In celebration of the Lunar New Year of the Tiger “NOTHING BUT SHEER JOY” uses avant-garde and sophisticated visual gags, CGI animation and the energy and pace of music, to show the ongoing interplay between a horse (BMW’s Chinese name translates as “Precious Horse”) and the tiger. The film plays on the Chinese words “Ma” horse and “Hu” tiger in a straight forward, repeating and mind-boggling audio-visual feast. No tears, no pressure, nothing but sheer joy that just goes on and on.

Lunar New Year has 12 animal signs that are part of a 12 year cycle. While 2022 is the Year of Tiger, the horse is also part of this lunar cycle. When the horse “Ma” in Chinese (BMW’s Chinese name is “Precious Horse”) and tiger “Hu” come together, it’s a celebration of BMW welcoming the Year of the Tiger. The two words together also have another meaning; “don’t be too serious, just enjoy”. This is culturally nuanced as while it is the most important time for family reunions, it is also stressful and full of pressure. Advertising stereotypically depicts long film stories of the family reunion, tear jerky and heavy-hearted.

The film taps into pop culture, overturning the cultural codes of the Lunar New Year, reinventing traditional Chinese elements with a completely fresh perspective, delivering a direct path to joy which sits at the heart of BMW’s brand promise.

The film was produced with a “low-fi, high-end” mixed media approach: using avant-garde CGI animation and motion design to make the visual gags perfectly tap with the beats of the horse “Ma” and tiger “Hu” remixed into the background music. We decided to work with artists both globally and in China to disrupt the convention of the brand film creation process: a completely open brief with no story board or script so that artists had a lot of space and freedom to create their Tiger and BMW art. This required a brave client and a massive co-creation effort as we connected with international artists across multiple geographies and time zones. This was a fun yet challenging part of the campaign development. This international co-creation effort created cross cultural understanding, and a welcome to celebrate the Lunar New Year together.