From Tigers to Rabbits – the real new year is about to be unleashed
by Chris Reed
There are rabbits are all over Singapore! Thousands of them, everywhere! Mind you we had a year of tigers running wild this time last year! What am I talking about? Nothing to do with Playboy or Ann Summers. The new Chinese Year is the year of the Rabbit (it was the year of the Tiger). You have never seen over the top until you have seen Chinese New Year celebrated and marketed in Asia. There’s new year and then there’s Chinese Year. Normal western new year is like a warm up event for the real thing. For Asia there’s nothing quite like Chinese New Year. Marketing has gone into overdrive. There are golden rabbits everywhere. Every brand from Tiger Beer (ironic I know!) to Carre Four to DBS bank are giving away golden rabbits with purchase or brand interaction. There are red envelopes with rabbit branding being sold everywhere for people to give friends and family with money in or employers to give employees for good luck. If you work for a Chinese company you get a 13th month salary which is very nice at any time of the year! There are rabbit posters everywhere, full page newspaper adverts with rabbits in and TV, radio and web commercials all with rabbits in. Every brand no matter how obscure needs to be seen to be offering something to do with rabbits to this highly superstitious Chinese customer base and to all oriental countries’ populations to celebrate this new year starting on February 3rd. Unlike new year in the West, China, Singapore and other Asian countries give employees 3-5 days holiday to celebrate! So happy new year…with rabbits on!
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