The start of the Year of the Horse was a critical moment for luxury brands. 2026’s Lunar New Year (LNY) coincides with promising outlooks for the Chinese luxury market. In the sea of campaigns tied to the event, it takes community-minded strategies to grab audience attention.

To learn more, we used Explore+ to examine Lunar New Year-related mentions of 10 major luxury fashion houses — Dior, Tod’s, Prada, Bvlgari, Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu, Celine, Valentino, D&G, and Fendi — across social, online media, and broadcast sources in English and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional). 

From January 1 through March 3, Lunar New Year campaigns from these brands generated 3.4 million mentions and 24 million engagement actions. For context, the Winter Olympics generated 3.84 million mentions, placing LNY luxury campaigns on a comparable conversational scale to one of the world’s largest global sporting events.

The data shows that while celebrity star power drove campaign visibility for multiple brands, participatory social moments helped Prada stand out from the herd.

Celebrities and Milan Fashion Week Drove Visibility

Celebrity brand ambassadors anchored luxury LNY campaigns on Sina Weibo (96% of mentions) and Douyin (50% of engagement), drawing the eyes (and clicks) of devoted fans. Though global luxury brands have gotten more sophisticated in designing their LNY collections and campaigns, big names and familiar faces overshadowed creative details and concepts.

For example, Dior dominated conversation volume, generating 70% share of voice (SOV). About 29% of those mentions centered on its brand ambassador, Chinese actor Deng Wei.

Meanwhile, 38% of Valentino’s total engagement related to its LNY campaign came from a single Sina Weibo post from actor and singer Tan Jianci, also known as JC-T. The Valentino Beauty ambassador’s post promoting the limited-edition Lucky Blue makeup collection clearly resonated with his fanbase. It proved to be a more active point of audience engagement with the brand over other campaign elements like media features and in-person events. 

This Sina Weibo post from Tan Jianci generated over a third of Lunar New Year-related engagement for Valentino.  

Finally, Tod’s global brand ambassador Xiao Zhan drove 96% of both mentions and engagement for the Italian luxury brand. In particular, the actor and singer’s prominent seating at the Tod’s runway show for Milan Fashion Week created a surge of cross-market attention, effectively linking the brand’s Asia-focused Year of the Horse campaign to one of European fashion’s biggest stages.

Overall, Milan Fashion Week drove 86% of mentions and 60% of engagement for Tod’s, which wasn’t the only brand to seize the crossover opportunity in Milan Fashion Week’s LNY overlap. Many brands’ posts documenting their activations in Italy referenced LNY limited editions or incorporated the #马年 (Year of the Horse) hashtag. As a result, Milan became a key talking point in LNY luxury campaign conversations.

For Prada, Milan accounted for 67% of total LNY campaign mentions and 49.5% of related engagement. This was largely driven by Su Xinhao and Zuo Hang, members of the Chinese boy band T.O.P. 登陸少年組合, walking in the brand’s official runway show. 

One Hashtag Helped Prada Generate Outsized Engagement

While numerous brands used high-production creative assets to spark LNY conversation, a hashtag and custom Douyin filter helped Prada distinguish itself online. Despite only having 8% SOV, the brand captured 51% of the engagement. This was largely thanks to the #马年一起Prada啪哒 hashtag (roughly meaning “Prada! Together in the Year of the Horse") which generated over 90% of the brand’s likes, comments, shares, and reposts.

This Douyin post featuring Ma Long using Prada’s fire horse prism filter generated over 713,000 engagement actions from January 28 to March 3.

Highly engaged Douyin posts from figures like table tennis champion Ma Long and boy band TOP登陸少年組合 using a custom Prada Year of the Horse filter encouraged UGC. By creating a moment that fans could actively participate in, the brand realigned its campaign with the holiday’s foundations in community and togetherness. 

The combination of star power with audience involvement paid off big in terms of advertising value equivalent, or AVE, the estimated monetary value of earned media exposure). During LNY celebrations from February 17 to March 3, Prada generated $8.4 million in AVE despite only having 8% SOV. By comparison, Tod’s, which had 50% SOV, generated about half of Prada’s AVE at $4.3 million.

The takeaway here is that conversation volume is only one aspect of determining a campaign’s success. Brands need to consider engagement efficiency, i.e. how effectively a brand converts SOV into share of engagement, to truly understand whether or not campaign content is resonating with target audiences. 

For luxury brands planning future campaigns around cultural celebrations, three lessons stand out from LNY 2026:

Celebrity alignment can make or break a campaign. One highly resonant brand ambassador can outperform broad chatter.

Use calendar overlaps as multiplier effects. Coinciding cultural events don’t have to compete against each other. Use them as opportunities to target your audience’s overlapping interests, extending your campaigns’ reach and relevance in the process. 

