This is not the first time the American fast-food chain has teamed up with the Japanese IP holder, but it is arguably the most practical one. From a Hello Kitty breathing lamp that also produces white noise to help with mindfulness, a Kuromi “fog machine” diffuser, a Cinnamoroll water bottle, a Pompompurin lamp, and even a Hello Kitty digital camera with 1080P resolution, built-in filters and a 64GB memory card. The camera, limited to 129,000 units in China, has seen prices surge to between 600 RMB (83.28 USD) to 800 RMB (111.04 USD) on the second-hand market, up from 129 RMB (17.91 USD) new.

On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “KFC toys” (#肯德基玩具#) reached number 42 on the Hot Search list with an accumulated 150 million views. KFC toys have been making headlines recently, such as the Gundam figurine released earlier this year. These are all aimed at teenagers and older audiences, featuring Gundam variants mostly from the 2000s-era ‘00’ and ‘Seed Destiny’ series, as well as the ‘1979 original series’, appealing to millennials who grew up watching them.

Like the nostalgic bumper car and bubble blower toys from McDonald’s, the KFC x Sanrio offerings this Children’s Day are also aimed at the childhood nostalgia of young adults and perhaps even young parents. Meanwhile, Pizza Hut is offering toy cars, while the Pokémon IP and Manner Coffee have also released a (single-use film) camera, highlighting how the clashes over collaborations and campaign ideas continues.

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One of the two special desserts is a Bignè Chantilly decorated in the shape of a swan, the famously monogamous bird that often mates for life, to signify romance for the special day. The other is a box of 16 raspberry pralines, which is closer to sweets than a dessert, but you can take these home and share with your loved one.

The specially curated 520 dinner menu from Prada fuses Italian traditions and Chinese inspirations, with dishes including veal on brioche toast, king crab tartlet, red shrimp tartare on saffron risotto and finishing with the swan Bignè Chantilly. Tables at the Mi Shang Prada Rong Zhai can be reserved on the restaurant’s official mini program.

20 May is an important date on China’s marketing calendar, forming part of a trinity of romantic occasions between Valentine’s Day and Qixi, the “Chinese Valentine’s Day”. It is also the full-price revenue peak before the summer sale, or the 618 Shopping Festival. However, with 618 starting earlier by the year, 520 is somehow diminished, especially this year when 618 began a week before 520. However, luxury brands, which are not as affected by 618 sales, can still afford to be creative with the “I Love You Day” in China.

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For the “I Love You” Day 2025, KFC launched a “Crazy 520 Confession Meal” (疯狂520告白套餐). It may sound like something related to a police interrogation or a Catholic confessional, but “告白” (gaobai, lit. to confession) here means to “Confess” or “profess” your love for someone. The meal includes KFC’s iconic Original Chicken and Pastel de Nata custard tart pastry. More importantly, the 45 RMB (6.24 USD) meal includes a set of two “couple rings” made in the image of a fry and a burger.

The pair of rings comes in a bucket-shaped box that plays KFC’s “Crazy Thursday” sales events theme tune. The box can also project one of the two taglines for this year’s 520 campaign, which are of course, a punny play on words in Chinese. One is “只想‘堡’护你” (just want to protect you, with 保 from 保护, protection, changed to 堡 from 汉堡, hamburger, both pronounced bao). The other is “你‘薯’我的‘堡’” (you’re my precious, with 是 shi, is, replaced by 薯 shu, potato, and 宝 bao, precious, swapped for 堡 bao of burger again).

Once again, KFC has tapped into the “crazy” mood around its marketing and created something romantic. With“KFC toy” (#肯德基玩具#) at number 42 on Weibo’s Hot Search list with 150 million accumulated views, the meme-tic internet culture remains one of the most effective ways to reach younger consumers in China.

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For the online part of the special day campaign, Lancôme released 3 videos, featuring Chinese actresses Cheng Xiao (程潇), Zhang Yuxi (张予曦) and Rong Niangniang (容嬢嬢), the influencer storeowner of the florist shop Wilde (王尔德的花, presumably named after the Irish author Oscar Wilde) in each video. The three guests present their stories with their mother and what connected them: a letter, a boxed lunch and a flower shop.

