Blog post
Lunar New Year: Top trends and four powerful strategies for advertising success
Marking the start of Spring and serving as a reminder to honor ancestors, the Lunar New Year holds deep cultural significance in Southeast Asia. Two billion people1 celebrate this occasion, making it a dynamic period with heightened consumer activity.
From travel planning, gift, and decor shopping, consumers are always looking for products and deals across digital mediums. This offers advertisers the opportunity to connect with audiences at the peak of their exploration and buying journey.
Throwing light on this, Microsoft Advertising and InMobi Advertising bring you crucial consumer behavior trends across eight key verticals from Lunar New Year 2024. Leverage these insights as a guide for your campaigns in 2025.
Search and click surges
Consumer interest ignited weeks before the Lunar New Year for most retail categories, with clicks and searches peaking four–six weeks prior and spiking again during the holiday week. Let us look at how this happened across categories and countries.
1. Apparel
As consumers sought new outfits for the season, searches and clicks peaked.
Apparel search and click trends across Southeast Asian countries around Lunar New Year.
2. Beauty and Personal Care
Self-care took center stage as consumers prepped for Lunar New Year gatherings.
Search and click peaks for Beauty and Personal Care products around Lunar New Year in Southeast Asian countries.
3. Computers and Consumer Electronics
Tech enthusiasts remained active with and clicks growing strongly around the holiday.
Search and click peaks for Computers and Consumer Electronics in Southeast Asian countries around Lunar New Year.
4. Finance
Across Southeast Asia, planning budgets and finances ahead was top-of-mind for consumers celebrating the Lunar New Year.
Finance search and click peaks around Lunar New Year in Southeast Asian countries.
5. Food and Groceries
With celebratory meals being an important part of the occasion, searches, and clicks for food and groceries jumped.
Food and Groceries search and click peaks around Lunar New Year in Southeast Asian countries.
6. Home and Garden
A focus on sprucing up homes led to strong growth in searches, seen a few weeks before and during the Lunar New Year.
Home and Garden search and click peaks around Lunar New Year in various Southeast Asian countries.
7. Occasions and Gifts
As consumers sought gifts for loved ones, search and click growth in certain markets peaked before and during the Lunar New Year.
Search and click activity for Occasions and Gifts peaks around Lunar New Year in Southeast Asia, highlighting consumer trends in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
8. Travel and Tourism
Holiday getaways drove strong growth in searches and clicks for most markets four weeks before and during the Lunar New Year.
Travel and Tourism search and click peaks around Lunar New Year in various Southeast Asian countries.
Key search queries
The most popular queries of Lunar New Year 2024 indicated Southeast Asia’s passion for food, travel, shopping, and gadgets. Interestingly, queries around finance also grew. These queries across categories showed a significant week-on-week growth in the region.
A table of key search queries across six Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each country has a list of top search terms along with the percentage increase in searches for each term.
Four strategies for maximum impact
Here is how advertisers can leverage the Lunar New Year opportunity:
- Prepare for the peak in searches: Plan your shopping campaigns when searches are expected to peak before and during the Lunar New Year.
- Ride the trends: Emerging queries show an increase in interest across categories over this period. Pay close attention to the keywords that matter to your industry and boost your impact with Dynamic Search Ads (DSA), which capture the expanding set of search terms trending during the season.
- Reach those ready to buy: Tap into curated lists of high-intent audiences with in-market audiences. Identify and target customers who have shown purchase intent signals within your category.
- Optimize campaigns effectively: Enhance CPCs, achieve your desired CPA, and maximize clicks and conversions with automated bidding strategies.
As the Lunar New Year approaches, it is a time to reflect on meaningful connections. For advertisers, it is about understanding the unique cultural nuances that drive consumer behavior during this season and delivering value through thoughtful, well-timed campaigns.
Ready to create your next big success story?
Partner with Microsoft Advertising today and seize the Lunar New Year opportunity.
