Buzzword 1: Tiger & CNY
Tiger (虎) is the zodiac of 2022 Chinese Year. In this January on Taobao, with the keyword "tiger", the search volume of "tiger"-related goods increased 874% year-on-year. This CNY campaigns of brands are all build around the tiger element.
Campaign 1: Gucci tiger
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Gucci launched the campaign for the 2022 Chinese New Year collection with the theme of celebration and reunion, letting the tiger to join in and become part of the New Year reunion party, spending a leisurely afternoon tea with the family. The new tiger pattern is inspired by the nature scenes created by artist and illustrator Vittorio Accornero in the 60s. In 2021, Gucci's highest selling store in the world is Taikoo Li Chengdu. To attract more Gen Z consumers, Gucci's new year campaign in China launched young idols Xiao Zhan.
Campaign 2: Pocky × Chubby Tiger (我不是胖虎)
In this TVC, Chubby Tiger was entrusted by Pocky to send Pocky down the mountain to deliver "棒棒"（棒 = stick, also means awesome）blessing to everyone. There are wishes for children "learning awesome", the elderly "wellness awesome", and even "peach blossom awesome" (peach blossom stands for the luck for relationship) and "fortune awesome", delivering a happy, joyful and peaceful atmosphere of the New Year.
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Chubby Tiger (胖虎) is a cartoon figure created in 2020 by artist @不二马 (Weibo follower: 1.23 million) .
Campaign 3: McDonald's × China Post
McDonald's and China Post present the 2022 Year of the Tiger Limited Stamp Set. Limited to 5,000 copies nationwide, the set contains 12 stamps with a value of 1.20 yuan and collectible stamps made up of 5 classic McDonald's food: McDonald's logo, McCafe, McWhirlwind, Big Mac and Chicken McNuggets. The slogan of this campaign "爱老虎邮" literally means Love tiger stamps, pronouncing similar with "I love you" in Chinese.
Campaign 4: Coca Cola's CNY Serial Campaigns
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This year, Coca-Cola presented an animated New Year's Eve gathering of tigers, in which the tigers who came back hometown but appeared to be less close to their friends and family at the beginning. By helping each other in the cha for the fallen Coca-Cola, they became close again. In the end, tigers returned to the dinning table to share Coca-Cola happily. In this film, Coca-Cola demonstrates the magic of bringing friends and family closer together, expressing the brand slogan "A good year is a year with you".
Apart from the TVC, Coca-Cola also launched New Year editions of cans with cute tiger images on, co-branded with an old and famous candy brand Hsu Fu Chi (徐福记) to launch New Year snack packs, released limited NFT red pocket (红包) with Tmall. Campaign 5: Louis Vuitton's hidden tiger tails.
To celebrate the Year of the Tiger, Louis Vuitton has created a special art installation "tiger tail" in its Chengdu store.
Double V. Comments: It seems to be a cliche for brands to launch New Year special products with the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. What makes a successful and outstanding CNY festival campaign for overseas brands? Here are some few takeaways:
Use homophonic letters to deliver wishes of your brands;
Co-brand with domestic image or brands;
Make sure the vibes is blooming and festive. New Year meant to be happy, cheerful and luck.
Buzzword 2: Winter Sports
The XXIV Winter Olympics will be hold by Beijing in 2022, beginning on February 4 and ending on the 20th. In 2021, the number of "skiing" related notes in Xiaohongshu reached 380,000, with a 100% year-on-year increase in search volume, a significant increase for the second consecutive year. RED put winter sports as 1 of the TOP 10 lifestyles in the past 2021.
Skiing Brands That Entered China in 2021
The China's ski market is immature, with a current population penetration rate of only 1%. This is a huge gap from Switzerland and Austria's higher than 30% skiing population penetration rate, and also significantly behind Japan's 9%. While the huge room for growth, the market is in desperate need of education. The first task for those overseas brands entering the Chinese market is to educate and seeding.
They re-positioned themself in China, not only limited to skiing equipments and clothes, but with lifestyle, fashion and high-end to reach more audience. Secondly they cobranded with popular domestic brands and set up pop-up stores.
Buzzword 3: Bing Dwen Dwen
Bing Dwen Dwen is the is the official mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympics. It is inspired by Panda and covered with a glaze of ice. The souvenir of Bing Dwen Dwen is now out of stock and the 2nd hand marketplace, Bing Dwen Dwen can go to 3 times of the original price.
Buzzword 4: Eileen Gu
Freestyle skier Eileen Gu is now hottest winter athlete in China. She was born in United States in 2003 and her father is American. In 2019 she decided that she would compete for China, where her mother was from. She has nearly 2 million followers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo and the favorite of Chinese.
Eileen is a model signed by top modeling agency company IMG and actively expanding her side career as model.
Gu has over 20 brands deals from brands like IWC, VISA, Louis Vuitton, Cadillac, Estee Lauder, Tiffany, Luckin Coffee and more.
Double V. Comments 2021 winter is the booming year of winter sports in China. There are no doubt that it will rapidly grow in the coming 1-3 years. For those well-established overseas brands who have the ambitious to take the lead in China market, it is time now. Chinese consumers, especially Gen Z are well prepared.