Case Study: Top Brands' Mid-Autumn Marketing Strategies 中秋营销策略分析
China’s cultural background is quite unique, with a multitude of traditions and celebrations that are still mostly unknown to Western countries. Although in recent years China has also begun to recognize and celebrate some Western holidays, Chinese festivals are still irreplaceable marketing nodes and have become a reference point for Chinese consumers’ shopping timeline throughout the year. These peculiarities result in a series of marketing opportunities for brands to take on, which makes it necessary for Western brands to step up their game and get to know China’s cultural-related events on a much deeper level.
众所周知，中国是一个与西方拥有截然不同的文化背景的国家，这也就导致其在节日上的营销策略也与西方众国家大相径庭，尽管近年来随着文化融合，中国也开始认同并庆祝一些西方的经典节日，但中国的传统节日仍是独特的营销节点，值得入驻中国市场的品牌对此进行特别关注。
So how to combine holiday elements with brand promotion? Let us take the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival (October 1) as an example to showcase some basic holiday-marketing tips.
那么如何巧妙地将节日元素与品牌推广相结合？让我们以即将到来的中秋节（10月1日）为例，为您展示一些基本的节日营销应用技巧。
Click Background and Rabbit
Background
背景了解
Most traditional Chinese festivals have their own story and cultural elements that differentiate them from the rest. To understand how to implement a successful marketing strategy based on these festivals, it is crucial to have a better understanding of their historical background. For example, among the most popular festivals we have:
Dragon Boat Festival, which is related to Zongzi (a traditional Chinese rice-pudding) and Dragon Boats (a rowing competition with dragon shaped boats),
Qixi Festival, which is related to romance and magpies (it is said that on the day of Qixi, magpies will build a bridge to let the Cowherd and Weaving Girl meet each other), and we also talked about the marketing of the Qixi festival in our previous article,
Spring Festival, which is related to the New Year's Zodiac and the colour red (representing happiness and celebration).
大部分中国的传统节日都拥有专属的故事背景和文化元素，想要了解如何在这些节日上进行营销，对节日背景的了解是非常重要的一环，例如：
端午节与粽子、龙舟有关，
七夕节与爱情、喜鹊有关（关于七夕的节日营销情况我们在之前的文章中也有谈到），
春节与新年生肖、红色（代表喜庆）有关等。
Of course, the Mid-Autumn Festival also has its own background and elements. It is a day that symbolizes family reunion and closeness to home for Chinese people. The key related elements include the moon, rabbits, and moon cakes. The reason behind this is that China has a tradition of worshiping the moon since ancient times; in fact, it is said that on the fifteenth day of August in the lunar calendar, the moon will reach its brightest and roundest at this time of the year. This ancient belief explains why the Mid-Autumn has become a festival that is intrinsically associated with the moon. Another interesting fact is that ancient Chinese people also believed that people traveling far from home were able to enjoy the same moon as the one in their hometown, therefore when they were feeling homesick, they simply had to look at the moon to make them feel like returning to their hometown. What about the rabbit? This is related to the famous Goddess Chang’e and her pet Jade Rabbit, popular characters in traditional Chinese myths.
自然，中秋也有属于自己的背景和元素，它对中国人来说是一个象征着团圆、思乡的日子，重要的相关元素有月亮、兔子、月饼等——中国自古以来有祭祀月亮的传统，传说在农历八月十五这天，月亮会达到一年中最亮最圆的时候，因此中秋变成一个和月亮密不可分的节日；古人还认为在异地所见到的月亮和家乡的月亮是同一个，因此思乡思亲时看看月亮，就好像回到了家乡。至于兔子？这就是嫦娥奔月、玉兔捣药等中国传统神话故事的功劳了。
How to build marketing campaigns for Mid-Autumn Festival
月饼怎么“玩”
1. Play with Mooncakes
玩月饼
Now that we know more about the elements of the Mid-Autumn Festival, how can we use them for marketing purposes? The first option is strictly related to food: under any circumstances, food is believed to enhance the overall interest of consumers in any festival, and mooncakes offer a great opportunity for brands to work to align themselves with the celebratory mood. Based on this fact, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see several brands getting involved in the launch of co-branded mooncake gift boxes, which appear to be a great choice for gifts combined to an enhanced brand awareness (if the campaign is carried out successfully). What’s more, mooncakes offer a great selection of flavors, packaging options and overall design, thus becoming a perfectly flexible element that can be adapted to different brands and their consumers’ preferences.
在了解背景后，如何巧妙运用中秋元素为品牌进行营销就是一个见仁见智的答案。一般情况下如果节日有相关的传统食物，大部分品牌都会利用食物进行发挥，毕竟“民以食为天”可不只是一句口号，对中国人来说，吃可以有效提升节日的幸福感。那么对于中秋来说，最容易联想到的就是月饼了。许多品牌会在中秋到来之际推出联名款月饼礼盒，不论自用还是送人，都是非常好的选择。对月饼礼盒的设计又有许多不同的可发挥空间，主要是在包装设计和口味上有所区分。
In terms of packaging design, Luckin Coffee and Line Friends launched four co-branded mooncake gift sets this year, with a very cartoonish packaging style. Brands such as KFC and Naixue’s also jointly launched Chinese style mooncake sets with some images inspired by cultural institutions such as the Palace Museum. The packaging is full of Chinese elements, with special attention to light and delicately designed boxes. In fact, once emptied, the box can be used both as a jewelry container and storage box. The customized mooncake gift box launched by Xiaomi this year is also very interesting. It adopts the design of a music box and tapping the small box can trigger different instrument sounds, making it both interactive and innovative.
