Gong Xi Fai Chai
by Sarah Reiter on Feb 2, 2011
The first day of the Chinese new year and year of the Rabbit begins for more than a billion people around the globe on 2 February 2011. For weeks now every country throughout Asia has been bathed in the luscious, festive colours of rich reds, vibrant golds and every permutation of rabbit forms imaginable. Every household is decorating their home with symbols of prosperity and good fortune.
At the heart of FutureBrand is creativity, whether it be expressed visually or in the form of our outlook, counsel or strategy solutions. For our teams throughout the South East Asia corridor and Greater China this time of year is exciting and vibrant. This auspicious lunar event offers rich creative territory that inspires people from all walks of life and draws out the inner artist in us all.
Every year brands must prepare themselves for the commercial opportunities cultural events like Christmas and Chinese New Year can deliver. A potent retail frenzy commences as new cars are purchased with pride, gifts exchanged with love and new clothes bought to demonstrate prosperity.
And repeatedly the region’s brands respond by theming communications and innovating products with vigor, and occasional brilliance.
Visually, there are some base elements to choose from including red, gold, rabbits, paper-cuts, oranges, the peach blossom, chrysanthemum flowers and lanterns to name only a handful. The propitious sentiments of “good fortune”, “prosperity”, “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity” feature universally.
Armed with inspiration and a palette of well understood of seasonal creative ingredients, brand owners have the opportunity and challenge to cut through the frenzy with differentiated and innovative communications which simultaneously sell product while enriching the equities of their brand. For many brands, the nature of this enrichment is the expression of their local market sensitivity and demonstration of their cultural connectedness.
But for many a predictable and narrow interpretation of the theme pushes their brand back into the noisy seasonal mass of communication sameness. Take for example these Singaporean BMW and Mercedes ads, seemingly identical, with BMW edging slightly ahead with the use of the good-fortune-number 6886 on the number plate – hardly differentiated nor brand building for these arch-rivals in Singapore’s hyper-competitive premium auto sector.
Sincerity is key during the holiday season for both people and brands. McDonalds in Hong Kong captured this beautifully with a clever take on the Ang Pao tradition of giving small red envelopes containing cash (and blessings) to visiting friends and relatives. The ad features a little girl who uses the red McDonald’s French Fries box instead of the normal envelope. Nicely done.
The authenticity of a brand’s product authority is also drawn into question when simple repackaging or variation replaces real product innovation. Are consumers taking stock and recharging their brand perceptions as McDonald’s Double Fortune Fillet vies for the dining dollar against Pizza Hut’s Prosperity Pizza?
The communications landscape may be crowded this time of year but largely with sameness and insincerity. For the brand owner who invests in a quality creative process that visually differentiates and authentically engages consumers by showing real insight into what it is that people love about the season, thematic branding can represent tremendous opportunity and good fortune.
