On 20 March, hot pot chain Haidilao announced the plans for its 30th birthday which included a dance music number in typical Haidilao fashion, birthday cake on the house at each location at 8pm that day, and surprisingly, a music and camping festival in Chengdu.
The festival, aptly titled Hot Pot Music Festival, allows attendants to camp and enjoy Haidilao hot pot delivered by Haidilao’s new catering service launched last November. The festival will also be streamed on the hot pot chain’s official WeChat Channel in its entirety. If you ordered Haidilao’s takeaway, or even catering, theoretically you’ll get as close as you can to the experience of being at Poly 198 Park in Chengdu in person. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, the topic “Haidilao Hot Pot Music Festival” (#海底捞火锅音乐节#) garnered 11.76 million views.
For the Xiao Lao Lao, the new panda-shaped mascot was also announced just before Haidilao’s birthday. The Panda started to appear in promotional materials around the anniversary and the festival in early March. Panda being native to Sichuan share a region of origin with Haidilao. For the anniversary, Haidilao also launched a Mahjong set for 1,288 RMB (178.16 USD) exclusively for premium “Black Sea” members and an 888 RMB (122.83 USD) version for regular members.
Haidilao has been known for its unique and thoughtful services. Its birthday surprises for diners are both loved and feared (by introvert) people. For its own 30th birthday, Haidilao provided cakes for diners at the restaurants, free shuttle buses to the festival from their restaurants in Chengdu, free beef and vouchers. With a new panda mascot and Sichuan Shu brocade-inspired mahjong set, the 30-year-old chain is looking to refresh its image closer to the Sichuan origin of the brand. Perhaps it is to counter some potential dilution of the brand’s equity following the launch of its franchising policy. But as an effort to maintain its brand image, the anniversary campaign is sincere enough.
