Columns | On Branding

Sensational Appeal to the Younger Generation

Brand communication can be used to pack new products as well as to enhance the brand image. Recently, more and more issues concerning the elderly have been discussed vividly. Many advertisements use grannies as the leading roles, exploring the cross-generational communication. In addition to arousing the empathy among different generations, it also continues to transform consumers’ cognition of brand, motivating their brand identification.

Among the advertisements in 2017 Super Trophy, Audi appeals differently from other automobile manufacturers, which tend to focus on engines, speed, car body design, interior design, and more. Audi’s ad proposes the issues of gender equality, approaching the story from the perspective of the family. A father sees the inequality judgment in a competition, attracting the society’s attention to this issue.

To deal with incorporate contemporary issues, brands have to integrate the right elements. A close symbiosis with filming techniques and advertising presentation is also required. If these elements are missing, even a full movie is just casting pearls before swine.

1. VOLVO-Alice’s Wedding

We still remember Volvo’s ad a couple of years ago. After Eddie Yu-yen Peng completed the words, “Volvo is not my style. But I love it.” The new interpretation of Volvo constituted great effects. Suddenly Volvo had become a hot automobile in the market. And we could see more and more of them on the road.

In the past, the look of Volvo was always associated with negative impressions, such as old-fashioned, investment from China, and more. This ad of S90 choose not to use the urban style as the tone. Instead it employs dementia as the theme, packing it in an innovative manner – legacy of the generation. It touches many people’s heart. The intellectual and fresh image of Janine Chang, the endorser, multiplies the ad’s effects, rendering this micro-film more appealing.

The neat arrangement in this micro film allows the images of two cars 240 and S90 appear in turn. In the past, the father picked up his daughter when she was small. When he grows old, his adult daughter holds his hand. Although his memory fades, breaking people’s hearts, love continues. Like the brand of Volvo, classics persist.

2. Toyota – Two Dads

Starting from the year before, Toyota called for many stories, and made micro films with the award-winning ones. In 2016, it released the micro film – “Two Dads” that was adapted from the work “A Family’s Calendar” selected from the entries of “Great Toyota Story Tellers”. It mainly discusses the issue of cross-generation communication, communicating the issue Toyota had been attempting to present – love and a warm image, with 3 million viewing. This micro film was successful in creating red-hot discussions.

It develops from the names on the calendar bringing out the theme of two dads and its further development. There aren’t too many products in the film. Nor is there any logo. Instead, it starts from driving from home to find grandad. Later, the picture of going out in three appear. The sub-consciousness is stacked with emotions – the car and intimacy blend in perfectly.

In the end, the slogan “Love, although he can’t recognize, but he remembers”. It is similar with the few other earlier movies – it appeals with love, presenting the needs for a family to own a car. It also creates the beautiful imagination of a perfect family.