Hoegaarden China Wishes People a Happy First Spring since the Pandemic

To celebrate the first Spring season since the pandemic, six covid swab-testing booths in Shanghai have been transformed by McCann Shanghai, into Hoegaarden’s new flavour tasting booths, ‘Tuinen Van Hoegaarden’, offering free fruit beer and flowers to passers-by.

While many countries around the world returned to pre-pandemic normality in 2022, China had a second wave of covid last Spring. According to China’s “dynamic zero covid” strategy, entry to any public space required a negative covid test to gain access. Taking swab tests became a daily routine for citizens, with people accustomed to queuing in line at testing booths every day, especially during the three-month lockdown that Shanghai experienced last Spring. Thankfully, as pandemic conditions continue to ease, the testing booths are no longer in use and now remain unoccupied across the city.

How Chu, executive creative director of McCann Shanghai, who is in charge of the revamp of the swab-testing booths, said, "The pandemic stole our social gatherings and our laughter, however, humans are optimistic animals. It’s a relief that we have finally defeated covid-19 after a long battle. So, for the first Spring after the pandemic, we are hoping to encourage everybody to come have a good drink with Hoegaarden to celebrate!”

The campaign theme ‘Take a sip of sweetness and enjoy the Belgian spring’ also highlights the unique taste of Hoegaarden’s three new fruit flavours - sweet but not too sweet, refreshing and not too cool.

The revamp details of the Hoegaarden tasting booths are full of ingenuity – wild flowers and plants grow naturally in unmanned places, and the testing booth is no exception - long plants are reborn from the ground, vine branches and leaves even protrude from the plastic circular window, layered on the outside of the booth, fluttering with the wind. And the test tubes that people used to see everyday last year are now blooming!

In addition, Hoegaarden’s various brand elements are incorporated everywhere in the design of the booth. The poppy is the national flower of Belgium, whilst the hexagonal beer glass is derived from the 600-year heritage of Hoegaarden, whose white beer is the only product in history that has won six gold medals in the Beer World Cup.

In front of the Hoegaarden tasting booths, people still line up in an orderly manner, but what they can receive now is a glass of Hoegaarden fruit beer and a flower blooming in a test tube. There is a stark contrast with the days of the pandemic, and now people can relax and unwind with Hoegaarden to enjoy a sense of renewal in spring.