In response to a brief from English Heritage, China travel marketing experts China Travel Outbound suggested Stonehenge play host to a lion dance to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Staffing and providing experiential specialists, Blackjack Promotions were appointed by China Travel Outbound to supply the pair of lion dancers who will be performing at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre on Saturday 25^th January between 10am and 3pm.

Emma Peters, Senior Marketing Manager for Stonehenge, says: “Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments and a World Heritage Site visited by around 1.5 million people every year. We are delighted to be seeing increasing numbers of visitors to Wiltshire from overseas markets such as China, and this year, we are really excited to be able to welcome visitors to Stonehenge with a traditional ‘Lion Dance’ during the Chinese New Year holiday.”

Julie Withers, Account Manager at China Travel Outbound, says: “There has been phenomenal growth in the Chinese outbound travel market with visitors to the UK up 16.9% year on year with many travelling over Chinese New Year. Attractions need to show their commitment to this market, so this is a great initiative for English Heritage to mark this special occasion in the Chinese calendar.”

The Chinese New Year holiday period will run from 25^th January until 8^th February, and the dancers at Stonehenge are one of many campaigns Blackjack are partnering on to bring Chinese customs and traditions to brand’s activations during this time.

Neda Lotfi, Account Manager at Blackjack Promotions adds: “We love helping clients fulfil their aims of reaching and embracing audiences, especially on special activations like the Lion Dancers at Stonehenge. By providing the perfect staffing solution we are part of creating an experience that visitors to this already stunning landmark definitely won’t forget.”

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Luxury British retail brand, Fortnum & Mason, has launched its first ever marketing campaign for Chinese New Year, created in partnership with full-service China marketing agency, Hot Pot.

Packed with Fortnum’s favourites, including Champagne, tea, biscuits, chocolates and honey, The Fu Dai Hamper is now available at Fortnum & Mason’s store in Piccadilly, London. The hamper – Fortnum’s first for Chinese New Year – is aimed at Chinese students and young professionals in London, as well as UK-born Chinese and Asians who were uable to go home for the New Year on 5 February, but still keen to celebrate with friends or send gifts. There is also a non-alcoholic version that can be shipped overseas to Asia. Both versions are also available for purchase online at www.fortnumandmason.com.

FuDai, which translates as ‘Fortune Bag’, is a popular gifting tradition for friends & family at Chinese New Year. The Fortnum & Mason hampers celebrate this tradition with a British luxury twist, tying in to the retailer’s Chinese branding, as the character ‘Fu’ not only means ‘Fortune’ but is also the first character in Fu Nan Mei Son, the retailers’ Chinese name.

Hot Pot developed both the creative concept and the marketing strategy to raise awareness of the hampers. This includes marketing to targeted Student Unions in the South East through social platforms Weibo and WeChat and working with key Weibo vlogger and influencer ‘JiaHui Huang’.

Fortnum & Mason will also hosted a special event on Chinese New Year Eve – an afternoon tea at 4.00pm UK time, which marked the midnight start of the New Year in China.

Zoe Colegrave, Head of Online & Marketing at Fortnum & Mason, commented: “We know how important Chinese New Year is for families, but there are many in the UK who are unable to get back to China at this special time. Our hampers are designed to give those people a taste of the gifts, tradition and good fortune associated with New Year. Hot Pot created a great concept that ties together our heritage in gift hampers with a marketing strategy designed to appeal to Chinese consumers in the UK.”

Jonathan Smith, founder and CEO of Hot Pot, added: “Fortnum & Mason is a world-famous brand synonymous with tradition, luxury and, of course, hampers. Given that the Chinese New Year is also about tradition, we were keen to develop a campaign that matched those sensibilities.”

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Real estate investment trust Shaftesbury has launched a Chinese New Year marketing campaign with a special Red Packet mobile app containing surprise discounts, exclusive London Chinatown offers and prizes.

The campaign kicked off at the end of January to celebrate to highlight the vibrancy and diversity of Chinatown London, one of the West End’s most iconic destinations, and the start of the Chinese New Year – 2017 is the Year of the Rooster.

The campaign showcases the area’s exciting variety of cuisine, which blends modernism with a genuine experience of East Asian culture and traditions.  Including digital marketing, a promotional Chinese New Year film and the bespoke app, the launch of the campaign coincides with a 170% increase Year-on-Year in traffic to the new Chinatown London bilingual website.

To showcase the cultural and culinary delights of Chinatown London, as well as the bold and authentic Chinese New Year 2017 celebrations, Shaftesbury commissioned a short promotional film to be hosted on the website and via social media channels.  Shot in an interlinking and fluid-movement style, the one-minute film features seven different cuisines available in Chinatown London that celebrate Chinese New Year in their regional cultures: Sichuan, Japanese, Indonesian, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Chinese Fusion and Malaysian.

Further adding to Chinatown London’s online marketing initiatives is the new app, available to download on Weibo and WeChat.  Traditionally, red packets, or hongboa, are exchanged in Chinese culture between family, friends and colleagues, and typically contain a monetary gift.  The new app allows users to open a virtual ‘red packet’ to reveal exclusive Chinatown London offers, ranging from big ticket prizes to discounts at restaurants.

The launch builds on the momentum generated by the new bilingual website for Chinatown London (www.chinatown.co.uk).

Shaftesbury commissioned Chinese digital marketing agency Qumin to create the website.  Displaying content in both Chinese and English, the website enables more people to discover the best of London’s Chinatown.  The popularity of the website reflects the growth of internet users in China, which reached 668 million people in June 2015, 90% of whom access the internet via a smartphone or tablet.

Commenting on the initiatives and success of the website, Karen Baines, Head of Group Marketing and Communications at Shaftesbury, says: “The Chinese New Year campaign aims to expand our audiences’ perceptions, cementing Chinatown London’s status as one of the most exciting destinations for food, entertainment and unique East Asian experiences in London.  We are curating the very best of East Asia in the heart of London’s West End, mixing the modern and the traditional.”

Baines adds: “Our new website has been created to make discovering Chinatown London as easy as possible for visitors, be they from the UK or overseas, including the growing numbers of Chinese consumers online.  The website has been particularly successful in helping visitors to enjoy the diversity and vibrancy of Chinatown London at the click of a button.  In conjunction with the new app and film, the campaign will boost awareness of the lively and exciting Chinatown community and all it has to offer.”

The launch coincides with the success of Chinatown London’s Chinese New Year celebrations for the Year of the Rooster, which saw in excess of 500,000 visitors on Sunday, January 29th.  The largest of its kind in Europe, the celebration showcased a varied cultural line-up including performances from China, as well as the best of British Chinese performers.

Shaftesbury is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) which owns a unique real estate portfolio extending to 14 acres in the heart of London’s West End. Shaftesbury focuses on retail, restaurants and leisure and its portfolio comprises 589 shops, restaurants, cafes and pubs, extending to 1 million sq. ft., 406,000 sq. ft. of offices and 539 apartments. Its holdings are concentrated in Carnaby Street, Seven Dials, Covent Garden, Chinatown, Soho and Charlotte Street.

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