As Qixi Festival arrives once again—the so-called “Chinese Valentine’s Day”—one thing is clear: extravagant spending alone no longer guarantees impact.

Once a battleground for lavish activations and “China-exclusive” campaigns, Qixi has entered a new era. In today’s more cautious luxury climate—amid slowing sector growth and more rational consumer sentiment—brands are shifting their approach. What was once a holiday centered on short-term sales has evolved into a strategic opportunity for emotional storytelling, cultural relevance, and brand loyalty.

This year, Jingzhi Chronicle observed three notable strategies shaping how luxury brands are redefining their Qixi strategies:

1. Expanding the Language of Love

The most visible shift? Brands are moving beyond romantic clichés.

As societal values evolve, so does the definition of love—now encompassing not only romance, but also friendship, self-love, and community connection. By tapping into this broader emotional spectrum, brands are repositioning Qixi as a moment of universal emotional gifting, not just couple-centric celebration.

Tiffany & Co. leaned into self-love with its campaign “I Am the Subject of Love,” featuring brand ambassadors Tang Yan, Zhang Ruoyun, and Zhong Chuxi wearing the HardWear collection. The brand also launched a “Qixi Radio” podcast series—intimate audio storytelling exploring personal transformation through love in all its forms.

This direction mirrors Tiffany’s ongoing emotional narrative. In 2024, its Qixi campaign “To Love is to Protect” highlighted four relationship types—romantic, platonic, familial, and self—signaling a shift from “we” to “me” in the brand’s emotional arc.

Gucci also broadened its lens, with a film starring Wen Qi and Song Weilong that celebrates not just lovers, but friends and collective journeys. Set across cityscapes and wild fields, the campaign positions seasonal products—GG Emblem handbags and Diamante jewelry—within scenes of connection under “one shared sky,” breaking free from conventional Qixi storytelling.

2. Embedding in Local Culture—Not Just Surface Symbols

As brands move from seasonal campaigns to long-term cultural fluency, localization has matured beyond superficial motifs. This year, several brands demonstrated more nuanced, place-based storytelling.

Prada’s Qixi campaign featured brand ambassadors Li Xian and Chen Haoyu on urban bridges—a modern echo of the Qixi mythology’s “Magpie Bridge.” The brand extended the metaphor by launching a Xiaohongshu campaign inviting users to find meaningful bridges in their own cities, redeemable for limited-edition postcards in select boutiques. It turned infrastructure into emotional metaphor—and marketing into co-creation.

Balenciaga took a different route. Collaborating with artist Feng Li on the concept “Frozen in Time,” the brand captured candid intimacy in Shanghai landmarks, with actors Zhou Qiqi and Jiang Qilin dressed in the Fall 2025 collection. The result was a surreal but relatable portrait of urban love that fused Balenciaga’s visual edge with genuine local resonance.

These examples point to a strategic upgrade in localization: less about visual tokenism, more about cultural texture. No longer relying solely on heart motifs or character prints, brands are telling stories that reflect the city’s emotional topography and modern mythology.

3. Reinventing Formats: From Short Films to Serialized Dramas

While most brands still rely on short-form video and campaign visuals, Loewe stood out this year for format innovation.

Its Qixi centerpiece was an 8-episode vertical short drama titled “Say Yes to Love”—a contemporary reinterpretation of the classic myth of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl. Written by cultural advisor Qin Wen, the drama follows a woman’s emotional journey in today’s urban landscape, using Loewe’s magpie-themed charm as a narrative device.

What’s remarkable is the integration: the series also served as the China debut of Loewe’s Fall 2025 collection, designed by Jonathan Anderson and first unveiled in Paris as a static presentation. The drama’s plotlines and aesthetics provided localized context for the pieces—blending storytelling and product seeding in a format tailor-made for mobile-native audiences.

Loewe’s previous Qixi campaigns already hinted at this trajectory—from the animated “Stargazer’s Tale” to the Lunar New Year shadow-play project “Spring Dance of the Serpent.” But “Say Yes to Love” marks its most sophisticated effort yet in narrative co-creation. With dual cultural consultants (writer Qin Wen and chef Chen Jie), the brand is positioning itself at the intersection of haute design and cross-cultural storytelling.

In a fragmented media landscape, this shift from one-off ad films to serialized formats allows for longer engagement cycles, algorithmic amplification, and deeper resonance. As Loewe demonstrates, the future of Qixi marketing may be scripted.

Qixi as a Strategic Inflection Point for Luxury Brands

Over the past decade, Qixi has evolved from a tactical promotion window into an experimental playground for luxury brands in China:

• In 2016, Dior debuted a Qixi-exclusive handbag via WeChat—a first for luxury e-commerce.
• In 2018, brands launched WeChat Mini Program boutiques for limited-time Qixi sales.
• By 2019, nearly all major luxury players—including fine jewelry houses—had joined the fray.
• In 2020, amid the pandemic, Qixi became a critical sales driver across categories.

But today, the landscape is shifting again. Economic uncertainty and cautious consumer sentiment are reshaping expectations. Sales-driven gimmicks are losing steam. Emotional intelligence and cultural depth are now essential.

In this new context, Qixi is no longer just about limited editions—it’s about lasting impressions.

Whether through self-love campaigns, urban mythologies, or mobile-native mini dramas, the brands making an impact this Qixi are not necessarily the loudest—but the most attuned. Those who treat Qixi not as a transaction, but as an invitation to build enduring emotional bridges with Chinese consumers—those are the ones writing the next chapter in luxury storytelling.

Strategic Implications for Luxury Brands Targeting China’s Qixi Festival

• Expand Emotional Storytelling Beyond Romance. Move beyond traditional couple-focused narratives to include self-love, friendship, and family bonds—broadening relevance and gifting occasions.
• Localize Through Cultural Texture, Not Clichés. Instead of symbolic motifs (e.g., hearts, magpies), embed deeper Chinese cultural references (e.g., bridges, city landmarks) to enhance authenticity and resonance.
• Experiment with Format to Extend Lifecycle. Serialized content (e.g., short dramas, podcasts) outperforms one-off campaigns—offering higher engagement and longer brand exposure in fragmented media environments.
• Prioritize Cultural Sensitivity Over Price Point. Emotional depth and cultural fluency are overtaking limited editions and lavish budgets as key drivers of consumer connection and brand affinity.
• Use Qixi as a Brand Equity Builder, Not Just a Sales Spike. In a cooling luxury market, Qixi provides a rare mid-year opportunity to reinforce brand meaning and deepen consumer relationships through creativity and storytelling.