How do big brands “borrow the bull” for marketing in 2021?

In the framework of traditional Chinese culture, the ox is indeed a rare and auspicious creature that is close to the people. From its image to its meaning, from the elegant expression "牛气冲天" to the vulgar expression "兄弟牛X", all of them are regarded as compliments. As the "happy ox year" is approaching, major brands have already geared up to start a marketing war. Among them are heartwarming, tear-jerking, and of course, unique ones. Next, let’s take stock of the creative ideas that major brands have come up with for the Year of the Ox!

Adidas

All-star cast performs "New Year's Wishes Must Come True"

The festive culture of the Spring Festival is not only about scene-based creation, but also about products that can be worn on the body. This year's Adidas New Year's film redefines the Year of the Ox with trendy and fashionable young culture, and joins hands with many celebrities to bring New Year's blessings for all the best in the Year of the Ox. Many celebrity spokespersons including Liu Yifei, Eason Chan, Jackson Yee, Janine Chang, and Wang Shengdi appeared in the event to send everyone New Year's greetings of "May the Year of the Ox be full of energy and vigor." Compared with last year's national trend with a strong court atmosphere, this year's overall style is dominated by warm reunion and daily life scenes, with a bit more of the flavor of the Chinese New Year.

The finished film is edited from 15-second solo short films of each star. Liu Yifei still continues her heroic Mulan character from last year, and the shots in the film pay tribute to classic clips from the movie "Mulan". The main purpose of the New Year advertisement is of course to promote the new products of the Year of the Ox New Year series. This year's New Year series is still dominated by Chinese style elements and Chinese red. The official introduction states that the new products "use auspicious and imaginative graphic elements to create a unique sporty and energetic Year of the Ox style."

Moncler

Celebrating the Year of the Ox with Chinese Kung Fu

To celebrate the arrival of the Chinese Year of the Ox, luxury down brand Moncler has collaborated with Chinese photographer Leslie Zhang to launch the 2021 Lunar New Year series. In traditional cognition, the ox is a symbol of strength, and Kung Fu is the epitome and ultimate display of strength. Through the performance of Kung Fu, a visual celebration is created.

As a unique form of traditional Chinese culture, the value of Kung Fu lies in dedication, strength and absolute concentration, which helps to reach the peak of one's potential. These qualities are intertwined with the protective and pioneering spirit advocated by Moncler.

McDonald's

Create a special episode of "Nezha" on New Year's Eve

Last year, Mengniu teamed up with Jiang Ziya, Sun Wukong and Nezha to celebrate the New Year together. This year, McDonald's crossed over with "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" to create a brand-exclusive spin-off, created by the original team to continue the popularity of Chinese animation.

The advertisement focuses on the reunion on New Year's Eve. Mrs. Yin is absent from the New Year's Eve dinner because a monster appears in the city. The cute Nezha means well but ends up setting the house on fire. In the end, the people celebrate the reunion with McDonald's "Bull Gold Bucket" as a thank you gift. The short and concise story perfectly restores Nezha's cute image of being tough on the outside but soft on the inside. He obviously cares very much about reuniting with his family and wants to cook the New Year's Eve dinner himself. Although it causes quite a bit of trouble, he is finally reunited with his family.

Through this classic Chinese comic IP, McDonald's conveys the beautiful wishes of family reunion on New Year's Eve in the voice of Nezha, allowing every bit of love to be delivered through the new product "Ox Lucky Gold Bucket" for the Year of the Ox. Through this culturally rich media creative expression, it not only achieves exposure to the circles of diverse young groups, but also allows people to feel a touch of brand warmth in many Spring Festival marketing campaigns.

Anta

Capture consumers’ minds with exclusive new products for “newborn calves”

There is no doubt that cross-border has become an indispensable word in the current trend. From tradition to modernity, from the East to the West, brands are exploring the intrinsic connections between each other, trying to create a brand new CP feeling. Especially in the current Spring Festival marketing scenario, how can we create brand differentiation and memorability in the Spring Festival marketing wave? Anta Children gave a reference answer.

