It’s been raining cats and dogs since the new year, but that hasn’t stopped Singaporeans from gearing up for the upcoming Chinese New Year (CNY) festivities. 

Restaurant bookings for CNY reunion dinners are filling up fast, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has encouraged Singaporeans to opt for e-hongbao this CNY in a bid to be more environmentally-friendly and complement COVID-19 safe management measures.

According to a study conducted by Marketing in Asia, Google has more CNY-related searches than any other holiday in Singapore (including Christmas), and the volume of CNY Google searches in Singapore is far greater than in neighbouring countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. 

Chinese New Year is the most searched festive moment in Singapore

CNY-related search queries in Singapore outstrips other markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia

CNY is all about homecoming, reconnecting with loved ones and having a good time. Since there’s such a strong, positive emotional association - many experts agree that CNY is an especially powerful moment for brands to build brand love and equity. 

The emotional aspect is an important one - telling an engaging story is 22 times more memorable than using facts in your marketing creatives. If your marketing campaign has a CNY theme that strikes a chord with your audience, your content is more likely to go viral. 

Singaporeans are 44% more likely to try out new products and brands during this period than at any time in the rest of the year, with a 43% increase in searches for e-commerce brands during CNY. In 2018, Singaporeans spent a total of 2 million hours on CNY-related content on YouTube (that’s a lot of watch time)! With these figures, it’s no surprise why the CNY sale season is such a big deal in Singapore. 

In this article, we’ll be covering a few ideas and tips your brand can use to capitalize on the festivities during Phase 3.

You don’t have to produce a super flashy video ad - if you’re limited by time and budget, consider producing a simple video ad that focuses on being authentic instead. 

Authenticity has become another factor to consider in your marketing campaigns. According to a study conducted by Cohn & Wolfe in 2014, 63% of consumers surveyed across 12 global markets would buy from a company that they considered to be authentic over and above its competitors. Furthermore, 60% said they would recommend an authentic business to family and friends.

With live streaming and podcasts becoming more mainstream, it’s become clear that there’s an audience that appreciates media that’s captured raw and “in-the-moment”. 

This CNY, you can consider doing a simple live stream or behind the scenes (BTS) video of the office participating in the festivities - such as yusheng, putting up office CNY decor, short interviews or even an office pineapple tarts bake-off competition. This style of video is also great for showcasing your staff and company culture - giving your audience an opportunity to learn more about your brand.

A good example of a brand that does this well is Buzzfeed, who streamed a dance battle between staff members on Facebook, and had a live poll for the audience to vote on their favourite dance act - which was great for audience engagement and building their brand as an internet media company targeting a younger, millennial audience.

Check out their Facebook live here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=10154390047440329

Of course, if you’ve got the budget - why not invest the money to produce a video commercial?

Generally speaking, there’s two routes you can take - either the comedic or the emotional approach. We’ll go more in-depth on this topic in a later article, but for now you can check out these two ad examples by Ikea Malaysia and China Central Television (CCTV).

Prepare For A Legendary CNY

Ikea Malaysia’s “Prepare For A Legendary CNY” Ad

CCTV 2016年春晚公益廣告「父親的旅程」

Another great way to get people into the CNY festive spirit is giving back to the community. 

In 2013, McDonald’s Singapore launched their CNY Prosperity menu and pledged to donate 10 cents from the sale of each Prosperity meal to Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) Children’s Wing - with the goal of raising $60,000 to fund the children’s therapy, social and welfare needs.

Alongside this, McDonald’s staff volunteers also planned festive surprise visits to Orange Valley Homes where they spent time and gave gifts to the elderly, and got them into the CNY spirit with their own “Prosperity lion dance troupe”.

While it’s hard to reach the same scale as McDonald’s, what matters is the act of giving back and sending a positive message - which is more important than the amount of money being raised. Get in touch with a local charity organization and see how your brand can make a contribution!

You can also write a blog post on your website about CNY (much like the article you’re reading right now)!

You don’t have to write a long article post - short articles that are easy to read and with good user experience (UX) are highly favoured by Google’s search engine (remember, high search volume during the CNY period).

