyi that are worth talking about. Which idea do you like best?

Jeep: Real Muscle Behind the Sentiment

Jeep, which sold well last year, not only spent US$84.6 million on 90 seconds of Super Bowl airtime half a month ago, but also had the muscle to buy, once again, the first two minutes of ad time before the Gala. The question posed in the teaser it released earlier, "Who is the person behind Wang Shi, Nicholas Tse and Richard Liu?", finally got its answer: themselves, of course. The ad trades on sentiment, so there is no need to take this letdown of an answer too seriously.

Separately, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne recently announced a new strategic plan: by 2018, Jeep is to sell 1.9 million vehicles a year worldwide, 500,000 of them in China.

China Pacific Insurance: Discover the Love Around You

Gala airtime is so scarce that this ad did not run in full, but watch the whole thing and you will find it rather touching. As the only insurer on the lineup, China Pacific Insurance tells the story of a street sweeper, a bus driver and a milkman who work as usual on New Year's Day and receive greetings that strangers have written for them. The plot is as stale as ever, but on a day when families come together, people are easily moved.

McDonald's: Its Own Staff on Screen, and Its First Gala Ad

McDonald's had earlier posted three ads on its official website and, using a chicken box meal as the prize, invited fans to guess which one would air on the Gala. The warmer-looking You Are My New Year may have suited the holiday better, but McDonald's chose Let's Be Good Together: Wuyishan, performed by its own employees.

This is also McDonald's first Gala ad. As we have noted several times in our articles about McDonald's, for a fast-food giant that has had a rough year, this Spring Festival may be a chance to start over.

Samsung Galaxy: Welcoming a New Future

Given Samsung's dismal results, it certainly needs a new future. The ad shows young people living upbeat lives full of personality, and tries hard to convey their hopes for the year ahead. It is one more attempt by Samsung to win back young consumers, and the line "Let's rush toward a brand-new world together" presumably signals its resolve to start the new year alongside them. But Samsung's problems are long past anything advertising can fix.

Xiaomi: Who Knew the "Baa Baa" Ad Would Win?

We never expected Xiaomi to pick this ad in the end. It feels as if the brand had been possessed by Hengyuanxiang, the wool maker famous for its bleating sheep commercials. Xiaomi had run a Weibo poll to let its fans choose which ad would go on the Gala, but judging from the Weibo comments, this one did not impress them, and its selection is genuinely hard to believe. After it aired, many people said on Weibo that they preferred last year's Our Era.

Suning.com: Another Brainwashing Earworm

Next to this ad, Xiaomi suddenly looks restrained. Suning.com is an online retailer, so every "baa baa baa" becomes "buy buy buy." Watch the full version and you will find the tune really does lodge itself in your head. With a sheep that dances and raps, Suning.com also tries to project a young, energetic image to win over consumers born in the 1980s and 1990s.

Suning.com seems to love the earworm approach to New Year greetings. Its Year of the Horse ad, Think of Anything, Get Anything, was just as hard to get out of your head.

Didi: One Tap, and a Premium Car Arrives

Didi has spent heavily on subsidies for taxi-hailing, and if it wants to earn that money back, it will probably have to rely on its premium car service. The ad has actually been out for a while. Its idea is "treat yourself": life is full of disappointments and hard work, but now and then a big meal or a new piece of clothing makes you feel much happier, and the same goes for getting around. For many people, "Ride a little better today" is a treat they can afford once in a while without spending much. That bit of happiness costs only a little more.

Dongfeng Nissan: Bloom for Youth

This ad did not run in the prime first ten minutes, but it still stands out among the many Gala ads. It feels light and breezy throughout: it neither brags about performance nor preaches lofty sentiment, and apart from the cliché "bloom," it gets everything right. Why it spells "youth" with an unusual character, though, is a puzzle. The ad comes across as a little willful and thoroughly childlike, which should win over young viewers.