As a new product for the Spring Festival consumption scene, the 2021 "Newborn Calf" New Year children's clothing series uses the concept of "newborn calf" in the product concept, which fits the tenacity and strength of the zodiac ox in the Spring Festival scene, and also presents the child's sharpness and enterprising spirit. In addition to expressing the brand's child-oriented characteristics, it also effectively differentiates itself from other brands.

Secondly, in terms of the expression of product ideas, ANTA Children, relying on the new national trend of "keeping the classics and integrating the modern", under the theme of "newborn calves", cross-border integration of "traditional culture" and "modern art", uses the main color of Chinese red to deeply connect different Chinese cultural elements such as the zodiac ox, tiger, crane and patterns of Chinese classical culture with modern illustration art, forming a strong visual impact, breaking through with the power of products and forming a brand new brand texture. The patterns and rhythm of nature further interpret the brand appeal of the vitality of a "newborn calf".

Weibo

The Ox's luck is great, and the "Cattle Raising Story" is hilarious

At the beginning of the New Year, everyone naturally wants to be full of blessings, and the Year of the Ox should be even more prosperous. In order to start a new year of blessings, Weibo launched the 2021 #福牛新春旅行记# national interactive event, and a "raising cattle" promotional video conveyed the brand's wishes for the Year of the Ox.

The advertisement tells the story of Niu Baiwan who became famous overnight thanks to a "lucky cow" in Dayan Village where everyone raises cattle. Niu Baiwan, who tried hard to open an inn, was deserted at first. However, because his cow rubbed against a painter's painting, the painting became a famous painting, and his cow became a lucky cow. With multiple reports, the magic of the lucky cow fermented again, prompting countless netizens to check in and take photos, and Niu Baiwan also made a fortune from it.

The theme of "You are just one cow away from being a great man" seems very dramatic, but in fact, Weibo uses humorous and witty expression methods to explain that the lucky cow is just a reward for hard work, and persistence is victory. After experiencing the difficult 2020, 2021 will naturally be full of good fortune.

Erie

Drink from the ox horn bottle in the Year of the Ox

In order to deepen the sense of ritual of the New Year, Yiran has started a deeper interaction with Generation Z, combining Yiran’s unique brand symbol, the "ox horn bottle" packaging, with the Year of the Ox, calling on consumers to "drink from the ox horn bottle in the Year of the Ox." The specially launched Yiran Milk Mineral Milk Tea New Year limited gift box has cute packaging and is full of festive atmosphere.

At the same time, in conjunction with the gift box and the New Year season, a set of six New Year "Oxen Caps" have been creatively developed. Open the "Start 2021" good luck label on the bottle cap, and you can randomly get 6 different New Year good luck blessings: "Good for health preservation", "Good for getting rich", "Good for getting out of singleness", "No Mercury retrograde", "No blame", "Oxenen"... Ask for a popular start and start good luck for the new year~

Nongfu Spring

Taurus Zodiac Bottle

Starting with the Golden Monkey Bottle in 2016, Nongfu Spring has launched limited edition zodiac bottles every year that are only given away and not sold, and this has been going on for five years. Today, zodiac commemorative packaging has become a staple item in Nongfu Spring’s New Year marketing campaign.

This year, Nongfu Spring launched its limited edition "Year of the Ox Zodiac Bottle" glass bottled water. The bottle continues the tradition of this series and uses illustrations to depict a vivid image of a bull. There are two products: carbonated mineral water and still mineral water. The green carbonated mineral water is a sturdy Taurus, while the still mineral water is a happy Taurus family.

That’s all we have to say about the heartwarming Year of the Ox creativity for now. After all, what more people want to see is a brand success. So next we will take stock of the “non-main Ox” limited edition products of major brands this year!

