Budget CNY video tells tale of silent love of Asian parents

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A small group of students from Xiamen University Malaysia produced a budget Chinese New Year video which tells a Malaysian tale of silent love. The project started out as a collaboration between CompAsia and Xiamen University’s advertising students to create a campaign that invites consumers to consider preloved devices over new ones, eventually growing to become a film that shifted CompAsia’s marketing plans for Chinese New Year.

The three minute video is called "Silent Love" and tells the story of how Asian parents often express love through actions and not words, while exploring our obsession with attaining new possessions. The team produced the video using several second-hand devices and Adobe PR, all for under RM 3,000.

"Silent Love" tells the tale of a typical teenager trying to fit in and is saving to buy a new mobile phone to replace her lagging device but does not want to trouble her father with such an expense. Her father, a single parent struggling to make ends meet, learns of this, and shows his love by buying her a phone she can be proud of. Since the phone is a second-hand one from CompAsia, it is within his means. Conversation between father and daughter is minimal but their actions speak volumes about their love. The video ends with CompAsia’s 2023 Chinese New Year campaign line ‘The Best doesn’t have to be New!’, something many of us forget in the pursuit of the latest and newest.

The team’s leader, Xin Di, said that they drew inspiration from Korean and Thai ads that have strong emotional appeal and they wanted to apply a similar treatment to their video. “We also wanted it to communicate a sense of familiarity where many Asian parents allow their actions to speak louder than words hence the title "Silent love",” she added.

Julius Lim, the CEO and co-founder of CompAsia, said that his team is very impressed with the quality of the video and storytelling value. “The students proved that we keep telling people – you don’t need the latest gadgets or the most expensive ones to enjoy an amazing experience. This video also goes to show that second-hand devices with lower prices allow everyone access to the phone of their choice whether it is an iPhone or Samsung or any other brand,” he added.

With Chinese New Year coming up, a slew of campaigns and films have been released. For instance, last week, RHB Bank has launched its latest Chinese New Year ad based on the life and work of Lex Low, a hairstylist with a humanitarian heart. The film, created with FCB SHOUT aims to get the public to give people a second chance. Titled "A clean start", the film focuses on Low who has dedicated his life to giving free haircuts to the homeless and to imparting his hairdressing skills to ex-convicts and ex-addicts so they can start over and have the chance to build a new career and life for themselves.

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