Offline, the brand aimed to create new memories between customers and their mothers. Between 10 and 11 May, if you brought your mother to any of the Lancôme stores in China and register as a member, you would receive a free Absolue set. If you spent over 2,000 RMB (276.35 USD) at 70 selected stores across the country, you could receive an exclusive Mother’s Day flower bouquet, and if you bought Absolue products in 35 selected stores, you could receive a custom illustration from a live illustrator in store. For Shanghai customers, Lancôme teamed up with several other stores on Wulumuqi Middle Road (including, of course, Wilde) to create a “floral road” decorated with its thematic pink colour and flowers, as well as free gifts such as hair pins and wristbands.

The move to require visitors to bring their mothers and “make memories” is not only incredibly sweet and on brand for Mother’s Day, but it is also an inspired move for Lancôme in expanding its clientele. It raises awareness of its anti-ageing skincare to a generation who might not be used to browsing in cosmetic stores for brands such as Lancôme.

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The co-branded item is a pizza called “My Love for You is Hot” (辣么爱你, la me ai ni). It is a play on “那么爱你” (na me ai ni, lit. Love You So Much) as some dialects will pronounce the “na” at the beginning as “la”. The dish looks like a classic beef-topped Pizza Hut offering with the additional chilli sauce added on top, with all the dry chilli flakes from Lao Gan Ma. It will set you back 59 RMB apiece (8.15 USD). And of course, the choice of partner is also a play on the name, as Lao Gan Ma literally means Ol’ Godmother (gan ma does not have the religious undertone of a godmother but serves a similar role for a child).

Given Pizza Hut’s recent collab track record, it is perhaps not surprising that it has chosen a Chinese sauce maker to celebrate not just mothers, but godmothers as well. This past April Fool’s Day, the restaurant chain launched special “white snake” and “green snake” pizzas, serpentine-shaped, pure filled crusts, one cheese-flavoured and the other pistachio-flavoured. Unexpected Chinese fusion flavours such as the coriander pig’s ear pizza and coriander century egg pizza from 2023 and 2024, turns classic Chinese cold dishes into pizza toppings.

Pizza Hut has been embracing the “abstract” humour, or absurd and postmodern, post-ironic humour that is popular among Gen-Z consumers. But like most campaigns, despite the shock value, the recipe itself usually makes sense. Chilli sauce on pizza should not be a problem if fusing Chinese flavours into the pizzas anyway. The Italians, however, might not approve of this.

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Launched on 8 May, the 520 campaign from SK-II revolves around the brand’s iconic Facial Treatment Essence. A special gift box has been created for the occasion for those who want to say, “I love you”. With hand-written versions of “You are the one and only” (你是唯一, a song title from the band) and set to music by Mayday, a special promo video was created for the campaign. Frontman Ashin also posted on his social media his interpretation of the “I Love You Day” for SK-II.

• #五月天公开心动对象 Mayday announce their love interest: 84.98 million views on Weibo
• #五月天对我说你是唯一 Mayday tells me I’m the one and only: 26.51 million views on Weibo, ranking number 14 on the Hot Search list

Mayday recently experienced viral success with their Starbucks collaboration for, well, the May Day holiday in China. Some commentators observed that the appointment of Mayday is a departure for SK-II from its usual ambassadors, mostly female celebrities like Tang Wei and Karen Mok. The brand has recently returned to growth after experiencing declining sales since 2023, following the pandemic and the rise of C-beauty competitors. It would seem that SK-II, like Starbucks before them, are trying to woo Millennial consumers (post-80 and post-90 generations) with a dash of Y2K nostalgia, as Mayday, formed in 1997, have been a staple of the Mando-pop sphere since its debut album in 1999.

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From beauty standards to career milestones, today’s youth face a constant stream of stress: “You’re 20, get cosmetic surgery or you’ll fall behind,” “You’re 30, earning a million is the bare minimum,” “You’re 35 and jobless, just become a full-time quitter.”

According to BiliBili, life on social media always looks perfect—everyone else seems to be thriving, while your own life feels like a field of landmines. Whether it’s parenting, school, work, looks, or age, anxiety is seeping into every part of life.

