Soho China and Ogilvy & Mather locate ABO, the first monkey sent into space, to inspire all Chinese to push the country’s creative boundaries

UPDATED STORY TO INCLUDE INTERVIEW WITH ABO: Who was the first country to put a monkey into space?

Well the smart money would be on the USA in 1948. But in fact they were beaten two years before by China. You may wonder why no one knows this, but the Chinese covered up the mission after it was thought to have failed when all contact was lost with the spacecraft shortly after take-off.

But in fact what no-one could possibly have known was that something much more extraordinary took place. The spacecraft, with ABO the monkey, was in fact captured by aliens.

This is the premise of an powerful new campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather China for local client, Soho China.

VIEW THE INTERVIEW WITH ABO

Soho China revealed that the spacecraft was captured by aliens when a beam of light seemingly from space was directed at the new Soho Galaxy building in Beijing on November 23rd this year. The beam sent Weibo (Chinese Twitter) into a frenzy. 30 minute later a series of news flashes appeared which reported about the bean of light and an image of something in a spacesuit was captured on the Soho Galaxy’s CCTV.

VIEW THE FOOTAGE

Another report confirmed that scientists had connected it to the missing spacecraft of 1946. And a final news flash suggested that if it was true it would prove that the USA were NOT the first to put a monkey into space.

Two days later, with interest sky high, a world exclusive interview was held with the monkey (named ABO) in the Soho Galaxy building.

ABO talks about his story and fondly recalls his training for his mission – complete with B&W old footage of him undergoing tests and then blasting off to space in 1946. He also talks about China now being at a pivotal point in it’s history and lambasts China for being a copycat nation. He also asks what it will take for China to rekindle it’s creative mindset, saying that the creative spirit of billions has been buried.

“This of course is sailing pretty close to the wind here in China,” said Ogilvy & Mather China’s chief creative officer Graham Fink. “But I’d have to say this is one of the most amazing campaigns that I have been involved with in my entire career.”

Fink said the best thing for him is the fact it is for a local client and thus quite a breakthrough for China.

“Soho China is founded by two very rich entrepreneurs from very poor backgrounds, Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi. Both are seen as kind of celebrities here in China. They commissioned some of the world’s top architects to build an amazing building here and this project was all about getting people aware of Soho China and their philosophy about pushing the creative boundaries in China. Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi wanted it centered around their new building which has literally just opened, so we timed this campaign to work with that and the moment that the China Congress finished. The new building was designed by Zaha Hadid and is called SOHO GALAXY, which, of course, this triggered the idea for an idea linked with space.” Said Fink.

Two days after the interview was launched and thousands of comments were pouring in on social sites (Weibo and Youku ) the final piece of the trilogy was launched via a 30 minute live debate with a studio audience. The two founders of Soho China were amongst the panel of guests along with a few other celebrities, and ABO was the special guest star.

VIEW THE DEBATE

The whole debate was run by big name TV debate show host from Hong Kong Tiger Hu. During the debate ABO asks provocative questions about creativity in China and progressive thinking.