Tanabata Marketing: Who Can Break Through The Tight Encirclement And Move More Consumers

In recent years, due to the rise of the Chinese market, luxury brands pay more and more attention to Chinese traditional festivals. The "Double Seventh Festival" is the marketing highlight of the major luxury brands every year.

This year, with more and more brands joining the "Qixi" marketing, the major luxury brands are making every effort to impress more consumers.

Famous "Qixi" series

　　     Bottega Veneta

In the past three years, Bottega Veneta, a very topical fashion brand, is one of them.

This year, Bottega Veneta officially released a short film full of youth and natural atmosphere in summer. The one minute short film, directed by Chinese Film Director Zou Jing, blends Bottega Veneta's "iconic green" with the summer days of the coastal city of Qingdao.

The film depicts the protagonist cycling around the coastal city of Qingdao. The protagonists travel by bike in the local area, appreciate the wonderful place of their environment, capture through the delicate lens, and depict those beautiful moments delicately.

Green sea, street and shade, couples of young people, riding old-fashioned bicycles, wearing Bottega Veneta Tanabata limited items, talking about the retro style, come.

This short commercial film, without a single line, even obliterates all voices. It just observes, appreciates and experiences the streets of the city and listens to the sounds of nature from the perspective of young people.

The protagonists in the short film wear black and white suits with flat shoes, or green knitwear with black trousers. Each style can find its own style. In the natural environment, we don't deliberately emphasize products, and the sense of fashion design is just right. Once the short film is released, it has attracted high praise in the industry, and it has become a successful work of this year's Qixi marketing.

　　     Valentino

Valentino launched the "all around love" limited series on Chinese Valentine's Eve this year. Li Ronghao, a famous musician, was specially invited to compose the song "how are you together?" to promote the brand. He also co starred in the Theme MV with supermodels Zhao Jiali and ye Jinghang.

Even if the short film of "lovers separated from each other for a short time" was staged, the theme of love could not be realized through the combination of the two characters of "rongkong".

At the same time, the "vlogo love" print is also held in half on the left and right sides. As lovers interact with each other, they get closer and become complete. In addition, at the end of the film, Li Ronghao is surprised to appear on the screen, with a sentence "how about being together?" echoing the theme, creating a wonderful atmosphere full of love.

In addition, Valentino has also launched the interactive app "encircle with love", which can customize the special love wallpaper with "the other half" to express love in the form of games and interaction.

　　     Balenciaga

Probably due to the controversy caused by the Tanabata Series in the previous two years, Balenciaga chose to do the opposite this year, giving up the real model as the protagonist. Instead, she presented the love story of two shy robots in a science and technology advertising blockbuster.

The inspiration of this blockbuster comes from the novel Clara and the sun written by Japanese British writer Ichio Ishiguro. Several physical robots, developed and manufactured by the British engineered arts company, wear the pieces from the Tanabata series, accompanied by the classic song "sweet honey". The interaction is full of romance and love.

The robot carries a brand-new design "hourglass handbag". It is fluffy and full of diamonds. It pays homage to the iconic elements, colors and materials of the brand. It sets off a festival atmosphere of love, interest and sincerity.

The two short films use a very clever way to express the different definitions of love. Through the interpretation of the two robots, people can understand that with the development of technology, not only human beings, but also cold robots will have emotions. Interesting, creative and full of a sense of future technology.

　　     Burberry

In this year's Qixi Festival, burberry's short film, in the form of creative animation and inspired by the brand's new season design, discusses a philosophical story about grid and love.

Burberry created a series of "eight stars across love" with classic patterns. The stars represent eight beautiful love visions of "courage, romance, understanding, pleasure, sincerity, exploration, treasure and trust".

The expression of animation forms makes Tanabata not only stay in the form of giving gifts, but also more vividly interprets the meaning of "love".

　　     Givenchy

Givenchy also chose to release the Tanabata Series in animation form.

This year, Givenchy and Disney released the "101 loyal dog" Tanabata limited series again to express the "love and loyalty" that the brand hopes to convey.

The Tanabata series is the second limited series since Givenchy and Disney worked together.

In order to further extend the relationship between Givenchy and 101 loyal dog, creative director Matthew M. Williams also cooperated with the painters of Disney animation studio to make a special animated short film, and even invited super model Kate Moss to appear in the series of promotional Animation videos.

In addition, Matthew M. Williams also integrates the classic image of spotted dog, the protagonist of 101 loyal dog, into the series, which not only retains the childlike interest, but also combines it with fashion to create a series of lovely pieces.

