Jenny Chan 陳詠欣
Sep 12, 2011

Branded mooncakes offer marketers a new tool in China

HONG KONG - It's the mid-autumn festival when mooncakes are all the rage. Thanks to clever marketing and packaging, these seasonal pastries have consumers worshipping their sales counters. Traditional bakeries and Western marketers alike are making use of the delicacy as a marketing tool to extend brand equity and cash in on the mooncake season. Here are some hard-to-ignore mooncakes Campaign came across.

Traditonal mooncakes with lotus paste and salted whole egg yolks
Traditonal mooncakes with lotus paste and salted whole egg yolks

Goods Of Desire (G.O.D.)'s cheeky lineup of 'bumcakes' are in the shape of buttocks in various states of undress. As the mid-autumn's festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the date is used as a pun for buttocks in the Cantonese dialect. 

 

 

 

Not only are the Angry Birds found in your mobile phone, they can also be chomped on. Maxim's Group released the bird-shaped mooncakes to capitalise on the worldwide Angry Birds phenomenon, and to soothe angry gamers whose slingshot skills into enemy pig territory are still in development.

 

 

 
Brandless 'piglet' mooncakes have no fillings and were created from leftover dough, individually packed in small plastic baskets. They are said by some to be the 'poor man's mooncake'.
 
 
 
Sweet treats for the fashion-conscious was introduced by Agnès B. Mini egg custard mooncakes are packaged in a box showcasing a French scenery picture captured by Agnès B herself, complete with rose tea leaves, rose wine, and a rose-shade lantern.
 
 
 

Häagen-Dazs' chocolate coated, ice cream stuffed pies seem to be only mooncakes in name since it lacks the traditional lotus seed paste and salted egg yolks, but are still wildly popular with consumers having to order them in advance.

 

 

 
If size truly matters, this giant cake-sized traditional mooncake from Hong Kong-based Feng Ji (豐記) is meant to appeal to people with big appetites, or families of 10.
 
 
 
 
Sometimes, the packaging is more appealing than the mooncakes themselves. Tai Thong Cake Shop's mooncakes come in aluminium boxes depicting seasonal drawings of spring, summer, autumn, winter - meant to be assembled together like a four-piece jigsaw puzzle. 
 

 
Hand-made chocolate brand VERO partnered with Glenmorangie to produce mooncakes infused with single malt whisky and chocolate ganache filling for your inner alcoholic.
 

 

 
Starbucks also jumped on the mooncake bandwagon for coffee fans who cannot get enough of the twin-tailed Siren mermaid.
 

Ichido's 'ice-crusted' mooncake is meant to be frozen to minus 5 degrees Celsius before consumption, making the white glutinous rice covering almost transparent. 

 

 

A bakery in Nanjing is selling mooncakes in the form of Chinese chess pieces. Sweet victory ensues for players who can eat the mooncake pieces once they are captured in a real game of chess. 

Source:
Campaign China

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