Looking back at the Spring Festivals of the past few years, there have always been some big brands that have firmly rooted themselves in the local masses, and the New Year products exude an irrepressible festive atmosphere from the inside out. This year, the major brands have once again lived up to expectations. Perhaps he truly understood the true meaning of the Chinese zodiac, which is why he was able to display the "ugly ox" to the fullest.

GUCCI

I have horns on my head

In the fashion circle, the two most twisted luxury brands are Gucci and LV. Although they are the leaders in the industry, they always give people a long-standing and deep-rooted sense of obsolescence and a sense of disharmony that they are trying desperately to catch up with the footsteps of young people but are unable to do so. But this year's LV is quite unexpected, completely getting rid of its old-fashioned look. u1s1, this limited storage box of the split cow is quite cute~

Not only the storage box, but also Lv’s original classic model paired with the split-cow pattern is also very cool!

In contrast, Gucci, under the interweaving of two complex emotions, finally drove itself crazy and came up with this limited series that industry insiders found difficult to judge - it looks childish when worn by adults and old-fashioned when worn by children, with bright and colorful high-saturation colors and trendy new clothes sold at farmers' markets. Dye Doraemon a color and add some horns to create Gucci's unique Year of the Ox limited edition.

Dior

Dreaming back to Metersbonwe

In this colorful comparison of the age of the ox, Dior, as the leading industry leader in luxury goods, also set a stunning example. Although Zheng Shuang has been removed from the entertainment industry, the Dior x Shawn Stussy Year of the Ox joint series can still take you back to Chu Yuxuan's Metersbonwe.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn't tell for a moment whether I was a rich second-generation wearing luxury goods, or a JD delivery guy rushing to deliver a package.

Burberry

Catch the Spring Festival travel rush

At the 2019 fashion show, LV led all major brands in launching a vigorous snakeskin sack trend, but I never dreamed that the ultimate audience of luxury goods would be migrant workers. Under the ridicule of the majority of netizens, LV could only put aside its concern for the grassroots. And this year, this force has revived at Burberry.

Burberry's latest limited edition for the Year of the Ox is tailor-made for children of migrant workers from head to toe. Wear it when traveling between Paris and Shanghai, and you will not be a fashion week trendsetter, but the first migrant population to be taken for nucleic acid testing. Even the supermodel temperament of the eldest cousin can't save Burberry, Can U?

APPLE

Limited logo for the Year of the Ox, netizens: It looks like a pig!

In order to soothe the hearts of Chinese Apple fans, Apple also designed a limited edition logo for the Year of the Ox this year. The logo uses red as the main color, and adds a cow's head element to the brand's classic "bitten apple" graphic. This time, the new logo obviously failed to satisfy consumers. Not only did some netizens think that the "bangs" design reminded them of the hairstyle of the alpacas, but some people also stared at the big nostrils of the cow and mistakenly saw the logo as a "pig". At present, this new logo for the Year of the Ox has been used on the official website.

In addition, Apple also launched the AirPods Pro Year of the Ox limited edition. The product added a ox logo to the original charging box, and added a touch of the Year of the Ox to the charging box through engraving. The logo design is presented in the form of an open cow's head, with a playful calf's head emerging from the head.

With the continuous cultural output, the Spring Festival is no longer just a festival for Chinese people. More countries are feeling the charm of the Spring Festival and celebrating the festival together. Many international brands have also begun to plan this important node of Spring Festival marketing. From the above we can also see that some are sincere while others are perfunctory, some express their true feelings while others hype and act crazy to attract attention, but I believe that consumers have sharp eyes, and we will give back to the brands the same power as what the brands bring to us.

Whether it is the continuous exploration of Spring Festival culture by local brands or the localized marketing of international brands using the Spring Festival as a medium, all of them demonstrate the far-reaching influence of the "New Year flavor" of the Spring Festival. Although the Spring Festival has not officially arrived, the brand's marketing campaign has already begun. How to create a more contagious and resonant Spring Festival classic marketing case in the full "New Year flavor" is worth waiting for.