While most brands double down on family sentiment and tradition, FILA KIDS has flipped the traditional Spring Festival advertising formula. The FILA KIDS Chinese New Year ad trades adult narratives for child-like logic, tapping into the messy, imaginative, slightly chaotic world of Gen Alpha. The result is a concept built around zhua ma (抓马), a neat triple play that makes phonetic nods to the word drama, the Year of the Horse, and the expressive energy of today’s kids.
The campaign centres around a cast of internet-famous children, including variety show breakout stars and celebrity offspring. Instead of polished poses, they’re dropped into bite-sized mini dramas: a kid spy on a gift mission, siblings turning chess into psychological warfare, a bedroom reimagined as a full-blown dance stage. It’s less catalogue, more character study.
It’s a smart take. The FILA KIDS Chinese New Year ad isn’t really in it to sell clothes. It’s more about pushing an identity. They back this up with neat loops between online and offline content too.
FILA KIDS Chinese New Year ad: Extending the story offline
FILA KIDS’ flagship at Beijing Universal Studios is presented more like a playground than a store. They have capsule toys, dance zones, photo moments – all designed for participation, not just purchase. It’s basically a family-orientated concept store.
This campaign comes with the Beijing Flagships offer, taking this engaging retail experience to nearly 70 of China’s FILA KIDS stores in 45 cities by incorporating elements such as intangible cultural heritage-inspired activities, playful games, and New Year rituals adapted for children.
You can’t forget IP
The campaign is also gunning for long-term engagement. Recently FILA KIDS have been pushing the Wonnie Family, a cute crew of cartoon animals led by the bear-like Wonnie. They’re everything you’d expect: eye-catching, charming, and instantly recognisable.
This IP has been splashed about the offline activations in a move to go beyond seasonal storytelling and into something more durable. Character IP allows the brand to build continuity across campaigns, products and environments. It is a shift from one-off messaging to a more cumulative form of brand building, where familiarity compounds over time.
Closing the FILA KIDS Chinese New Year ad loop online
The offline experience is extended into the digital world through a Douyin dance challenge built around these Wonnie characters. The mechanics are familiar and effective. Children engage with the brand in-store, recreate the experience online, and feed that content back into the broader campaign ecosystem. The result is a closed loop where physical space, social media and character IP are all reinforcing each other.
This isn’t a new addition to the China marketing playbook, but its execution here feels particularly cohesive. Each layer of the campaign builds on the last, maintaining momentum across the extended holiday period.
FILA KIDS: A brand built around child agency
What FILA KIDS is ultimately responding to is not just Chinese New Year, but a generational shift. Gen Alpha consumers are growing up in a world defined by participation and performance. It’s the kind of rising of individualism we’ve seen across millennials and Gen Z in China but taking root at a much younger age.
They’re becoming a children’s brand with the force of adult marketing. The result is a message that’s empowering. What the zhua ma campaign is really doing is encouraging kids that it’s fine to embrace the chaotic playful elements of your personality. Though you’ve got to wonder if the kids will actually spot it through all the playground-store activations and cuddly IPs.
