Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Anomaly triumphs in Budweiser China (new year) ad

Ok, I shall be honest. I figured it out on the first minute of the 4 minutes 30 seconds Budweiser movie. But still, it was sweet to watch the movie progress for those who missed the clue. Indeed, the movie is long, works in crescendo, the acting is very natural, and the narrative plausible even if it evokes a cliche situation of a girl who is at odds with her father only to realize her mistake. Ikea played it wonderfully in their own stool ad - but still Budweiser has a twist in the narrative which I am sure most viewers will not figure out until the revealer.
The movie was tied to be released with the Chinese new year where Budweiser due to its auspicious red color is seen as a good omen. From what I understood, there is a "xie xie ni" - Chinese for "thank you" - on the bottle to inspire a culture of gratitude among the new generation especially that research showed that traditions are losing foot in contemporary culture.
The name of the movie, "the long ride" is perhaps a connotation of the "long march" which has troubling reminder of the history of the country. The map on the wall of the girl's room could be an indicator though but try as I might to make sure the girl is retracing the "original" march (or at least the most famous of the original marcches) it turns out I am not an expert in the China's geography!.
Watch the beautiful movie here and congrats to Anomaly for such a job!