Baidu has one of the most extensive coverage throughout China via its Maps function. Its Street View feature retains a competitive edge over others because of its comprehensive coverage in over 1000 Chinese cities and 12,000 roads.

Baidu wants to showcase its powerful map feature. At the same time, its collaboration partner, Wang Lao Ji (a traditional Chinese drink) wants to refresh its brand image and stay relevant in the market.

Both found the opportunity during Chinese New Year where millions traditionally travel home for family reunions.

The Journey Home is a virtual recreation of the drive home, done via a compilation of Baidu Street View images. The AI algorithm is able to generate over 3 million possible routes, and is smart enough to only select and use the most scenic routes.

Users only need to enter their starting point and destination. The system then uses GPS to plan each route. Street View images are then extracted and compiled and presented to the user using a series of time lapse videos.

The celebrated Chinese movie star, Zhou Dongyu, first launched the Journey Home a week before 2019’s Chinese New Year. This is the period when most Chinese people are preparing to go back to their hometowns. She shared an invitation video to her fans to go on a journey home with her on popular social media platform, Weibo and WeChat. This was followed by a heartwarming commercial of her travelling home for a long-awaited family reunion. The film was aired on national television and online media, with a link leading people to the activation site.

Users only need to enter their starting point and destination. The system then accessed Baidu Street View’s image database. It currently covers over 1000 cities and 12,000 roads across China.

Then, GPS is used to plan each route. The AI algorithm only selects the most scenic routes.

Lastly, the Street View photos were extracted and used to generate time-lapse videos.

The Journey Home was launched a week before 2019’s Chinese New Year by the celebrated movie star, Zhou Dongyu. She shared an invitation video to her fans to go on a journey home with her on popular social media platform, Weibo and WeChat. A link leads people to the activation site.

The Journey Home was the most popular sharing during 2019’s Chinese New Year. Overall, over 4 million journeys were virtually created. There were over 6.5 million social media sharing during this period, proving, the best journeys are always the ones that bring us home.