Key Takeaways:
- Children’s Day has been diversified to celebrate not only children but also young adults, parents or not, and even pet owners.
- Family fun appeals to both children and young parents and remains popular.
- But there are also campaigns that appeal to the “child inside”.
Last Children’s Day, we discussed how the pet economy in China, along with a low birth rate, has created the trend of young people spending Children’s Day with their pets. With the younger generations continuing to seek alternatives to starting a family, spending special days with pets continues to be popular. This year, the Chinese toymaker POP MART launched a pet-friendly feline-shaped bus (not to be confused with a certain Catbus from a certain film) ahead of Children’s Day.
For many, celebrating Children’s Day with the little boy or girl inside oneself might be more appealing
Millennials have long complained about the constant need for adulting and are readily attracted to childhood nostalgia, and it seems Gen Z are also falling into the same trap. For many, celebrating Children’s Day with the little boy or girl inside oneself might be more appealing. For this reason, many Children’s Day campaigns this year appeal to a wider age range.
For the kids, and/or their parents
As the name suggests, children are always relevant every Children’s Day, especially for some brands. Babycare, the designer maternity and baby products brand, introduced a campaign video that encourages adventures and hobbies for children with the tagline “do something big while you’re little” (趁你还小，去做大事). From basketball and rock climbing to painting and boxing, it encourages children and parents to try new things while they’re young. Offline, the brand introduced a dog-friendly pop-up with dog toys for children’s canine friends in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
The Jingfeng Centre shopping mall in Nanjing, Jiangsu, put up out-of-home advertisements on the big screen of its exterior. Using children’s drawings, the ads bring attention to troubles and wishes from children that they had collected from their survey. Called “Be quiet, the children are talking”, the advert highlights desires such as not wanting to practice piano or perform in front of others, to wanting to turn off the light themselves at night, giving first-hand insight into the needs and thoughts of children. However, its offline market also includes things like “children’s books for grown-ups”.
Everyone can enjoy
The idea of having toys and merch from food and beverage chains is not new at all, but Children’s Day versions are usually more special, as it is one of the days that children will almost certainly get a treat. As we reported, this year, both McDonald’s and KFC launched toy collections that are a bit more sophisticated and also appeal to grown-ups, like the walkie-talkie. Last year, McDonald’s released toy bumper cars and bubble blowers for nostalgic fun, as well as pop-up events that appeal to children and young adults.
Similarly, ChaPanda teamed up with Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story IP this Children’s Day, taking advantage of the film series’ long-standing popularity with both children and nostalgic adults who have followed at various points since 1995. With special packaging, toy bracelets and bags, the “wearable” nature of the merch gives the collab a practicality that appeals to adults.
It needs to be pointed out that these campaigns can also be appealing to young parents, who have immense influence in children’s purchasing decisions, if not making those decisions for them outright.
Strictly the grown-ups
Some brands opted for appealing to the “child inside” for young adults. Like KFC, Manner Coffee also introduced a camera. However, different from KFC’s unexpected full-featured digital camera, it is a single-use film camera with 12 shots called “Childhood Time Machine”.
Similarly, C-beauty brand JOOCYEE named its Children’s Day campaign “Be a Kidult”, explicitly channelling childlike minds. The pastel pink and blue packaging with crayon drawing style graphics appeals to the innocence. Indeed, the tagline of the campaign is “stay innocent, take courage”.
In the time of “emotional value” and varying views towards adulthood, it is both practical and ideal to appeal to different audiences this way
This year, Children’s Day has become even more diverse with actual children, pets and the children in our hearts being celebrated. In the time of “emotional value” and varying views towards adulthood, it is both practical and ideal to appeal to different audiences this way.