中國(guó)農(nóng)歷新年是中國(guó)最重要的傳統(tǒng)佳節(jié)。無論對(duì)于中國(guó)老百姓，還是時(shí)刻關(guān)注中國(guó)消費(fèi)者的品牌來說，都是一個(gè)重要的消費(fèi)時(shí)期。

為了深入了解消費(fèi)者在春節(jié)期間與品牌之間的互動(dòng)，我們?cè)?月份調(diào)查了來自三個(gè)市場(chǎng)——中國(guó)大陸、香港和新加坡的1000位消費(fèi)者，探討他們對(duì)于品牌在春節(jié)期間的營(yíng)銷活動(dòng)的看法和態(tài)度。

通過此次調(diào)查看出，品牌的春節(jié)營(yíng)銷活動(dòng)對(duì)于消費(fèi)者來說，非常重要。春節(jié)是一年之中闔家團(tuán)圓的寶貴日子，親朋好友之間的互動(dòng)，如聚餐、送禮等非常普遍。大陸的被調(diào)查者反映，如果品牌推出搶眼的春節(jié)營(yíng)銷活動(dòng)，那么，他們很有可能推薦這些品牌給其他人（59%），嘗試新品牌（65%），或者加大對(duì)品牌的消費(fèi)力度（64%）。

消費(fèi)品公司具有獨(dú)特的優(yōu)勢(shì)并善于利用春節(jié)與消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行溝通、構(gòu)建品牌。這是因?yàn)樵诩彝コ蓡T于春節(jié)期間的聚餐和送禮活動(dòng)中，消費(fèi)品是其中重要的組成部分。如果品牌擁有持續(xù)性的好口碑，而且推出的產(chǎn)品很應(yīng)節(jié)，春節(jié)期間銷售量會(huì)顯著飆升。消費(fèi)品公司很擅長(zhǎng)推出節(jié)假日特別包裝、捆綁促銷等活動(dòng)來推進(jìn)品牌的節(jié)日銷售。

很有趣的現(xiàn)象是，大部分被調(diào)查的中國(guó)消費(fèi)者都認(rèn)為中國(guó)品牌和國(guó)際品牌在春節(jié)營(yíng)銷活動(dòng)中的表現(xiàn)平分秋色。兩者都很會(huì)利用春節(jié)來積極構(gòu)建品牌（41%的被調(diào)查者覺得平分秋色，34%覺得中國(guó)品牌做得更好，25%覺得國(guó)際品牌更好）。

一般來講，國(guó)際品牌已經(jīng)被公認(rèn)為更加擅長(zhǎng)與中國(guó)消費(fèi)者構(gòu)建強(qiáng)烈的情感關(guān)聯(lián)。當(dāng)被問到哪個(gè)中國(guó)或者國(guó)際品牌的營(yíng)銷做得最好？可口可樂是被提及次數(shù)最多的品牌。它被提到的次數(shù)，比提及次數(shù)排名第一的中國(guó)本土品牌加多寶，數(shù)量要多四倍；也比排名第二的國(guó)際品牌——費(fèi)列羅巧克力多三倍。

中國(guó)的消費(fèi)者認(rèn)為國(guó)際品牌的品牌構(gòu)建，需要具備兩個(gè)特點(diǎn)：真情實(shí)感（49%的中國(guó)消費(fèi)者認(rèn)為國(guó)際品牌的春節(jié)促銷需要考慮真情實(shí)感的因素，新加坡22%，香港30%）和出人意料（中國(guó)大陸34%，新加坡17%，香港12%）。

有一個(gè)國(guó)際品牌的春節(jié)營(yíng)銷活動(dòng)在這兩個(gè)要素–真情實(shí)感和出人意料都獲得了最高的得分–聯(lián)合利華的衛(wèi)寶（Lifebuoy）香皂。衛(wèi)寶針對(duì)農(nóng)歷新年特別設(shè)計(jì)了紅包，方便親朋好友在過年期間使用。紅包使用的材料是它們獨(dú)特的抗菌香皂包裝紙。此創(chuàng)新紅包，被送到了上海27萬(wàn)個(gè)目標(biāo)家庭，既可以用來發(fā)紅包，還可以隨時(shí)洗手。這個(gè)頗具創(chuàng)意的紅包營(yíng)銷活動(dòng)提升了衛(wèi)寶在上海市場(chǎng)的品牌認(rèn)知度，幅度高達(dá)17%，也為品牌帶來了價(jià)值等同于83萬(wàn)美元的免費(fèi)瀏覽量。

仔細(xì)觀察調(diào)查結(jié)果，我們還可以進(jìn)一步提出兩個(gè)有趣的問題。第一，為什么非消費(fèi)品類的公司不在名單上？這是因?yàn)榇蟛糠址窍M(fèi)品類公司都把春節(jié)當(dāng)做普通促銷的機(jī)會(huì)之一。但從調(diào)查結(jié)果來看，消費(fèi)者在春節(jié)期間期待比一般的促銷更多的驚喜。

有一個(gè)例外的非消費(fèi)品類公司是海爾。這個(gè)中國(guó)家用電器品牌為了迎合消費(fèi)者在春節(jié)期間的情感需求，打造了一個(gè)叫做“春節(jié)回家，陪伴父母”的活動(dòng)。海爾與中國(guó)鐵路合作將車廂重新布置，添加了活動(dòng)二維碼。搭乘火車急切返鄉(xiāng)的人們，可以掃描二維碼，觀賞一個(gè)有關(guān)團(tuán)圓和父母無私的愛的短片。這個(gè)走心的短片很符合中國(guó)消費(fèi)者的心理需求，消費(fèi)者被深深地觸動(dòng)。

第二個(gè)問題是，從這些善于利用春節(jié)進(jìn)行營(yíng)銷的消費(fèi)品類公司可以學(xué)到什么？消費(fèi)品公司充分認(rèn)識(shí)到春節(jié)的戰(zhàn)略性作用，春節(jié)不只是提升短期銷售額的節(jié)假日，更是品牌長(zhǎng)期構(gòu)建的絕佳機(jī)會(huì)。

無論是中國(guó)本土的，還是國(guó)際品牌，都可以從我們此次調(diào)查結(jié)果中獲知，在中國(guó)市場(chǎng)接近中國(guó)消費(fèi)者，可以考慮特別的營(yíng)銷活動(dòng)、促銷或者品牌故事等來給消費(fèi)者帶來驚喜。但是無論哪種選擇，都必須和品牌屬性一致，講究真情實(shí)感。因?yàn)檫@是中國(guó)消費(fèi)者愿意忠誠(chéng)于某品牌的主要考慮。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

JayMilliken是品牌策略及市場(chǎng)咨詢顧問公司Prophet香港辦公室的高級(jí)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.