Budweiser toasts Chinese New Year to global Chinese Community

The beloved Chinese women's volleyball team coach Lang Ping and her daughter Lydia Bai Lang are perfect examples of this love-appreciation dynamic in a Chinese family. The two shared a secret code of "patting on the shoulder". Lydia often uses this simple action to encourage her mother.

Lang Ping will never forget how Lydia supported her during the Rio Olympics. "At one point, our team had lost two games, and I was under a lot of stress. My daughter somehow found a way to get herself into the Olympia village. She made me scrambled eggs with tomato, my favorite Chinese dish, to cheer me up." After that meal, Lang Ping led her team to fight its way to the championship and win China another gold medal (the team got its last medal 12 years earlier).

During the Times Square's event, Lydia brought Lang Ping a very sweet gift: a pair of touch screen gloves to keep Lang Ping warm in the winter when the two communicate on the phone.

Lang Ping also expressed her appreciation to Lydia: "Whenever I feel stressful, I always think of you because that brings me energy. Thank you, my daughter — the source of my happiness."

Budweiser also invited two of its young Chinese consumers to share their stories.

Huang Hong Xiang, who flew in from Kenya for the event, graduated from leading universities in China (Fudan) and the US (Columbia). He has dedicated his life to wildlife preservation in Africa. Huang appeared in the Oscar nominated documentary The Ivory Game, which depicted his job as an undercover agent tracking the global trafficking of ivory.

Huang's work has changed the stereotypical impression that Chinese people do not care about wildlife. Yet this world hero has not been recognized in his own home. A couple of years ago, when Huang went back to his home town for Chinese New Year, he was called "unemployed in Africa" by his relatives. It made Huang felt extremely lonely in his own home.

At the Times Square's event, Huang and his mother were reunited again. This time, his mother explained her concern: "It is not that I don't want to support his dream, I am really worried to think that my son is working in a dangerous land." Deep in her heart, she has always been proud of her son, she said.

The two finally hugged after resolving the longstanding misunderstanding. Huang also thanked his mother: "I'm sorry to have you worrying about me for all these years. Thank you so much for having my back all the time. I will try to keep you updated of my whereabouts as often as possible, so that you won't worry about me all the time."

Another guest was Wu Fan, who works as a female tattooist in New York City. Born in an intellectual family, Wu's pursuit of tattoo art was misunderstood by her friends and family, some regarding tattoo to be "a bad girl thing". It has been the unconditional support and encouragement from her father that has kept her pursuing her dream.

Wu's father also came to New York for the event and proudly expressed his love to his daughter: "As long as my daughter is happy when she chases her dream, for me, she is an achiever in life."

Ambassador Zhang Qiyue, Consul General of the People's Republic of China in New York, shared her sentiments with the audience at Times Square and beyond in delivering the closing speech.

"We can see the importance of cross-generation communication from Huang and Wu's stories. Coach Lang Ping and her daughter Lydia also inspire us to understand the love and care in Chinese families, which are the most valuable support we have in our journey to self-realization.

"This Chinese New Year, I sincerely hope Chinese people everywhere will open their hearts and let your parents in, show them your gratitude and appreciation. We wish everyone will chase their own dreams and make the world a better place."

Chief Marketing Officer of AB Inbev, Miguel Patrici, who has been stationed in China, expressed his sentiments at the event too. "I really enjoyed the food, the fireworks, the happiness on people's faces, the cheery atmosphere… a wonderful season. What impressed me the most was how Chinese people value their family."

"I am often touched to see how Chinese families reunite to celebrate their togetherness with each other," so today "Budweiser invites Chinese people from across the global to gather in New York City and share our stories. We hope that we can start a new trend of appreciation in the world, right here from New York City."

From a marketing perspective, Budweiser also sees a great opportunity for beer consumption. Beer always plays an important role in celebrations, Patricio added.

Asked about the campaign in New York, Patricio said, "We are establishing ourselves as a lifestyle brand more than a beer brand, and we aim to deliver different positive messages and inspiration to our consumers in different occasions."

"While celebrating important occasions with our consumers, we are trying to bring out a positive lifestyle and encourage them to pursue their dreams," Patricio continued.

Budweiser, an international brand, wants to launch this campaign with local insight and an international touch. From New York, we want to inspire all Chinese to express their gratitude to those who are supporting them to be themselves during Chinese New Year time.

"We value each important occasion in this market. In the past year in China, Budweiser continued to excel in all brand health metrics, growing preference and penetration supported by occasion-focused packaging innovations."

On the mega screen at Times Square, Budweiser held the world premiere of its short film, Marathon. The film tells the story of conflict and misunderstanding between parents and their daughter, mirroring a typical dilemma in today's Chinese society. Young people are afraid of their lifestyle being misread by their parents, and hence block their parents out from their social life.

In doing so, they fail to see how much effort parents make to catch up. An honest conversation, in the end, did resolve the conflict and bring mutual trust.

Budweiser ended the film with its unique celebration ritual: a toast done twice is a thank you done right. The international brand hopes this ritual will shorten the distance between parents and children and help them express the appreciation deep in their hearts.

Love and support from the family has always been a strong motivation for young people to chase their dreams.

This Chinese New Year, whether you are with your family or not, Budweiser invites you with Chinese people everywhere to "Toast Twice" to show your family your appreciation, and start the New Year with happiness and love.