The Social Edition is our weekly series which deep dives into luxury initiatives in China’s social media landscape. Every week, we highlight brand campaigns distributed on Chinese digital platforms — WeChat, Weibo, Tmall, Douyin, and beyond.
Our coverage spotlights global luxury brands, global beauty brands, and local Chinese brands. The latter gives insight into some of China’s most successful campaigns, which often come from local players, and are outside of the beauty and fashion space.
In this week’s roundup, we look at three campaigns, including Lanvin's blind box mini program on Tmall, Byredo's holiday season celebration, and Tiffany's annual lighting ceremony.
Lanvin Scores Again With Blind-Box Marketing#
BRAND#
Lanvin
CATEGORY
Luxury
PLATFORMS
Tmall
MEDIUM#
Mini Program
OVERVIEW#
In celebration of this year’s Christmas holiday, Lanvin launched a Mini Program on its Tmall flagship store that features a blind-box concept. Online shoppers can pay $45 (288 yuan) for a single entry or $126 (800 yuan) for three. The featured products in the blind boxes include homeware like cups, crystal balls, hoodies, and cashmere scarfs. The chances of winning different prizes have been noted in the program for reference.
NETIZEN REACTION#
Since gamified shopping experiences resonate well with young shoppers today, Lanvin’s blind boxes are once again winning over local consumers. On Weibo and Xiaohongshu, users who won the drawing on Tmall shared their spoils, attracting more players to have a try. Though some joked that it is the most expensive blind box they've ever drawn, they love the idea and the gifts inside.
VERDICT#
This campaign is not the first time Lanvin tapped the blind box economy. In August 2020, the brand made its first foray into the trend by launching a blind box lottery on its WeChat Mini Program to celebrate Chinese Valentine’s Day. Lanvin also set up physical blind-box machines at its offline pop-up stores earlier this year. The brand’s experiment with this local trend has proven to be an efficient approach for engaging potential customers looking for gateway luxury products.
Byredo Launches Holiday Collections via WeChat Gift Generator#
BRAND#
Byredo
CATEGORY
Fragrance
PLATFORMS
Weibo, WeChat, Xiaohongshu
MEDIUM#
Image, Mini Program
OVERVIEW#
As the holiday season approaches, Swedish brand Byredo has launched a limited holiday series in China for the first time. In addition to rolling out these colorful and geometrically patterned product sets in boutiques, the brand has also developed a WeChat Mini Program in the form of a personality questionnaire named Gift Generator that draws inspiration from pop culture on social media. The program aims to provide users with a customized gift list that aligns with their personality through a series of psychological tests.
NETIZEN REACTION#
Online personality tests have become a popular tool for brands wanting to interact with Chinese netizens, especially younger digital shoppers interested in personalization. Many commented that they were surprised that the program's product recommendations perfectly matched their own picks. Meanwhile, thanks to endorsements from KOLs and KOCs, there have been 160 relevant posts about the limited edition on Xiaohongshu.
VERDICT#
Byredo is among the niche global fragrance labels that local beauty shoppers favor. In the case of this special holiday launch, the brand is organically engaging with online shoppers, which drives offline and online traffic from various touchpoints to the brand’s WeChat via this interactive questionnaire. As the boundary between advertising and entertainment continues to blur, a content-to-commerce loop like this one is a smart play.
Tiffany Gears up for the Holiday Season Through Leveraging Celebrity Power#
BRAND#
Tiffany
CATEGORY
Luxury Jewelry
PLATFORMS
Weibo, WeChat, Xiaohongshu
MEDIUM#
Image, Short Video
FEATURED TALENTS#
Gong Jun (19.3M Weibo Followers) | Tong Yao (9.3M) | James Lee (2.4M) | Song Yi (8.5M) | Gao Hanyu (7M)
OVERVIEW#
With twinkling lights and a huge iconic Christmas tree, the Christmas lighting ceremony at Tiffany's flagship store in Shanghai’s Hong Kong Plaza has become an annual ritual for Chinese luxury shoppers. This year, the brand teamed up with its newly appointed brand ambassadors Gong Jun and Tong Yao, as well as brand partners like James Lee and Song Yi, to continue the “My Favorite Tiffany” campaign, which was kicked off last year.
NETIZEN REACTION#
The campaign hashtag #MyFavoriteTiffany has garnered 560 million views on Weibo, driven by a combined social following of 46 million from the featured celebrities. In particular, Gong Jun’s appointment as a brand ambassador sparked off substantial social buzz across the brand’s owned media channels including Weibo, WeChat, and Xiaohongshu.
VERDICT#
The holiday season is expected to become a warm-up ahead of Chinese New Year, one of the most significant sales periods for luxury brands. However, given the uncertainty of the Omicron variant, luxury houses are balancing their offline and online footprints to maximize their reach among local consumers, with many brands creating new products to impress China’s sophisticated younger demographics. In Tiffany’s case, though the brand has continued its campaign concept from last year, it has engaged new faces to lure a broader audience.