The rise of Tanabata marketing

This is the sixth year of luxury marketing.

In August 2016, without any sign, Dior tried to sell the special Chinese Valentine's day on wechat app for the first time, becoming the first luxury brand to open handbag purchase online in China, and officially opened the prelude of "Chinese Valentine's day marketing" of luxury brand.

In the next year, the number of people who launched the Tanabata series began to expand. Brands including Dior, Loewe, Chlo é and Valentino launched the Qixi limited handbag half a month in advance, and gradually included the Chinese Valentine's day into the general marketing agenda of luxury brands.  

Subsequently, luxury brands began to try to set up special wechat app limited time shops for the Chinese Valentine's Day series, which became the highlight of the "Tanabata marketing" of luxury brands at that time.

In 2020, the global luxury industry has been interrupted by the epidemic situation, but it has maintained a certain growth momentum in the normal operation of the Chinese market. After the impact of the epidemic in the first half of the year, Tanabata in 2020 was regarded as the most important marketing node by luxury brands. With the experience accumulated in previous years, this year's Tanabata marketing can be said to be the most competitive festival marketing.   

Not only does Dolce & Gabbana hope to make a comeback by using the Chinese Valentine's day marketing, but Balenciaga's Qixi advertising has also caused controversy. The number of microblog topics read has reached 210 million in just two days.

People pay more and more attention to the celebration of various festivals. Especially after the epidemic, people have more and more attention to Chinese traditional culture. The Double Seventh Festival naturally becomes an opportunity to celebrate. According to the data of tmall, about 70% of the consumers aged 18 to 29 years old buy luxury goods on Tanabata, and the average customer price is about 22% higher than that of daily life. After the outbreak, after a series of "missed" Spring Festival, Western Valentine's day and other golden spots, brands pay more attention to the Chinese traditional festival, which is gradually rising in recent years.

At the same time, according to the white paper on luxury microblog, 86% of non single people will also prepare gifts before the arrival of traditional festivals such as Chinese Valentine's day, which also builds the confidence of luxury brands to promote the consumption node of Chinese Valentine's day. Almost all luxury brands have joined the marketing camp of Chinese Valentine's day, The trend has also begun to spread to high-end jewelry brands in the hard luxury sector who want to connect with young people.  

How to break through the siege of "Chinese Valentine's Day"

However, in the post epidemic era, more and more luxury brands have joined the battle field of "Qixi marketing". At the same time, they are also facing a huge problem: under the homogenization of marketing means and content, the road left for the brand side to find another way has become increasingly narrow.

In recent years, luxury brands are scrambling to launch customized Tanabata, but the design is nothing more than adding love, pink, concentric lock and other elements to the regular items. There are few creative pieces that can be truly remembered. However, most of the publicity videos are ineffective. Occasionally, works with larger water splashes may be branded as "local" and "insulting" like balanciga.

On the other hand, while brands are facing a lack of marketing creativity, consumers are also facing a lack of "energy". Nowadays, domestic festivals, large and small, encourage lovers and lovers to consume. The other side of marketing homogenization is the "emotional homogenization" of consumers. If couples are excessively "kidnapped", it will not only cause the consequences of overdraft, but also make the consumers have the psychology of resistance.

In the current situation, if you want to stand out from the battle of Chinese Valentine's day, what should the big brands do?

In terms of brand attitude expression, we can see that this year's Chinese Valentine's Eve marketing luxury brands are no longer "competing for novelty and beauty" on the surface of their products. They are more returning to the in-depth insight of users, understanding the "atmosphere" that young people really like, the consumption concept, environmental protection concept, love concept, and even gender issues.

In recent years, young people, especially young people, have been challenged to communicate effectively with other luxury brands. In this process, it also shows that the brand's familiarity with and understanding of Chinese culture and Chinese consumers is improving. As an important node of localization marketing, Qixi Festival is not contradictory to the original tonality and aesthetics of the brand, although it has a special festival and a certain Chinese cultural background.

For example, Bottega Veneta integrates "iconic green" with coastal cities to create a love atmosphere in summer; Valentino uses Li Ronghao's love songs to shorten the distance with young consumers; Givenchy brings us into childhood memories through classic animation works; Brands need to have a deep insight into consumers' interests and preferences, and ensure that their aesthetic, values and love views are consistent. Only in this way can they bring more imagination space and surprise and win the battle of "Tanabata marketing".