Brands Embrace Traditional Culture and Cute Cartoon Characters

To celebrate Qixi, the Chinese Valentine’s Day that falls on Saturday this year, brands continue to embrace traditional Chinese culture and celebrate multifaceted love.

As Qixi remains a significant gift-giving opportunity, the monthlong promotional period was also a chance to stimulate sales despite a market running low on consumer confidence.

“While Chinese consumers now benefit from price arbitrage when traveling abroad for self-purchases, gift-giving occasions create a sense of urgency to make them purchase locally for loved ones around the festival,” said Pablo Mauron, partner and managing director of China at Digital Luxury Group, a Shanghai-based consulting agency.

“This urgency is why we continue to see high levels of brand activity around Chinese Valentine’s Day. For watches and jewelry brands, in particular, this festival represents one of the biggest revenue surges of the year,” Mauron added.

In the leadup to Qixi, Van Cleef & Arpels hosted a series of pop-ups to promote its Perlée collection. In Beijing, Chanel reintroduced its fine jewelry collection, Coco Crush, with a star-studded pop-up.

“Chanel’s approach to this occasion is notable for its consistency,” commented Mauron, who believes that details like working with the same celebrity couple, in this case, Liu Wen and Jin Boran, throughout the years have helped the brand create “an indelible connection between its iconic product and this cultural milestone.”

Louis Vuitton, which remained consistent with its sports-centric messaging during the Paris Olympics, plus a gifting-oriented retail strategy, is celebrating this year’s Qixi campaign with luxury workout gear such as tennis rackets, dumbbells and matching LV Trainer Maxi sneakers alongside the megabrand’s popular leather goods, such as the monogram Keepall and Soft Trunk.

Chinese dancers Xie Xin and Liu Jia, alongside model Zhao Jiali, were seen modeling the collection in a lush city park.

Dior celebrated its latest Dior Amour capsule with a dedicated pop-up at SKP Beijing, inspired by Marc Bohan’s “Je Vous Adore (I Love You)” motif.

At Gucci, brand ambassador Zhang Linghe, a Chinese actor, got cozy with model He Cong in an abstract setting. For industry insiders, the moment is a rare instance of a Chinese actor willing to let loose and display physical closeness in public.

At Prada, the mood was visibly more mellow and poetic. Set against the backdrop of a historical water town in Huizhou, Li Xian, a Prada ambassador, and Chinese actor and Chinese model Xie Xin traveled back in time to encounter the ancient village nestled amid green mountains and bamboo forests.

“By honoring the grand traditions, the unconventional choice of the location adds layers to the brand’s Qixi storytelling and better engages with contemporary Chinese consumers, who have developed a newfound interest in rediscovering local cultural heritages,” said Pooky Lee, fashion curator and codirector of creative marketing agency Poptag, which helped produce the campaign editorial.

“I also admire Prada’s China office for distributing the content through various innovative means to expand their audience reach,” added Lee, referring to a spinoff campaign launched simultaneously in collaboration with Baidu, the largest Chinese online search engine. By transforming Li Xian into a virtual idol and utilizing AI chatbot technology, users can interact with “Qixi Boyfriend Xian” on the platform.

“Expect a fun and unusual way of communicating merchandising information,” said Lee of the experience. “It shows that Prada has come up with a way to maximize celebrity influence by embracing fan culture and localized digital communication tools.”

At Miu Miu, which has been enjoying exponential growth with its varsity-inspired style, this year’s Qixi capsule consistently showcased its most popular silhouettes. Lensed by Alessandro Furchino Capria, the editorial captures models Xiaohan Chen, Diane Chu and Xie Xinwen slouching comfortably in “an unknown space” that the brand said was inspired by the reality of everyday life.

Also shot at rural locations, which are meant to evoke broader themes of encounters and the journey, Bottega Veneta’s campaign, lensed by Chinese photographer Yuan Xiaopeng, featured Chinese model Du Juan, actor Zhou Yutong, and Japanese-American singer Mika Hasizume, among other Chinese models.

