品牌该如何玩转春节营销？

中国农历新年是中国最重要的传统佳节。无论对于中国老百姓，还是时刻关注中国消费者的品牌来说，都是一个重要的消费时期。

为了深入了解消费者在春节期间与品牌之间的互动，我们在1月份调查了来自三个市场——中国大陆、香港和新加坡的1000位消费者，探讨他们对于品牌在春节期间的营销活动的看法和态度。

通过此次调查看出，品牌的春节营销活动对于消费者来说，非常重要。春节是一年之中阖家团圆的宝贵日子，亲朋好友之间的互动，如聚餐、送礼等非常普遍。大陆的被调查者反映，如果品牌推出抢眼的春节营销活动，那么，他们很有可能推荐这些品牌给其他人（59%），尝试新品牌（65%），或者加大对品牌的消费力度（64%）。

消费品公司具有独特的优势并善于利用春节与消费者进行沟通、构建品牌。这是因为在家庭成员于春节期间的聚餐和送礼活动中，消费品是其中重要的组成部分。如果品牌拥有持续性的好口碑，而且推出的产品很应节，春节期间销售量会显著飙升。消费品公司很擅长推出节假日特别包装、捆绑促销等活动来推进品牌的节日销售。

很有趣的现象是，大部分被调查的中国消费者都认为中国品牌和国际品牌在春节营销活动中的表现平分秋色。两者都很会利用春节来积极构建品牌（41%的被调查者觉得平分秋色，34%觉得中国品牌做得更好，25%觉得国际品牌更好）。

一般来讲，国际品牌已经被公认为更加擅长与中国消费者构建强烈的情感关联。当被问到哪个中国或者国际品牌的营销做得最好？可口可乐是被提及次数最多的品牌。它被提到的次数，比提及次数排名第一的中国本土品牌加多宝，数量要多四倍；也比排名第二的国际品牌——费列罗巧克力多三倍。

中国的消费者认为国际品牌的品牌构建，需要具备两个特点：真情实感（49%的中国消费者认为国际品牌的春节促销需要考虑真情实感的因素，新加坡22%，香港30%）和出人意料（中国大陆34%，新加坡17%，香港12%）。

有一个国际品牌的春节营销活动在这两个要素–真情实感和出人意料都获得了最高的得分–联合利华的卫宝（Lifebuoy）香皂。卫宝针对农历新年特别设计了红包，方便亲朋好友在过年期间使用。红包使用的材料是它们独特的抗菌香皂包装纸。此创新红包，被送到了上海27万个目标家庭，既可以用来发红包，还可以随时洗手。这个颇具创意的红包营销活动提升了卫宝在上海市场的品牌认知度，幅度高达17%，也为品牌带来了价值等同于83万美元的免费浏览量。

仔细观察调查结果，我们还可以进一步提出两个有趣的问题。第一，为什么非消费品类的公司不在名单上？这是因为大部分非消费品类公司都把春节当做普通促销的机会之一。但从调查结果来看，消费者在春节期间期待比一般的促销更多的惊喜。

有一个例外的非消费品类公司是海尔。这个中国家用电器品牌为了迎合消费者在春节期间的情感需求，打造了一个叫做“春节回家，陪伴父母”的活动。海尔与中国铁路合作将车厢重新布置，添加了活动二维码。搭乘火车急切返乡的人们，可以扫描二维码，观赏一个有关团圆和父母无私的爱的短片。这个走心的短片很符合中国消费者的心理需求，消费者被深深地触动。

第二个问题是，从这些善于利用春节进行营销的消费品类公司可以学到什么？消费品公司充分认识到春节的战略性作用，春节不只是提升短期销售额的节假日，更是品牌长期构建的绝佳机会。

无论是中国本土的，还是国际品牌，都可以从我们此次调查结果中获知，在中国市场接近中国消费者，可以考虑特别的营销活动、促销或者品牌故事等来给消费者带来惊喜。但是无论哪种选择，都必须和品牌属性一致，讲究真情实感。因为这是中国消费者愿意忠诚于某品牌的主要考虑。（财富中文网）

JayMilliken是品牌策略及市场咨询顾问公司Prophet香港办公室的高级合伙人。

Chinese New Year (CNY), as one of the most important festivals in the Chinese calendar, is an important holiday in China for both the Chinese people and the brands that wish to engage with them.

