The Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, officially starts on 22 January this year. It is usually celebrated in most Chinese-speaking areas. The rabbit is the 4th animal in the Chinese zodiac in 2023, and the tiger was the symbol of last year. When the Chinese market is the second largest market for luxury goods, fashion houses reveal their capsule collections or marketing campaigns to get this huge market’s attention. 

In Chinese culture, people usually wear new clothes on the first day of the new year to wish them good luck from the beginning of the year. People also believe red is a colour to present happiness and luck, and black and white often are unlucky colours to avoid wearing. Also, after enjoying the reunion dinner on the eve of last year, people usually start visiting relatives and friends during holidays. Commonly, guests will prepare some gifts for hosts. These are why people spend more money during holidays and why brands try hard to seize this business opportunity.

Like fashion curator Pooky Lee said, Chinese New Year is an opportunity for designers to demonstrate their ability to make localised creative expressions of culture. However, after several years of misuse and misunderstanding of Chinese culture, like controversial ads and offensive private messages from Dolce & Gabbana and its founder Stefano Gabbana in 2018, the brand is still struggling to win back the Chinese market. Now brands take it seriously with careful approaches to this market. So this year, there are four common approaches for luxury houses to honour the year of the rabbit.

The rabbit capsule collection

There are 12 animals to present zodiac signs, and it offers brands a lot of stories to tell. For example, the past year was the year of the tiger, and most brands put tigers into their design by adapting the animal characters, patterns or motifs. So the rabbit, as the cute and energetic animal, is a good one to develop some series for a lovely spring mood. 

Loewe launched its rabbit collection very early in late last year. It puts a knot at the top of the new version Hammock bag to present the rabbit’s ear, and there is also a bunny bag with a pom-pom tail. Burberry combines rabbit motifs in its TB monogram, created by the last creative director Riccardo Tisci on their accessible items like scarves. Also, the ears are positioned as hearts to catch the eyeball. Louis Vuitton also put an embroidered rabbit patch wearing a house monogram scarf.

Collaboration with rabbit cartoon stars

As collaboration is a popular marketing strategy nowadays, collaborating with well-famous cartoons is also a practical way to make a splash on the internet and boost sales. Moschino is famous for putting cartoon characters in its design to create fun. Last year it collaborated with A Kitschy Tony, and this time it works with Bugs Bunny to launch a collection from the scarf-print pattern and the cartoon rabbit-shape bag. England historical bag brand Mulberry features Dutch bunny Miffy on its iconic Mini Bayswater bags or other leather accessories with the typical colour like orange, green and yellow from the cartoon rabbit. 

Red edition products

As red colour considers auspicious, some brands put their iconic products in red colour instead of developing a new item or rabbit collection. Like Prada unveiled its “Memories of Beauty” campaign, which was photographed by Nick Yang and featured Chinese Models and actresses. They wear new arrivals and iconic items in red, like the Moon bag. So Chinese celebrities, the brand’s signature products and holiday mood can all be seen in one ad. It is a practical approach to reduce the risk of creating stocks from the specific holiday collection but not losing the market’s attention.

Ad campaigns to the narrative of the festival

Instead of focusing on rabbits, some brands work with local artists or celebrities to express the meaning of this event. For example, Bottega Veneta released a film called “Reunion in Motion” to portray characters back home with the simple slogan” On the road, Happy New Year.” The brand also set off a month-long train to cross china with the brand’s signature green and the slogan on both sides to attract a larger audience from the route from major cities to mountainous villages.

Generally, these ways help brands get attention and be involved in this celebration. Brands take this event to show their creativity and build engagement with more audiences. And these campaigns can also help brands boost their sales and demonstrate their understanding and respect for the market’s differences at the same time.