Engagement efficiency beats SOV. Prada’s campaign proves that converting attention into interaction is what ultimately drives media value. Simple tools like hashtags and custom filters can go a long way in encouraging audience engagement.

In the Year of the Horse and beyond, luxury brands that can turn cultural moments into shared experiences will be the ones that stand out. Pairing the right faces with the right formats, all backed with data-driven insights, will be key to transforming seasonal impact into success in the long term. 

Frequently Asked Questions: Luxury Brand Performance During Lunar New Year 2026

What was the overall scale of luxury brand conversation during Lunar New Year 2026?

According to Meltwater, luxury brand campaigns for the Year of the Horse generated 3.4 million mentions and 24 million engagements between January 1 and March 3, 2026. To put this in perspective, this volume is comparable to the Winter Olympics, which generated 3.84 million mentions, illustrating the massive cultural and commercial scale of the holiday for the fashion industry.

Which social media platforms were most effective for luxury brands during Lunar New Year 2026?

Meltwater’s analysis reveals a clear split between visibility and interaction: Sina Weibo dominated conversation volume with 96% of mentions, while Douyin drove 50% of total engagement. This indicates that while Weibo is essential for broad reach, Douyin is the primary platform for active consumer participation.

How did celebrity ambassadors influence Lunar New Year 2026 campaign results?

Meltwater identifies celebrity talent as the primary amplification lever for these campaigns. For example, Xiao Zhan accounted for 96% of both mentions and engagement for Tod’s, while a single post from Tan Jianci drove 38% of Valentino’s total engagement. Similarly, Dior’s partnership with Deng Wei accounted for approximately 29% of its total mentions.

How did Milan Fashion Week impact Lunar New Year 2026 marketing?

Meltwater analysis highlights that Milan Fashion Week acted as a global visibility multiplier because it overlapped with the core holiday celebration window. For Tod’s, Milan-related activity drove 86% of its mentions and 60% of its engagement, while Prada leveraged the event to showcase next-generation idols like Su Xinhao and Zuo Hang, accounting for 67% of its LNY-related mentions.

What role did User-Generated Content (UGC) play in Prada’s Lunar New Year 2026 success?

Meltwater analysis credits Prada’s outsized engagement to its focus on community participation rather than just "hero" content. The #马年一起Prada啪哒 hashtag alone accounted for over 90% of the brand’s total engagement, while the “Red Horse Welcomes Spring” interactive filters encouraged users to transform from passive viewers into active content creators.

Which brand generated the highest media value during Lunar New Year 2026 celebrations?

Meltwater found that Prada generated the highest Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) at $8.4 million, nearly double the $4.3 million generated by Tod’s. The analysis suggests this was due to Prada's high engagement efficiency and its strategic investment in Gen Z-driven cultural capital.

How Luxury Brands Leveraged Celebrities and UGC for Lunar New Year 2026 Success

Lattes hold a special place in today’s “little treat” culture, still going strong decades into becoming a mainstream offering around the world. With that kind of longevity, it’s no wonder that these caffeinated concoctions are constantly moving through waves of flavor trends. From the matcha craze to the ube emergence, marketers can mine valuable lessons from this dynamic corner of the food and beverage sector. 

We used Explore+, our enterprise-level media, social, and consumer intelligence solution, to do just that, diving into three leading flavors: matcha, ube, and pistachio. What we found is that while one flavor undoubtedly dominates, all three offer interesting insight into the contours of trend adoption stages.

Note: This analysis examines data from Explore+ sourced from traditional, digital, and social media sources (including Pinterest, Instagram, and X), from December 16, 2025, to January 16, 2026. Percent change figures compare data from December 16, 2025, to January 16, 2026, to that from November 16, 2025, to December 16, 2025.  

Matcha vs. Ube vs. Pistachio: Which Latte Flavor Is Most Popular?

Our social listening analysis found that matcha is by far the most talked about latte flavor, compared to ube and pistachio.

