---
title: "The Beverage Arena of the New Year's Eve Dinner"
description: "Based on a survey of 100 young people aged 18-35, this article explores the beverage choices on the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner table, revealing the marketing strategies of both domestic and international brands and the cultural significance behind them."
author: "刺猬公社编辑部"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2022-02-08"
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# The Beverage Arena of the New Year's Eve Dinner

> Based on a survey of 100 young people aged 18-35, this article explores the beverage choices on the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner table, revealing the marketing strategies of both domestic and international brands and the cultural significance behind them.

Source: Hedgehog Commune (ID: ciweigongshe)
There, people are not so tired, nor so busy. Happiness, simplicity, and well-being ripple on everyone's face.
On the first day of the Year of the Tiger, Hedgehog Commune conducted a small survey. The survey had only one question: **What beverage did you drink at the New Year's Eve dinner in the Year of the Tiger?**
Based on 100 samples collected from young people aged 18-35, we obtained the following results: 38 people drank fruit juice (including coconut juice), 35 drank carbonated drinks, 8 drank peanut milk or almond milk, and 8 drank herbal tea or milk tea. Notably, 10 people each drank sparkling water and low-alcohol drinks.
**Further, we see two major categories: carbonated drinks and fruit juice.** Among carbonated drinks, cola was the most popular, chosen by 25 people, accounting for 71% of the category, and it was the most consumed single beverage. Among fruit juices, coconut juice and orange juice with pulp were the most popular, accounting for 58% and 42% of the category, respectively.
Beverages are the most common and ordinary things in daily life, but when they are placed on the New Year's Eve dinner table, their attached meaning differs from usual.
**This article aims to tell the stories unique to New Year's Eve dinner beverages—why they are placed on the table, and the hidden beverage arena of the Spring Festival behind this.**
******Telling Oneself Through the Spring Festival**
Some beverages are little-known on ordinary days, but their presence during the Spring Festival is unusually high—Lulu Almond Milk, Six Walnuts, Yinlu Peanut Milk, Huiyuan Juice...
For international giants like Coca-Cola and Minute Maid Pulpy Orange, benefiting from their huge brand influence and strong channel capabilities, it is not surprising that they seize the "Spring Festival slot" for beverages. **But for domestic beverage brands, becoming the darling of the New Year's Eve dinner table is not easy. To successfully "occupy the Spring Festival," there are only two ways: "big spending" and "riding the trend."**
Did you notice that a new face appeared in the audience of the 2022 Spring Festival Gala? It was Wahaha's Future Cola. Future Cola's sponsorship of the Gala not only enhanced product awareness but also injected some Spring Festival attributes into Future Cola.
Future Cola in the Gala audience | Source: Internet
**But do you remember? The beverage that used to appear in this position was Huiyuan Juice.**
On January 18, 2021, Huiyuan Group, which had been struggling after the Coca-Cola acquisition turmoil, was officially delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to Hedgehog Commune's small survey, only 8 young people drank Huiyuan at this year's New Year's Eve dinner, only half of those who drank Pulpy Orange and one-third of those who drank coconut juice.
**At the beginning of the new century, Huiyuan Juice's popularity during the Spring Festival was unmatched, with the slogan "With Huiyuan, it's New Year" deeply rooted in people's hearts.** In 2007, Huiyuan raised HK$2.4 billion, making it the largest IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that year.
Huiyuan's rise began in 1997. That year, Zhu Xinli, founder of Huiyuan Group, spent 70 million RMB to buy a 5-second prime advertising slot after "News Broadcast," with the slogan "Drink Huiyuan Juice, walk the road to health."
It is worth noting that this 70 million RMB exceeded Huiyuan's annual sales. The huge advertising expenditure was not in vain; Huiyuan successfully established the Chinese public's mindset that "drinking juice is healthy," making Huiyuan a national juice brand, with its market share consistently ranking first in the juice category.
**Later, this slogan evolved into "With Huiyuan, it's New Year." At the same time, Huiyuan also became a regular sponsor of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, making Huiyuan juice on the New Year's Eve dinner table gradually a "necessary" and "legitimate" thing.**
Huiyuan Juice Spring Festival ad | Source: Internet
"Huiyuan" originally combined the first characters of the couplet "Gathering talents from all over the world, connecting wealth from the four seas," and the name itself contains good omens, but Huiyuan Group did not make a big deal of the name. **In fact, using every possible means to find a connection with the Spring Festival is a common practice among major beverage brands—**
**Wanglaoji**, with the character "Ji" (auspicious), derived the "Ji culture," and the slogan "Celebrate an auspicious New Year, drink Wanglaoji" was everywhere;
**Lulu Almond Milk**, with the character "Xing" (apricot) associated with "happiness," "Drink Lulu for reunion, give Lulu to loved ones," making the usually obscure almond milk a "hot item" for self-drinking and gifting during the Spring Festival—for years, Lulu Almond Milk's sales in the first quarter have always been the highest;
Lulu Almond Milk New Year ad | Source: Internet
**Six Walnuts**, first using the ingredients to satisfy people's imagination of "becoming smarter in the new year," then using the name to borrow the "smooth culture" from the traditional "six-six great fortune" concept, and with a "rural encircling the city" strategy, it forcibly opened the township market during the Spring Festival;
**Master Kong**, with "Kang" (health) in phrases like "family health," "prosperity and health," "joy and health," the meaning is simple and direct—during the New Year, who doesn't want to be healthy?
