Meaningful messaging and custom emojis for Chinese New Year

The Year of the Tiger is imminent and the usual flood of tiger-themed products and messaging are vying for consumers’ attention and cash, but what makes some more successful than others?

Why it matters

A few years ago, simply incorporating a tiger into a product design or campaign might have worked for brands. These days, such imagery is necessary but not sufficient: brands need to work harder at linking the tiger to consumers’ emotions and interests.

Give me some examples

• Utility: Social platform Twitter today releases a custom emoji with hashtags in multiple languages for use by the millions of people tweeting about Lunar New Year. 
• Sustainability: Luxury brands Prada and Clarins are working with China Green Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) respectively to protect Siberian tigers in the northeast of China. (Gucci, in contrast, has come in for criticism for its use of real tigers as props in its campaign.)
• Gamification: Apparel brand Bananain offers consumers the chance to win a branded red packet, symbolising good luck and prosperity in the coming year, to give online.

Sourced from Chatlabs, Marketing Interactive, RADII [Image: GEORGE DESIPRIS from Pexels]