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 Louis Vuitton's pop-up store at Shanghai, the announcement of three brand ambassadors from Chinese fashion giant JNBY Group, and Coach's celebration of it Tmall Super Brand Day.
Louis Vuitton Pre-Launches Fall 2021 Menswear At Shanghai Popup#
BRAND#
Louis Vuitton
CATEGORY
Luxury
PLATFORMS
Weibo, WeChat, Little Red Book
MEDIUM#
Image, Offline Pop-up Store
FEATURED TALENTS#
Kris Wu (51M Weibo Followers) | Turbo Liu (32M) | Dylan Wang (10M) | Justin Huang (24M) | Dong Sicheng (4M)
OVERVIEW#
On July 8, Louis Vuitton unveiled a pop-up store dedicated to its Fall 2021 menswear collection in Shanghai — stocked with ready-to-wear, leather goods, accessories, and shoes — in advance of local boutiques. The space is open to the public between July 9 and 15. The interior design of the pop-up venue was inspired by the house’s Fall 2021 menswear presentation: Its dark green marble pattern artfully echoes the stone of the iconic German Pavilion, which opened at the Barcelona Exposition designed in 1929.
NETIZEN REACTION#
The five male celebrity endorsements on social channels and their presence at the opening event drove substantial online and offline traffic to the pop-up store. Additionally, their respective campaign posts have generated over 10,000 comments on Weibo. Meanwhile, over 28000 posts featuring store visiting experiences were shared on Little Red Book over a week.
VERDICT#
As the first luxury house to kick off a large-scale physical runway show in China after the pandemic, Louis Vuitton is now a veteran of leveraging event marketing. By pre-launching its latest collection in the pop-up shop, the house can effectively engage its loyal customers and offer them earlier access — a crucial determiner for China’s younger generation of luxury shoppers. Moreover, celebrity endorsements from young idols like Kris Wu, Justin Huang, and Dong Sicheng increase brand desirability among their fans.
Chinese Fashion Group JNBY Reveals Its 3 New Ambassadors#
BRAND#
JNBY
CATEGORY
Fashion
PLATFORMS
Weibo, WeChat, Little Red Book
MEDIUM#
Image, Short-video
FEATURED TALENTS#
Zhou Xun (6M Weibo Followers) | Ju Xiaowen (3M) | Yoo Ah-in (182K)
OVERVIEW#
On July 15, homegrown fashion giant JNBY Group announced that Chinese actress Zhou Xun, Chinese supermodel Ju Xiaowen, and South Korean actor Yoo Ah-in would become new brand ambassadors for its sub-labels LESS, JNBY, and CROQUIS. In addition to releasing a 30-second campaign video starring the three faces, the group launched open-screen ads on Weibo and in-site banner ads on Little Red Book that feature the campaign images.
NETIZEN REACTION#
The announcement has driven substantial traffic for the group's brands. The campaign's hashtag, #JNBYAnnounces3Ambassadors, received 45 million social views in one day, fueled primarily by Zhou Xun’s followers. Though the celebrity partnerships have been well-received so far, some netizens expressed concern that the brand prices would likely rise after the endorsements.
VERDICT#
JNBY Group's celebrity choices match its brands perfectly, and the personalities of Zhou Xun and Ju Xiaowen resonate well with local female consumers of all age groups. Meanwhile, the role of Yoo Ah-in, who is also a noted gallerist, also reflects the group’s dedication to contemporary art. Although the three are not necessarily celebrities who have a large number of social followers, they each align well with the brand DNA and will help the group retain its loyal consumers.
Coach Celebrated Tmall Brand Day With Omnichannel Activations#
BRAND#
Coach
CATEGORY
Luxury
PLATFORMS
Weibo, WeChat, Tmall
MEDIUM#
Image, Offline Event, Mini-program
FEATURED TALENTS#
Shen Mengchen (9M Weibo Followers) | @小章鱼Iris (2M) | @Nikki-Min (4M)
OVERVIEW#
To celebrate Coach’s Tmall Super Brand Day on July 11, the brand hosted an offline “Coach Car Cinema” show in Shanghai, inviting celebrities like Shen Mengchen and fashion KOLs such as @小章鱼Iris and @Nikki-Min. Meanwhile, Coach launched a H5 interactive Mini Program on the Tmall flagship homepage featuring four virtual theaters, namely the MEGA show, “a surprise box,” new product previews, and the livestreaming of the “Coach Car Cinema” show.
NETIZEN REACTION#
The campaign hashtag #CoachCarCinema has received 23.5 million views on Weibo; however, most traffic was added by the brand’s Winter 2021 presentation staged in Shanghai last month. Though the brand partnered with top livestreamer Li Jiaqi to host a livestream on July 11, the overall social traffic of the celebration was moderate due to the absence of endorsements from A-list celebrities.
VERDICT#
China has become a major market for Coach thanks to repatriated spending post-pandemic. In addition to rolling out physical events in China more frequently, as Tapestry Asia Pacific CEO Yann Bozec told WWD, the brand will also expand into Tier-3 or Tier-4 cities next year. Thus, its digital activations on Tmall could elevate the brand’s content-to-commerce ecology and better prepare it for expansion to lower-tier cities.