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    We Pick the 7 Cutest (and Smartest) ‘Year of the Pig’ WeChat Campaigns

    Many luxury brands are channeling this year’s charming zodiac character (the pig) to create a wealth of different motifs, hoping to bring lots of Chinese holiday spirit to consumers.
    Gucci celebrates the Year of the Pig
    Ruonan ZhengAuthor
      Published   in Retail

    Many luxury brands are channeling this year’s charming zodiac character (the pig) to create a wealth of different motifs, hoping to bring lots of Chinese holiday spirit to consumers.

    The results are not disappointing (I mean, how can you go wrong with a cute little pink pig (unless you're Bvlgari)?). Thanks to a group of savvy WeChat campaigns, Chinese consumers are praising many brands’ creative ideas this year, including Gucci’s nostalgic themes (Disney’s three little pigs), Dior’s new pattern for a series of China bags, and Longchamp’s collaboration with the famous blogger Mr. Bags that began back in the middle of December.

    Below Jing Daily highlights those campaigns as well as some other successful ones:

    Gucci#

    Gucci captured the holiday spirit by overwhelming Chinese consumers with tons of pig motif goods, many of which featured Disney's three little pigs on products like a wallet (about 1,461), a watch (1,918) , handbags (2,051) and sneakers (885). On January 10th, the brand published a long-form WeChat article, titled “The Gucci Pig Family,” which was filled with fun images of cute pigs photographed by British artist and filmmaker Frank Lebon. The post also linked those product images to a mini-program where consumers could buy goods via WeChat as well as download fun CNY-inspired chat stickers.

    The Gucci WeChat campagn
    The Gucci WeChat campagn

    Gucci is hands-down the winner of CNY WeChat campaigns this year, based on the fashion house’s positive customer feedback and stunning campaign engagement. “Such creative copywriting, the products are too cute,” remarked one user named A Ju, while another commented, “Who says luxury brands can never do justice with a zodiac theme? Just look at Gucci.” So far the post has garnered more than 100,000 page views and 644 people have recommended it.

    Dior#

    Unlike most luxury brands who opted to interpret Chinese New Year with a pig motif (an easy approach to winning consumers' hearts), Dior’s CNY WeChat campaign this year demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of Chinese culture and aesthetics by decorating products with a new pattern called Toile de Jouy that features elegant tree branches in red and white. Published on January 14th, their post has garnered 51,000 page views and 72 people have recommended it so far. When clicking on the WeChat post, users were directed to a beautiful H5 campaign with music and an introduction to the products, which highlighted three classic handbags: the Lady Dior, the Book Tote, and the Saddle, all of which were exclusively made for the China market with limited numbers available.

    Mulberry#

    The UK leather goods brand Mulberry released multiple posts on WeChat to celebrate CNY. The visuals were a refreshing interpretation of traditional Chinese icons like bamboo and a Chinese temple, but with a more modern watercolor-style twist. The first post debuted an exclusive China handbag collection called Seaton (from about 1,402 to 1,727), the second one included cute pig-themed stickers, and in the third and final one, the brand revealed how consumers can purchase these at Tmall's luxury portal Luxury Pavillion and win a bag through an interactive game on WeChat.

    Longchamp#

    Longchamp was one of the first brands to begin their CNY campaign on December 13th, which kicked off the first round of CNY celebrations in collaboration with Shanghai-based Chinese fashion blogger Mr. Bags. The result was a pig-themed handbag featured in a lookbook with Chinese stars Tiffany Tang (唐嫣), Wu Lei (吴磊), Chinese model Xi Mengyao (奚梦瑶), and many others. To continue maximizing the star bloggers’ influence, a second post featured Mr. Bags fans at meet-and-greets from around the globe. The first stop was Shanghai’s Jing An Kerry Centre where celebrity Lin Yanjun and a small real pig were present. Closer to CNY, on December 27th, the brand debuted Mr. bags’ tweak of their classic Le Pilage tote – a PVC bag with a snout-like pouch. Consumers could purchase all CNY collections at their online boutique store via Mr. Bags’ favorite platform, WeChat.

    Cartier#

    The jewelry and watchmaker Cartier didn’t launch an exclusive product for CNY right away, but they did announce the first ever Cartier bag on January 10th: the Papillon bag (about 2,169), which is in the shape of a Cartier jewelry box. Their Chinese WeChat post highlighted a red version – a traditional CNY color – and it had gotten 55,000 page views with more than 200 recommendations so far. A week after this, the brand debuted an exclusive Chinese watch collection to celebrate the holiday: Clé de Cartier (in pink leather strap) priced at about 8,559. The first 88 customers who made the pre-order via Cartier’s WeChat boutique store won some extra benefits, and both Cartier posts had received a high level of engagement.

    Chloe#

    For Chloe’s WeChat CNY campaign, the brand collaborated with Indian artist Rithika Merchant for a series of various products (t-shirts, sneakers, and handbags) decorated in the artist’s elegant, hand-painted style. The products were featured in lookbooks where they were rocked by popular celebrities like Wang Luodan (王珞丹), Songqian (宋茜), and Tiffany Tang (唐嫣). So far, the post had garnered 12,000 page views with 57 recommendations, but instead of directing consumers to purchase digitally (like most brands do), Chloe encouraged consumers to check out the products in their boutique stores. Their second post, which was published 5 days later, offered special CNY WeChat stickers of images transformed into good wishing words. “The cutest pig exclusive product among all luxury brands,” praised one user named Yumi. Another one called MissYoga said: “Those piggies look blessed!”

    Swarovski#

    On January 10th, Swarovski detailed a day in the life of a 猪猪女孩 (piggy girl) on WeChat with all kinds of pig-themed Swarovski accessories and jewelry (priced at about 190). The post encouraged female consumers to treat themselves by buying a Swarovski gift, but it also gave them the chance to win a CNY red envelope. At the end, it directed customers to a product page on JD.com where consumers can read reviews about products and purchase them via WeChat Pay. So far, the post has pageviews of 64,000 and 129 people recommended it.

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