How a long-running Chinese meme became Yili’s breakout Olympic moment and a Spikes winner

We spoke with Xu Han and Tingting Zhang, creative partners at TOPIC, to find out how they leveraged the resemblance between Chinese celebrity Lu Yu and the Paris Olympics logo into a powerful marketing opportunity for Yili.

The pair discusses how they convinced their client that this bold idea would work, what winning a Spike for the first time means to them as an independent agency, their advice to other Chinese agencies entering the Spikes Asia Awards, and more.

1. 'Twin Sister of Olympic' brilliantly leveraged the resemblance between Chinese celebrity Lu Yu and the Paris Olympics logo. How did you first notice this similarity, and at what point did you realise it could become a powerful marketing opportunity for Yili?

Xu Han: Actually, this wasn't our original discovery. As early as two years ago, when Paris launched the Olympic logo, Chinese netizens had already begun discussing how much it resembled Lu Yu, and it became a hot topic at the time. When the Yili client approached us seeking brand exposure during the Olympic period, we immediately knew this was the perfect opportunity. The connection between the Paris Olympics and Lu Yu had already become a consensus among netizens. Our role was simply to transform this online joke into reality, which we were confident would naturally set the internet ablaze.

2. This is quite a bold idea. How did you convince your client that this would work?

Xu Han: Initially, the client wasn't convinced by the joke. While they found it amusing, it represented a significant challenge for them. There was no precedent for such an approach, and the biggest obstacle was how to persuade Lu Yu to participate. However, as the Olympics drew closer, we observed influencers from various fields in China further amplifying this topic. This led the client to decide to test whether this opportunity was truly viable. The result, as you saw, was that Lu Yu embraced it.

3. How does this campaign reflect broader trends in Chinese advertising, particularly around cultural hijacking and moment marketing?

Tingting Zhang: Chinese brands have always been quite flexible in engaging in such marketing. The real new trend is that even some traditional big brands have started to venture into this field. They no longer position themselves as distant and authoritative voices, but instead are immersing themselves in the everyday context of consumers, trying to engage in equal, even accommodating, conversations. There’s an interesting term in Chinese marketing called 'advice-based marketing' (听劝式营销), which refers to brands paying attention to user suggestions about their products or marketing efforts, taking those suggestions into account to drive brand actions, and thus reaping the benefits in terms of increased user goodwill.

4. Why did you prioritise entering 'Twin Sister of Olympic' into Spikes Asia?

Xu Han: As a Chinese creative piece, Spikes Asia shares much of our cultural context and background. We believe Spikes Asia judges inherently understand the nuances and humour embedded in our creative work. Simultaneously, recognition here would help us expand our influence beyond the APAC region.

Tingting Zhang: This is a very simple idea—when you place the avatar and the logo together, no matter which country the judges are from, they can instantly understand it with just a glance.

5. What does winning a Spike for the first time mean to you, especially as an independent agency?

Xu Han: For us, it signifies we can execute our work with an international perspective and standards. This achievement reinforces our commitment to pursuing higher requirements and goals for our creative output.

Tingting Zhang: As a small team, we don’t have the resources of big companies, but this award proves the power of creativity and passion. This honour reassures us that we’re on the right creative path.

6. Having entered the Awards over the last few years, what have you learnt in the entry process? Is there anything you did differently this time?

Xu Han: Given that the judges come from diverse countries and regions, we focused on communicating our core creative idea as simply and clearly as possible to ensure every judge could grasp it. We also made sure our case film maintained the engaging and entertaining spirit of the creative content itself.

Tingting Zhang: Indeed, the process of submitting awards and making a case video is a way to reassess your own work. At the same time, entering awards feels like doing another round of marketing for your work, but this time targeting the judges. The entire process is quite fascinating.

7. Drawing from your experience, do you have any advice for other Chinese agencies considering entering Spikes Asia, especially independent ones?

Xu Han: Although much of our creative work is rooted in local insights, it still has the potential to resonate globally. Any solution that is universally understandable, smart, and effective has the opportunity to become a Spikes Asia winner.

Tingting Zhang: Spikes Asia sees many distinct cases with strong local cultural characteristics every year. Many award-winning cases require some level of local background knowledge, but this never hinders them from winning awards. Local insights have never been the issue; the real challenge lies in how to briefly and accurately set up the local context and quickly immerse the judges in the work through the video. I hope to see more marketing cases with Chinese local culture stand out at Spikes Asia in the future.

RELATED: Brand Health Check: Will Yili’s meme marketing continue to succeed post-Olympics?