C-beauty Disruptor Florasis Taps Rising Boy Band TNT As New Ambassador

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 Peacebird's latest capsule collection in collaboration with homegrown designer brands, Florasis' new brand ambassador announcement, and Clarins' newly launched commercial film. Peacebird’s New Capsule Collection Redefines Originality BRAND Peacebird CATEGORY Fashion PLATFORMS Weibo, WeChat MEDIUM Short film, Image FEATURED TALENTS Ouyang Nana (20M Weibo followers) OVERVIEW Peacebird teamed up with six domestic independent fashion brands — XU ZHI, WMWM, GARÇON BY GÇOGCN, CALVIN LUO, NOMANOMAN and STAFFONLY — to extend its “SuperChina” initiative. The designers extracted iconic elements of their respective brands to create a capsule collection for dynamic Gen Z consumers, which debuted on February 22. The campaign also invited six young talents from various areas, including the musician Cacien, fashion publicist Yuri, street dancer Fiona, showroom director Xiaoxiao, fashion art director Yiniyin, and digital media artist Maming, to interpret the theme of the series via their unique personal styles. NETIZEN REACTION Peacebird’s brand ambassador Ouyang Nana also posted a short video introducing the capsule collection and her styling tips on Weibo, generating 46,700 views and driving online traffic of the campaign hashtag #PeacebirdDesignerReplicaCapsuleCollection. However, one Weibo user @Yaokoubaisi commented that the brand’s style tends to be weird and hard to fit into daily looks. VERDICT The “SuperChina” initiative, which was launched last October, continues to explore the dynamic definitions of Chinese youth culture through drawing inspiration from young talents. Given this, Peacebird’s collaboration with six representative homegrown designer brands not only can further push the boundaries of domestic youth power, but also enrich the brand DNA with originality and an avant-garde spirit. Though the reception of this capsule collection was not necessarily better received than other Peacebird collabs, such as with popular cartoon characters like TED bear, these initiatives only help to increase brand equity in the long-term. C-Beauty Brand Florasis Adds A Rising Boy Band As Brand Ambassador BRAND Florasis (Huaxizi) CATEGORY Beauty PLATFORMS Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Kuaishou, QQ Music, Tmall MEDIUM Short-film, Image FEATURED TALENTS Teens in Times consists of 7 members including Ma Jiaqi, Ding Chengxin, Song Yaxuan, Liu Yaowen, Zhang Zhenyuan, Yan Haoxiang, He Junlin (47M Weibo followers in total) OVERVIEW On February 23, the C-Beauty brand Florasis (named Huaxizi in Chinese) announced that the boy group Teens in Times will be its brand ambassador on its official social channels. The collaboration also marks the fourth anniversary of the brand with the unique origin of “ancient Chinese style.” As the brand noted, “Teens in Times represents the spirits of Chinese young generations from inside and outside.” To maximize the online and offline engagement, the brand will launch open-screen ads on Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, and QQ Music, as well as billboards and digital signage displays across over 20 cities. NETIZEN REACTION The campaign hashtag #TeensInTimesFlorasis has gone viral on Weibo, with over 400 million views within one day. The two-minute campaign video featuring the seven teen boys in an ancient Chinese setting received over 25.9 million views, which is a considerable number for a commercial video. The boy group’s huge fan base is fueling the online campaign traffic with organic engagement. VERDICT Appointing male faces as brand ambassadors is not novel for beauty brands in China. The partnership with one of the most popular Chinese boy groups helps Florasis increase its brand awareness and social influence. Though the typical “Little Fresh Meat” look has recently been looked down upon by Chinese authorities on social media, the campaign spotlights the power of youth and how this spirit complements the brand’s dedication to Chinese cultural legacy. Moreover, an endorsement by the state-run media Xinhuanet guarantees the brand’s political position and promising growth in China’s vast C-beauty market. How Clarins Enchanted China’s Booming Female Working Class BRAND Clarins CATEGORY Beauty PLATFORMS Weibo, WeChat, Tmall MEDIUM Short-film OVERVIEW The French cosmetic brand Clarins, owned by L’Oréal, collaborated with the digital media company Xinshixiang on a short film called Deep Breathing. Launched on February 22, the film promotes the brand’s Bright Plus serum, which helps revive skin dullness and targets all types of dark spots. The three episodes showed common workplace frustrations for women working within China’s hustle culture. NETIZEN REACTION The three-minute commercial film has received 140,000 total views on Weibo thus far. Netizens find the story highly resonant and their shared experiences about staying up late due to overwhelming workloads. They were also impressed with the film’s realistic perspective and high-quality production. Moreover, many female users confirmed their need to invest in luxury skincare products that improve skin health. VERDICT The so-called “womenomics” sector has been sweeping the luxury market thanks to rising female employment rates in China and the more intense pressure women face from stereotypical social expectations as compared to their male peers. But this shift is also creating women shoppers who have higher disposable income and purchasing power. Therefore, self-purchasing and impulse buying by themselves are taking over gifting in the female sector in China. Discerning players like Clarins are tapping into this trend and leveraging the rising self-awareness of female consumers in China by showing a female perspective in their campaigns instead of the male gaze.

C-beauty Disruptor Florasis Taps Rising Boy Band TNT As New Ambassador

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Published February 26, 2021

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C-beauty Disruptor Florasis Taps Rising Boy Band TNT As New Ambassador