I was born in China, so the Lunar New Year has always been a momentous occasion. But, since when did it become a holiday that brands capitalized so readily on?

Marketers and advertisers are pretty attuned to each holiday as they determine how they can capitalize on it. But, Chinese New Year (CNY) isn’t a widely celebrated nor even known holiday in the States. But, with the buzz around the Apple and Nike commercial and with being served a few CNY ads, I figured it’s an apt time to take a look at a few brand examples.

Some Great Examples

Apple

Apple produced a commercial last year that featured a Chinese man returning home after the new year. This year they continued with the theme of family and shot a new year short film on the iPhone 11 Pro.

It’s a gorgeous film with highly acclaimed professionals behind it. I always appreciated that Apple created these short films to highlight Chinese families – a racial group not well represented in the media. And, as expected, Apple takes viewers through a beautiful emotional journey that is sure to make some shed a tear.

Nike

Nike, on the other hand, went for a very different approach.

This commercial made me laugh as it reminded me of every time someone tried to hand me a classic hongbao, or red envelope. It hits on the tradition of refusal but takes an amusing twist. For those not accustomed to seeing the red envelopes, it is a tradition that people will fill them with money and gift them to children. It’s only polite to refuse, especially from an unmarried aunt who should not be obliged to give anything for the lunar new year. Nike perfectly captures this while also releasing a line of new Nike sneakers inspired by Chinese mythology that debuted this month. That was great Nike, absolutely on point!

PopSockets

Yep, I’m a PopSockets girl. I proudly don my PopSocket Wallet+ on the back of my phone. Because of that, I received this in my inbox this past week. They made super cute, yet culturally appropriate CNY popsockets!

ColourPop

ColourPop created cute packaging and new colors with its special edition lunar new year collection.

Some Questionable Examples

Adidas US

Adidas created a lunar new year line that actually looks pretty nice. They didn’t abandon the typical look of a sneaker but added an Asian flare. But, they do look a bit generic and not really CNY specific.

Sephora

This was the first CNY activation I saw. They had an email newsletter that featured “Lunar New Year Beauty Products.”

Some of the products are limited edition lunar new year special products. However, some brands just put something red out. At first, it felt lazy to me. But, I also understand that they’re only beauty brands. What they can do is somewhat limited unless they wanted to spend a fortune. A few did change their packaging such as Too Faced. SK-II put Mickey on the bottle claiming it’s because it’s the year of the mouse. Sure, the Chinese character refers to either a rat or mouse. However, a true marketer knows that for branding purposes, it’s important to stay consistent. Because CNY isn’t that well known/celebrated by Americans, maybe it’s better to just stick with the rat.

Disney

Going off of that, Disney had a few activations as announced through their blog. Such as one with Gucci…

and Uniqlo!

I think these are cute, but I stand by the idea of consistent branding. Why confuse those who don’t know too much about the celebrations for the lunar new year?

Chloé

For those who can afford to drop a few hundred dollars for a t-shirt, Chloé created a Woman’s Lunar New Year Line of bags, wallets, sneakers, and t-shirts. The collection’s artful and beautiful, but it somewhat feels like they’re using the lunar new year as an excuse to produce a new line. But, I guess that happens with a lot of things in retail. At least they did base it off of the rat.

Happy Year of the Rat!