Products use Chinese New Year to make inroads with profitable Asian American market.

The Lunar New Year is big business in some parts of Asia. Two shoe companies, Adidas and Nike recognize the Asian American market and have produced two rival ads centering around the holiday but an ad for the iPhone11 might qualify for an Oscar.

Chinese New Year is a massive advertising opportunity, whether a business operates in Asia or trying to reach out to America's prized consumer market, the Asian American communities. 

According to Nielsen, Asian American buying power has risen 523% since 1990 to $718.4 billion in 2012. If Asian Americans were a country, they would represent the 18th largest economy in the world, providing a tremendous domestic growth opportunity. Buying power in this demographic is expected to top $1 trillion by 2017.

Focusing on the themes of family and homecoming and avoiding problematic messaging sets you up for success during this two week holiday starting Jan. 25 running to Feb. 5

Nike has released a short 90-second ad for the upcoming 2020 Chinese New Year depicting a Chinese aunt red-envelope tussle, one that generally occurs between friends and family during the festive time of the year. The comic ongoing battle eventually results in a cross-country sprint in which the aunt chases her Nike-trainer-wearing-niece across open land. It’s a pretty original concept coming from the athletic shoe company. 

Adidas has taken a different approach. Instead of story-telling, the ad depends on music video energy, music, hip-hop and traditional dancing, beautiful models and dancers and quick-cuts. Directed by Muh Chen, the ad created by Haomai Advertisement features Chinese performer, Jackson Yee, along with an ensemble cast staging various martial arts and football techniques to a vibrant display and energetic soundtrack.

The video that really grabs you by the heart is the one produced for Apple for its iPhone11 product line. It is entirely shot by Apple's newest generation of its smart phone.

The eight-minute mini-movie titled "Chinese New Year - Daughter" start off with a mother being troubled by criticism that she took her daughter to work as a taxi driver. Throughout the film, scenes switch between older conversations and the present day, showing other conversations in the mother's life.

Towards the end of the film, a family reunion of the three generations takes place in the back of the taxi. It is then revealed to the child the older lady is her grandmother, who made dumplings each year while searching for her lost family.

The concept behind the story was to show how there are big generational differences in China, particularly when it comes to the concept of family. The meaning underneath the film, according to Apple is “no matter how much we all grow apart, humanity has the power to bring us together”.

The film is directed by Theodore Melfi, who directed the Best Picture Oscar-nominated Hidden Figures. Cinematography is by Lawrence Sher, who filled the role for Joker, identified as a "2020 Golden Globe Awards nominated film." Star Zhou Xun is also given a promotional introduction in the opening credits, described as "China's leading actress."

It is made for the huge Chinese market and probably won't be shown in the American market. That's too bad. With the success of The Farewell abd Parasite featuring Asian actors, language is not a problem with US audiences. What's more  important to touch an audience is story and human emotion, something this mini-movie has.

That darn football team that shall remain nameless

HERE'S THE GREAT commercial that aired during the NBA championship game on Tuesday (June 10).

If the National Basketball League can force Donald Sterling to sell the Cliippers after his racist rant was made public, the National Football League (NFL) can do no less.

The owners of the Washington DC NFL franchise fall back on "tradition" for ignoring the public pleas to change the name to something besides the racial slur that has been compared to the N-word.
Imagine a team named the Gooks, or the Slopes, Kikes, Wetbacks, or any number of racial insults. There would be unquestioned outrage, right?

The hollow argument of "tradition" falls apart when you consider that it was tradition that allowed southern schools to use the Confederate flag as its logo; tradition that kept blacks from playing on baseball teams with whites; tradition that kept country clubs lily-white; tradition kept women in the kitchen and blacks in the back of the bus, tradition allowed segregated schools and poll taxes to prevent African Americans from voting.

While many of those "traditions" have fallen by the wayside one-by-one, the current owners of the Washington team remain steadfast in their knuckle-headed refusal to join the 21st Century.

In the hullabaloo that followed Sterling's diatribe, it is almost forgotten the actions of the team's corporate sponsors. They didn't want to be associated with a racist and they began withdrawing their financial support. That may have been what really forced the NBA to act as it did.

Moral outrage is fine and can be a powerful force, but it is the threat of losing almighty dollars that may have forced the NBA to do the right thing. Maybe that same thing can happen if enough people tell the sponsors of the Washington franchise -- Nike, the brewers and the automakers -- that they disapprove of their association with a team named after a racial slur.