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Asian-american Originals

CLIENT: Panda Express
Agency: EVB
Role: Creative Director /Creative strategist
CCO: John Reid
Strategy director: Neeti Newaskar
Copywriters: mike lim, Dan Aguinaga
Agency partners: Wolfgang LA, Havas, Pal8

SITUATION: May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and Panda wanted to bring awareness to Asian Americans through a message of support and empowerment. Panda and partner agency Wolfgang came to us with this notion of the Asian-American Original–trailblazers forging untraditional paths.

CHALLENGE: How can we expand the celebration of the Asian-American Originals on social and digital?

STRATEGY: Let’s reframe the hyphen – a device often seen as a divider — as a mark that not only threads together the many facets of a person, but also serves as a bridge for Asian-American Originals to join forces in celebrating differences.

CREATIVE: We created a rallying cry to unite in celebrating all the hyphens that make us one-of-a-kind: #hyphensunite. We are not defined by just one thing. But by many things. Each person is more than meets the eye, and extended hyphen statements show that these complex humans can’t be reduced to a two-part stereotype.

 
 
 
 

HYPHENS DEFINE US. HYPHENS UNITE US. HYPHENS MAKE US ORIGINAL.

 
 
 

First, we created a series of social posts and stories that brought light to Asian-American originality, featuring a few iconic hyphens.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sponsored and organic stories highlighted rich and varied experiences of what it means to be an Asian-American Original.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

But being an “Original” is not just reserved for those who have made a name for themselves. It’s about empowering every Asian-American to embrace their individual “hyphens” that make them one-of-a-kind.

 
 
 
 
 

Panda fans far and wide connected and engaged with our message. Over 230 million people, in fact. Almost double the impressions of the previous year’s campaign. And best of all, 85% of those impressions were organic, showing just how resonant this idea was.