2026, the Year of the Horse: A Moment for Brands to Move Forward
by Kai Cui
In less than 3 months, we’ll be celebrating the Year of the Horse—a symbol of strength, vitality, and progress in East Asian culture. The Horse embodies drive, confidence, and momentum—values that strongly align with brands aiming to move forward and stand out in a competitive market.
At AVC, we help brands turn cultural insight into business impact. Lunar New Year is one of the most important moments for Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese audiences and other communities celebrate this festival across North America, and the Year of the Horse offers a unique opportunity to connect with them in ways that are both authentic and performance-driven.
Here’s how brands can ride the wave：
- Automotive & Luxury: Leverage the Horse’s symbolism of speed and prestige through high-impact OOH, video storytelling, and in-language social content on trusted platforms like WeChat, RedNote (小红书), and YouTube.
- Fashion & Lifestyle: Celebrate the elegance and heritage of the Horse through influencer partnerships and publisher collaborations that highlight craftsmanship and movement.
- Finance & Services: Tap into the spirit of prosperity (福) and good fortune (财/財) with targeted media, cultural content, and community-led activations that build trust and relevance.
Whether your brand name in Chinese directly connects to the horse—like BMW (寶馬 / 宝马, “precious horse”), Mazda (马自达, “horse arrives on its own”), or Hermès (愛馬仕/爱马仕, “horse-loving gentleman”), or having a horse as a key visual element in your logo—like Porsche, Ferrari, and Burberry—or just simply sharing its energy and ambition, this is the year to gallop ahead.
Let’s connect and explore your Lunar New Year 2026 opportunities; from OOH and social content to influencer and publisher partnerships, we can help you craft a campaign that moves audiences and delivers results, just like the go-to greeting phrase of the Year of the Horse said: “Ride to Success 馬到功成 /马到成功!”