Born from the Chinese’ ‘singleness’ celebrations, premium cocktail bar News Cafe has brought this celebrated shopping experience to South Africa with their Singles Day BBQ Burger and Chips campaign taking place on Monday, 11 November 2019. According to Brand Manager Varina Singh, in a bid to bring single men and women across the country together in one place and give them something to celebrate, News Cafe will be offering customers a BBQ Burger for R11 and one can add chips for R11. “We are the first brand to adopt Singles Day locally” – if you’re not single, you’re welcome to join in the fun any way!
Singles’ Day is said to have begun as a reaction against Valentine’s Day and is thought to have grown out of Chinese culture in the 1990s, when four male students discussed how they could break away from the monotony of being single. Its date, November 11, is written 11.11 or one-one-one-one. In China, it’s also known as “Bare Sticks Holiday” because of how it looks numerically. Since then, the celebration has spread into wider Chinese society and, thanks to the internet and social media, the rest of the world too.
In 2009, Chinese online retailer Alibaba adopted the trend and it has since turned into the biggest online sale event in the world. Just last year, Alibaba made $ 30.8 billion in sales across their various platforms, in one day! In fact, Singles Day is more lucrative than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. That’s partly because China’s population is about four times larger than that of its major rival, the USA. However, Singles Day is fast becoming a global online event and the biggest e-commerce festivity in the world, with Alibaba hosting a huge countdown gala that have previously featured celebrities like Maria Carey, Pharrell Williams and the likes of Lionel Messi.
“We wanted to be a part of this global event, by leading the local market with something exciting and relevant alongside consumers all over the world who will be taking part by buying and celebrating their singleness,” Singh concludes.