The film explores where that anxiety comes from. It’s not just self-doubt or pressure from consumerism. It’s also our brains struggling to process the flood of information in a world that’s changing too fast. BiliBili’s message is simple: stop, slow down, and take a closer look. Through the eyes of its content creators, the platform encourages viewers to notice the real, everyday moments that bring joy and meaning.

Youth Day has also become a key date in many brands’ marketing calendars. This year, Meituan teamed up with China Youth Daily to launch Youth Has Its Own Way, a short film set on Beijing’s Youth Road. The campaign highlights the need for society to support young people as they chart their own course, both symbolically and literally. As BiliBili puts it, “If the pain of a century ago couldn’t erase China’s youth, anxiety won’t either.” The company says it will keep standing by young people, offering content that inspires, reassures, and helps them find direction. In a noisy media world, that might be what storytelling matters most for.

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Interestingly, although not on the list as it is not a new release, Ne Zha 2 is still going strong, and is projected to cross the 15.8 billion RMB (2.17 billion USD) total box office threshold before the end of the holiday..

• #五一档新片票房破2亿 May Day new releases box office reach over 200 million RMB: 18.45 million views on Weibo, ranking number 10 on the Hot Search list
• #五一档首日上座率最高是哪吒 Ne Zha 2 is the highest attended film on the first day of the May Day holiday: 15.05 million views on Weibo, ranking number 10 on the Hot Search list

With 378 million RMB (51.98 million USD) in total, the Tomb-sweeping Day (Qingming) holiday saw a rather lacklustre box office result. The longer May Day holiday in China, with safe bets like comedy and Hong Kong films, as well as the return of MCU films, saw a final total box office of 748 million RMB (102.87 million USD).

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The official opening of the festival, which is located on the North Bund, took place on 30 April and will remain open until 2 May. The event, along with a city-wide “coffee plus” campaign, hosts not only nearly 100 coffee brands across the globe, but also cultural stands including performances, sports, intangible cultural heritages (ICHS), an outdoor cinema and, of course, food stalls.

Caffè Carraro brings Luigi Lupi, the “father of latte art”, to perform live latte art. While other brands like Lavazza are bringing new products to the festival. Another highlight this year is the rise of Yunnan coffee beans. In recent years, Yunnan coffee has risen from a niche option to one of the premium choices. Data shows that the sales of Yunnan coffee reached a 3-year high on Taobao and Tmall at 417 million RMB (57.35 million USD).

Coffee festivals are popping up across China in recent years, especially in higher-tiered cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. However, with the 9.9 RMB (1.37 USD) pricing from large chains like Luckin Coffee and premium coffee chains such as Manner Coffee, it is hard for independent coffee shops to thrive. Meanwhile, for some influencer shop owners with social media celebrity status, coffee festivals are starting to become “fan meetings”. As tea chains like Goodme also tap into the coffee market, how the coffee industry goes from here is certainly worth watching.

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Balenciaga started with a pair of teaser photos for the collection, featuring models Estelle Chen (陈瑜) and Bai (sometimes Bai Ruien). The two appear in two travel-style photographs by Roe Ethridge, on the same beach, wearing the new capsule collection. One with the tagline “laid-back luxury”, the other with “savour the moment”. The collection includes a limited edition Balenciaga Le City handbag and 3XL trainers, and both include exclusive “520” airline-style boarding pass visuals. Eagle-eyed netizens spotted that the 520 promotional images are identical to the brand’s High Summer photoshoot, apart from the outfit.

Indeed, the interactive post from the official Balenciaga WeChat account also shows a boarding pass-like printing animation with more info unveiled with each click. Interestingly, as the two models don’t appear in the same frame, the boarding pass is also issued to a singular “you” as a personal getaway. It is an interesting departure from the “I Love You Day” trope that most brands celebrate 520 with.

The campaign was announced on 25 April and Balenciaga also added a little Easter egg in the form of a messaging app sticker collection, as well as a capsule collection of apparel. The stickers feature a “Little Green Man” in celebration of Alien Day on 26 April. However, it needs to be pointed out that Alien Day in April was a commemoration of Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien, rather than extraterrestrials in general. Whether it was a mistake or a deliberate subversion in the maison’s typical post-modern fashion is unclear.

With long-time creative director Demna moving to fellow Kering brand Gucci, Balenciaga might also be in a transition period, in search of a new brand identity. Maybe the clue is within the 520 collection.

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