CCTV's Gala Public-Service Ads: Equally Moving, Every One

Since the Year of the Snake Gala, CCTV has produced several public-service ads every year, most of them made by international 4A agencies or hot creative shops, which keeps the quality high. This year's Gala ran three: Only Hoping for This Day, My Name and Chinese Characters, Chinese New Year, made respectively by Hakuhodo, Fred & Farid and CCTV's in-house team. The first is about left-behind children waiting for their parents to come home; the second, the love and hope placed in every Chinese name; the third, the good wishes carried in Chinese characters.

Huang Feng, creative director at Fred & Farid Shanghai, told QDaily that one big challenge in making a public-service film for the Gala is reaching every group at once: city dwellers and mountain villagers, old and young, men and women, intellectuals and farmers. That takes a very clear concept and point of view. "Beyond that, we wanted people in other countries to understand the film too, to learn about Chinese culture and see that China is changing."

CCTV's Gala public-service ads have done so well these past two years that some people say they are far better than the show itself. As for which one moves people most, that is a matter of taste.

Wong Lo Kat: Exclusive Title Sponsorship, Because It Can

Built around its naming rights, Wong Lo Kat's partnership with iQiyi works on three levels. Content marketing: the Gala spin-off shows Stars' New Year Greetings and Face to Face With the Gala. Consumer interaction: custom features such as a "God of Luck fortune-telling game." Joint promotion: as strategic partners, Wong Lo Kat and iQiyi open their promotional channels to each other.

For consumers, a brand like Wong Lo Kat advertising at Spring Festival seems only natural. First, the name fits the season (its middle character means "luck"), so the copy practically writes itself: this year Wong Lo Kat keeps hammering its slogan "Have a lucky New Year, drink Wong Lo Kat," paired with a string of auspicious phrases built on the word "luck." Second, the holiday's endless greasy banquets are exactly where an herbal tea earns its keep...

Budweiser: Taking Over Times Square Again

For the Year of the Sheep, Budweiser is collecting 2,015 New Year dreams from Chinese people around the world, and the edited result will be shown on the LED screens of Times Square in New York.

This is not the first time a Budweiser Spring Festival ad has gone abroad. On February 18, 2007, the first day of that lunar year, Budweiser's "Ants" ad, made specially for the Chinese New Year, debuted on the big screens of Times Square and played on a loop for seven straight days.

FAW-Volkswagen: Watching the Road Like a Chameleon

FAW-Volkswagen's ad in this year's online Gala livestream promotes the 2015 Magotan, highlighting its adaptive front-lighting system (AFS), which turns the headlights as the car steers. The ad cleverly links the swiveling headlights to a chameleon's roving eyes.

Car ads are everywhere at Spring Festival, and the usual images of driving a mountain road with your hair streaming in the wind have probably long since stopped registering. At this point, getting viewers to remember even one of your features counts as a success.

Anjieyu: From Intellectual to Energetic

This is probably the least-known brand among iQiyi's Gala sponsors. Founded in Taiwan in 1991, it entered mainland China in 1998 and opened a flagship store on Tmall in 2012.

In 2010, Anjieyu signed Phoenix TV's Wu Xiaoli as its spokesperson and ran ads with an intellectual tone. Last year it switched its brand ambassador to Rainie Yang, hoping to build a younger, more energetic image. This Spring Festival ad stars Yang and promotes "Zhenmei Ageless Youth Essence," with the slogan "V-hold your youth, ageless happiness." A line of small print in the lower right corner even explains that "V is an adjective describing the shape of the human face." Enough already...

HLA: Still as "Cool" as Ever

Mention HLA (Heilan Home), and who knows how many people still think first of Yin Xiaotian. In fact, HLA replaced him with Du Chun as early as 2012, and the role sealed Du's nickname, "Grand Master of the Knife in the Back."

In this Spring Festival ad, Du Chun proudly zips up a down jacket, embraces a blue casual blazer with stars in his eyes, and flicks the hem of his trench coat with a flourish. It suddenly seems that HLA really does have a talent for turning, or rather typecasting, its spokespeople into one particular style. Maybe that counts as a success for the brand...