New and old brands compete for the Spring Festival gift box market, lively but not innovative

The Spring Festival is approaching, and the festive atmosphere is getting stronger. With the optimization of epidemic prevention policies and the economic recovery, the Spring Festival gift market has become lively this year. As brands further approach young people with limited + joint brands, will young people still buy it?

Not only traditional time-honored brands such as Daoxiangcun, but also many new consumer brands such as fragrance brands Guanxia and The Beast, trendy Pop Mart, and Cha Yan Yue Se have also launched special New Year gift boxes.

In addition, international brands such as Coach, SK-II, Givenchy and domestic brands such as Li Ning and Bright have also collaborated with the Rabbit IP to create a New Year atmosphere.

1. The indispensable Spring Festival limited edition

The Spring Festival has always been regarded as one of the most important festivals by Chinese people. It not only symbolizes the beginning of a new year, but also symbolizes the atmosphere of family reunion.

Every year when the Chinese New Year is around the corner, there are always many netizens asking on social platforms, "What should I bring home for the New Year?" This year is no exception. What is different is that as the "Z Generation" born after 1995 and 2000 gradually enter society, young people are gradually becoming the main consumers.

At the same time, major brands are constantly moving closer to the younger generation in the Spring Festival gift boxes they launch.

Traditional time-honored brands are indispensable for gift giving every year. In recent years, traditional brands have also been following suit with limited edition Spring Festival gift boxes.

To welcome the Year of the Rabbit, this year Beijing Daoxiangcun launched a limited edition gift box for the Year of the Rabbit and a variety of new pastries, including the New Year limited edition "Rabbit Cake", "Da Fu Cake" with mango and coconut meat filling, "Da Gui Cake" with colorful dried fruit filling, and the purely handmade "Auspicious Hydrangea".

With its exquisite and cute appearance, Daoxiangcun quickly attracted a group of young fans. On social platforms, many people posted photos of themselves checking in with Daoxiangcun's Year of the Rabbit gift box.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

However, some netizens also said, "It's really cute, but it's also really painful. From the beginning of queuing to leaving the store with the box, it took more than two hours, and many items were out of stock." This is enough to show how popular the Daoxiangcun Rabbit Year limited gift box is.

While traditional brands are making efforts, more and more new consumer brands are not willing to be outdone.

Guanxia, ​​a domestic fragrance brand focusing on oriental fragrance, was inspired by the "New Year Celebration Picture" painted by the Qing Dynasty painter Yao Wenhan, and launched the New Year limited "Fortune Rabbit Spring Courtyard Gift Box" and "Fortune Rabbit Kunlun Boiling Snow Gift Box", which contain four-season aromatherapy, essential oil wood core candles, limited edition plush sachets, limited edition fragrance bricks, fragrance fiber strips and other products. The two classic fragrances "Spring Courtyard" and "Kunlun Boiling Snow" represent "Fortune Rabbit" and "Fortune Rabbit" respectively.

Currently, Guanxia’s limited edition Rabbit Year set, priced at 758 yuan, is sold out in the store. Customer service said that it will be sold out as soon as it is sold out, and the store has no plans to restock it.

The Fauves and the champagne brand Belle Epoque have launched a limited edition fragrance series for the New Year. These include an oversized champagne bucket candle, aromatherapy salute, small warm gift box, and wax lamp gift box. The gift box is in the shape of a traditional Chinese rabbit lantern, and the tipsy little rabbit designed by the illustrator adds to its cuteness.

In addition, the trendy toy brand Pop Mart routinely launches New Year blind boxes, designing its 17 IPs into elements related to the Year of the Rabbit. Each of them symbolizes the wishes for the Year of the Rabbit, such as attracting wealth and good luck.

New tea brand Cha Yan Yue Se launched the "For Good Luck" Year of the Rabbit gift box, which has a prosperous appearance and comes with 5 New Year's goods with different meanings. "I hope this box has good meaning and can accompany everyone to welcome a smooth Year of the Rabbit." In addition, Cha Yan Yue Se also launched 4 new Year of the Rabbit series peripherals: rabbit pendants, canvas bags, aromatherapy ornaments, and foot bath balls. Their cute image and healing tea fragrance have been well received.

Luckin Coffee, which has always been trendy, chose to bring back the Oiran series of products at the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit to combine the fragrance of flowers and coffee. In addition, there are also "Winning the Year of the Rabbit" paper bags and cup sleeves co-branded with Han Meilin, further exuding the atmosphere of the New Year.

2. Popular Rabbit IP

It can be seen that the "rabbit" element is everywhere in the New Year gift boxes launched by many brands.

Tmall data shows that during the New Year Festival, the search volume for "rabbit sweater" increased 28 times, and even the sales of pet-related products such as rabbit food and rabbit toilets showed a significant increase.

In addition, according to the consumption trend report on hot categories of the 2023 New Year Festival released by JD New Department Store on January 5, since the climax of the JD New Year Festival started at 8 pm on December 29, 2022, products with the Year of the Rabbit Zodiac sign have shown strong consumption power, and underwear gift boxes, beauty gift boxes, zodiac sweaters and hoodies, and gold and jewelry related products have become hot-selling categories.

