Ad for 1,500 Year Old Buddhist Temple Becomes Viral Hit

By Alison Lesley --
08 Apr 2015 --

The Donghua Zen Temple of Shaoguan City in China received thousands of applications after its witty ad for job positions went viral on Chinese social media.

A 1,500 year old Buddhist temple named Donghua Zen Temple in Shaoguan City, in South China has attracted a lot of new interest with a new viral video. The video was designed to attract millennials for new jobs to draw younger generations to join the temple. To keep up with modern times, the temple advertised these available jobs via the internet. The job posting was tweeted out and, within a few days, more than 4000 people with media experience applied. The video has had a lot of success, with more than 1 million hits, and the applications keep coming in.

This historic temple has proved that if traditional means of advertising does not reach your targeted market, you can reach a lot more people in less time via the internet. The video was first seen on Wechat, a social networking site in China, and was quickly shared on Twitter by Wechat users.

The ad included cartoons, music, and humor to catch the attention of its viewers. Among the eight positions offered in the advertisement are roles in IT maintenance, user interface design, application operation, and new media communication. The ad campaign most definitely will be considered a hit not only because of the dream of living and working as a media talent at this ancient, livable historical Buddhist temple but also because of its media campaign and reach.

The advertisement does compel its viewers to check out the video on Wechat. With so much young media talent out there, they should not have a hard time finding the right people to fill these positions.

The ad reads “Half a month in the forest relaxing your nerves and half a month in the city. Easy, flexible, full of freedom, what are you waiting for? Our Buddha needs you.” Liu Fen, 35, one of the creators of the advertisement stated, “The response is far more than our expectation”. Liu Fen felt instant gratification after releasing the advertisement when “A new mail came within one or two minutes.” The response has been so successful that the temple has had to put in extra effort just to keep up with the sudden influx of applications.