Lunar New Year Limited Edition: Successful Marketing or Cultural Misreading?
by Catherine Chen
Every New Year, one of the things I look forward to the most is the Lunar New Year limited edition from different brands. As usual, many brands have taken Chinese zodiac as the theme for the collection. 2021 is the Year of Ox, and as the largest agricultural producer, the Ox has played an important role in Chinese history. In Chinese culture, the ox symbolizes hardworking, dedication and loyalty, therefore it is one of the most favourable zodiacs.
Other than the Chinese zodiac, the colour red and various New Year elements will also be heavily featured in the collection. When used properly, the collection is innovative, fashionable and profitable. On the other hand, inappropriate usage can create misunderstanding, negative comments and possibly declining sales.
My favourite Lunar New Year designs are from Kenzo and Givenchy. Instead of choosing only Chinese cattle, Kenzo selected representative cattle patterns from different culture around the world. Because Kenzō Takada loves calligraphy, cattle pattern in ink painting can also be seen from the design.
Givenchy's new creative director Matthew M. Williams is known for his street style, and likes to find inspiration from nightclubs, so this time Givenchy's cattle is a bison in the nightclub. Matthew made a neon sign out of the letters Givenchy and the bison. He also brought beaded pieces and embroidery which represents the haute couture design in the essence of Givenchy to the collection.
The most common way to put zodiac into collection is using cartoon. Tory Burch created a lady ox for the collection. Longchamp designed an ox with daisy on the classical Le Pliage which represents hope in the new year.
Louis Vuitton has ingeniously combined the cartoon cow with its iconic monogram on the limited-edition silk squares and bandeaus. The most coveted item in the collection would be the wooden jewellery case with the cartoon cow on it.
However, Louis Vuitton has clearly used cows in their Year of Ox collection. The same mistake also applies to other brands like Furla and Saint Laurent. It is no doubt that the design is innovative, but definitely inappropriate for celebrating the Year of Ox. After all, not all kinds of cattle can be used for the Year of Ox.
Perhaps betting on Chinese consumers' anticipation for the Year of the Ox, Burberry became the first brand that released its Lunar New Year collection. Continuing the tradition of previous zodiac, the capsule series is no exception to play on the image of the ox. On the basis of the classic checked elements, Burberry continues to combine the TB Logo with the image of the ox's head, and the product style shifts from elegant and mature in the Year of Rat to more street style.
From a creative point of view, turning TB Logo into an ox’s head is a clever graphic design. Under the general trend of LOGO fanaticism, the most likable brands by the young generation, including Gucci, Dior and Nike have introduced LOGO patterns with different font designs to accelerate the symbolization of brands.
However, judging by the repercussion so far, Burberry has failed to present a good Lunar New Year limited edition collection in both design and advertising. Even a supermodel like Liu Wen cannot save the unfashionable design.
Burberry
The misjudgment and lack of understanding of the Chinese market has always been the problem of different brand’s Lunar New Year collections. Even when the design elements are limited to Chinese red, traditional elements, and zodiac, brands are still able to come up with a variety of products that are either inadequate or ridiculous and largely ignore the greater cultural significance of the holiday. It used to be believed that the reason that brands failed to present a satisfying collection is due to the little attention are paid to the Lunar New Year collection. But now as the Lunar New Year has become a regular promotional date for brands, it is inevitable to have cultural misreading during cross-cultural communication when brands become globalized.
Just as the word “cattle” evokes different images for different people, brands need to learn to appreciate the holiday before trying to sell it. If brands do not have the intention to delve deeper into how the image of the cattle is understood in Chinese culture, then they should at least understand whether most Chinese consumers consider it “cool” to wear a horned hat or have a handbag that looks exactly like the polywoven bag.
It is not that it is impossible for foreign brands to communicate with local consumers using the Lunar New Year collection, however it is more about finding a suitable position in the Chinese market through constant mutual understanding. At it currently stands, brands need to be more aware of this problem show their efforts towards making collections that are truly meaningful to their target demographics.
ST.ART does not own the rights to any images used in this article.