在包装设计上，今年瑞幸咖啡与Line Friends推出四款联名月饼礼盒，包装风格的设计偏向卡通化，活泼可爱；肯德基、奈雪的茶等品牌也分别与故宫之类的文博单位联名推出中国风的文创月饼礼盒，包装充满中国元素，轻巧别致，盒子还能用作首饰盒、收纳盒，具有环保意义；小米今年推出的定制月饼礼盒也非常有趣，采用音乐盒的设计，轻拍乐器小盒即可触发不同的乐器，带来鼓点伴奏。
In addition to the packaging, the flavors of mooncakes have become more and more distinctive. From the traditional mooncakes with five-nut filling, lotus paste and red bean paste, there are now various flavors that satisfy any consumer’s taste, such as mocha coffee chocolate flavor, peach oolong flavor, taro muddy flavor just to name a few, as the new mooncakes are getting closer to a kind of dessert. An Muxi also launched a special gift box this year, including two mooncakes with the same flavor of An Muxi yogurt and a bottle of mooncake-flavored yogurt, which shows a high level of creativity not only in terms of design but also flavors.
除了包装之外，月饼的口味也越来越有特点，从一开始传统的五仁、莲蓉、豆沙月饼，到现在各种新奇的口味，如摩卡咖啡巧克力口味、蜜桃乌龙口味、芋泥口味等，新式的月饼越来越趋近一种甜品。今年安慕希还推出了特色礼盒，包含两种安慕希酸奶同款口味的月饼和一瓶月饼味的酸奶，可谓创意十足。
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2. Taking cultural heritage
as the starting point
以文化底蕴为出发点
In addition to focusing on festive food, many brands also use other cultural elements for marketing, such as designing some related products (such as cups, cloth bags, notebooks for artistic creations). This year, Starbucks launched a series of cups with Mid-autumn elements, mainly inspired by the moon, rabbits, and sweet-scented Osmanthus (a tree that grows on the moon in traditional Chinese myths). The shapes are vivid and well-designed, and they have been adored by the public as soon as they were launched. In addition, they also launched a silk scarf material for Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake gift box, which is packed with contrasting silk scarves, which can be eaten and "worn", being both practical and fashionable.
除了在节日美食上做文章，许多品牌也会利用其他文化元素进行营销，包括但不限于设计一些周边产品（如杯子、布袋、笔记本）、进行文化或艺术创作等。今年星巴克就推出了一系列以中秋元素为主的杯子，主要以月亮、兔子、桂花（传说是生长在月亮上的树）为灵感，造型灵动可爱，一经推出就受到市场喜爱；除此之外他们还推出了丝巾款中秋礼盒，采用撞色丝巾对礼盒进行包装，能吃又能“穿”，兼具实用与时尚。
Bite me by click
In terms of cultural creations, the annual Mid-Autumn Festival competition is also a fierce battle as a means of how to link the significance of the holiday with brands and products, an ultimate test of creativity. In 2018, Hershey already launched the slogan "Mid-Autumn Festival with you is always a good time (Chinese pronunciation of Hershey) " and it is still used today, combining the brand name with the meaning of "Hope for Reunion" in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is both homey and romantic. Similarly, in 2019, Huawei also produced a short film where the story was about spending Mid-Autumn Festival night with family through the phone screen in order to promote the new P30 mobile phone released that year, highlighting the meaning of using technology to sharing love and connecting with family members, which positively impressed the audience thanks to these heartfelt emotions.
而在文化创作上，每年中秋节的文案比拼也是一场鏖战，如何能把节日寓意和品牌、产品联系在一起，这是一道对创意的极致考验。好时在2018年就推出了“有你的中秋，才是好时”的口号并沿用至今，将品牌名称与中秋“盼团圆”的寓意结合，温暖又浪漫。同样，在2019年，华为也为当年新款的P30手机拍摄制作了一部以通过手机与家人共享中秋团圆夜为主题的微电影，突出用科技温暖爱、缩短与家人之间的距离的寓意，也同样以人文情怀打动了观众。
With the fiercer competition of similar products in the market, consumers’ requirements for brand marketing strategies have also become higher and more sophisticated, particularly within holiday marketing campaigns. Only by combining creative skills with a strong connotation to the festival itself, can marketing methods make the difference in terms of both sales performance and brand reputation.
随着同类品在市场上的竞争日益激烈，观众（消费者）对品牌营销方式的要求也越来越高，特别是在节假日营销上，只有将技巧与节日本身内涵相结合的营销方法才更容易打动观众，获得销售业绩和品牌口碑的双重提升。
If you want to know how to better leverage the role of marketing in the Chinese holiday market, please contact us via email info@eastant.it.
想要了解如何更好地在中国节假日市场中发挥市场营销的作用，欢迎通过邮箱info@eastant.it联系我们。
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