Children's Day, brands make the festival more than just for children

With the arrival of June, the air doesn’t just carry a hint of the impending summer heat ahead, but the annual June 1 Children's Day: a day which brings excitement to almost every adorable child in China.

For various brands, this is an unmissable marketing opportunity to showcase their strength. Brand’s didn’t make last weekend's Children's Day just for children, but also for every adult who still holds onto their childlike innocence, in addition to pets (which have replaced children in many cases).

Children’s Day for Adults

1. Coffee brand M Stand: Taking You Back to Your Childhood Playful Days

Coffee brand M Stand introduced a limited edition coffee blend featuring rum and grape elements, along with a retro game console, just in time for Children's Day. The game console comes in three colours: blue, green, and orange, and comes pre-loaded with 10 mini-games. The aim is to allow users to relive the joyous moments of their childhood anytime, anywhere.

Two types of limited edition coffee and game console with 3 different colours. Images are from SocialBeta

2. Healthy food brand Wang Baobao: Be a Carefree Kid Again on Children's Day

As Children's Day approached, Wang Baobao released a series of hand-drawn posters, inviting every adult to rediscover their childlike innocence, learn from children, release stress, and bravely express their true selves, thus embracing and enjoying life.

A series of posters with themes of "Do whatever you like as a kid", "I want to be hiding behind my parents", "Crying like a kid" etc.

3. IKEA: What does growing up mean?

For its Children's Day poster, IKEA creatively utilized the difference in product sizes to symbolize the human process of "growing up," while also inspiring consumers with emotional value by metaphorically attributing the advantageous features of the products (such as cuteness) to people.

IKEA’s Children’s Day images cleverly promoting its children and adult-sized products

Children’s Day for Pets

1. Seesaw Coffee: Let Pets Join in Children's Day Festivities

As an integral part of human society, pets have become one of the closest companions in many people's daily lives. Therefore, Seesaw Coffee's Nanjing Jinling store proposed a heartwarming initiative: on Children's Day, they encourage pet lovers to bring along their furry friends to join in the celebration, sharing food, drinks, and joy together, while capturing heartwarming moments in photos.

Seesaw Coffee’s Children’s Day for pets. Images from RED.

2. Pet'em: "Kitty and Puppy Class Reunion"

Pet grooming salon Pet'em hosted a special gathering tailored for pets at the Suhe Bay MixC World in Shanghai for Children’s Day. The event featured a pet-exclusive bus, a pet fashion show on the T-stage, a pet sports competition, and other entertaining activities. Additionally, a unique game offering customized pet clothing was also introduced.

The "Pet Double-Decker Bus" at the event sparked considerable admiration among pets and owners. Images are from RED

Children’s Day for Children

1. McDonald's: Limited edition walkie-talkie

McDonald's has launched a special walkie-talkie shaped like the McNuggets and fries for Children's Day. Available for an additional ¥38 ($5.36) with any purchase, this limited edition item allows communication within a 300-meter range. Upon its release, the product experienced a frenzy of demand, leading to crashes on the ordering app. The devices fetched prices nearing ¥300 ($42.28) on second-hand trading platforms around Children's Day. Interestingly, on RED, the audience for this product extends beyond children to include many college students, KOLs, and newly employed young professionals.

Small kids and big kids talk a shining to McDonald’s Children’s Day walkie talkie promo. Images from RED

2. Purcotton: Offline exhibition "listen to children's voices"

The lifestyle care brand Purcotton hosted an offline exhibition in a Shenzhen subway station with the theme "Listen to Children's Voices." Featuring heartfelt words from over 100 children, the exhibition facilitated virtual conversations between parents and children, delving into topics such as love, growing up, and respect.

The display boards are filled with simple yet thought-provoking messages such as "Respect is not forcing me to eat eggs when I don't want to," "Can you criticise me gently?" and "I don't need to negotiate conditions to go to the amusement park," and so on. Images are from RED

3. Influencer on Bilibili: "Anti-bullying handbook

@遇真纪事, an influencer with 400,000 followers, spent over two months collaborating with over 20,000 netizens to create an "Anti-Bullying handbook." Serving as a special gift, this handbook encompasses methods for dealing with bullying in schools, successful case studies, and effective advice, along with heartwarming encouragement from internet users. Currently, the handbook has reached rural students in ten provinces, including Sichuan, Henan, and Guizhou. Additionally, the top-rated comment under the video of this handbook reads, "I think the best Children's Day gift is love and protection."

The handbook has been extensively distributed to remote rural areas with low awareness of campus protection education, and the influencer has personally conducted explanatory sessions for children through online meetings.