Appa Lion Dance
1. Film & Branded Content Kancils [1.12 Best use of Cultural Insights in Film & Branded Content]
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Links:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gQiqDwPFZH4_OcBnRiDJVoTh8_a8z13XcOO2FW6CEQs/edit?usp=sharing
Product/Service:
Television & Streaming
Client:
Netflix Pte. Ltd.
Brief:
Come up with a creative campaign to promote Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of Netflix's biggest launches for 2024 '“ a high stakes live action version of the popular animated series. Challenges included a loud and active fanbase of the original IP that's highly sensitive about live action remakes, especially given they have been burned in the past with a mediocre film interpretation of this IP (M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender) that missed the mark on quality, representation, and received a scathing reception from the fandom.
We know fans of the original IP loved the inclusive Asian representation in the animated series, that was missing in the original film remake, but was present and proud in the upcoming Netflix version. So the challenge for us specifically was finding a way to turn that into a form of Malaysian representation, as that is a tactic that works well with Malaysian audiences, due to the country's lack of positive representation on the world's stage.
Solution:
The title's launch coincided with Chinese New Year, a major celebration in Malaysia and the wider Asian diaspora globally. The Asian influences in the title, the timing, and our key auspices, led us to hijacking this cultural moment with the title and stunt.
We tied the iconography to the Lion Dance, with the intent of using the familiar to introduce the unfamiliar and broaden the audience for the title in Malaysia. In the Lion Dance, a key part of Chinese New Year Celebrations, the performance consists of two key characters - The Lion, a visually striking animal = Appa the Air Bison, shares similarities to the lion. Buddha-like Character, bald-headed = Aang the Airbender, shares similarities to the Buddha-like character. We also threw in practical effects (airbending and waterbending) into the performance to round it up.
