Am FAQ on Chinese New Year 2024 campaigns + 33 in fashion | Following the yuan
Am FAQ on Chinese New Year 2024 campaigns + 33 in fashion | Following the yuan
Every CNY, I ask myself a set of different questions.
Last year, around this time, I wrote an FAQ for CNY campaigns, which I believed served as a good entry point for non-fashion professionals to begin engaging with the US$255.2 billion fashion market.
For the Year of the Dragon, you may have noticed that this year's festive marketing tends to lean more towards tradition than that of other zodiac signs. This is likely due to the dragon's paramount significance in Chinese culture and its image abroad. Regardless of whether one is of Chinese descent or part of the Chinese diaspora, the dragon can symbolize their roots in a way that other zodiac signs cannot. (I am acutely aware of this as a Monkey. 🙈)
Perhaps for that reason, there's little space to play with traditions compared to the last few years where brands swarmed to work with big IPs such as Mickey Mouse and Looney tunes. From the fashion campaigns this year, I’ve only seen Italian brand Fendi working with Japanese cartoon POKÉMON (with crisis PR potential because...Japan), while a handful of others have also opted for the cutesy route.
Below are my FAQs this year, and my unfiltered, working answers:
Q: How are consumer brands reacting to CNY different?
The brands in China can be roughly divided into two categories. One is the so-called new consumption brands that usually cater to a younger audience. Many from this group are direct-to-consumer and started out from platforms like Taobao and Tmall. They tend do less of this kind of traditional celebration, and their holiday message tends to be more subdued. Maybe they would repackage some of their existing offerings to a gift box, maybe they use a bit of red in their online and offline presence. But these brands would do anything spectacular, especially when they are outside the categories of food and beverage.
Meanwhile, the mass market FMCG brands will be more likely to fully embrace it, as they see CNY as a very important sales period. They will do more marketing to encourage people to buy nianhuo, an umbrella term for everything that people buy to consume or to gift during CNY.
Q: What’s your favorite CNY campaign in 2024?
What really moved me this year is a short film done by Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao. Given the nature of their business, internet platforms prefer to do short films that that directly speaks to consumers’ habits and their connection with features and the brands’ key messages.
This Taobao short film likens travellers to packages, and follows a narrative that both are baobei (precious goods). It follows the journey of a few travellers who are heading home by train, by high speed rail, by by air, and as they enter different transit centers, a notification would pop up and remind their families their whereabouts.
This year, a common theme for these platforms is a Spring Festival travel rush, which is basically always the world’s annual largest human migration. Those who live in China knew that 2024 may be the the first year that the travel rush returns to its pre-Covid state in five years. Covid impacted CNY during 2020-2022, and in early 2023, there were Covid infection waves after China lifted restrictions, which may have disrupted many people’s plans. So what Taobao decided to focus this year carries a lot of emotional value that may not achieve the same effect in other years.
It’s both funny and heartwarming. Near the end, it elevates the definition of baobei and showcased a montage of how different precious goods, including the old artifacts that returned to the Old Summer Palace last October. I think it’s really well done.
Watch it in Chinese here:
Q: Any last words for overseas brands?
Every CNY, it's easy to go on the same route, which is to work with existing IPs, to incorporate Chinese calligraphy or the color of red. But it's not enough.
To connect with the people more emotionally. I think it's time to try something new, or at least be as classy as Loewe’s campaign this year, a limited-edition jade collection featuring bags, charms, and jewellery. This is something I would buy despite the bad economy (maybe):
“The collection includes the new Flamenco Purse Mini bag in an array of colours inspired by ancient jade carvings. Each bag also features an inside pocket with a ring of precious jade stone in a matching colour, to bring good luck for the year ahead.”
“We commissioned three master jade carvers to each create five limited edition pendants mounted on 18ct gold chains. Xiaojin Yin’s pendant takes the form of a cabbage, Qijing Qiu has created an eggplant, and Lei Cheng’s is in the shape of a pea pod—each symbolising luck, success, and abundance for the new year.”
Same as last year, I’m listing 33 fashion brands’ Chinese New Year 2024 (Year of the Dragon) campaigns. Bear in mind, I’m only including those that are accessible on desktop but many may only showcase CNY collections on WeChat:
Amiri: https://amiri.com/collections/lunar-new-year-2024
Arc’teryx: https://arcteryx.com/us/en/shop/lunar-new-year/
Burberry: https://sg.burberry.com/c/archive/campaigns/lunar-new-year-2024/
Celine: https://www.celine.com/en-hk/cm/lunar-new-year?
Coach: https://singapore.coach.com/lunar-new-year.html
Canada Goose: https://www.canadagoose.com/ca/en/shop/lunar-new-year-styles/
Diesel: https://lt.diesel.com/en/lunar-new-year/
Dunhill: https://www.dunhill.com/sg/men/lunar-new-year
Fendi: https://www.fendi.com/us-en/search?q=FENDI+x+FRGMT+x+POKÉMON&lang=en_US
Gant: https://www.gant.co.uk/lunar-new-year
Ganni: https://www.ganni.com/en-fr/dark-grey-relaxed-dragon-t-shirt-T3817.html
Gucci: https://www.gucci.com/hk/en_gb/ca/gifts/chinese-new-year-c-chinese-new-year
Golden Goose: https://www.goldengoose.com/sg/en/ls/collections/chinese-new-year-collection
Hermes: https://www.hermes.com/sg/en/content/327122-happy-year-of-the-dragon/
Hugo Boss: https://www.hugoboss.com/sg/en/gifts-men-lunar-new-year/
Jil Sander: https://www.jilsander.com/en-us/women/gallery/year-of-the-dragon-collection
Kenzo: https://www.kenzo.com/en-int/new/year-of-the-dragon
Koio: https://www.koio.co/pages/capri-lunar-new-year
Loewe: https://www.loewe.com/apc/en/stories-collection/lunar-new-year.html
Louis Vuitton: https://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/recommendations/luxury-gift-giving
Loro Piana: https://hk.loropiana.com/en/c/lunar-new-year
Miu Miu: https://www.miumiu.com/ww/en/miumiu-club/special-projects/heart-to-heart.html
Marni: https://www.marni.com/wx/lunar-new-year.html
MCM: https://sg.mcmworldwide.com/en_SG/gifts/lunar-new-year-gift-guide
Moncler: https://www.moncler.com/en-sg/year-of-the-dragon
Moschino: https://www.moschino.com/row2_en/moschino/women/highlights/chinese-new-year.html
Mulberry: https://www.mulberry.com/je/shop/mulberry-mira-mikati#:~:text=Celebrate%20Lunar%20New%20Year%202024,the%20Year%20of%20the%20Dragon.
Prada: https://www.prada.com/th/en/pradasphere/special-projects/2024/cny-2024.html
Tory Burch: https://www.toryburch.sg/lunar-new-year
Ralph Lauren: https://ralphlauren.com.sg/men/explore/lunar-new-year
Sandro: https://us.sandro-paris.com/en/womens/new-in/lunar-new-year/
Self-Portrait: https://www.self-portrait.com/collections/lunar-new-year-edit
Versace: https://www.versace.com/sg/en/chinese-new-year/
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