In “Chinese Whispers,” we share the biggest news stories about the luxury industry in China that haven’t yet made it into the English language.
In this week’s edition, we discuss:
- Louis Vuitton's first advertising campaign on Douyin,
- Burberry's new brand ambassadors, and
- Alibaba's Tmall brought over 20,000 fashion brands to the platform.
1. Louis Vuitton released a Christmas campaign on China's hip social media app Douyin - Jiemian#
This past Christmas holiday season saw Louis Vuitton make a bold digital marketing move in China. The French heritage brand became the latest luxury label to launch a campaign on the country's youth-oriented social media app Douyin. Other players like Christian Dior and Chanel used this channel to engage with young Chinese shoppers earlier this year.
Louis Vuitton's Christmas video campaign on Douyin lasted for two days from December 18 to 19. Users who watched the ads could click through to land on the sales page to place orders. Chinese media outlet Jiemian reported that the click-through rates for Louis Vuitton's ad on the app landing page exceeded 10 percent, and the rate for the ads placed in users' feeds was also higher than the industry average.
2. Burberry named its brand ambassador duo in China - Sohu Fashion#
On December 27, British high-fashion brand Burberry announced that Chinese actresses Vicky Zhao (age 42) and Zhou Dongyu (age 26) would become its new brand ambassadors in China.
The appointment of Vicky Zhao was a bit surprising to the market as luxury brands nowadays like to work with younger generations in order to rejuvenate their brand image. However, Sohu Fashion said that the choice of Zhao would be helpful for Burberry to sharpen its high-end, luxury positioning as guided by the company's CEO Marco Gobbetti and creative director Riccardo Tisci.
3. Alibaba's Tmall attracted over 20,000 fashion brands to sell on the site in 2018 - LadyMax#
Alibaba's Tmall has scored a huge victory in 2018 in terms of transforming the platform into a fashion-focused one. Chinese fashion outlet LadyMax reported that a total of 21,000 fashion brands began to sell on Tmall in 2018, making it the biggest fashion marketplace around the globe. Some high-profile brands include baamp;sh, Champion, Coccinelle, and Canada Goose.
