Multicultural Marketing News January 2025 Lunar New Year 2025 January 29, 2025 marks the beginning of The Year of the Snake, the Asian Lunar New Year, one of the largest and most festive celebrations for the Asian American Community. In this issue MMRNews presents a Spotlight on Lunar New Year 2025 Commentary from Ethnic Technologies, C+R Research, Horowitz Research, Ebony Marketing Systems, Multilingual Connections and NRS Digital Media. Commentary - Ethnic Technologies Celebrates Year of the Snake (Ethnic Technologies)
- Let’s Celebrate the Year of Wood Snake! (C+R Research)
- Celebrating the Chinese New Year with Traditional Foods (Horowitz Research)
- Not Just the Chinese New Year – Celebrating the Lunar New Year (Ebony Marketing Systems)
- Connecting Through Language: Marketing to Chinese-Speaking Audiences (Multilingual Connections)
- Engaging Lunar New Year Celebrants with Cultural Authenticity (NRS Digital Media)
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Ethnic Technologies Celebrates Year of the Snake January 29, 2025, marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake, the Asian Lunar New Year, a time of joy and celebration for the Asian American community. The Year of the Snake will last until February 16, 2026. Celebrated by Asian American groups, including Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean Americans, the Lunar New Year is a cherished occasion for family and friends to gather, share blessings, and honor ancestors. The Lunar New Year is based on a 12-year zodiac cycle, with each year represented by a different animal. The Snake is the sixth animal in the Chinese zodiac, symbolizing wisdom, intuition, and elegance. Fun Year of the Snake Facts: • Year of the Snake: January 29, 2025 – February 16, 2026 • Snake Years: 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 • Famous People Born in the Year of the Snake: Mahatma Gandhi, Bob Dylan, Audrey Hepburn, Oprah Winfrey, Muhammad Ali, Taylor Swift, Pablo Picasso, J.K. Rowling, Greta Thunberg, Kanye West, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Lunar New Year Celebrations Across Asian Cultures Chinese New Year: Families clean homes to sweep away bad luck and decorate with red lanterns and banners for prosperity. A reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve features symbolic dishes like fish (for surplus) and sticky rice cake (for success). Celebrations conclude with a Lantern Festival, and elders give red envelopes (hóngbāo) with money to wish younger family members’ good fortune. Vietnamese Tết: Families honor ancestors with food-laden altars and decorate homes with kumquat trees and peach blossoms for luck. Festivities include enjoying bánh chưng or bánh tét (sticky rice cakes symbolizing earth and sky) and lion dances for blessings. Observing taboos like avoiding arguments or sweeping the house is key to ensuring good luck. Korean Seollal: Families wear hanbok and perform charye rituals to honor ancestors with food offerings. Eating tteokguk (rice cake soup) symbolizes gaining a year in age and good fortune. Popular activities include folk games like yutnori and kite flying. Cultural Nuances: Each culture’s unique practices add depth and richness to the Lunar New Year celebrations, reflecting their history, values, and traditions. As marketers, it’s essential to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach when reaching out to Asian consumers. Recognizing the rich diversity within Asian communities is key. Ethnic Technologies offers more than 190 distinct ethnic breakdowns, helping marketers deliver culturally relevant campaigns that resonate with specific audiences. To learn more about our product offerings, please contact: Bryan Lee, Senior Sales Manager, Ethnic Technologies, bryan@ethnictechnologies.com. View Profile |
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Let’s Celebrate the Year of Wood Snake! Lunar New Year marks the beginning of a new year based on a lunar calendar. 2025 is the year of the snake which signifies a time for transformation, wisdom, and renewal. Depending on which part of Asia people live, the holiday is celebrated for 7 to 16 days. As this is such a long holiday season, in the past, many visited their long-distance family in person. However, after recent pandemics, there has been a shift to celebrating the holiday using technology (virtual gatherings, digital red envelopes, etc.). With the rise in technology used to celebrate the holiday, brands and companies can tap into the vibrant, culturally rich celebrations in some of the following ways: 1. Craft campaigns that reflect the diversity within Asian communities, and recognize variations in Lunar New Year celebrations: The campaigns and marketing messages can be more relevant and impactful to the diverse audiences within the Asian community. This year, Disney will feature Disney friends for the Lunar New Year parade that will incorporate Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese traditions! 2. Utilize multiple platforms to reach consumers: Campaigns and promotions on social media and e-commerce platforms can maximize the reach and engagement of consumers worldwide. 3. Offer limited-edition products or smaller celebratory food packaging: Incorporating Lunar New Year themes into products can attract consumers, especially those looking for festive items. They can incorporate zodiac animals or lucky colors based on the year: for this year’s Wood Snake, the lucky colors are blue, black, red, yellow, and green. Also, restaurants and food brands offering food items in smaller portions can captivate consumers with smaller households who celebrate the holiday virtually! And, those with multiple divisions or brands can integrate the lucky colors in their campaigns and highlight the meaning of zodiac animals. With companies’ campaigns pitching in, we all can celebrate diverse worldwide cultures, traditions, and holidays, such as the Lunar New Year. By Jane Park, Quantitative Research Analyst, C+R Research, janep@crresearch.com. View Profiles here and here |
