Brands' crossover for WeChat lucky money

A red envelope, also known as lucky money, is a monetary gift often offered by elders. This is also a tradition over the Chinese New Year as a symbol of blessing and good fortune for the coming year.

WeChat red envelope, which started in 2014, is a digital version of red envelopes to friends and family over on WeChat. According to Tencent, let alone on the Chinese new year’s eve in 2018, a total of RMB 14.2 billion (USD 2 billion) red envelopes were created and started a new trend of giving lucky money. As WeChat is widely used in China, people are more used to e-money.

In times of Covid, many brands shifted their resources to digital marketing and e-commerce as consumers have changed their shopping habits. This year, more luxury and technology brands such as Gucci, LV, Tiffany, Vivo, ZTE, Bilibili, and Tencent Games have launched a limited red envelope design cross-over other characters. In early Feb, the popularity and search of these crossover designs have surpassed other popular keywords.

Gucci collaborated with the Japanese manga series Doraemon to launch their red envelope. This attracted a lot of Doraemon fans who rushed to register for Gucci’s WeChat account followers. Some fans complained that it was difficult to get one due to its limited availability even they have waited for hours to get in.

This is a win-win digital marketing strategy for Chinese New Year promotion and brand building. The price of WeChat red envelopes is RMB 1 per piece, which a lot of users are happy to pay. More importantly, the brand can attract more WeChat users and grow its fan base.

Unlike previous years where brands would be printing out physical Chinese New Year special red pockets for their customers, Covid-Chinese New Year pushed brands to be more creative in building their online presence.

Taobao-styled Chinese New Year

The Spring Festival travel season, also known as Chunyun in China, is the year’s peak travelling period with extremely busy traffic. Millions of people return home from work or study to reunite with their family and friends. Yet, this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations and gatherings are forced to be cancelled due to Covid, leaving a lot of people spending the holiday away from home.

Taobao, one of the largest Chinese e-commerce websites, launched the “A Taobao-styled Chinese New Year” campaign, providing consumers with a choice to send new year gifts remotely. Taobao’s 100,000 shops on the site will continue to operate and promise to deliver goods within 48 hours after consumers place their orders during the festive period.

On the first day of the campaign, the searches for “new year’s goods” on Taobao have surged by 240% on the Internet. Many people started buying Chinese traditional new year goods and indoor entertainment products such as Mahjong to prepare for a stay-at-home celebration.

In addition to Covid, the government’s support also helped to mark Taobao’s success. On January 21, the government announced that it would hold the “2021 Online New Year Fair” to promote online shopping on new year's goods for all e-commerce platforms in China. Meanwhile, the rapid development of e-commerce also makes “Taobao-styled Chinse New Year” feasible.

Many stores and service delivery will be suspended during this Chinese festive period. Taobao’s campaign in promising a normal operation and giving out discounts helped to make this year’s Chinese New Year a bit different.

Singaporean’s digital and green CNY

On January 22, the Singaporean government said they predict more social activities would happen due to the celebration of the Chinese New Year, which may increase the spread of Covid. To tackle that, the government plans to place restrictions on the festivities and advised citizens to plan for virtual gatherings instead.

In response to this, the Chingay parade, a traditional Singaporean street parade to celebrate Chinese New Year, will go digital this year. To promote the event, a dance challenge #HawkerCultureJingle is on TikTok. It appeals to and engages with more audiences, particularly the younger generations.

The Singaporean government also encouraged citizens to do e-gifting via digital payment platforms for their family and friends, to reduce the outbreak of Covid. In terms of environmental sustainability, this helped to reduce carbon emissions as printing out and giving new banknotes is seen as a tradition for Chinese New Year. The annual production of new notes is estimated to be around 330 tonnes - that energy used in the production is enough to charge 5.7 million smartphones in Singapore for five days.

This Covid-Chinese New Year offers an opportunity to spread the benefits of e-gifting, marking a new tradition for the festive season.

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