A U.S. marketer’s guide to celebrating Lunar New Year
The important holiday in the Asian American community should get some attention from communicators. Here’s what should be part of your plans.
Imagine Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl rolled up into a single holiday. That’s Lunar New Year, a 16-day celebration that kicks off this Friday.
One of the largest cultural events in the world, Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year and Spring Festival) is observed by more than 1.5 billion people globally with an estimated $149 billion spent in China alone during this 2 1/2-week period. Major festivities—from blockbuster film releases to lavish performances—extend from countries across Asia all the way to cities throughout North America.
While international brands as varied as Louis Vuitton, Nike and LEGO have unveiled splashy campaigns to coincide with the “Year of the Ox” in Asia, here in the U.S., the holiday is often a missed opportunity. Lunar New Year offers a unique chance for companies to strengthen their relationship with Asian American consumers—the fastest growing and most affluent major racial and ethnic segment in the US—in a highly relevant and personal way while demonstrating that “leading with culture” is more than just a marketing platitude.
In these socially- and politically-charged times, it’s understandable why some brands may be ambivalent about entering new cultural territory. Here are five tips to consider when planning a stateside Lunar New Year effort:
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