The brand said the inspiration of nature is in sync with creative director Matthieu Blazy’s creative direction, with recent campaigns shot in Lanzarote in Spain and Calabria in Italy.

Channeling a deep yearning for romantic love, Sega Bodega, a frequent collaborator of the Kering-owned brand, created a dreamy soundtrack for the campaign. Activated online under the hashtag “The Scenery With You,” the topic had logged more than 122 million views on Weibo at the time of publication.

At Zhujiajiao, another ancient Chinese town, Ami Paris portrayed a pair of lovebirds posing in front of exquisite architectural relics, such as entryways with carved wooden folding doors and a garden pond full of koi fish, which signifies good luck.

“Qixi has become one of our favorites, too. It is always a great opportunity to honor love together with our Chinese friends,” said Alexandre Mattiussi, founder and creative director of Ami Paris. The collection, which comes in a light shade of pink, will be available in the Greater Asia market and in Japan, which has become Chinese consumers’ favorite shopping destination due to the weak yen.

At Balenciaga, couples pose coolly in mundane settings, such as a subway station and on street corners, which the Shanghai-based Leon Eckert realistically captured. Featuring celebrity couple Che Che and Li Jiage, real-life model couples Fei and Yixiangyu, and Jiji and Ai, the campaign furthered Balenciaga’s obsession with China’s digital economy — a digital scanning effect overlaid in the campaign video emulates an add contact gesture familiar to mobile users in China.

Like Balenciaga, Lemaire‘s city dwellers, the Taiwanese model Liu Xinyu and her husband, are captured on a date in the streets of Shanghai for its Qixi campaign, showcasing a moment of intimacy amid the hubbub of the bustling city.

Using the Qixi moment to discuss craft and cuteness has become a Loewe specialty. The LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Spanish house created a stop-motion short film that pays homage to vintage Chinese cartoons that traced the steps taken by two lovestruck hedgehogs across the Puzzle Fold Tote, Tote Mini and Pouch, all Loewe bestsellers.

Directed by BAFTA-winning director Nina Gantz and narrated by renowned dubbing master Lin Dongfu, visual elements in the film, such as durians and lotus flowers, are also transformed into surreal installations for the editorial segment of the campaign, which was lensed by Chinese photographer Yi Tuo.

“As one of the few brands adept at seamlessly intertwining local culture with brand DNA, Loewe has again set a high standard for localization this Qixi through its thoughtful production, casting, and storytelling choices,” observed DLG’s Mauron.

Also approaching Qixi with lovable characters is Loro Piana. The “quiet luxury” label photographed fluffy lamb stuffed animals dressed in Loro Piana’s luxurious wool jumpers and matching lounge pants in pink, navy, grey, and an intricate stripe.

Alongside a dedicated capsule collection, the mascot is available for purchase at 8,800 renminbi, or $1,226, and 32,200 renminbi, or $4,487.

At Acne Studios, one’s preferred Qixi sweetheart might turn out to be cats and dogs. Capturing furry friends and their influencer and artist owners in its Qixi campaign, the brand’s “Let’s make a furry friend” call-to-action resonated with many pet owners online, driving sales in both the Chinese market and abroad. On the WeChat Mini Program, the Qixi limited edition pink-eyed cat T-shirt has been quickly selling out.

As one of the only local brands to engage with the Qixi narrative, the Shanghai-based retailer Labelhood enlisted Chinese designer brand Ao Yes and Disney’s iconic Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse characters to collaborate on a three-way piece titled “Deep in Love.”

Labelhood said the collection was inspired by an ancient Chinese poem that used two trees with interlocking branches as a sign of harmonious love. “We see a hint of oriental sentiment in the Mickey and Minnie love story, which began almost 100 years ago,” said Tasha Liu, founder of Labelhood.