Background
Chengdu, located in southwest China, is the capital of Sichuan province. With a 13 million-strong population, the city enjoys great domestic recognition in terms of tourism and its investment environment. However, with the ambitious goal to become a 'world-class garden city of tomorrow' within 20 years, Chengdu struggles with low international brand awareness.
Aim
The overall objective was to raise Chengdu's global reputation as a favoured destination for tourists and investors. Ogilvy PR's first step was to generate favourable opinions of Chengdu from the international audience.
Known as the hometown of the giant panda, Chengdu is committed to developing a low-carbon economy while promoting harmonious relations between man and nature.
In the mean time, World Wild Fund for Nature(WWF), known by its giant panda logo, was seeking to encourage participation in Earth Hour in March 2010, the biggest annual climate awareness campaign initiated by the organisation in 2007.
Chengdu's branding needs and city image were in-line with Earth Hour's overall goal of calling for a low-carbon lifestyle and climate resolution.
Ogilvy PR decided to use the giant panda as a primary vehicle to connect WWF's promotional needs to Chengdu's branding needs.
Execution
As the strategic communications partner of WWF and Earth Hour, the Ogilvy PR team planned a three-phase branding campaign to highlight Chengdu as a leading supporter of the 2010 Earth Hour event, and paved the way for extensive news coverage for the city.
In early February, Chengdu was officially recognised as 'the first Chinese city to sign up for Earth Hour 2010', and Mei Lan, Chengdu's recently returned 'panda diplomat' to the U.S., was announced as the Earth Hour's global ambassador.
On 10 March, Chengdu was chosen as the only representative of Asia to host an Earth Hour lanterns lighting event with six other cities.
Finally, on 27 March, panda Mei Lan joined the worldwide 'switch-off' relay on video and kicked of the Earth Hour event in China with followers from 4,000 cities in more than 120 countries.
Results
The campaign generated unprecedented media exposure for Chengdu with more than 600 mainstream media clippings from AFP, Reuters and the New York Times.
The city was positioned on par with the world's top-tier cities such as New York, London and Paris in the Earth Hour event coverage. The Panda Mei Lan 'lights-off' video was broadcast along with well-known landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and the Empire State Building.
In addition, Chengdu gained high visibility on social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook, marking the first successful outreach to international social media by the Chengdu municipality.
Credits
Project Giant Panda Mei Lan for Earth Hour 2010
Client City of Chengdu, China
PR agency Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Beijing
Campaign partner World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Account director Joe Zhou
Account executive Manxi Liu
Campaign date January - March 2010
Exposure Print, online, TV
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