Greetings. Chinese New Year is around the corner once again, and its my favorite time of the year. Its the time of the year where families get together to usher the new year with ang pow, mandarin oranges, people dressing up in red and visiting one another. Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions.

What is Chinese New Year?

“According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian (Chinese: 年; pinyin: nián). Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again.”

This Chinese New Year, PETRONAS stays true to the common tradition and values that bind all Malaysians together in the underlying messages of its television commercial (TVC) to usher the year of the Golden Dragon.

Titled “Coming Home”, the TVC this year

• shot in Malaysia, England, Belgium, China and India – depicts six separate yet intertwining stories of individuals around the world who, no matter how far they have come in life, stay true to their roots and tradition.
• Among others, the stories revolve around a dentist posted to a rural part of India celebrating the New Year with his family in his home country via Skype, a little boy in China having a simple dinner with his family, and a young girl in London working two jobs to earn a living and yet still able to “celebrate” Chinese New Year with her extended family – her customers.
• The essence of the TVC lies in the struggle that each individual goes through in life – be it working two jobs, or having to be the head of the family at a young age, as in the case of the little boy in China.
• What is of more significance is how each of these individuals adapts to the changing times, turning challenges into opportunities, and always seeing the positive in the negative – powerful universal messages that transcend cultural, generational, creed and ethnicity barriers.
• It illustrates what it takes to make life better through a progressive and bold attitude that one holds, opening the mind to new ideas and learn new things, ultimately making one a better human being.

The “Coming Home” TVC will air from 17th January until 6th February 2012. For more exciting surprises, the public may visit PETRONAS’ YouTube page (www.youtube.com/user/PETRONASOfficial).

Datuk Mohammad Medan Abdullah giving his speech.

“The TVC is meant to celebrate not just the Year of the Dragon, but the spirit of perseverance, adaptability and determination as captured in each of the stories it depicts.   This energy is something that should inspire us all as we navigate through the challenges we face in life,” said PETRONAS’ Senior General Manager of Group Corporate Affairs Division.

“It is this innate spirit of resilience, energy to see opportunity, energy to go on, improve and move on while staying true to our values that we wanted to portray in our TVC. It is this same spirit that forms the core of PETRONAS’ corporate positioning, Reimagining Energy™ which emphasises and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit to excel in whatever we do. ”

A chef preparing the Yee Sang for the officiating ceremony.

A chef preparing the Yee Sang for the officiating ceremony.

Datuk Mohammad Medan Abdullah preparing the Yee Sang for tossing with people from Petronas media & advertising agencies.

Datuk Mohammad Medan Abdullah meets Josh Lim, founder of Advertlets, one of the social media partner for the Petronas CNY 2012 campaign.

Apart from the TVC, PETRONAS is also organising a photography contest themed Reimagining Energy™, in collaboration with Leica Camera AG. To participate, all that the members of the public have to do is to capture their Chinese New Year moments that best depict the spirit of Reimagining Energy™, submit their photos via PETRONAS’ Facebook page (www.facebook.com/petronas1) and stand a chance to win great prizes. Prizes will be awarded to the individuals of the winning photos. These photos will also be displayed and exhibited at Galeri PETRONAS. In addition, PETRONAS will also be conducting photography workshops at selected schools and colleges, to help youths express themselves through photography as well as improve their skills.

I’ve given it a shot myself, loving the simple interface and the lightweight app on Facebook.

“Energy is everywhere, in everything we do, and especially at this time. It could be the excitement and the bonding during the reunion dinner, or it could be the hustle and bustle of shopping for and decorating the home. It could even be a portrait of the wise grandfather of the family, or a picture of the lanterns that light up our cities,” explained Dato Mohammad Medan.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai in advance. Spread the spirit of togetherness, and may this be a prosperous start to your brand new year.

Related posts:

1. Family Always Comes First.
2. Take Me Home.
3. Home & Away.

Posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 in Advertlets, Advertorial $$, Blogosphere, Events & Gigs, Family, Petronas, Youtube. Subscribe to this comment feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.