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Celebrating the Chinese New Year with Traditional Foods As a first-generation Chinese immigrant, I enjoy celebrating several meaningful occasions and festivals throughout the year, starting with the Qingming Festival in the spring, to the Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival to kick off summer, then the Mid-Autumn Festival to get together with the family, and finally and most importantly, the Chinese New Year at the end of the lunar calendar. More than half of Asian Americans say that culture and heritage influence the holidays they celebrate (51%) and the food they choose to cook or eat (57%), according to the recent Horowitz study, FOCUS Asian Volume 3: Social, Cultural, & Political Shifts. Indeed, traditional foods associated with these festivals are the most important component for the celebrations. Mouthwatering Qingtuan (mugwort mochi) during Qingming, flavorful Zongzi (rice dumplings) for Duanwu, delicate moon cakes for Mid-Autumn, and for Chinese New Year, a full-blown feast will be enjoyed on the New Year’s Eve, featuring chicken, duck, fish, beef, pork, dumplings, sticky rice cakes, and many kinds of fruits and vegetables. This is the time when most Chinese families are filled with the richest Chinese cultures, traditions, and the happiest moments of the year! Contact: Joyce Williamson, Horowitz Research, A Division of M/A/R/C Research, joycew@horowitzresearch.com. View Profile |
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Not Just the Chinese New Year – Celebrating the Lunar New Year The lunar year is an important fifteen-day celebration starting with the first new moon and ending with the first full moon of the lunar calendar. This celebration spans many Asian cultures, yet most searches and media refer to this celebration as Chinese New Year. For example, there are very few mentions of Tết – the Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival. Differences across cultures go beyond the name including symbolic foods, greetings, gifting rituals and travel/family gatherings. Some countries including China, Vietnam and Korea forbade these celebrations until as recently as 2003 influencing how traditions have been revived or passed down. Yes, there are similar new year hopes for prosperity, abundance and togetherness. But what does prosperity and abundance look like in the AAPI community with some of the most glaring disparities in wealth of any racial or ethnic group in the US? AAPI are the most economically divided racial group, with the highest median household income of $139,000 and the lowest at $69,000. AAPI adults in the 90th income percentile earn more than 10 times of what those in the 10th percentile earn. The Asian diaspora is diverse in language (over 100 languages), social context, familial connection and personal identity. EMS embraces these challenges with AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) communities, especially in its honing of telephone interview skills. These skills recognize that the AAPI community has an average English proficiency of 34%, with the highest at 50% (Vietnamese) and the lowest at 15% (Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander). Ebony Marketing System Specialties: multicultural market research including Black, Latino and AAPI; competitive intelligence; multicultural intersexuality; qualitative/quantitative research methodologies; small business ownership work/life balance. By Kai Fuentes, CEO and President, Ebony Marketing Systems, kfuentes@ebonysystems.com. View Profile |
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Connecting Through Language: Marketing to Chinese-Speaking Audiences As we celebrate Chinese New Year, it’s a great time to consider the importance of language and cultural nuance when engaging with Chinese-speaking audiences, both in the US and globally. Chinese is incredibly diverse, with speakers’ preferences shaped by their cultural and regional backgrounds. Mandarin and Cantonese are the most widely spoken languages, while Simplified and Traditional Chinese are writing systems. Interestingly, the writing systems don’t always align neatly with the spoken languages! These distinctions go beyond the technical and are deeply rooted in history and identity. On a cultural level, a message that resonates in Beijing might fall flat in Taipei without careful adaptation. To build authentic connections, marketers need to collaborate with linguists and cultural consultants who grasp not just the words but the nuance and cultural context that informs them. Connecting globally requires an understanding of what truly engages and resonates with a specific audience. If you need assistance with Chinese translation, transcription, qualitative research support (or any of the 75 languages we work in!), connect with our team to discuss. And in the meantime, may the Chinese New Year bring you joy and prosperity. By Jill Kushner Bishop, PhD, Founder & CEO, Multilingual Connections, jill@mlconnections.com. View Profile |
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Engaging Lunar New Year Celebrants with Cultural Authenticity On January 29th, millions around the world will usher in the Year of the Snake, celebrating the Lunar New Year with family gatherings, traditions, and festivities. For brands, this is a powerful moment to connect with multicultural audiences through campaigns that are not just visually appealing but deeply meaningful. As we approach Lunar New Year 2025, marketers have a unique opportunity to blend tradition with innovation, creating culturally resonant campaigns that truly engage their audience. Place-based digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising offers a dynamic platform to bring these stories to life in authentic, impactful ways. Here’s how brands can craft campaigns that honor the richness of Lunar New Year celebrations while making genuine connections: Incorporate Symbolic Imagery for Deeper Engagement Lunar New Year is steeped in tradition, from vibrant red and gold hues symbolizing prosperity to the zodiac animal representing the year ahead. Thoughtful use of these cultural symbols in campaign visuals enhances relevance and draws audiences in with familiarity and warmth. Localize Messaging for Authentic Connections While Lunar New Year is widely celebrated, customs vary across Asian cultures. Effective campaigns acknowledge these differences by tailoring messages to specific communities. In-store media networks with hyper-local targeting capabilities enable brands to customize campaigns at the neighborhood level, ensuring messages feel personal and authentic. Spotlight Community Stories & Partnerships Lunar New Year is about connection—within families, among friends, and across communities. Brands can foster this spirit by showcasing local stories, highlighting partnerships with cultural organizations, or featuring real voices sharing their traditions. Using in-store digital screens to amplify these narratives not only enhances brand credibility but also strengthens community ties. The Lunar New Year is more than just a holiday—it’s an opportunity for brands to demonstrate cultural understanding and build lasting relationships. Let’s embrace this moment to create campaigns that don’t just celebrate the occasion but leave a lasting impact, long after the lanterns dim and the final firework fades. By Kristy Day, VP, NRS Digital Media, kday@nrsplus.com. View Profile |
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