The Unitree robot H1 became a household name in China after its viral performance at the Chinese New Year (CNY) gala this year. It and its younger sibling, the Unitree G1, are not only selling like hotcakes but have even created a rental boom, and most recently received the star treatment in ads.
Ambrosial (安慕希), a Greek-style yoghurt brand by Chinese dairy and food giant Yili Group, recruited both H1 and G1 models as its latest brand ambassadors. The campaign is more than the all-singing-all-dancing video; it also has the robots “working” at Ambrosial. Unitree created a motion program to shake the yoghurts before consumption. Show models of the robots have also been spotted in Ambrosial corners in supermarkets. Ambrosial’s parent group, Yili, also unveiled a robotic “intern”, Yi-Tree, a Unitree G1 model that works.
BYD-owned luxury EV brand Fangchengbao (方程豹), employed G1 and the Go2 robotic dog for a future-themed promotional video for its latest model, the Tai 3 (钛3, lit. Titanium 3). Platforms such as Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app and e-commerce site Taobao featured Unitree robots in their campaign ads, both offline and online.
Robots taking jobs has long been a nightmare since AI and robotics made it look less science fiction. Pundits feel that the trend of giving these humanoid robots “jobs” seems to be an effort for brands to leverage the current tech craze. However, whether the messaging will resonate with everyday consumers remains to be seen.
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