The Best Marketing Activations for Chinese New Year

This week was marked by one of the most important days in China: Chinese New Year. It includes a day for family reunion and eating dinner together until midnight (January 28th) and a day to visit relatives and distribute hongbaos (红包) on January 29th. Every year, the dates will be different, but the 16-day long festival will have a single purpose or meaning.?

And if you are familiar with my newsletters, you know it is always a key moment for marketing. As every year, we are amazed by the campaigns of luxury and lifestyle brands in China… And sometimes we may learn what NOT to do.

In 2025, we leave the Dragon year behind to welcome the 6th zodiac animal.

We’re celebrating the Wood Snake.

I take advantage of this newsletter to wish you a wonderful Year of the Snake. May it bring good fortune, success, health, and happiness to you and your loved ones. This year 2025 marks a year of deep transformation and I hope you will embrace it!

A great moment to analyze the best campaigns of the season.

And get inspirations for the year to come.

Let’s dive in.

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The Snake, the Core Symbol of Luxury

In Chinese, the snake is 蛇 pronounced “shé”. It is the zodiac animal that arrived in 6th position, right after the dragon in the Chinese traditional legend. While in the West we often consider the snake as a symbol of temptation and evil, the Chinese vision is very different. It holds a more complex meaning as the snake is a symbol of elegance, transformation, and fortune but also secretive, cunning, and ruthless.

Especially when we analyze the element of the year.

This year, we celebrate the Wood Snake.

In the Ancient China, people used to believe that everything in the universe is composed of the five elements: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. If you are not familiar with it, it is also part of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) also called Wu Xing or the Five Phases. Every year, the zodiac animal is paired with one element, and the last Wood Snake was 60 years ago, in 1965.

The Wood Snake is also associated with the Green Snake.

It stands as graceful, creative, and intelligent but also secretive and cunning.

This duality is interesting for brands as it is essential to have a deeper understanding of the animal and element itself, instead of just using its image. Especially for luxury brands, the Snake symbolizes elegance and refinement. And it’s the perfect year to highlight their brand uniqueness.

Let’s see the top 3 marketing campaigns for Chinese New Year.

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Best Marketing Campaigns from Luxury Brands

I shared a few CNY campaigns and best practices in the past weeks on LinkedIn. I have analyzed the 2 strategies with the “Bold Marketing” and “Safe Marketing” techniques. In this piece, I want to highlight the best 3 campaigns that I personally loved this year in China.

They were creative, elegant, and smart.

Let’s dive in.

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Loewe. The luxury brand launched an outstanding digital campaign with communication around ancient shadow puppetry with artist Shen Xintong and kite-making tradition with artist Zhang Xiaodong. They also incorporated the zodiac animal inside their product design, along with the cloud pattern for prosperity. Chinese netizens loved the campaign, nourishing a positive brand sentiment and a stronger community engagement.

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Burberry. The luxury brand chose the safe marketing option with a red capsule collection blending the iconic B logo with the snake symbol. They also created WeChat hongbaos and used the bamboo wicker ware tradition with artist Qian Lihuai. They collaborated with the actress and brand ambassador Zhang Jingyi, who generated a strong enthusiasm and positive sentiment.

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Lululemon. The sportswear and athleisure brand created a limited edition inspired by Chinese brush painting and traditional floral elements with the zodiac animal. They collaborated with Li Yuchun with a short film called “Return to the Spring” (回到春天). Chinese people fell in love with the campaign, elevating Lululemon to the rank of luxury brands.

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Bonus: Baobab Collection

This year, we handled the Chinese New Year campaign of Baobab Collection. We combined a 1-month digital campaign around the history and tribute to Chinese calligraphy with the collection Encre de Chine before wishing prosperity and luck to their Chinese fans with a golden snake.

A tribute to the traditional Chinese ink, a golden snake for wisdom and strength, a cloud pattern for good fortune and prosperity, a background with Suzhou streets on the New Year, and red lanterns to announce the coming festivities.

Above all, this is the symbol of a cultural journey transcending time and space.

Highlighting the brand’s attention to details and the pursuit of perfection.

This is a special time of the year, and I couldn’t end this newsletter without being grateful to the wonderful work of my team in Shanghai. Understanding the true identity of international brands and paying tribute in a sincere and authentic way to the Chinese culture.

This is when marketing campaigns find their deep meaning and purpose.

And I’m glad to be part of it.

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RELATED ARTICLES?

• Brands turn to short films for Lunar New Year
• Top Marketing Campaigns for Chinese New Year (2025)

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IF YOU WANT TO GO FURTHER

Whether it is to answer a simple question, support your next strategy in China, or answer press inquiries all around the world:

Contact: Ana?s Bournonville

Available via email at?[email protected] or via WhatsApp at +33 6 42 58 51 16

Free Consultation:?If you want to have a meeting together to discuss your brand, your objectives, and your next campaign in China, you can book a free consulting session?HERE

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