Netflix Local Moments
LNY 2023
LNY 2023
PROJECT LEAD / CREATIVE DIRECTOR | MASH BRANDS
At the end of 2022 Netflix asked us to develop a piece of artwork for their Local Moments initiative. The challenge: How do you culturally translate Lunar New Year across 8 different cultures in Asia?
With an audience of millions of people all over the world, Netflix’s success has been driven by engaging with local artists telling authentic stories. Netflix’s Local Moments initiative seeks to celebrate those cultures and communities through specialized collections of content and a unique piece of art.
THE CHALLENGE
With an audience of millions of people all over the world, Netflix’s success has been driven by engaging with local artists telling authentic stories. Netflix’s Local Moments initiative seeks to celebrate those cultures and communities through specialized collections of content and a unique piece of art.
Lunar New Year is more than a seasonal holiday. It’s a traditional celebration deeply rooted in the history and culture of Asian communities all over the world. For LNY 2023, Netflix called on Mash to create a piece of art that spoke to the Chinese diaspora across: Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam.
THE SOLUTION
Our solution was to curate a Virtual Creative Studio, that brought together a lead team of 8 creatives from Mash’s global network, each with deep personal and cultural connections to specific target countries in Asia and their various regional traditions of Lunar New Year. Not only that, we curated a team of generous and collaborative creatives from the full spectrum of creative disciplines: Andrea Wong (MY) - stylist and production, Annisa Dharma (ID/SG) - copywriter, Antuong Nguyen (VT) - director, Dominic Johnson-Hill (HK) - art + retail specialist, Kolo Lee (TW) - creative director, Rocky Yip (HK) - branding director, and myself representing CN and ID as creative lead.
Along with world-renowned paper artist Eten Teo, we led the ideation, development, design, production and photography of the final artwork, which lived on the Netflix screens of millions of viewers across Asia for the duration of the holiday.
THE PROCESS
Following a rigorous Insight/Idea methodology, we mined our collective cultural backgrounds for authentic insights about celebrating Chinese New Year with our friends and family. These insights were both surprisingly disparate across our representative cultures but also surprisingly similar, allowing us to identify fruitful territories that spoke authentically to our shared experiences. From these territories, we developed ideas to evoke and elevate them, and finally a concept to bring them to life.
THE INSIGHT
The more things change… the more we stay the same.
THE IDEA
Coming Full Circle.
THE IDEA
What goes around comes around.
We celebrate the chaotic. A family scene where chaos is kept under control within a fun interlinked family circle of support, relationships and responsibilities. Ba is on his phone, the baby is smothering his face whilst being fed by auntie over dad's back. Nai Nai is giving a Hong Bao to her granddaughter in this multigenerational get together, while auntie surreptitiously sneaks her own Hong Bao into Nai Nai's pocket because we all know she wouldn't accept it otherwise. Meanwhile, Mama in her CNY best walks in with the next round of snacks and food only to trip on the chaos around her...
And the TV? Well... whether it's the Chun Wan gala or the daily news, something's always on in the background.
DOCUMENTATION + PRODUCTION
We documented both the creation and the production of the piece, and photographed the final product in a studio in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
SOCIALS + EXECUTION
We also created 2 social media videos to release along with the launch, along with the final artwork and various technical executions across the Netflix platform using their proprietary mockup tool.
THE TEAM
Lead Agency: Mash Brands
Project Lead / Creative Director: Rich Akers
Paper Artist: Eten Teo
Production Director: Andrea Wang