Marketing for CNY in Singapore
CNY stops the world for 2-3 weeks. In Singapore, companies give an entire week off. The city shuts down. People are visiting family members, giving Ang Baos and feasting. Perfect for brands.
👋 Hola! Welcome to Out of Singapore. This is Shan and I am building Xandro Lab, a longevity science brand. I test, learn, and share business and marketing insights in this weekly newsletter. Today let’s talk about CNY. First, let’s start with some wishes.
新年快乐 (Xīnnián Kuàilè) – Happy New Year!
恭喜发财 (Gōngxǐ Fācái) – Wishing you prosperity and wealth!
万事如意 (Wànshì Rúyì) – May everything go as you wish!
吉祥如意 (Jíxiáng Rúyì) – Wishing you luck and success!
身体健康 (Shēntǐ Jiànkāng) – Wishing you good health!
大吉大利 (Dàjí Dàlì) – Wishing you great luck and prosperity!
Here is what we will discuss today
How is CNY celebrated in Singapore?
What do brands do for CNY?
What did we, Xandro Lab, do?
Let’s get started!
#1 How is CNY celebrated in Singapore?
CNY is possibly the biggest celebration here. The other big days are - National Day (Aug 9), New Year’s Eve, Christmas, Hari Raya, and Deepawali. Among all public holidays, CNY provides the longest vacation period. Officially there are 2 days off, unofficially, the entire week is off.
Here are some of my observations of CNY -
It is the only 2-day public holiday. It’s central to the culture here.
Corporate holidays extend beyond the 2-day public holiday. For us, Tuesday and Friday was off by the company, Wednesday and Thursday were public holiday. Same holds true for a lot of companies here.
CNY has two central themes - meeting families and exchanging ang bao (pronounced as Ang PAO). People also exchange gifts, but ang bao is non-negotiable. Banks often run out of cash.
It is the busiest time for banks and they set up pop up ATMs for people to withdraw new notes for Ang Baos. “Chinese New Year is the bank's busiest time of the year”, said Ms Tan Lay Peng, branch service manager at DBS Westgate in Jurong East.
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