Chengdu brings Giant Panda campaign to London
It is a program launched by Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan in China and homelandof the giant panda. Sponsored by the Chengdu Association for Cultural Exchange with ForeignCountries, the three-month program is aimed at promoting global efforts to protect the earth'sendangered species including the giant panda. The program also aims to encourage bondsbetween humans and nature, and to express good wishes for the London Olympics from theChinese city.
The panda cabs have aroused the curiosity and attention of Londoners as the pudgy figure isskillfully integrated into the cab's exterior decor with lights resembling the sparkling eyes of thepanda.
The slogan of "Chengdu, Hometown of Pandas, Spice it up" is printed on both sides of thevehicle along with Chengdu's official English website. The adorable images of the animal arepainted with the colors of the Olympic rings on the hood, roof and both sides of the cab'sbody.
"Cabs in London are always colorful. It is the first time I saw a black and white one. It'sadorable, and will be a beautiful scene on the London streets during the Olympic Games," thefirst passenger of the Panda taxi said.
It is not surprising that panda cabs have received a warm welcoming, as the final design werevoted on by people around the world through social networking platforms including Facebook,Twitter and micro blogs. The design represents the impression of and the affection for giantpandas for many of the world's citizens.
The year 2012 also marks the 40th anniversary of China-UK ambassadorial diplomaticrelations. To further the bilateral ties, Chengdu will carry out a "Giant Panda Partnership"program with Britain's Edinburgh Zoo, where two Chinese pandas currently reside. This willpromote educational and cultural exchanges between China and the UK.
"As the Olympic Games are around the corner, I believe more people around the world willcome to London and many of them will see and take the panda cab. We are launching anumber of public activities themed on the protection of the giant pandas. I hope that morepeople will become 'partners' of the giant pandas," said Christina Pouso, an officer of theEdinburgh Zoo.
As the first Chinese city to breed and protect the endangered species and a window throughwhich the Chinese national treasure says "hello" to the world, Chengdu has held a number ofinternational non-profit panda-themed activities.
During the "Earth Hour" initiative organized by the World Wildlife Fund in 2011, giant panda"Meilan" served as the global ambassador and turned off the light to promote an energy-saving lifestyle. Earlier this year Chengdu kick started a project to release giant pandas bredin captivity back into the wild. These efforts are aimed to inspire the international community toprotect the environment and our planet's biodiversity. These activities have received positiveresponses from home and abroad.
Tourism officials of Chengdu, the hometown of the Giant Panda, are promoting the ancient city during the London 2012 Olympics to promote the city as a tourist and holiday destination.
London Taxi Advertising contacted the tourism office to promote the effectiveness of Taxi Advertising and recommended the Outdoor Format to promote the diverse business and cultural city to the international audience in London during the Olympics.
The iconic London Taxis are the advertising platform for the destination of Chengdu helping transport the idea of visiting the city into the minds of consumers every day over the summer.
Go Chengdu ran a competition on their Facebook and website encouraging visitors to vote for their favourite taxi design which was to be wrapped on iconic London black cabs.
The winning taxis have been commissioned to run as part of a three month campaign of Full Livery and Superside Taxi Advertising formats.
The eye catching Full Livery taxis have been designed to mimic the look of a panda, and will be complemented by the Superside design which shows a cartoon panda in its natural habitat surrounded by bamboo.
All taxis promote the website details of Go Chengdu.
Giant Pandas are native to China and are a symbol of the country, whilst featured on the taxis they will travel through popular tourist sites including Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch and Trafalgar Square.
Sales director Paul Tremarco at London Taxi Advertising worked on the campaign in order to target tourists, business commuters, leisure and shopping audiences in London.
“The team at London Taxi Advertising are very pleased to introduce the innovative use of taxi advertising and we are excited about the working partnership with Go Chengdu to promote this fantastic destination on iconic London Black Cabs,” he explained.
“Taxi Advertising is a great tool for getting a message across to a mass audience, and therefore increasing awareness of Chengdu as a tourist destination and encouraging visits to the city.”
Millions of tourists flocking to London for the Olympic Games this summer can also learn more about China's giant pandas - not by visiting a zoo, but by taking a ride in one of London's iconic black taxies.
Black-and-white stripes have been painted on 30 taxis to mimic the look of a panda, and another 20 feature a cartoon panda in its natural habitat surrounded by bamboo. Both designs feature the slogan "Chengdu, hometown of pandas, spice it up".
Painting pandas on central London taxies is the latest campaign to raise awareness of the endangered Chinese animal. The campaign is jointly run by London Taxi Advertising and the Chengdu Association for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries in Chengdu, Sichuan province, which is home to more than 80 percent of the world's panda population.
London Taxi Advertising sales director Paul Tremarco came up with the idea in March, after realizing the great amount of attention that such a campaign can bring, especially during London's Olympics.
"Taxi Advertising is a great tool for getting a message across to a mass audience, and therefore increasing awareness of Chengdu as a tourist destination and encouraging visits to the city," he said.
The taxies selected for the campaign will pick up passengers at London's most popular destinations, including Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch and Trafalgar Square, from June 1 to Aug 31.
A London Taxi Advertising crew spent four days painting the two designs on the taxies. Since London Taxi Advertising does not own the taxies, Chengdu paid for the advertising space, according to Zhong Ying, an official from Chengdu municipal government.
Laura Hardy, a spokeswoman for London Taxi Advertising, said her crew has painted advertisements on London taxies for many clients in the travel sector, including Visit Malta, Sri Lanka Airlines and Arran Air.
"Most of our previous adverts featured iconic tourism places. But to paint a panda on a taxi is an innovative idea," she said.
Passengers who take the panda taxi rides can also enter a competition to win tickets to see Yang Guang and Tian Tian - two giant pandas that arrived at Edinburgh Zoo from Chengdu last December.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang are the first giant pandas to live in the UK for 17 years. They have received hundreds of visitors every day since their arrival.
The London Olympics is expected to attract an additional 5.3 million foreign tourists to the capital in July and August, according to organizers.
Angie Sham, an Australian, wrote on Faceook that the panda taxi is very cute, and said she fell in love with it at first sight.
The pudgy figure of the panda has been integrated into the taxi decor with the lights resembling the sparkling eyes of the animal. The images of the animal painted with the colors of the Olympic rings appear on the hood, roof and both sides of the cabs.
The final design for the panda paintings was selected by people around the world through social networking platforms including Facebook, Twitter and micro blogs.
The Chengdu Association for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries originally came up with six different designs, ranging from plain to rainbow-colored backgrounds. The top two designs were determined by a vote held on Facebook and Twitter.
According to the Chengdu association, the panda cabs will run in London for three months.
"Chengdu has held a number of panda-themed activities in recent years to promote itself and panda conservation," said Zhang Zhihe, chief of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
In 2006, three delegations consisting of members of the Chengdu Association for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries and panda experts in the city spent more than 40 days visiting zoos with pandas in America, Europe and Asia.
During the "Earth Hour" initiative organized by the World Wildlife Fund in 2011, the giant panda "Meilan" served as the global ambassador and turned off a light to promote an energy-saving lifestyle, Zhang said.
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