On September 10th, 2022, the Chinese will observe one of its biggest holidays, coming in third after the Spring Festival and National Day. Mid-Autumn Festival it’s a time to celebrate with family and friends and to enjoy the short days that come before winter. The festival is also known as Moon Festival due to its association with moonlight and new moon observations. 1.2 billion Chinese people celebrate the mid-autumn festival and spend an average of 100-299 yuan per person on mooncakes alone, aside from food, toys, and other presents.
It is also a family holiday that can be enjoyed by all generations in China, especially children who get to enjoy games with their parents or grandparents. Mid-Autumn Festival marks the end of summer and harvesting season, so it’s no surprise that many people go shopping for new clothes and gifts during this time too!
However, 2022 is the start of the new normal – we have come a long way since the pandemic started in 2020, but new challenges lay ahead. With the recent lockdowns, economic uncertainty, tech layoffs, high youth unemployment, and challenging geopolitical situations this summer, this year’s Mid-Autumn festival will be celebrated differently. Compared to the past year, brand promotions for this year will likely be more muted and understated.
Here’s the 5 ways to maximize your mid autumn campaign in 2022.
1. Surprise your target audience with an out-of-the-box mid-autumn aesthetic for your brand
- Use the mid-autumn theme to create a unique aesthetic. If you are going for an especially creative look, try using your brand’s color palette, logo, and other elements in unexpected ways. Try to mix Chinese lunar images into your theme.
- Use the holiday’s theme to your advantage. Remixing existing graphics can give your campaign a fresh feel while still maintaining familiarity with customers who might have seen it before.
- Tweak your logos and themes to fit a more amazing mid-autumn aesthetic by changing their colors or adding moon stickers or lantern decals on them.
- Don’t be afraid to be quirky and unconventional—people love being surprised! You can also use custom expressions that reflect your brand and the festival alike, for example, “May the Moon Be With You” as a derivative of the famous “May the Force be with You” of Star Wars franchise. Instead of just saying “Happy Festival”, custom expressions can make your campaign more memorable. When people use this greeting, they are reminded of your brand while at the same time greeting others.
- Introduce memorabilia and food items whenever applicable! Mooncakes are huge when it comes to this season. You can get creative with different mooncake designs, seasonal teas, fruit baskets, or wines with funny or smart packaging. Louis Vuitton even made a unique mooncake packaging that reflected their luxury brand.
2. Use digital avenues to advertise your brands.
Digital advertising is an effective way to reach your target audience during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Brands in China often use WeChat, Weibo and other social media platforms to advertise their products.
Source: sohu.com
- Create video ads that highlight the characteristics of the product or service you offer, as well as its benefits for consumers.
- Use photos and graphics with related hashtags to engage with customers on social media platforms like Facebook by posting images that show how happy people are when they use your products or services.
- Communicate directly with customers through live video streams on popular Chinese livestreaming platforms with KOLs (DouYin, TaoBao Live, or Tmall Live). People easily trust KOLs, and they also bring their fans with them and could enlarge your customer base. They can even share this experience with friends!
3. Engage the public with e-competitions and user-generated content (UGC)
Source: cbndata.com & sohu.com
Your mid-autumn festival campaign should be both fun and engaging, which is why we recommend you give away prizes to loyal customers. Besides, it will also encourage them to share their stories about buying from your brand. You can even have them vote for your brand in social media polls! Do not forget about discount coupons or free samples as well. If there’s enough demand for that type of promotion, consider partnering with other brands so that they hold the competition for you (or vice versa).
Furthermore, why not run a promotion where someone has to solve three riddles within 24 hours? Or host trivia competitions? This way, at least two target bases get involved: consumers who already love what they’ve seen on TV or heard at work/home, as well as potential consumers who don’t know anything about your company yet but may be interested once they see how much fun it is!
4. Integrate your brand values with Chinese consumers’ values
Integrate your brand values with Chinese consumers‘ values. Mid-autumn Festival is a friends-and-family experience, so your brand is better off integrating Chinese consumer values with your campaign. For example, Fendi, the make-up brand, released a 15-second animation that shows Chinese elements (full moon standing for unity, family, and the Panda, which is China’s national treasure) by showing a family enjoying an evening dinner together while burning incense sticks at the home front porch.
Source: Official Weibo @Fendi
This shows the sincerity of your brand and appeals to Chinese people’s sentiments about family and tradition through different cultural references, like a full moon.
These five post-pandemic Chinese consumer values should also be integrated where they can with your mid-autumn campaign.
- Be health-centric as possible by highlighting the health and holistic living benefits of your products.
- Being accessible through your online activities also helps your campaign. You should have incentives that are easily accessed through your online campaign.
- Appeal to Chinese values and ideals, just like what Fendi did. Show elements of your campaign that shows Chinese cultural values (like the moon, the deity Chang’e, or familial settings).
- Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth! Aside from the organic referral by friends and family, your brand can benefit from the KOLs specializing in your niche.
- Put more emphasis on brand engagement and experience because it leaves a positive note with your clients. For example, try the gamification trend with WeChat’s mini-programs, or if you want to do it online, pop-up shops at certain gatherings could also benefit your brand.
5. Do a viral campaign on WeChat
Source: Jiahua Official Wechat
Viral marketing is a strategy to spread a message or a product by word of mouth. It’s usually done in the form of an online campaign, but it can also be used for offline events like concerts and festivals. Viral WeChat campaigns work because people are more likely to share something that makes them happy or excited, so you want to make sure your content is both emotionally appealing and entertaining at the same time. For example, Vivi Dolce’s mid-autumn campaign on Tencent was extremely successful because while Tencent has strict rules, they worked around them. Vivi created an animated storyboard that encouraged people to share them in their WeChat groups. The story was heartfelt and emotional enough that people easily shared it. They also further incentivized it by awarding a mooncake box if people shared it 68 times. As expected, it was wildly successful as people shared not just the emotional appeal of the storyboard but they were also getting a mooncake out of it.
Despite the economic challenges, delays in the global supply chain, and a looming worldwide recession, there are opportunities for foreign brands to grow in China. Today, like never before, it is crucial to know how to properly appeal to Chinese consumers. Building genuine connections with them will solidify your position in the Chinese market.
Conclusion
In 2022, your brand has to be in touch with your target audience’s pulse. You can maximize your campaign with these five steps: create an out-of-the-box mid-autumn aesthetic, leverage your digital avenues for advertising, engage the public through UGC and e-competitions, do viral WeChat campaigns, and integrate your brand values with Chinese consumer values to make them relate easily with your brand.
If you are looking for market research and a digital marketing strategy for China, Alarice can help. We can give you that research to use in-house or execute it for you, from campaign planning for the next Mid-Autumn Festival or even Double Eleven, to social media marketing in China and product naming services.
Check out our bi-weekly newsletter to get insights about China’s digital media, market segments, consumers, ecommerce platforms, tech giants and more. Feel free to contact us with your burning questions so we can help you excel.
