Tiger！Beauty brands release new year limited series

Chinese New Year Limited Editions subjected to public ridicule in the past years are staging a spectacular comeback this year.

The Chinese New Year is just around the corner after the Laba Festival.

Traditionally Chinese people have a special and deep affection for the Chinese New Year.

Even though the global economy is facing unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Chinese people are still ready to spend with great consumer enthusiasm to welcome the upcoming Lunar New Year of the Tiger. Obviously, beauty brands will never pass up this golden opportunity of marketing and the Chinese New Year Limited Editions are coming as usual in all varieties. 

01

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!

A few years ago, foreign brands were keen to take advantage of the opportunity of the Chinese New Year by preparing Chinese New Year Limited Editions which attracted great attention, but the products were always been ridiculed by the netizens. Differences in culture, emotional orientation and brand positions Differences in culture, emotional orientation and brand positions a phenomenal appetizer that cannot please all before the New Year's Eve dinner,and most “master chefs” were foreign brands.  

In recent years, China's market has become more open and social media has become more inclusive. At the same time, Chinese local beauty brands have grown up together with consumers under this background. The new consumption environment has not only changed the attitudes of brands towards the Chinese Lunar New Year, but also made all brands more devoted to the New Year marketing tussle.

These Chinese New Year Limited Editions, with the brands’ hard work, showed a stark contrast to the sluggish consumer environment this year.

Urban Decay used tiger and prosperity flower elements and their popular product Naked Heat Pallette to create the Chinese New Year Limited Edition: “Tiger Roar prosperity flowers” series. UrbanDecay is definitely not alone with this practice of utilizing all the popular market consumption elements in the same series. The combination of tiger element and popular products has almost become the most common choice for most beauty brands. Shiseido, Estee Lauder, M A C, Elixir, HUDA Beauty, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Clarins, LANEIGE, L'OCCITANE and other brands all put tigers on product packaging concurrently.

Even if you know nothing about the traffic password, the warm ambiance that the "big cats" present is sufficient to help these brands to win a large number of fans.

If we say that it is the safest way to print "tiger" on the package, then it is a lazy and safe way to print "tiger pattern" on the package.

If the brands choose not to let consumers down at this consumption node and win the favor of netizens, the enchanting tiger pattern has become a godsend. SK-II, Maybelline, Colorkey and Charlotte Tilbury all used tiger pattern to achieve successful Chinese New Year brand value transformation. 

02

Red is Always Right

Frankly, even if the "big cat" element appears on the packaging of beauty brands, it seems quite stereotypical. Compared with those brands that only use red packaging to unify the aesthetics of the new generation of consumers, the simple tiger element can be regarded as a touch of sincerity.

If beauty brands only use the overwhelming “red” element, which is everywhere for Chinese New Year, can they really catch the eyes of today’s picky consumers and find their presence in the fierce market competition?

We can see that these red packages have been used year after year, and even on Valentine's Day. Some consumers are wondering: "Is the same batch of materials used on the Qixi Festival- Chinese Valentine’s Day?"

However, it is undeniable that China Red will definitely make no mistakes at this moment. Guerlain, Perfect Diary, Sulwhasoo, CPB, Shu Uemura and other brands have enthusiastically presented an “academic performance”for this new year.

03

Chinese New Year Limited Editions

Should be More Than Just a Show

According to the data from Forward Research（bg.qianzhan.com）, by 2022 the market size of China's beauty industry will reach RMB500 billion. In recent years the consumption of domestic beauty products has also increased year by year, showing a high growth rate. However, the revenues of domestic cosmetics brands are obviously lower than that of international brands. At present, China is a big cosmetics is country in the world rather than big cosmetics brand power county.

Different from the marketing of other holidays, the Chinese Spring Festival is the consuming node where most Chinese people will participate with great enthusiasm. It is easy to reduce the marketing cost and expand the marketing influence. Especially for local brands, consumers' recognition of domestic products currently is at an all time high, and the output certainly will be greater than brands’ marketing input on the Chinese New Year Limited Editions. 

However, few local brands pay more attention to this node. In contrast, Innisfree’s and Illustrator's Tiger New Year Limited Editions, Fresh and POP Mart's Joint New Year Limited Editions,Lancome's limited Little Black Bottle designed with a traditional Peking Opera mask combined with pop art all have successfully dominated this traditional Chinese New Year Festival celebrated by Chinese.

In this respect, a market expert stated to the CBO reporter, “Local brands, especially new brands that excel in marketing, should try to gain more initiative on Chinese New Year. The production supply chains of local brands are all in China, and local brands’ understanding of traditional culture is more in line with Chinese aesthetics and cognition. It is a pity not to seize upon such an opportunity.