Ma-Ying Long, 400-year-old Chinese Pharmaceutical Company connecting with young consumers

Through a creative and spirited ad campaign, a company that is more than 400 years old has made the usually embarrassing hemorrhoid cream trendy and amusing. Ma Ying-Long Pharmaceutical, established in 1582, has been the leader in their product field for centuries. Their current campaign is an attempt to bridge the gap between the brand’s long-established history and young Chinese consumers.

Ma Ying-Long partnered with Tudou.com to put out a call for original creative videos that were “anti-hemorrhoid” or “cure hemorrhoids” related. Once the campaign officially began Tudou.com invited contributors to participate in activities such as weekly uploads of videos.

In the end, 117 entries were received and 7 were chosen. Overall, the videos were shown 19,397,876 times with ultra high page views registering at Page View: 786,363 and Unique Visitors: 348,651. The impact of the Ma Ying-Long campaign has secured them a bid for the Best Viral Video Campaign at the Tudou.com 2010 Annual Video Marketing Award.

The video posted shows an endearing cartoon panda with an agonizing case of hemorrhoids. It is impossible not to giggle while watching him struggle with his condition. The upbeat music only helps to exacerbate his pain that at one point is demonstrated by pushing a spiky object into a soft sunflower, or “chamomile” as a common Chinese nickname of the private part where hemorrhoids occur. Ultimately, he is granted relief with the aid of Ma Ying-Long cream and is back to being a carefree panda.  Ma Ying-Long is definitely employing drastically different methods to market their product to the Internet generation from what they used back in the 1500′s!

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