<table style="width:100%; border-collapse:collapse; font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:left;">Flavor</th>

      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:center;">Mentions (12/16/25 to 1/16/26)</th>
      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:center;">Mentions (11/16/25 to 12/15/25)</th>
      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:center;">Mentions % Change</th>

      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:center;">Engagement (12/16/25 to 1/16/26)</th>
      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:center;">Engagement (11/16/25 to 12/15/25)</th>
      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:center;">Engagement % Change</th>
      <th style="background:#28bbbb; color:#fff; padding:12px; text-align:center;">Engagement / Post</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td style="padding:10px; font-weight:bold; color:#000000;">Matcha</td>

      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">50,046</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">46,144</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center; color:#28bbbb; font-weight:bold;">▲ 8.5%</td>

      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">16,079,842</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">15,446,939</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center; color:#28bbbb; font-weight:bold;">▲ 4%</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">321</td>
    </tr>

    <tr style="background:#f4fafa;">
      <td style="padding:10px; font-weight:bold; color:#000000;">Pistachio</td>

      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">4,662</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">3,527</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center; color:#28bbbb; font-weight:bold;">▲ 32%</td>

      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">389,200</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">449,947</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center; color:#b627a1; font-weight:bold;">▼ 13%</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">83.5</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td style="padding:10px; font-weight:bold; color:#000000;">Ube</td>

      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">1,341</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">1,112</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center; color:#28bbbb; font-weight:bold;">▲ 21%</td>

      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">171,231</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">83,494</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center; color:#28bbbb; font-weight:bold;">▲ 105%</td>
      <td style="padding:10px; text-align:center;">127.7</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

From December 16, 2025, to January 16, 2026, there were about 50,000 mentions of matcha lattes across traditional, digital, and social media channels. This represents an 8.5% increase in matcha mentions from the six-months prior (period-over-period, or PoP), with engagement actions also growing by 4% in that time. 

Pistachio and ube generated significantly fewer mentions than matcha, but showed significantly higher growth at 32% and 21% respectively. We’ll dive further into these evolutions below, but by conversation volume, matcha is the clear winner, demonstrating the level of popularity we would expect from an established trend.

Flavor Trend Adoption Stages Explained: Matcha, Ube, and Pistachio

To understand how these flavors reached such different levels of popularity, we analyzed them through the lens of trend adoption stages. By looking beyond raw conversation volume and factoring in growth rates, engagement patterns, and where discussions are happening, clearer distinctions emerge between saturated, re-emerging, and emerging trends.

Matcha is a centuries old Japanese tea, but it first hit the global coffeeshop mainstream in the 2010s. Today, it’s a leading force in the flavored lattes conversation. During the time period analyzed, matcha had about 11x more mentions than pistachio and 37x more mentions than ube. It also dominated in terms of engagement actions with about 41x more than pistachio and 94x more than ube.

Averaging at 321 engagements per mention, the digital buzz and enthusiasm around matcha is robust, signaling its status as an established trend with longevity among consumers, rather than a fleeting fad.

Platform dynamics further underscore this maturity, with matcha mentions flourishing on multiple social channels. For example, an impressive 24% of matcha mentions and 80% of engagement occurred on Pinterest, fueling users’ inspiration for recipes and showing off at-home creations. Meanwhile, Instagram accounted for 14% of mentions and about 9% of engagement, highlighting matcha’s role in lifestyle content.

Pinterest users have liked this matcha latte recipe video (presented as a Starbucks dupe) over 5,800 times. 

No longer a novelty, matcha has officially reached the saturation trend stage, with widespread familiarity among consumers and high engagement across visual-first platforms. For brands and marketers across sectors working with trends at this stage, differentiation, rather than awareness-building, is key to remaining relevant in the cultural conversation.

Like matcha, pistachio lattes also became popular in the 2010s, debuting as a limited-edition Starbucks offering in 2019 and joining its winter menu a few years later. However, in 2025, it enjoyed a new boost of virality, helped along by the rise of Dubai chocolate. 

Though they generated less than a tenth of the conversation matcha did in the time period analyzed, pistachio lattes showed the highest growth with a 32% PoP increase in mentions. At the same time, that growth was also accompanied by the biggest decline in engagement (-13% PoP), resulting in the lowest engagement per post (83.5). 

This disconnect between volume and engagement can be explained by looking at where that buzz occurred. About 23% of pistachio latte mentions came from online news sources covering it as a viral trend or announcing the launches of related products. 

In particular, news and broadcast mentions of the flavor spiked on January 6, 2026, with the release of Starbucks’s 2026 winter menu featuring pistachio lattes, cold brew, and cortado drinks. Overall, a whopping 73.4% of pistachio mentions came from news and broadcast sources, highlighting that the discussion was driven primarily by editorial coverage rather than organic consumer engagement.

This Instagram Reel from Starbucks generated about 35,700 engagement actions in just over two weeks. 

Together, pistachio’s lower, but growing, discussion volume and lagging engagement signal its status as both a seasonal trend as well as re-emerging one. For marketers and brands working with trends in a similar stage, driving excitement is a matter of careful timing within a relatively narrow window of consumer interest. 

Ube has a rich history and great importance in Filipino culture, but in recent years it has become a trendy flavor across a range of sweet treats including lattes. Last year, Starbucks even included an Ube Espresso Martini and Iced Ube Coconut Latte on limited-edition menus at select Reserve Roasteries, suggesting a potential wider release to come.

