Chinese New Year is now celebrated by over 1.3 billion people globally, with over 800 events hosted in more than 320 cities across 118 countries, so undoubtedly it represents a massive marketing opportunity for brands. As we enter the Year of the Monkey we can see how businesses from British Premier League through to Armani are doing more than ever before to mark the occasion and integrate this worldwide event into their online marketing strategies.

The colour red is included in almost every marketing message. The Chinese national colour represents happiness, beauty, success and good fortune. During Chinese New Year red envelopes containing money are given as gifts but as we move into a digital age the tradition has now moved to people sending ‘red envelopes’ through WeChat (China’s answer to WhatsApp) and ZenBack. WeChat introduced the red envelope service in 2014, resulting in more than 20 million envelopes being sent in 48 hours.

Chinese New Year is taking social media by storm, in this post we take a look how brands are wishing their fans and customers a Happy Chinese New Year. As customers tend to start shopping for gifts weeks in advance, some brands kicked off their social campaigns in January. Brands are not just using Chinese imagery in marketing material in the run up but many luxury brands are actually creating completely bespoke product ranges for the global celebration.

Here are some examples of how top brands welcomed the #YearoftheMonkey:

DVF:

Celebrate the #YearoftheMonkey with this lucky charm. ? Shop now: https://t.co/kWcP7qTlTh #ChineseNewYear pic.twitter.com/cNHlwZdWby

— DVF (@DVF) February 3, 2016

Armani:

Celebrate the Year of the Monkey with the #ArmaniBeauty Chinese New Year Palette. pic.twitter.com/7vIqfcQIk7

— Armani (@armani) February 8, 2016

Stella McCartney:

Celebrate the #YearofTheMonkey with our dedicated gift edit: https://t.co/O6ypQ8VxFF#ChineseNewYear pic.twitter.com/nzvdrGM0Ro

— Stella McCartney (@StellaMcCartney) January 28, 2016

Louis Vuitton:

Celebrate the #YearoftheMonkey with the limited edition gift ideas now from #LouisVuitton https://t.co/uJ54U5PlN4 pic.twitter.com/vvtfhukX4t

— Louis Vuitton (@LouisVuitton) January 30, 2016

De Beers:

Wishing you a Happy Lunar New Year filled with prosperity #LunarNewYear #YearoftheMonkey https://t.co/MEoo56yPtv pic.twitter.com/w8oZ94ewPX

— De Beers (@DeBeers) February 8, 2016

Coca-Cola Singapore:

@irispiration Wishing you a comfortable & easy-going #ChineseNewYear free of blisters and shoe pain! #CokeCNYsg pic.twitter.com/ErpvsjBjJz

— Coca-Cola Singapore (@CocaColaSG) February 5, 2016

Premier League:

Happy #ChineseNewYear to all fans of the #BPL! #yearofthemonkey ? pic.twitter.com/olix4Vr8mn

— Premier League (@premierleague) February 8, 2016

Piaget:

Happy and prosper #ChineseNewYear to all our Chinese friends ! #yearofthemonkey pic.twitter.com/d7uY9cKYVO

— Piaget (@Piaget) February 7, 2016

Skype:

Happy Chinese New Year! The year of the monkey is officially here. #ChineseNewYear pic.twitter.com/IbvtQWyGPH

— Skype (@Skype) February 8, 2016