How companies cash in on Chinese New Year

For 2017, the Chinese or Lunar New Year falls on Jan. 28. That means it will soon be the Year of the Rooster.

For millions of people in Asia, though, it will mean planes, trains and automobiles.

According to a CBC report, up to 3 billion journeys will be taken during this year's holiday, making it the largest annual human migration in the world.

Throughout much of Asia, Chinese New Year is bigger than Christmas and Mother's Day combined, as people celebrate by returning home to their families for a reunion dinner.

That's a tremendous opportunity for a smart marketer like Coca-Cola.

A current Coke ad from China could easily be mistaken for a North American Christmas ad. A boy at a family dinner sees a lonely snowman in the yard. Magically, two animated characters build a snow family to keep the snowman company.

Lyrics to the song played under the ad say, "No one can stop me when I taste the feeling. Nothing could ever bring me down."

In the bustling economies of Asia, Chinese New Year may be the only time young people get home to see their families, which provides marketers with lots of potential for humour.

In a 2016 phone company ad from Singapore, we see a young man visiting his grandmother.

But it turns out he's at the wrong apartment and his real grandmother calls him over to the apartment next door. Text on the screen says, "Perhaps it's time to visit your family more often. Happy Lunar New Year."

The same theme unfolds in a 2014 Malaysian ad for Nissan.

We see a young man mistaking several members of his family for someone else. Finally, his little brother points out that since the young man now has a new Nissan, he can come home to visit more often.

A 2016 McDonald's ad from China highlights the long trek people take to get back home for Chinese New Year.

A child's Ronald McDonald doll leaves its home in the city and travels, seemingly for hours, by train and bus to the family home in the country.

A 2015 ad for Singapore's Singtel TV cleverly links its program offerings to the reunion dinner menu.

A new tradition in China is basketball, and the NBA is working hard to embed it in the culture.

In this Chinese ad from last year, we see several NBA stars, including Jeremy Lin, sharing a reunion dinner with a family.

Just as with holidays in North America, marketers in Asia use the emotion and traditions of Chinese New Year to demonstrate their understanding of the culture, and position their products as a fundamental part of family life.

Bruce Chambers is a syndicated advertising columnist for CBC Radio.