Lunar New Year is celebrated across many Asian countries. It is especially important in China, as the most important and oldest traditional festival, where it is known as Spring Festival.
It is known as a time of connection with family and cultural identity, where “traditions” ground routines and expressions. However, “traditions” are dynamic concepts. Each year, New Year is a dialogue between enduring and evolving cultural norms.
There are four constants that endure at the core of New Year traditions, and festivities in general: people, place, emotions, and rituals.
Spring Festival is not only a cultural moment. It creates huge economic value. Across China's population and ethnic diaspora, the numbers are perennially high. Journeys home are the largest migration of people on the planet, with total cross-regional population flow expected to reach 9.5 billion trips during the 40-day travel rush. Omnimedia views of the CCTV gala hit records of 23 billion. From a commercial perspective, appearances from Chinese celebrities and endorsement of brands often signal their alignment with policy directions and sector investment.
Each of those spectacles offers sources of change.
Stories about empty high-speed trains and return to green carriages offer a metaphor for a slowing economy. Green carriages are valued for their significantly lower cost (nearly a third of the high-speed fare) and broader access. Even with in incentive of extended holidays, the cost-benefit analysis of travel is a pertinent topic.
Social commentary and memefication of the CCTV Spring Gala signals shifting media preferences. Nearly 2,000 topics trended on social media platforms, with content related to new quality productive forces (such as AI and humanoid robots) accounting for approximately 20% of total views. Increasingly, checking live memes during the broadcast has become a ritual in itself, a second-screen experience younger crowds layer on top of the reunion dinner.
Celebrity and brand partnerships at the gala serve as a proxy for state capital policy. For example, embodied robotics companies like Magiclab Robotics, Galbot, Unitree Robotics, and Noetix Robotics partnered with the CCTV gala. Their presence on stage signals that the humanoid robot industry is shifting toward mass production and diverse applications, unlocking significant investment opportunities.
But the reception wasn’t without friction. A prevailing sentiment among younger audiences was that the gala has lost its 活人感 (its sense of human aliveness), crowded out by humanoids. Many pointed instead to platform-native productions like Bilibili’s New Year gala as feeling more genuine and culturally alive.
If brand activity sits at the intersection of culture and commerce, then a review of tropes within advertising demonstrates how meaning and behaviors within Chinese New Year are moving from fixed traditions to fluid configurations.
From our analysis of brand activations in the luxury and lifestyle space, we've identified ongoing shifts over the past 3 years. We support each of these with consumer data from our Signals research.