As a relatively newer trend, ube lattes generated the lowest conversation volume compared to matcha and pistachio in the time period analyzed, but the strongest engagement growth at +105% PoP. 

With 127.7 engagements per post, ube outperformed pistachio despite its smaller audience, suggesting higher novelty and consumer interest. Mentions were concentrated on Instagram (about 24%) and online news (about 21%), where coverage often placed ube within broader food and wellness trend narratives.

A significant contributor to this engagement surge was a paid Instagram post on January 13 foodie influencers @topjaw. The Reel spotlighting London-based, Filipino bakery Panadera — along with its ube lattes — generated about 44,000 engagement actions in just three days. According to Meltwater’s AI-powered influencer marketing solution, that single post generated over $650,000 in Estimated Media Value (EMV) for Panadera and partnering brand Square UK.

Overall, ube latte’s limited conversation but surging engagement point to its novelty. Unlike matcha or pistachio, consumers are still discovering this trend. Related content still has the ability to surprise and intrigue viewers, prompting their own digital and IRL journeys of discovery. For marketers and brands working with niche and emerging trends like this one, the playing field is wide open for creative activations that spark interest and establish brand associations.

Final Takeaways: How to Analyze a Trend’s Adoption Stage 

Consider our latte flavor analysis as a jumping off point for your own trend analyses. When using social listening and consumer intelligence solutions like Explore+, follow these simple steps to determine which phase a trend is currently in.

Step 1: Look at conversation and engagement evolutions 

Our latte flavor analysis underscored how mentions volume isn’t the end all be all of understanding trend lifecycles. Instead, seeing how those metrics are changing over time can help you predict where trends are headed.

Step 2: Analyze platform distribution and concentration

Editorial coverage can accelerate trends, but most often it’s the consumers themselves who spark them. Breaking down discussions by their sources lets you see what the driving forces behind trends are. Those concentrated on social platforms like Pinterest and Instagram have the most promising momentum behind them.

Knowing who is driving visibility and engagement for a trend — along with how they are doing it — gives you valuable insight into where new opportunities may lie. For niche and emerging trends especially, influencers can help your brand enter the current cultural conversation in a meaningful way. Use consumer intelligence and influencer marketing solutions in tandem to make the most of every activation.

Frequently Asked Questions About Trend Adoption Stages

Trend adoption stages describe how a product, behavior, or idea moves from early discovery to mainstream use and eventual saturation. According to a Meltwater Explore+ analysis, these stages can be identified by examining changes in conversation volume, engagement growth, and where discussions are taking place across media and social platforms.

How can brands identify which stage a trend is in?

Brands can determine a trend’s adoption stage by analyzing how quickly mentions are growing, whether engagement is increasing or declining, and which platforms are driving visibility. For example, Meltwater’s Explore+ analysis of latte trends combined media, social, and consumer intelligence data to reveal whether momentum was coming from organic consumer interest, influencer activity, or editorial coverage.

Why isn’t conversation volume enough to understand trend maturity?

High conversation volume alone does not indicate whether a trend is emerging, re-emerging, or saturated. For example, Meltwater’s Explore+ analysis of latte trends showed that engagement per post, growth rate, and platform concentration provided clearer signals of trend novelty, longevity, or decline than raw mentions alone.

What distinguishes an emerging trend from a re-emerging one?

As Meltwater’s January 2026 Explore+ analysis of latte flavor trends showed, emerging trends can show low overall volume but high engagement growth driven by discovery and influencer-led content. A re-emerging trend, by contrast, can show renewed visibility tied to seasonal moments or product launches. Tracking visibility drivers and audience response is key to making the distinction.

How do platform dynamics affect trend adoption?

Meltwater Explore+ analysis of latte flavor trends found that mentions volume and engagement concentrated on different platforms signal different stages of adoption. Visual and inspiration-driven platforms like Instagram and Pinterest can indicate organic consumer momentum, while spikes in news and broadcast coverage can reflect short-term visibility.

How can marketers use trend adoption insights to guide strategy?

Understanding a trend’s adoption stage helps marketers decide whether to focus on awareness, differentiation, or timing. Meltwater’s Explore+ enables brands to uncover insights allowing them to align messaging, partnerships, and launches with how consumers are currently engaging with a trend rather than relying on assumptions or surface-level popularity.

Trend Adoption Stages Explained: Matcha, Ube, and Pistachio Lattes

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How Luxury Brands Leveraged Celebrities and UGC for Lunar New Year 2026 Success

Trend Adoption Stages Explained: Matcha, Ube, and Pistachio Lattes