For brands, collaborating with rabbit IP is also a common strategy.

As an old domestic brand, White Rabbit has long been a "national IP", but it has become even more popular this year. Not only has the sales volume of White Rabbit milk candy doubled compared with last year, but many big brands have launched co-branded products with White Rabbit.

As early as the CIIE in November, the global debut of the Coach and White Rabbit collaboration was officially announced, which quickly sparked heated discussions on social media.

On November 18, 2022, a dreamy and beautiful cooperation series exhibition was held at Chaoyibuer in Yifeng Bund Source, Shanghai. This is the first offline launch event after the official announcement of the global debut of the joint cooperation model between COACH and White Rabbit at the CIIE. The cooperation model is based on the classic red, blue and white colors of White Rabbit Toffees, and incorporates fun items such as knitted sweaters and dresses.

Yang Baoyan, President and CEO of COACH China, revealed that White Rabbit opened the historical materials in the archives to the design team jointly formed by both parties as a source of inspiration.

At the end of 2022, the international high-end skincare brand SK-II and White Rabbit jointly launched a cross-border new product, SK-II New Year Limited Edition Magic Water, with the theme of "Dare to Leap into the New Year, Still Crystal Clear". The cross-border cooperation between high-end skincare products and national milk candy quickly attracted a lot of attention, and many netizens named this new combination "SK Rabbit".

Domestic brand Li Ning has also launched new basketball shoes with New Year theme colors, Li Ning Lightning 9 "Rabbit" and Lightning 9 Ultra, both of which are inspired by the classic wrapping paper of White Rabbit Milk Candy, and are full of memories.

Not only that, recently, the two major food and beverage brands, Coca-Cola and Bright, have also cooperated with White Rabbit. Among them, Coca-Cola uses "Rabbit Fun Box" as the slogan and launches a limited-edition White Rabbit joint packaging; while Bright launched "Yizi White Rabbit" milk cheese, focusing on the "taste of childhood".

Not only White Rabbit, other rabbit IPs are equally popular.

Recently, Givenchy continued its cooperation with Disney and announced the launch of a limited series with "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" as the protagonist; Warner Bros. and BOSS joined hands to release an exclusive joint series with classic "Looney Tunes" cartoon characters as the protagonists, combining Bugs Bunny and his friends with traditional Spring Festival elements such as the color red, which symbolizes joy and good luck.

3. Has the usual strategy of IP collaboration + limited edition become ineffective?

With the optimization of epidemic prevention policies, driven by the trend of returning home and rising consumption, this Spring Festival is particularly precious for brands.

From the actions taken by various brands to launch limited gift boxes, cross-border collaborations, etc., it is not difficult to see that brands are gearing up early and hope to reap rewards during the Spring Festival.

However, it remains to be seen whether consumers will buy into the joint-branded + limited-edition marketing strategies that brands often use.

It is undeniable that win-win cooperation between brands through IP, products, etc. has gradually become the norm in the industry, and joint brands have also become an important way for brands to attract traffic and attention.

However, in the opinion of industry insiders, if the collaboration is just for show and is just a repackaging of two names, improvement of packaging design, etc., it will inevitably cause aesthetic fatigue.

Although the collaboration between SK-II and White Rabbit this year has received a lot of praise, it has also attracted a lot of complaints from consumers.

Most of the complaints were about the packaging. After seeing the new co-branded products, many people said, "The packaging is really ugly," "It suddenly looks cheap," and "It doesn't match at all." Some netizens also questioned whether the official "directly pasting the pictures is a bit too casual?"

Regarding the collaboration between the two, some experts believe that "the first wave of White Rabbit collaboration should be from 2018 to 2019. By 2023, when SK-II and White Rabbit launch a joint product, I think consumers will have aesthetic fatigue and become 'immune' to it."

In addition, for most consumers, in addition to "novelty", "sincerity" is equally important for Spring Festival gift boxes.

In previous interviews with Future Trace, some consumers also clearly stated that most of this year's limited edition beauty products do not have a sense of "limited" and the designs are not very outstanding. "Some gift boxes look good, but the items in them are all original designs, which gives people a feeling of lack of sincerity."

Even a cross-border combination that is full of "innovation" will find it difficult to win the hearts of consumers once it loses sincerity.

Previously, Haagen-Dazs also launched an ice cream gift box with a famous museum, which was priced at nearly 1,000 yuan, but contained less than 10 ice creams, which disappointed many consumers. Last year, Wang Jiaer's own brand TEAM WANG design and Want Want Group launched a limited edition "Tianwang Snow Cake Gift Box" for the Year of the Tiger. The gift box of "14 snow cakes for 338 yuan" plus a stainless steel round plate caused controversy among many netizens.

For brands, the joint + limited marketing strategy is certainly important, but only when sincerity is shown will consumers willingly place orders.

Author: Lin Xiaobai

Source: WeChat public account "Bianniushi (ID: bianews8)"