Digital Communications Team of the Year connects brands with Gen Z

Mindshare China's Content+ team, which won Digital Communications Team of the Year at the 2020 Digital Media Awards, has two key strategies. It aims to reduce the gap with Gen Z consumers by creating new trends and it works to change brands' approach to traditional media by helping them to combine emotion with technology to deliver truly interactive experiences.

In one project, for example, the team helped Nescafé connect with China’s population of teens and young adults, by tapping into the insight that virtual idols play a significant role as companions to Gen Z—a generation of people who have grown up without siblings or cousins. Harnessing AI and AR technology, the team partnered with China’s most beloved Virtual Idol, Luo Tianyi. The claimed world first large-scale brand partnership with a virtual idol drove large increase in sales and better brand awareness.

DIGITAL MEDIA AWARDS 2020 See the full winner list and read about more winners

Tasked with helping KFC build strong brand recall with gamers, the team created the world’s second most awarded campaign (WARC100 2020), Colonel KI.

In esports, real-time performance data is vital for gamers to analyse their performance versus their competitors, allowing them to develop and refine their future strategy. Colonel KI, KFC’s AI algorithm for predicting League of Legends winners, gave gamers a competitive edge. The predictor proved to be so accurate, it became the League of Legends’ “Paul the Octopus”, driving higher brand exposure and purchase frequency.

Innovative work like this has been widely celebrated. Content+ has grown to become the most awarded unit of the world’s second most awarded agency (WARC100 2020). In the last year alone, the team has picked up 37 awards, including two Grand Prix, one platinum, 10 golds and best in show at the SmartiesX APAC awards show. 

To bolster this unit's capabilities, the team has sewn up partnerships with IP owners, including Riot Games (Creators of League of Legends), Tencent, and Bilibili. China’s biggest Gen Z UGC and ACGN content platforms.

As a result of these alliances, Content+ has been able to deliver breakthrough innovation. The unit partnered with Tencent to help Pepsi create China’s first branded interactive movie. This allowed viewers to take control over their viewing experiences, while driving a range of ecommerce promotions within the movie itself, driving strong interactions across hundreds of millions of movie views and sharply increasing engagement too. Similarly, Content+ has been able to drive better engagement (and increase sales) for brands as diverse as Pepsi, Nescafé and KFC.  

Mindshare China's Content+ won Digital Communications Team of the Year