Lunar New Year in Travel Retail

Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit

We highlight some of the most eye-catching campaigns related to Lunar New Year from around the travel retail industry, beginning with a DFS celebration that spans physical stores and the Metaverse.

Leading luxury travel retailer DFS Group’s annual Lunar New Year campaign, which runs to 28 February, highlights the gifting opportunities available in-store and online across DFS’ luxury pillars.

These span beauty & fragrances, fashion & accessories, food & gifts, watches & jewellery and wines & spirits, with many products featured in the retailer’s curated gifting guides. Collections include ‘Say Hello To A New You’, ‘Bountiful Giving’ and ‘Share Your Luck’.

“This Lunar New Year, we invite our customers to kick-start the Year of the Rabbit with us through perfect gifts and festive celebrations to enjoy with loved ones,” said DFS Group Executive Vice President Digital Ventures and Marketing Long Chiu. “We hope to share the joy of this auspicious holiday by providing an abundance of delightful surprises to create new holiday memories.”

Throughout the campaign, guests are greeted by playful Fortune Rabbits who promise to bring good luck and prosperity, delivering good fortune as they hop through DFS’ luxury festive playground.

In participating stores around the world, DFS invites customers to join the Fortune Rabbit Scavenger Hunt for the chance to win a complimentary Fortune Rabbit NFT in DFS World (the retailer’s virtual world). Other interactive experiences and offers are available in DFS World, complementing the activity in physical stores.

Visitors can also discover and experience local traditions including lucky fai chun calligraphy, lion dances and visits from the God of Fortune across the DFS network.

DFS is hopping into the festive spirit with trademark vibrancy and imagination

Dewar’s celebrates Lunar New Year with major travel retail campaign and Moodie Davitt makeover

Scotch whisky brand Dewar’s, owned by Bacardi, is welcoming the Year of the Rabbit with a colourful homepage makeover of The Moodie Davitt Report.

Dewar’s has launched its largest-ever omnichannel campaign in key travel retail markets to celebrate Lunar New Year and highlight the Dewar’s Double Double Series, a selection of small-batch, prestige, aged travel retail-exclusive blends.

The campaign is running at 11 locations in Asia Pacific travel retail throughout the Spring festival period. Several stores are offering the travel retail-exclusive Dewar’s Double Double 20 Year Old expression (50cl), which was named the World’s Best Whisky at the World Whiskies Awards in 2021 and the International Whisky Competition two years in a row.

The blend was crafted from a selection of whiskies aged for at least 20 years. It offers cinnamon, ripe vine fruits and cacao flavours with a smooth finish. It is 46% ABV and has an RRP of US$114.99.

The Dewar’s Double Double Series packaging features a vibrant Lunar New Year-themed illustration of a rabbit and zodiac wheel, which features all 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Offering a personalised interactive digital consumer experience, travellers can discover their zodiac fortunes by scanning a QR code on the back of the packaging. The fortunes are available in English and simplified Chinese.

The omnichannel campaign is underpinned by Dewar’s ‘Stay Curious’ brand motto. Dewar’s has teamed up with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) to host a pop-up at the Sanya InterContinental Hotel. The animation seeks to leverage the peak travel period during the holiday season and invites hotel guests to shop Dewar’s via CDFG’s ecommerce platform.

Impactful and premium in-store activations further enhance the Dewar’s Lunar New Year campaign with branded gondolas, banners and tasting experiences. In addition, colourful animated visuals are running at various retailers’ websites and social media platforms to build awareness for the campaign online.

“With an upturn in the number of Chinese tourists choosing to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Hainan, the fortunes of travel retail in China are starting to look much more positive again,” commented Bacardi Global Travel Retail Asia Pacific Regional Director Gaurav Joshi.

“In Chinese culture, the rabbit symbolises longevity, peace and prosperity which also bodes well for industry recovery. The Dewar’s Double Double omnichannel campaign is progressive and modern, epitomising the trend-setting, individuality and wit of Dewar’s. We are already seeing tremendous engagement from whisky tastemakers interacting with the regional campaign in-store in China, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia.”

Dewar’s is the fifth largest blended Scotch brand in global travel retail, growing +35% in value YoY based on the latest figures from IWSR. According to Bacardi, prestige expressions such as Dewar’s Double Double are fuelling spirits category growth, with prestige and prestige+ brands representing 30% of blended Scotch in 2021.