Find a topic that aligns your business with the festivities (i.e. CNY recipes if you’re an F&B business, CNY decor ideas if you’re an interior design business, etc) and include links in your article to products/services that your business offers. You can also link to other articles you’ve written to improve your search engine optimization (SEO).

If you’re looking for inspiration, go check out Giant Singapore’s blog, which has a variety of gift ideas and CNY tips in their catalogue.

Navigating the new media landscape posed by the new year and Phase 3 re-opening can be a tough journey. Here at Big 3 Media, we have a suite of services to market your business during these challenging times:

If you are looking for content marketing options for your business, drop us an email or message and find out how Big 3 Media can help you!

4 Tips On Chinese New Year Marketing during Phase 3

Just like businesses, Instagram is always looking to do better for customers to stay attracted to their platform, and use them. Hence, the emergence of the Reels feature; similar to the highly popular social media platform known as TikTok.
 
Just like TikTok clips, Instagram Reels are short clips, specifically 15 to 30-second ones, which are aimed at both entertaining users and helping businesses grow by making more visible to new audiences. Right now, it has been launched in over 50 countries, comprising the US, since August 2020.
 
So, seeing how TikTok has received lots of popularity and interest among people - Instagram decided to climb onboard the bandwagon train and release the Reels feature so users can have another type of content they can view for entertainment. Meanwhile, businesses can use this opportunity to get in touch with one of the best video production companies in town for quality content when putting together an Instagram Reel.
 
With that being said, keep reading on to understand how can you use Instagram Reels to your advantage!

Make the right selection: Music, filters and speed

First and foremost, to create a Reel, you’ll have to open Instagram Stories and pick the Reel option found at the bottom of the Instagram camera, placed right beside the Stories option.
 
Once you’re done with that, it’s time to set the tune for some extra flair. You either search for the specific you want by scrolling down through the tracks that have been displayed, or you can record your own unique audio as well. 
 
Before adding the audio clip, ensure you check out a preview of the song by tapping the play button on the right; only when you’re satisfied with it, do you add it in! You can also use the slider to select the specific part of the track you want to use and tap done. Meanwhile, when you use original audio, it will be attributed to you, and people can create Reels by referring to your audio. 

Use the slider to decide how long you want the clip to be, and this can be a couple of seconds, the full 15 or 30 seconds. Once you have chosen the length of your timer, tap set the timer. 
 
 During this stage, you’re also able to select effects or filters from the gallery to make your Reel appear more visually attractive. Adding on, you can also record numerous Reels with all kinds of effects at one go. At the same time, the decision is yours to slow down or speed up certain parts of the clip; it’ll help you to meet the angle of the Reel or match the rhythms of the beat.

When you press record with the timer on, you will see a three seconds countdown before your recording starts to give you time to get in position; the recording will automatically stop after the selected duration.
 
Right at the bottom of the phone screen, you’ll come across a progressing indicator that will display the duration of the Reel. Once you’ve finished recording, you can start decorating your clip with stickers, throw in hashtags, geolocation, and so on.
 
With Reels, you’re given permission to be as creative as you want to be when it comes to video editing - unlike stories. You even get to select where and when you want the stickers to appear, and you’re free to experiment and explore in whichever way you want!

Here, you can add a caption for your Reel and also include hashtags and tag friends. 
 
 If you tap the image on the left, you can also select a cover frame for your Reel. Use the slider at the bottom to select a frame from your video or tap “Add from Camera Roll” to upload a different image to use as a cover. 
 
When you are finished, tap done. The “Share to Feed” button will automatically be enabled. If you only want your Reel video to be posted only on the Reel section, you can tap on the blue switch. Once you are ready to share your Reel with your friends, tap “Share” at the bottom. 

After you’ve successfully mastered the way of creating an Instagram Reel, you can focus on building even more engaging content on your feed. This is when we, Big 3 Media, is here to step in and offer a helping hand. We’re not just known for being a 3D animations studio, in fact; our services range from branding videos, instructional videos to social media videos. Let us work together with you and start impressing your audience!

4 Key Steps To Using the All-New Instagram Reels

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