Grab CNY: Grab Huatever You Want for a Prosperous Year | Clapboard Ad Archive

CNY 2020: Grab Huatever you want, Grab got!

Description

In January 2020, Grab launched a vibrant digital campaign in Malaysia titled CNY 2020: HUATever you want, Grab got! created by Fishermen Integrated to celebrate the Chinese New Year festivities. This campaign, designed within the Professional Services industry, skillfully blends cultural relevance with brand messaging by featuring a charming film that highlights the art of Tai Chi through the character Little Bro. The narrative cleverly ties the concept of "Huatever," a playful pun on the word "whatever" and the auspicious Cantonese term for prosperity "Huat," to Grab’s comprehensive service offerings, reinforcing the brand’s promise to meet diverse customer needs during this important festive season. Leveraging a strong call to action, viewers are invited to explore all the “Huat” opportunities available through Grab’s platform via the hashtag #GrabHuatever and a dedicated web link, encouraging engagement and driving traffic to the brand’s ecosystem. The campaign’s tone is festive, uplifting, and culturally resonant, making it relatable and memorable for the target audience. By positioning Grab as the go-to solution for all things needed to usher in a prosperous new year, the campaign not only enhances brand affinity but also strategically aligns Grab’s services with a meaningful cultural celebration, strengthening its market presence. The digital format allows for broad and targeted reach, optimizing brand visibility while capturing the celebratory spirit of the Chinese New Year in a uniquely modern context.

Credits

Client

Grab

Agency

Fishermen Integrated, Subang Jaya, Malaysia

Campaign Proposition

The "CNY 2020: Grab Huatever you want, Grab got!" campaign by Grab, created for the Malaysian market, leverages the cultural significance of Chinese New Year to position the brand as an all-encompassing, convenient service provider capable of fulfilling diverse consumer needs. The campaign’s core brand proposition revolves around reliability and comprehensiveness, suggesting that whatever customers require to achieve prosperity and success during the festive season, Grab can deliver. This aligns with Grab’s broader identity as a versatile platform offering an integrated range of services beyond just transportation, reinforcing brand trust and relevance during a key cultural moment. Strategically, the campaign taps into the cultural insight of "Huat," a concept deeply associated with fortune and prosperity during Chinese New Year celebrations, and applies a clever linguistic twist with “Huatever” to emphasize the brand’s expansive offerings. By connecting this festive aspiration with everyday practicality, the creative narrative uses the metaphor of mastering Tai Chi—a symbol of balance and mastery—to illustrate how Grab helps customers seamlessly achieve their goals. Targeting digitally savvy Malaysian consumers engaged with cultural traditions, the campaign employs a narrative film format on digital media, leveraging storytelling to emotionally engage and culturally resonate with the audience. The use of a hashtag and a call-to-action linking to the brand’s offerings further encourages consumer interaction and amplifies digital reach. Overall, the campaign carefully integrates cultural relevance with a clear value proposition, enhancing Grab’s positioning as an indispensable service provider during a significant seasonal occasion.

Creative Device

FORMAT#12 PARODY OR BORROWED FORMAT — Uses or parodies pop culture formats like films, shows, or genres. This campaign adopts a playful parody device, as revealed by the meta-description inviting viewers to "Master the art of Tai Chi with Little Bro!" for Chinese New Year. By riffing on martial arts tropes and incorporating the pun "HUATever" (blending “Huat,” a CNY prosperity term, and “whatever”), the ad borrows the recognizable structure of martial arts tutorials or classic kung fu films—framing Grab’s wide-ranging services as the magical tools for CNY preparation. The creative approach humorously weaves pop culture storytelling to refresh the brand's service promise, with the thematic structure hinging on parody rather than a direct problem-solution, testimonial, or archetypal story arc. ADVERTISING FORMATS EXPLAINED: https://www.clapboard.com/blog/branding-and-advertising/brand-strategy/12-advertising-creative-formats