Museum visits become trendy and brands are tapping into it

Today, Chinese youth are enthusiastically exploring local museums. On China's leading lifestyle trends app RED/Xiaohongshu, the hashtag #VisitMuseums(逛博物馆) has amassed over 1.59 million posts. There are over 130 million views for the posts under the topic #CheckinMuseums(博物馆打卡).

Fuelled by the growing confidence and appreciation among Chinese youth for traditional culture, museum visits have become a popular social activity. They perceive it as a valuable and affordable experience and relish exhibitions that come to life thanks to modern technologies like 3D projection and AR glasses.

Speechless Buddha (无语佛) placed in the China Ceramic Museum, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province has gone viral since last year’s golden week holiday. Many Chinese flock to the museum to snap photos. Since then, the craze to checking in museums for weekend or holiday getaways has been fuelled across China. Images: Xiaohongshu @囡囡. @庆十七

Museum visitors can rent AR glasses that automatically recognize and provide explanations about artifacts when pointed at them. Images: Xiaohongshu @ 浅筱薰 @莫小兔几

How are brands are tapping into this trend? They usually collaborate with well-known museum IPs to launch co-branded products. Let's get inspiration from there cases.

McDonald's x Sanxingdui Museum

In March 2024, McDonald's China announced a partnership with the Sanxingdui Museum to blend its modern, spicy flavours with the creativity of the ancient Shu civilization. This crossover aims to connect with Chinese youth socially and emotionally, inspiring them to explore the Sanxingdui culture while enjoying new social pleasures through McDonald's products.

McDonald's has given its packaging a new look, drawing inspiration from the bronze figures of the Sanxingdui civilization. The designs feature playful expressions, making the packaging visually vibrant and fun. Images: @三十 @DannyZhou on Xiaohongshu/RED

McDonald's also introduced a Sichuan hot pot-flavored McSpicy chicken burger as part of this collaboration. The main visual features a simple hand-drawn illustration of a hot pot. Images: @Laumay要瘦五公斤 on Xiaohongshu/RED

Interesting McSpicy paper bags used as masks, bringing fun experience for social feeds. Images: @McDonald's on Xiaohongshu/RED

Lancôme × Louvre Museum

Lancôme has collaborated with the Louvre to curate a limited-edition collection that showcases beauty as a living art in Nov, 2023. The cosmetics are adorned with elements of iconic and elegant female sculptures from the Louvre, creating a unique and artistic experience for beauty enthusiasts.

Lancôme x Louvre Museum collab. Images: Lancôme’s official website

Lancôme × Louvre Museum collab concept images. Images: Xiaohongshu@VerMode

POP MART X Sanxingdui Museum

Popmart's collaboration with the Sanxingdui Museum marked a fusion of enigmatic and ancient treasures and collectibles on Sep, 2022. The limited-edition toy collection (Gold mask Labubu Bronze mask Zimomo) invited enthusiasts to own a piece of cultural legacy while celebrating the museum's profound heritage through modern design.

Pop Mart x Sanxingdui museum collab. Image: WeChat account @三星堆博物馆文创

Wrapping up

The fusion of brand elements with traditional museum culture brings new energy. As museum collaborations become more common, brands need to think about how to align their core brand values or propositions with museum themes to create immersive and interactive experience and emotional connection with target consumers, rather than just drawing a short-term traffic spike.