**Simply strengthening the association between the brand and the Spring Festival through advertising is a traditional approach. The mobile internet era has passed a decade, and the Spring Festival marketing strategies of these brands have gradually changed.**
Before the Year of the Ox and the Year of the Tiger, Wanglaoji launched surname totem cans for two consecutive years, which aligns with the Spring Festival culture of "family reunion." Wanglaoji's customization sparked a nationwide craze, even trending on Weibo.
Wanglaoji surname customized cans | Source: Internet
Customizing beverage cans and bottles for the Spring Festival is not unusual; Six Walnuts also launched a Year of the Tiger festive can.
Six Walnuts Year of the Tiger festive can | Source: Internet
**Interaction is also a major way domestic beverages play the Spring Festival.** In January 2022, Master Kong launched an AR red envelope scanning activity called "Add Health, Add Festive Flavor." Users could enter the corresponding page via a WeChat mini-program, and by scanning the character "Kang" (health), they had the chance to win WeChat red envelopes ranging from 0.3 to 2022 yuan.
During the Spring Festival, consumption scenarios are diverse; whether for personal use or gifting, consumers' shopping enthusiasm is high and spending power is strong, making the Spring Festival one of the most unmissable sales nodes of the year for brands. For some brands, winning the Spring Festival means winning the whole year.
**They use the Spring Festival to enrich their brand connotation, and as a result, these "Spring Festival slot" beverages have become an indispensable part of the Spring Festival.**
******Telling China Through the Spring Festival**
Although international giants like Coca-Cola and Minute Maid have strong brand power and channel capabilities, their success during the Spring Festival is definitely not "effortless."
In January 2022, Coca-Cola released its Year of the Tiger New Year advertisement.
This is an animated micro-film set against the reunion story of a tiger family, telling the story of a tiger father and son who, through Coca-Cola as a bond, rediscover their emotional connection, gradually overcome generational differences, and finally reunite as a family.
Coca-Cola 2022 Year of the Tiger New Year ad | Source: Internet
**Releasing New Year advertisements is a tradition for Coca-Cola, and this tradition has continued for 23 years.**
In 1999, Coca-Cola released its first official New Year advertisement. It was filmed in a small village in Heilongjiang, using two Chinese children as the perspective, and through their hands, a red windmill was inserted into a Coca-Cola bottle.
Coca-Cola 1999 New Year ad "Windmill" | Source: Internet
**In fact, Coca-Cola began infusing Chinese culture, including Spring Festival culture, into the brand much earlier.** In the early 1990s, Coca-Cola released an advertisement. This ad was 1 minute long, with background song sung by Tong Ang:
_"Let footsteps fly / Let longing return / I light the sun in my heart / That is the final stop of traveling the world / Familiar scenes / Familiar feelings / Because this land gives me strength forever / So joyful, so comfortable / Share beautiful times / Moments of reunion / An unstoppable feeling"_
**"Final stop," "return," and "reunion" are the keywords of the song.** Matching this, the ad actually told the story of going home for the New Year—from waiting at the station, to hugging family, to setting off firecrackers, writing the character "Fu," making dumplings, and eating the reunion dinner.
Coca-Cola ad broadcast in mainland China in the 1990s | Source: "Coca-Cola Olympic Channel" Bilibili account
Further reviewing the same series of ads Coca-Cola aired in Japan and South Korea in the 1980s, although the editing techniques and musical forms were identical across the three countries, in the Japanese version, almost all scenes were of young men and women exercising, relaxing, and laughing, and the Korean version was similar, also focusing on the vitality of young people.
Coca-Cola ads in Japan (left) and South Korea (right) in the 1980s | Source: Internet
**Through comparison, it is not difficult to see that Coca-Cola's Chinese version of the ad placed more emphasis on China's "family culture."** This is confirmed by Coca-Cola's first ad in China: the visuals included a boy who buys cola and feeds it to his mother, a mother looking at her newly married daughter, and other figures, with the background song also sung by Tong Ang, with keywords like "friendship," "intimate care," "sincere treatment," and "warmth."
Coca-Cola's first ad in mainland China | Source: "China Advertising Museum" Bilibili account
As one of the first international brands to return to China after the reform and opening-up, Coca-Cola anchored its brand philosophy to those things deeply embedded in the Chinese people's blood—home, reunion, true feelings... This gave Coca-Cola the emotional foundation to enter the traditional Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.
