Children's Day blessings, tell adults

Children's Day marketing is no longer exclusive to children. How can brands attract adult consumers through IP co-branding and nostalgia strategies? This article deeply analyzes the Children's Day marketing cases and explores how brands can use the childlike economy to establish emotional connections with adults. It is suitable for marketers and brand strategists to read.

Children's Day has just passed. Are all the big children happy? Looking at the marketing of brands on Children's Day, it is not difficult to find that the marketing focus of this festival has shifted from children themselves to adults. Today, TOP reviewed the marketing methods of Children's Day brands and looked at how brands' Children's Day wishes can be expressed to adults.

1. Fancy Toys IP collaboration, wishing adults happiness and long live

As we all know, McDonald's and KFC can be called the toy manufacturers in the catering industry. The two major brands that often launch toy packages on weekdays were also present on Children's Day this year.

As early as May 22, McDonald's launched the McNuggets Walkie Talkie. The cute appearance of the McNuggets and the interactivity of the walkie-talkie made this peripheral sold out as soon as it was launched, and even caused the mini program to crash. McNuggets fans could only look at the option of "no McNuggets Walkie Talkie" and feel helpless.

The "No McMahon Walkie Talkie" is a toy that can be purchased with an additional 38 yuan for any purchase, but it can achieve real-time communication within 300 meters, which is indeed a great temptation for "big kids". After McDonald's officials realized that consumers love McMahon Walkie Talkies, they once again launched 200,000 McMahon Walkie Talkies online, focusing on pampering fans.

McDonald's has launched the intercom again. KFC, which is also keen on launching toys, is not far behind. This year, it chose to collaborate with Pokémon on Children's Day to launch Pikachu CD player, Gengar game console, Pokémon tethered toys, etc. In terms of launching peripherals, KFC and McDonald's have a tacit understanding that they are no longer just simple decorations, but more social and playable toys.

In addition to toys, many tea brands have chosen to collaborate with "childhood memories" on Children's Day at KFC. For example, Shanghai Auntie launched a co-branded drink with the classic animation "Legend of Nezha", and printed classic animation characters and scenes on straw cups, cup sleeves, stickers and other peripherals, and arranged interactive signs in 31 atmosphere stores to evoke consumers' childhood memories.

Shanghai Auntie×"Legend of Nezha"

Nayuki's Tea continued last year's "Baby Festival" event, and chose Teletubbies as a co-branded partner after SpongeBob SquarePants. Similarly, Nayuki's Tea also used the image of Teletubbies as a selling point, launching water cups, plates, stickers and other peripherals, using "baby" to arouse people's childlike innocence.

Nayuki's Tea x Teletubbies

Lelecha chose to collaborate with Anpanman and launched co-branded products such as shoulder bags and water cups.

Lelecha×Anpanman

In addition, catering brands such as Tai Er Pickled Fish, Haidilao, Wallace, Pizza Hut and tea brands such as Yi Dian Dian and Gu Ming also collaborated with various animation IPs or cartoon characters on Children's Day. 

2. Classic reproduction of children's perspective, restoration of the festival's Japanese style

When catering and tea brands jointly use childhood and cuteness as the keywords for joint marketing on Children's Day, stimulating consumption has become the common goal of these brands. However, there are also brands that try to convey brand concepts through classic IPs, or restore the true nature of Children's Day from a childlike perspective. For example, the advertisement launched by BMW on Children's Day this year chose the domestic classic animation "Calabash Brothers" to convey holiday greetings. In this small animation jointly created by BMW and Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, BMW's mascot BAWA transformed into the eighth child of the Calabash Brothers and joined the Calabash Brothers in the battle to save their grandfather.

Although BAWA and Calabash Brothers' side-by-side battle is just a dream, the spirit of unity is the same as in the original film. BAWA is not only the brand representative in the film, but also the little hero in this sequel. While BMW restores the childhood memories of the post-80s and post-00s, it also provides consumers with an exclusive holiday surprise. Lego and Cotton Times take the perspective of children and tell the world in their minds. Lego chooses to use toys to show children's imagination. As the wish train built with Lego bricks passes by, the children's wishes are also revealed.

Whether it is the bold words of being a principal without attending classes, the imagination of turning the school into an amusement park, or the expectation that parents don’t work and play together in the sky, they can all be realized in the world of Lego. Turning children’s words into “reality” is the gift that Lego brings to children. Also focusing on children, Quanmianshidai focuses on the little troubles of children in their growth process. For children, it is a trouble that adults always ask them to be obedient but never listen to them.

What should adults do if they don't want to go to work? What is the understanding of death? What is the manifestation of love? These are questions that adults find difficult to give accurate answers to, but children have a childlike understanding. Quanmianshidai hopes that parents will pick up the perspective of understanding their children on Children's Day, and in the process of listening to their children's answers, regain their true nature and learn to respect their children.

Of course, there are also many brands that express their holiday wishes through charity activities. For example, sports brand Anta focused on the rural sports education ecology with the theme of "We are all the same".

3. Children’s Day Marketing × Childlike Economy

Looking at the overall marketing trends of brands on Children's Day, we can find that IP co-branding still occupies a large part of the popularity. Data released by Miaozhen at the end of 2023 showed that many brands have now joined the IP co-branding army, attempting to penetrate the young consumer group through a variety of co-branding activities and quickly grab attention. According to reports from Xinhuanet and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in 2024, the market size of China's IP licensing industry and IP adaptation entertainment industry is expected to reach RMB 156.1 billion and RMB 586.7 billion respectively.

Miaozhen System Social Media Database [January-November 2023]

The IPs chosen by the brands are aligned with the childhood memories of those born in the 80s, 90s and 00s . "Anpanman" broadcast in 1988 and "Teletubbies" released in 1997 are the memories of young people around the world. "Calabash Brothers" born in 1985 and "The Legend of Nezha" broadcast in 2003 are the enlightenment of Chinese little heroes in the hearts of young people in China.

It can be said that the brand marketing of Children's Day is no longer focused on children , but the target audience is set as the middle-aged and young people of the 80s-00s, trying to use old animations and holiday check-in habits to leverage the consumption of this generation. And this kind of childlike economy is also the marketing focus of Children's Day in recent years. But there are also problems here - brands that choose IP co-branding focus on the same age group , and it is difficult to play a good card of differentiation.

The co-branded products are also highly similar , and it is almost impossible to seize most of the market during the festival. In addition, although there are other ways to play besides IP co-branding, marketing homogeneity is still very serious. It is true that children do not have the consumption capacity of adults, so what brands need to do is to attract children's attention and then let them promote parents' willingness to buy .

QuestMobile data shows that the online consumption capacity of people with children has increased rapidly in recent years . Among them, those born in the 1990s have a higher tendency to consume in the middle and high end than those born in the 1980s, and those born in the 1970s have stronger consumption capacity as they accumulate wealth.

Therefore, in Children's Day marketing, brands need to do more than just leverage the consumption of "big children". Instead, they need to return their focus to the children themselves, and perhaps create consumer demand in the children's economy.

Author: TOP Jun; Source public account: TopMarketing (ID: 1082248)