Niu Lai! Malaysian brands put their own spin to the Chinese film’s virality

With blockbuster releases this summer such as The Odyssey and Spider Man: Brand New Day, it’s shocking that one little indie film in China has not only avoided being eclipsed, but rather, has gone viral, cinching the top 10 of China’s domestic animated film box office charts for this year.

That movie is none other than Niu Lai, an animated film made by a mother-son duo: Xin Yumeng and his mother, Sun Lifang. The eponymous movie stars Niu Lai (which directly translates to “here comes the cow”) and weaves a coming-of-age tale of a newborn calf’s kooky explorations. The mother-son duo spent five years to complete the 86-minute film, working out of a home computer. To date, the film reportedly made roughly 20,000 times its production budget.

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While it would have been touching if the resulting product was a beautiful piece of work, but in reality, the end result has a certain charm precisely because it didn’t quite turn out as expected. The media, however, have been labelling the film an “antidote” against AI slop culture, and questioned if consumers actually prefer this “broken” animation style over the polished look of AI generated content. 

Although the film is not yet screening in Malaysia, many Malaysian brands have been quick to jump on the cultural phenomenon.

Here are some of the best ones yet.:

1. Farm Fresh

The stars have aligned for dairy brand Farm Fresh, considering that the movie is all about a cow. The firm cleverly drew a Niu Lai-esque cow onto its own bottled milk as well, adding a personal touch that just makes it work so well.  In Chinese, it has written "牛来, 奶也来" ("the cow comes, and so does the milk"). The team also referenced the film’s viral moment when Niu Lai calls for his mother. 

2. Domino’s

Domino’s Malaysia kept it simple but effective with a hand-drawn poster saying ‘Pizza 来,’ which basically means ‘pizza come.’ The poorly drawn pizzas really sealed the deal for the brand. 

3. TGV Cinemas

The Malaysian cinema chain went full Chinese with its spoof of the movie poster. It references the comments that have been made about the film, such as, “If you don’t watch it, you’ll regret it.” In the caption, it added: “The editor doesn't know when it will be released either.”

4. Lotus’s 

Retail chain Lotus’s localised the content for Malaysians, writing in Malay “Mama nak gi shopping” (“Mom, I want to go shopping”). The brand took the opportunity to highlight an assortment of their products and prices, bringing value back to the business. 

5. Shopee 

Shopee Malaysia joins in the fun with its hand-drawn poster and the words “钱来” (“money come”), complete with the phrase “Shopee lagi murah” (“Shopee is cheaper”). In the caption, it commented, "We don’t want Niu lai, we want MONEY lai 🤑," tying in the e-commerce platform's value-for-money offerings.  

Seen other executions we might have missed? Reach out to me at claudiak@marketing-interactive.com to send in your favourites. 

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