A view of Nanjing Road in Shanghai on January 7, 2026 Photo: VCG

As the Spring Festival approaches, foreign companies are actively expanding their presence through the launch of Year of the Horse innovative marketing campaigns, demonstrating their confidence in and deep engagement with China's consumer market.

Coca-Cola China told the Global Times on Sunday that it has launched  Spring Festival fireworks can for the Year of the Horse. The series centers on zodiac and fireworks motifs, incorporates traditional festive symbols of auspiciousness, and integrates the Chinese intangible cultural heritage of embroidery art into its marketing campaigns.

Leveraging its systemic synergy, the company said that it will collaborate with its three major bottling partners and 46 factories to strengthen product coverage and ensure stable supply during the impending Spring Festival period.

Mondelēz China also told the Global Times on Sunday that it has launched a series of Spring Festival gift boxes that blend traditional Chinese culture with creative design, featuring its well-known brands such as Oreo, Chips Ahoy! and Pacific. This initiative continuously enriches product expressions during the festive season.

The Oreo "Year of the Horse Fortune Gift Box" features an elegant design of traditional Chinese lattice windows and a galloping horse, conveying blessings for immediate success, rising fortune, and good luck in the New Year.

A woman takes a selfie in front of a horse sculpture with a golden ingot on its back in Shanghai on January 13, 2026. To celebrate the upcoming Year of the Horse, the sculpture is named Mashang Youqian, meaning both "money on horseback" and "immediately get rich." Photo: VCG

Universal Beijing Resort, which officially announced that 2026 will mark its significant fifth anniversary milestone, said that it will start its Chinese New Year seasonal event from January 23. The resort said it will launch a special China Year New Year show with brand-new choreography, music arrangements, and story-telling. Fourteen beloved characters, including Po from DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda, will deliver a dynamic 20-minute spectacle offering a truly exhilarating Spring Festival audio-visual celebration, with more traditional art performance elements.

The Lunar New Year start on February 16, with 2026 designated as the Year of the Horse. In Chinese culture, the horse symbolizes qualities such as drive, resilience, and loyalty. This annual celebration presents a significant opportunity for international companies to engage with consumers and expand their presence in the market.

China's retail sales of consumer goods went up 4 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2025, totaling 45.61 trillion yuan ($6.45 trillion) during the period, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. 

A recent KPMG report on the outlook for multinational companies (MNCs) in China revealed that nearly 70 percent of 137 surveyed executives are at least moderately confident in their three- to five-year growth prospects in China. Also, 94 percent are still investing in China.

The report also found that MNCs have greater confidence in the Chinese economy than in the global economy in both the short and medium term.

Global Times