Chinese New Year Campaigns, Lunar New Year · CNY

Each campaign starts from the zodiac animal of the year and the brand's own visual codes.

Chinese New Year, also called Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is one of the main campaign moments of the year for luxury and beauty brands, especially in China. I’ve made CNY campaigns for several of them: hero films, key visuals, social loops and animated smartwatch faces.

The brief usually covers the year’s animal, the product shots, and versions for every market and screen.

The animal of the year

The zodiac animal is often the main character of the film. For Lancôme's Year of the Dragon, I wanted a smooth, sinusoidal flight that looked natural, and it took many passes on the rig to get there. For SK-II and White Rabbit, I animated the 3D timing of the rabbit's jump so the 2D animation could match it exactly, and the rabbit printed on the label turns into the animated one in a single shot.

Louis Vuitton's 2023 watch faces turned the twelve animals into festival lanterns. The team modelled, rigged and animated them, and I worked out the shading so each one glows as if lit from within.

Lancôme Chinese New Year 2024, 3D Animation

SKII Chinese New Year 2023, SKII x White Rabbit

Twelve zodiac watch faces

For Louis Vuitton's 2020 collection, I designed and drew the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac and carried them through the client's validation rounds. Each watch face pairs an animal with a Louis Vuitton product in a short loop, and I animated most of the characters in Cinema 4D.

Louis Vuitton Chinese New Year 2020, Watchfaces Animations

Red, gold and the brand's own codes

Each brand adapts the festival to its own visual codes. For Prada, Seiya's lanterns are built from the iconic Prada triangle: I built and animated them procedurally with Cinema 4D MoGraph, using fields to drive the colours across each paper slice. For Biotherm Homme's Year of the Snake, I turned the brand's wave into a procedural pattern that forms the roof of a digital stadium and reads as the snake's skin.

Dior's 2021 campaign grew from painted flowers: the team grew the branches with Houdini L-systems, and I wrote procedural Arnold shaders so every petal carries its own design.

Biotherm Chinese New Year 2025, Campaign Visuals & Animations

Parfums Christian Dior Chinese New Year 2021, 3D Animations

Gift sets and limited editions

CNY is a gifting season, so the products often arrive as sets, boxes and limited editions. For Dior's 2020 campaign I directed the film around golden particles and ribbons, with transitions from one product to the next, plus a set of loops for Dior's social accounts that play with the boxes and the makeup bag. Jerome Levilly sculpted the products' hand-crafted details in ZBrush.

Parfums Christian Dior Chinese New Year 2019, 3D Product Animations

Parfums Christian Dior Chinese New Year 2020, 3D Motion Design

Every screen, every market

A CNY campaign runs in stores, on social media, on e-commerce sites and, for Louis Vuitton, on smartwatches. The SK-II film had to work across every in-store setup, so I delivered it horizontal, vertical and in extra-wide layouts.

One set of 3D scenes covers the hero film, the key visuals and every cut-down, so all the versions stay consistent.

What I deliver

Hero campaign films
Key visuals and product stills
Social loops and GIFs
Versions for in-store screens
Smartwatch faces
Cut-downs for every market and ratio

Clients

Questions

Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year or CNY?

They're the same celebration, also called the Spring Festival. Brands tend to say Chinese New Year or CNY for mainland China, and Lunar New Year when the campaign also runs in Korea (Seollal), Vietnam (Tết) or worldwide. I work with whichever name and codes your market uses.

When should a CNY campaign start?

The date moves every year, between late January and mid-February. A 3D campaign with a film, key visuals and versions for every market needs time for design rounds and approvals, so the earlier the brief the better: summer or early autumn is ideal.

Can you design the zodiac animal itself?

Yes. For Louis Vuitton I designed and drew the twelve animals of the zodiac, then carried them through the client's validation rounds before they were modelled and animated.

Do you work with agencies or directly with brands?

Both. With an agency, I work with its creative team and make the films and images from its concept and art direction. With a brand's marketing team, I can take on the creative direction myself.

Planning your next Chinese New Year campaign?

Tell me about the brief, the market and the formats you need.

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