Project Overview

How can a community of businesses and restaurants encourage consumers to come back after lockdown when footfall has always been the key traffic driver?

The answer is to appreciate the consumers who spend time there.

Chinatown London worked with Hylink, the first natively Chinese digital agency to set up in Europe, to showcase the consumers of Chinatown in the digital realm.

We devised a photo and video campaign on Chinese social media that both reminded audiences of the Chinatown London brand and highlighted the diversity of its consumer groups.

Project Commissioner

Shaftesbury PLC – Chinatown London

Project Creator

Hylink (UK) Digital Solution Limited

Project Brief

Chinatown London is where consumers from all backgrounds come to experience the flavours of East and South East Asia.

Throughout lockdown, Chinatown London was missing the consumers that make Chinatown London the vibrant place it is.

Playing with the double meaning of the word ‘hua’, we represented the inclusivity of the Chinatown community: (1) 花 huā represents flowers and (2) 华 huá, the richness of Asian culture.

We therefore launched the hashtag #花样年华 Huāyàng niánhuá (#‘EverdayWeBlossom).

By showing consumers’ shared interests and life stories, especially those which can be linked directly with Chinatown, we demonstrated how the community has and will continue to empower each other to flourish.

Project Innovation/Need

By embracing the word ‘hua’ (meaning both flower and richness of Asian culture), we could bring a cheerful tone to Chinatown London, that could be understood and felt by non-Chinese speakers and Chinese speakers alike.

In both Eastern and Western cultures, flowers symbolise renewal and rebirth.

The Chinatown London team hung a botanical garden installation, comprising of 84 giant flowers, to bring to life a sense of the summer vibrancy that can be experienced in East and South East Asia as a way to encourage consumers to dine alfresco in Chinatown. The 7 different flower types were chosen for their hope and positivity symbolism, creating a message of good times ahead for the destination and the West End.

Each installation flower was handmade, making every one unique and special like real flowers. Taking this idea of celebrating the beauty of uniqueness in nature, we showcased the diversity of the Chinatown consumer community online through a series of videos. Each video celebrated a different life story, inspiring people to embrace their own unique stories and life journeys, hence to come to Chinatown to celebrate those moments.

Design Challenge

The design challenge was how we could both instil hope for the future of Chinatown within our viewers that resonated with the entire community, including and not limited to Chinese and non-Chinese people, the youth and elderly, different cultures, etc.

We wanted to inspire all of Chinatown’s diverse audience to visit the destination and to celebrate the present moment.

Effectiveness

The campaign achieved 4.78m impressions and 28.66k engagements through different social media platforms including Weibo, RED and Douyin. In addition, we supported 20 tenants including Jinli, Shu Xiangge, Tsujiri, etc., to attract potential customers to visit Chinatown.