To find out more about how consumers engage with brands during CNY, Prophet surveyed 1,000 consumers across three markets in January - Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore - regarding their attitudes on how brands participate in CNY.

The surprising part of the survey is that mainland respondents indicated that they are more likely to recommend brands to others (59%), try new brands (65%), or buy more from brands (64%) if those brands participate in CNY. While it is to be expected that consumers would buy more from brands that participate in CNY, it is not necessarily expected that those brands would also get trials and recommendations from consumers as well.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have an inherent advantage in using CNY as a brand building opportunity. The prominent role of food and gifting during CNY puts such brands at the center of the family. CPG companies benefit from being high engagement categories. They also have ready-made tools in their marketing tool-kit to use at CNY, vs. non-consumer oriented categories.

It is interesting to note that the majority of Chinese consumers we surveyed feel that Chinese brands and foreign brands are equally good at taking advantage of the CNY holiday to build their brand (41% equal vs. 34% Chinese better vs. 25% foreign better).

Traditionally, foreign brands have proven to be more adept at building a stronger emotional connection with consumers. Coca-Cola was the most frequently mentioned brand in the survey when consumers were asked which brand (Chinese or foreign) does a great job with CNY. Coca-Cola was mentioned four times more frequently than any Chinese packaged goods company (Jia Duo Bao was the top Chinese brand) and was mentioned three times more frequently than the next foreign packaged goods company (Ferraro Rocher). Why is Coca-Cola so highly regarded? In addition to many of the advantages listed previously for packaged goods companies, Coca-cola also has a brand idea around happiness and sharing which is highly aligned with CNY, and they are able to ruthlessly execute against that idea.

Chinese consumers give foreign brands permission to be both authentic (49% of Chinese consumers think it is very important for non-Chinese brands to be authentic with CNY activities vs. 22% in Singapore and 30% in Hong Kong) and surprising (34% of Mainland Chinese consumers think it is very important for non-Chinese brands to be surprising with CNY activities vs. 17% in Singapore and 12% in Hong Kong).

An example of a company that scored big on both of these attributes in recent CNY activity was Unilever’s Lifebuoy soap. Lifebuoy developed hongbao or red packets, used by family members and friends to give and receive money at Chinese New Year, from its unique anti-bacterial soap paper. The novel New Year’s packets, which can be used to gift money and wash hands, were sent to 270,000 target households in Shanghai. The packets increased Lifebuoy’s brand awareness in the Shanghai market by 17%, or the equivalent of US$830,000 in free impressions

Looking at our survey results raised two interesting questions. First, why aren’t more non-packaged goods companies on the list? The answer is that most non-packaged goods companies treat CNY as just another promotional opportunity, but consumers are interested in more than just traditional promotions.

Once exception to this generalization is Haier. The Chinese appliance maker catered to consumers’ emotional needs this CNY with a campaign called “Be your parents’ companion during CNY.” Haier partnered with China Railway to decorate train compartments with QR codes. People taking the train home for family reunions could scan the QR code and watch a short video on the meaning of reunion and the unconditional love of parents. Chinese consumers related strongly to the video and were touched by it, but it remains unclear whether this executional idea had any long-term brand impact.

The second question prompted by our look at the survey results was, what can other companies learn from those CPG companies that use CNY well? CPG companies fundamentally understand that CNY is a long-term brand building opportunity, not simply an opportunity to increase short-term sales.

What all brands in China, non-Chinese as well as Chinese, can learn from our survey is that they must engage Chinese consumers in new and authentic ways, not just at CNY, but throughout the year. They need to take a bit more risk to surprise consumers with events, experiences and great storytelling, but do so in an authentic way that matches the essence of their brand. The benefits to brands that heed this advice is a great opportunity to build brand loyalty with both existing and new customers.

Jay Milliken is a Senior Partner in Hong Kong at Prophet, a strategic brand and marketing consultancy.