Read the room / This campaign is a prime example of how the strongest insights are often the simplest: New Yorkers will see a film, any film, for an air-conditioned break from a heatwave. It’s also notable that Midea was launching in the US market for the first time, with a product that it claims is suited to New York housing. In order to really make a splash, Midea played on a local insight that would resonate with its target audience – what’s more New York than catching a film at a classic New York cinema to escape the heat of the city?
The fact that the ‘film’ in question was deliberately unengaging and designed to be talked over or ignored while viewers answered emails on their phones just leant further into the inside joke/insight that it’s the air conditioning, not the movie that attracts locals to the cinema in a heatwave. Further, although only a small group of people will have experienced this in person, the idea is extremely shareable and PR-friendly, meaning it will have a far greater reach than just those who attended the screening.
Inventive sampling / Talk about a captive audience: what better time to launch an AC product than during a heatwave? But even when people are likely to be receptive to trying out your product, getting people to trial and purchase is its own challenge. Rather than try and entice customers in-store, Midea brought its product to the people, in what was essentially a 90-minute sampling session – with Midea’s Robert Lambrechts describing it as ‘likely the longest product placement in the history of advertising’.
As they were cooled by cinema air conditioning, viewers watched the Midea U cooling unit in action in a New York apartment. Then, to further incentivise people to purchase, Midea offered a product discount, promising viewers the chance to bring the experience home with them.
For more examples of inventive sampling, check out this talk from Most Contagious 2019, and for another example of extended product demos, read our analysis of pork and beef supplier Danish Crown’s 13-minute pre-roll ad, featuring a piece of bacon.
