CHINESE NEW YEAR: THE CAPSULE COLLECTIONS CREATED BY BRANDS
Chinese New Year is approaching and China will soon enter the Year of the Rabbit. The rabbit is the fourth animal of the Chinese zodiac and symbolises longevity, mercy, elegance and prosperity. As is customary in the run-up to this festival, Chinese people prepare to welcome the new year in great style, decorating streets, homes and shops; during this period brands, both domestic and international, also pay particular attention to the New Year celebrations, creating unique limited-edition products.
Many brands enjoy creating capsule collections for Chinese New Year, and many also choose to collaborate with others to bring a unique and surprising product to market. This year every sector, from beauty to fashion and coffee, tried to ride the New Year wave to gain extra visibility.
BOSS
BOSS, a German luxury brand, unveiled a capsule collection starring the world’s most iconic rabbit: Bugs Bunny. With this playful campaign, BOSS shows respect for China’s tradition and history, while bringing back childhood memories for the many generations who grew up with the unforgettable, funny cartoon character, allowing it to engage strongly with consumers and strengthen its bond with them. To convey New Year wishes, the collection offers an exclusive selection of knitwear and outerwear for men and women featuring a unique red-coloured Bugs Bunny. The new pieces were worn by a cast of fresh faces led by Wang Shun, the new BOSS brand ambassador and Chinese Olympic swimmer. Above all, to better appeal to Gen Z, BOSS stepped up its social media engagement by releasing classic WeChat hongbao and rabbit stickers.
Nespresso
Nespresso launched its “Patchwork Rabbit” collaboration to celebrate the 2023 Spring Festival. The capsule features the rabbit reimagined by Chinese talent Angel Chen. It includes coffee machine gift packs, travel mugs, cotton bags, chopsticks, capsule coffee sets and red envelopes: items themed around festive gift-giving and the reunion of family and friends. Chen’s motifs and textures were integrated into the gift box design, with the rabbit as the key motif of the fun, playful team-up.
L’Oréal
L’Oréal Paris unveiled its collaboration with local collectible toy brand RobbiART, which includes a series of gift boxes and large, modern-design limited-edition toys. The beauty brand’s products come in special packaging with red and gold details, both colours representing prosperity, luxury and joy in Chinese culture. Besides the gift boxes, the collectible Robbi rabbits were released in limited quantities on the Dewu app (also known as Poizon) and Xiaohongshu. In recent years collectible toys have become one of the main consumer trends among Chinese millennials and Gen Z. The collectible toy market grew from 970 million dollars (6.3 billion RMB) in 2015 to 3.2 billion dollars (20.7 billion RMB) in 2019, a compound growth rate of 34.6%. The market is expected to keep growing and to exceed 11.7 billion dollars (76 billion RMB) in 2024, according to iiMedia Research.
The Spring Festival is a crucial moment in the lunar calendar, and the brands above made good use of it by creating campaigns and collaborations perfectly in tune with the season. Many brands adopt this kind of strategy; what matters is knowing how to use it to your advantage rather than putting yourself in a bad light. Careful research and analysis, not only of the market but also of Chinese tradition, is essential before embarking on such targeted marketing strategies.
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