When travellers pass through one of the world’s busiest airports during Chinese New Year, they’re often caught between two worlds, the excitement of their journey and the bittersweet longing for home traditions. TONG Global’s Heathrow Together Chinese New Year campaign bridged this emotional gap, creating an experience so resonant and culturally meaningful that it earned Silver at the prestigious W3 Awards.
Campaign Context
Chinese New Year (CNY) is a time for cherished reunions. Families gather for festive meals, share stories, and reaffirm their bonds. These moments of togetherness are invaluable, yet they can feel distant for travellers passing through Heathrow Airport during this special time. The bustling airport, a vital artery connecting cultures, is often devoid of the familiar traditions that mark this joyous occasion.
We at TONG Global recognised this bittersweet reality on the faces of passengers. They carried a mix of excitement for new adventures, yet a subtle yearning for the traditions they couldn’t experience. Heathrow Airport, an international hub brimming with diverse cultures and emotions, witnesses countless human stories every day. We saw an opportunity to bridge the gap. We envisioned bringing the festive spirit of Chinese New Year to Heathrow, allowing passengers to experience the joy of the holiday and share their stories, just as they would in China.
This vision fuelled the creation of our campaign: “One airport, two joys, many stories, endless choices.”
Creativity and Strategy
The campaign centres around our master video, supported by influencers and paid media to amplify its reach and effectiveness, alongside various engaging tactics and creative assets.
The master video, a cinematic experience, showcases two scenarios playing out simultaneously. In one scene, influencers introduce Chinese New Year customs and traditions, demonstrating how passengers can experience them at Heathrow Airport during the festive period, just as they would at home or in China. The other scene explores the diversity of Chinese New Year customs across different Chinese communities.
By doing so, we aim to significantly boost positive sentiment and drive substantial account growth for Heathrow Airport.
Implementation
Master Video Production
TONG Global produced a ‘master video’ featuring touching storylines that showcase Chinese traditional customs alongside how travellers can recreate their CNY with Heathrow’s premium services and shopping experiences, effectively capturing the “endless possibilities at Heathrow.” The video is emotionally resonant and produced to a high standard, sure to connect with our target audience.
To maximise exposure, follower growth, and engagement, we published it across our owned channels and leveraged paid media during Chinese New Year’s Eve. This strategy not only boosted our presence but also allowed us to participate in the festive atmosphere.
Creative Assets
Tailored Heathrow Chinese New Year luggage stickers and red envelope covers, featuring auspicious well wishes, are offered at terminal shops and check-in desks. These well-designed labels and covers provide a shareable gesture for travellers passing through Heathrow Airport. We also created various CNY-themed greeting posters to wish all Chinese travellers a Happy Chinese New Year.
Influencer Collaboration
To amplify the campaign’s reach and impact, we leveraged influencers on Little Red Book. These influencers not only appeared in the master video but also created their own content.
- Chinese influencers created video content weaving together memories of past travels, studying abroad, and life in the UK, with themes celebrating Chinese New Year.
- In contrast, UK-based influencers fuelled anticipation by releasing behind-the-scenes footage and highlights from their filming at Heathrow Airport for the CNY videos. They subtly integrated Heathrow’s services, encouraging viewers to visit our account for the full video.
This strategy built pre-launch buzz through behind-the-scenes content and fostered engagement with the master video upon release.
Paid Media
Paid media is crucial to amplifying our content’s reach, especially during the busy CNY campaign period with high competition. Leveraging our industry expertise, we allocated a budget to promote the master video and related CNY content across our three platforms (Weibo, WeChat, Little Red Book) with tailored objectives for each (engagement, follower growth, reach). While the master video and greeting poster served as paid ad assets on WeChat, we adopted a more diverse strategy on Little Red Book and Weibo, utilising a mix of video and image content.
Results That Matter
The campaign’s performance exceeded expectations across every metric, demonstrating the power of culturally intelligent marketing. Overall campaign performance reached over 8 million people, generated more than 8 million impressions, sparked nearly 400,000 engagements.
The master video became a viral success story in its own right. On Xiaohongshu alone, it garnered nearly 20,000 video plays and over 1,500 engagements. Weibo amplified the message with over 600,000 impressions, while WeChat delivered more than 1,000 viewerships among its highly engaged user base.
Our influencer collaboration proved equally powerful, generating over 110,000 content views and more than 5,500 engagements.
