When strong winds hit Beijing earlier this month, they did their usual worst: knocking over anything not fixed down, causing colds and disrupting routines. Any marketer wrapped warm enough to brave the streets, though, would have been in for a treat courtesy of 999 Ganmaoling (999 感冒灵).
They’re China’s leading cold and flu medicine brand, and they capitalised on the weather with a spur-of-the-moment campaign that took the situation on with tongue-in-cheek humour.
They wrapped banners around trees and knocked their own billboards into wonky angles, all replicating the effects of a windstorm. The ad copy across it all: a reminder to keep warm. It was topical without being loud, and empathetic without leaning into melodrama.
This isn’t Ganmaoling’s first rodeo. They’ve shown themselves adept at topical, fast-paced marketing before. During northern China’s snowfall season late last year, the brand took over city-centre screens to display the same message. That time, the keep-warm sentiment was presented in the form of letters from far-off parents.
On the brand’s annual health awareness day in March, Ganmaoling leaned into physical participation, encouraging commuters to interact with sports-themed posters that subtly folded exercise advice into the act of engagement itself.
It’s all very simple, and that’s a large part of the charm. You can’t overlook the fact that the message is always caring, paternal. Coming from a company whose product helps you when you’re at your lowest – coughing and spluttering through the flu – it’s a sentiment. At its core, Ganmaoling is trying to appear human.
Fast marketing helps here. By making their campaigns timely and reactive, audiences feel like they’re engaged in dialogue, not just having ads blasted at them. It’s a smart approach. Sometimes, showing up at exactly the right time is the most effective creative decision of all.
