“2015 Let Hongbao Fly” campaign, jointly started by Weibo and Alipay, indicates the start of virtual Hongbao (or Red Envelope) war for Chinese New Year 2015.
In Chinese and other Asian culture, a red envelope or hongbao is a monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions such as weddings, the birth of a baby or graduation. In China, sometimes giving away hongbao becomes an economic burden. Anyway, who wouldn’t like to receive some?
Weibo has launched virtual cash hongbao for the first time this year. The netizens can not only directly win cash in Weibo Hongbao, but also contribute cash to the hongbao of their idols, and enjoy the chance to jointly give away hongbao.
The new way of giving away Hongbao has fully stimulated the netizens’ participation enthusiasm, demonstrated by the fact that 5,490,000 virtual red envelopes are all given away in only 8 hours. As expected, the virtual hongbao worth over one billion yuan will be released during the campaign.
Chinese Weibo users who win in Weibo Hongbao can withdraw cash and trasnfer to the associated Alipay account. It is virtual hongbao, yet it’s real money. As of 16:00, February 2, over 5,490,000 virtual red envelopes have been issued via Weibo.
The netizens can also top up their idols’ virtual red envelope with money on Weibo and enjoy the possibility to be known by millions of other fans who later manage to win those hongbao which are shown “jointly issued by … and …”. This greatly stimulates the fans’ enthusiasm. Within less than 10 hours after the start of the activity, more than 6600 fans have contributed to the hongbao of Wang Junkai who is a member of tfboys. Sina Weibo also set up a the most wealthy hongbao list.
This year’s hongbao campaign expanded cooperation with traditional enterprise integrating online and offline sources. Users can win red envelope via code scanning on China high-speed trains, airports and shopping malls, in addition to Weibo. During Chinese New Year Gala, Weibo will give away about hundreds of millions worth of hongbao jointly with Alipay, MICOE (a solar technology company) and other enterprises.
To many companies, it’s a good way for fans engagement and more importantly grow fans at acceptable cost. It also provides a good marketing platform for companies on Spring Festival. The companies can contribute to the celebrities’ hongbao with money and give away jointly with celebrities, which is good to enhance their brand awareness.
Traditional companies can integrate online and offline marketing resources through the activity of “Let Hongbao Fly”. At present, MICOE has started “MICOE’s Red Envelope Present” campaign train sponsorship painted with their brands and 2D code. Users can scan and win red envelope with each one at a maximum value of 5,000 yuan and a total worth of over 250 million yuan.
Weibo’s “Let Hongbao Fly” campaign 2015, launched on 2 Feb 2015, has generated 4.39 billion views and nearly 55 million discussions in less than three days.
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