February 9, 2026

The Year of the Horse in 2026 Marketing Campaigns

The Year of the Horse, symbolising freedom, momentum, confidence and energetic forward motion, has us hungry for more. In fact, the Year of the Horse marketing campaigns we’re seeing this year are some of the most creative and inspiring yet, with brands leaning into movement, culture, and storytelling like never before.

In Chinese astrology, the Horse is all about freedom, momentum, confidence and movement. It’s energetic, expressive, and independent. Not the type to sit quietly in the paddock waiting for instructions, more the kind that kicks the gate open and decides where it’s going next.

Which feels… timely.

After a few years of brands playing it safe, recycling trends, and clinging to what already worked, there’s a quiet shift happening. Things feel faster. Bolder. Less apologetic. More interested in motion than perfection. You can see it in the lead-up to Lunar New Year. The countdown is loud, online, in campaigns, in culture. People, brands, even comment sections ready for the Year of the Snake to be done. For the skin to be shed. For something with a bit more movement to take over.

So while yes, the Year of the Horse is technically a zodiac moment, from a marketing lens it’s also a cultural one. We’re seeing brands stop treating Lunar New Year as a surface-level styling exercise, and start using the Horse as a narrative device, a way to talk about ambition, movement, identity and where they’re headed next.

…and that’s where the interesting stuff starts.

If you look around right now, on feeds, in stores, on shelves, you’ll see the Horse energy isn’t just a zodiac trend people scroll past once a year. It’s become a cultural cue that marketers, designers and storytellers are leaning into with genuine creative intent.

Over the last few weeks, a surprising number of brands, from heritage luxury houses to global consumer goods, have trotted out campaigns that use the horse not as decoration, but as meaningful narrative fuel.

From Budweiser’s 2026 Super Bowl LX commercial, to Celine’s wishing tree campaign featuring horse imagery, through to Byredo’s “The Horse That Leads Us Home Campaign”, the year of the horse is taking over mainstream marketing and building a cultural phenomenon. 

Across the board, what’s striking isn’t just that brands are participating, it’s how they’re choosing to do it. They’re bending the zodiac motif into cultural storytelling and product design rather than relying on the old “red envelopes and clip art” playbook.

And beyond the obvious horse visuals, the underlying thread many of these activations share is a belief in what the Year of the Horse represents – forward motion, courage, freedom and optimistic beginnings.