Cool Amazon Ads in the Beijing Subway

Ever since it shed its Joyo moniker this fall, Amazon China has been on a marketing push to get people in China to respond to Amazon and the url z.cn as a brand. Today, on the way to repair my computer, I happened across a pretty cool advertisement for the company in the Beijing subway.

As you can see, Amazon has erected fake shipping boxes with Amazon’s familiar logo around a few of the pillars in the Guomao station, and probably elsewhere as well. It’s pretty eye-catching for people who ride the subway a fair amount; it jumped out at me immediately that something was different. And I’m impressed that they spent some time thinking about a creative way to advertise that interacts with the advertisement’s surroundings, instead of just slapping up a bunch of posters. Although admittedly they have also slapped up a bunch of posters elsewhere in the station. Still, though, it’s pretty cool.

I wasn’t the only person to respond to it, either. During the short time I was waiting for the train, I noticed it was getting quite a bit of attention, and one young man even walked over and hugged it. Sadly, it was just as my train was coming and I wasn’t able to get a photo. But if people are hugging your advertisements, you know you’re probably doing something right.

(Yes, I suppose the guy could have been a plant, but I don’t think so. He only hugged it for a second, and then he jumped on the train too. If it was a viral stunt, it was pretty poorly orchestrated; I think it was just a guy who really likes Amazon China.)