I saw this subway poster ad last week (see picture on left) and felt it worthy of a post, I don’t know about the background of the ad, I’m guessing that it might be some kind of joint initiative between Luk Fook Jewellery and The World Gold Council. Although the ad is eye-catching, I think it fails on a number of counts. The model and actress Lynn Xiong and her colourful groceries really do stand out and definitely grab your attention as you pass the poster. However, the reason I thought this particular ad worthy of note, is that it is not immediately clear what this is for, and it was only on subsequent viewings of the ad (when I actually took the picture above), that I realised this was for jewellery.
Luk Fook are a successful brand and well established Jeweller, with hundreds of outlets in mainland China. It feels like they are trying something new with this ad. They appear to be trying to bring gold jewellery to a broader audience in China, along with their partners The World Gold Council. This makes sense as the limited investment vehicles open to Chinese people, mean that gold and gold jewellery can be seen as credible alternative investment optios by many Chinese, so jewellery brands such as Luk Fook and Chow Sang Sang are both understandably pushing for gold jewellery sales.
The main reasons I struggle with this particular execution are:
1) Whilst it is very striking and eye catching, it is not immediately clear what this ad is for when walking past on the busy subway. So you’ve grabbed people’s attention, but failed to deliver your message. I was surprised to finally discover that this was for a jewellery brand.
2) I think that there is a potential lack of understanding towards this ad. Traditionally jewellery should have an element of glamour to it, and whilst the model in this ad is no doubt attractive, I think that showing her carrying the groceries is totally lacking glamour and makes her seem very ordinary – as if she’s doing her weekly shopping run (if like me, you don’t make the immediate connection with Italian food). This ultimately devalues the brand, and the value of this jewellery, and as I recall the high street jewellers back home in the UK were always trying to look as glamorous as they could in all of their adverts. Culturally, I would expect that need for glamour to be even more necessary in China, where some consumers often want to stand out more for what they are wearing , even if the purpose is to bring gold to a broader audience
3) You could argue against my second point that it is the Italian link in this ad that brings the glamour, but I fear the Italian associations might be lost on many (i.e. the Fiat car in the background, the Peroni style beer bottle, and the fresh Italian food and vegetables). The text translates loosely as ‘Graceful butterfly, dancing to the flavours of Italy’, which make this sound more like an advert for food.
Ultimately, this is a brave attempt to try something different, and that has to be admired. But I feel that more stylised ads are much better suited to selling jewellery, such as those featuring actress Zhang Ziyi beautifully photographed by the Platinum Guild Intl (see pic below).