At the Sanya pop-up, hotel guests can enjoy exclusive tastings and shop the Dewar’s Double Double blended Scotch whisky on CDFG’s ecommerce platform

Seeing double: The Dewar’s Double Double 50cl is a travel retail-exclusive prestige expression that comes in striking Chinese zodiac-themed packaging

HTDF and Elizabeth Arden partner for festive campaign

Hainan Tourism Duty Free Shopping Complex (HTDF) and Elizabeth Arden have entered into the Lunar New Year spirit with an immersive and cute pop-up featuring Miffy the rabbit.

The co-branded pop-up is located on the Level 1 atrium. It features Arden’s star product, Ceramide Capsules, and has attracted many visitors from the public to stop by, HTDF said.

At the Arden Capsule Wishing House, guests write down their Year of the Rabbit skincare wishes on small capsule cards. They then hang them on the Capsule Wishing Tree to send New Year’s blessings.

The Miffy Rabbit’s Diary allows consumers to learn about Miffy’s New Year skincare plan and find out which Arden Capsules products they like most. They can also take a photo with Miffy.

Customers can also flip through a Capsule e-book next to Miffy’s Diary to discover the benefits of each product. In-store purchases of Arden products over a certain amount also qualify for a free Arden x Miffy co-branded satchel and makeup bag.

Miffy the rabbit adds a cute touch to the Elizabeth Arden pop-up with HTDF

Diageo welcomes the Year of the Rabbit with Asia Pacific airport campaign

Diageo is turning key locations in Asia Pacific travel retail blue with a vibrant digital media campaign showcasing the Johnnie Walker Blue Label x Angel Chen expression. Fashion designer Chen designed the limited-edition Year of the Rabbit packaging for Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

Among the highlights is a high-profile Lunar New Year campaign at Incheon International Airport. Diageo has turned one of the tunnels at Incheon Airport blue to showcase the expression. It has also taken over a giant LED tower in the post security zone with a vibrant Lunar New Year animation and is highlighting the range through in the departure lounge.

Diageo Global Travel is also running further digital activations throughout key travel retail locations in Asia Pacific to celebrate the occasion. The campaign features beautiful imagery, vivid visual advertising and immersive digital experiences. These are running at Haikou Meilan International Airport, the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Haitang Bay, Singapore Changi Airport and Taoyuan International Airport.

The digital campaign targets travellers pre- during and post trip. Before their trip, travellers are reached through advertisements in cab-hailing app DiDi and flight booking application Xiecheng. They are also engaged by traditional media such as Condé Nast Traveller and via KOL-generated ‘unboxing’ content on social media.

At the airport, Diageo builds brand awareness through high-profile media placements. The company has also teamed up with Hainan Airlines so consumers can scan a QR code from their boarding passes to pre-book products inflight. At their destination, shoppers are reminded about their Lunar New Year shopping in Hainan via WeChat.

Diageo Global Travel Commercial Director for APAC, MENA and India Sandra Tassilly said: “We’re delighted to bring this spectacularly colourful and digitally driven campaign to APAC passengers, opening up the Johnnie Walker Blue Label world of luxury for passengers to explore and gift during this Lunar New Year.

“Our omnichannel approach allows us to greet and engage customers during the build up to Lunar New Year in an immersive, dynamic and disruptive way. Combining the physical boutique and gifting experience with a digital wrap around. We aim to be there at every step of the journey.”

Dr.Ci:Labo takes the omnichannel approach

Leading dermacosmetics brand Dr.Ci:Labo is delivering a major Online-to-Offline (O2O) campaign at Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex for Lunar New Year.

Inspired by the Japanese woodwork, the company’s Concept Store has been reskinned in auspicious colours of red and gold complemented by the design elements of Chinese Infinity Knots (中国结) and golden rings to reflect the brand’s wish for shoppers to have a fulfilling and abundant new year ahead.

In collaboration with China Duty Free Group, the visually impactful lunar new year-themed LED pillar increases visibility and brand presence in the beauty zone.

The DCL Lunar New Year Travel Retail Exclusive gift set, only available through CDFG in Hainan and on the retailer’s ecommerce site, comes wrapped with a festive red ribbon for shoppers

At the concept store, shoppers can also play the ‘Spot the Difference’ game via the interactive touchscreen to win exclusive vouchers that are redeemable online for DCL purchases, only available at Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex.

Shoppers are also gifted a set of Dr.Ci:Labo red packets with any purchase online or offline. For purchases above RMB688 in-store, shoppers are entitled to two sets of DCL red packets, an exclusive DCL Mini Tote Bag, and a chance to win other merchandise.

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