**Equally important as emotional connection is the fact that thirty years ago, drinking Coca-Cola had a completely different symbolic meaning than today.**
In the 1980s, Coca-Cola cost 45 cents, while domestic drinks like Beibingyang and Jianlibao mostly cost only 10 or 20 cents, so drinking Coca-Cola represented high quality and fashionable living. In that era of material scarcity, Coca-Cola carried people's aspirations for a better life.
Gao Baoye is from Zhuolu County, Hebei, and was born in the year of the reform and opening-up. In her memory, the "beverage" for the New Year's Eve dinner in her childhood was brown sugar water. Her mother would scoop a spoonful of brown sugar from a jar, brew it with boiling water, and give each of her, her sister, and her brother a bowl. Although the taste was not as rich as today's beverages, it was equally sweet and warm.
The village shop had no cola, only Jianlibao. It wasn't until 1997, when she went to Beijing, that Gao Baoye first tasted Coca-Cola. In 1998, she married far away to Changzhou, Jiangsu, and since then, Coca-Cola became a must-have on the New Year's Eve dinner table.
"**Cola now seems to be the cheapest beverage on the New Year's Eve dinner table, but it wasn't like that when we were kids.** Looking back now, it feels like a long time ago," Gao Baoye said.
******Telling the Future Through the Spring Festival**
In addition to the traditional and common "Spring Festival slot" beverages, through the questionnaire we also found that new brands and new categories have become choices for many young people at the New Year's Eve dinner—Genki Forest sparkling water, RIO cocktails, coconut water...
A total of 24 people filled in these new categories in the questionnaire, accounting for one-quarter of the total sample. **This is enough to prove that new-style beverages are beginning to compete for territory with traditional beverages.**
In the Year of the Ox 2021, Genki Forest faced the "Spring Festival slot" for the first time. In the Spring Festival beverage war, Genki Forest had two major weaknesses: first, small bottles were not suitable for sharing at gatherings; second, in consumers' perception, sparkling water was more suitable for summer than winter.
**To break through these two constraints, Genki Forest launched a New Year "Fortune Bottle," a 1.25L large bottle with the characters "Fortune" printed on it.** The impression of being unsuitable for the Spring Festival was broken by the new packaging, and Genki Forest became a new choice on people's New Year's Eve dinner tables. In 2022, Genki Forest also co-branded with Quanjude to launch a gift box, claiming to "prepare the New Year's Eve dinner in 1 hour."
1.25L Genki Forest Spring Festival poster | Source: Taobao
Song Yi, 24, from Hunan, said that during the Year of the Ox Spring Festival, her mother spotted the large bottle of Genki Forest on promotion in a live stream and chose it as a beverage option for the Spring Festival.
"My mom had drunk Genki Forest before, so she knew the taste. At that time, more than 20 people in the family gathered for the New Year's Eve dinner, and anyone who wanted to drink just poured it themselves. It was very casual," Song Yi recalled.
Low-alcohol drinks were not to be outdone; RIO cocktails launched a Spring Festival gift box, trying to get a share of the "Spring Festival slot."
RIO cocktail Spring Festival gift box | Source: Internet
**New beverage products, while enriching the product choices during the Spring Festival, are also reshaping people's consumption concepts.** Gao Baoye said that this New Year, she did not drink cola or Pulpy Orange, but chose Nongfu Spring's Tea π and yogurt, which are less sweet.
No matter how "willful" and "indulgent" people are during the Spring Festival, with the rise of consumption concepts like sugar-free, healthy, and low-fat, the beverage choices on the New Year's Eve dinner table are undergoing subtle changes.
Moreover, at such a special moment, any subtle change in New Year's Eve dinner beverages can reflect some deeper connotations. **From siblings sharing a bowl of brown sugar water to everyone freely choosing their favorite drink, behind this lies both the clear line of economic development and the hidden line of value evolution—from single and closed to diverse and inclusive.**
The phrase "drink whatever you want" often heard during the Spring Festival seems like a light-hearted statement, but in essence, it is actually a very luxurious thing: first, there must be sufficient product choices; second, there must be matching economic capability; finally, one must truly understand the diversity of people's preferences, be willing to give others the right to choose, and take others' satisfaction as one's own.
Gen Z may find it hard to imagine the era of extreme material scarcity three or four decades ago, nor can they imagine the material civilization of three or four decades later—**by then, what delicious and healthy beverages will humans create? And in what form will humans reunite?**
Zhu Xinli, founder of Huiyuan Group, once said: "In my eyes, the distance should be a mountain of flowers and fruits, a place with birdsong and fragrance; in my heart, the distance should be a paradise, with fresh air and colorful fruits, where people are not so tired, nor always so busy. **Happiness, simplicity, and well-being ripple on everyone's face.** "
Some of these beverages are bubbling, some are being heated in the microwave, some have just been taken out of the fridge and happen to meet the warm steam on the table... And the family is gathered around the steaming dishes, chatting about everything.
**Here, there are no worries, no toil, only mutual blessings and hearty laughter.**
** **
_**-END-**_


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