How Has Shang Xia x Pop Mart Collab Tapped Blind Box Economy?

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 Shang Xia's collaboration with Pop Mart, Michael Kors' Tmall Super Brand Day campaign, and a NFT mooncake co-released by Chinese metahuman AYAYI and Tmall. Shang Xia Launches Limited-Edition Gift Boxes with Pop Mart BRAND Shang Xia CATEGORY Luxury PLATFORMS Weibo, WeChat, Tmall, Little Red Book MEDIUM Images, Short-video OVERVIEW On September 6, the Chinese luxury lifestyle brand Shang Xia officially released a series of limited-edition gift boxes in collaboration with the toy maker Pop Mart. This drop features three sets, including a teaware set, a tea pet (a small figure with auspicious metaphors), and portable Pu-erh tea. The three sets, ranging from 680 yuan to 8999 yuan, have been exclusively launched on Tmall. NETIZEN REACTION By featuring Dimoo, one of Pop Mart’s most popular characters, the collaboration has attracted substantial attention from Chinese netizens, especially those who are fans of the toy maker. However, many complained about the Tmall flagship store drop mechanism. They assumed that the brand may be involved in touts given that it launched the products ahead of the announced time, which brought some negative reactions to the campaign. VERDICT This campaign marks another collaboration between a global high-end brand and a local label. With its Chinese origins, Shang Xia exhibits a sound understanding of how to balance traditional and pop culture. Still, as Pop Mart has been embroiled in tout disputes, the luxury house needs to be careful with viral marketing; otherwise, its brand reputation could be dampened due to the controversial partnership. Michael Kors Drops “Club Kors” on Tmall Super Brand Day BRAND Michael Kors CATEGORY Accessible Luxury PLATFORMS Weibo, Tmall MEDIUM Images, Short-video, Offline Event FEATURED TALENTS Leo Wu (43.8M) | Wang Feifei (9.2M Weibo Followers) | Lareina Song (15.5M) | Vava (6.9M) | Huang Xiao (2.1M) | Fil Xiaobai (5.7M) | Zhou Bichang (31.8M) | Rain-Jihoon (2.9M) OVERVIEW Michael Kors launched “Club Kors” on Weibo and Tmall to celebrate the brand’s Tmall Super Brand Day on September 21. The brand hosted an offline party in Chengdu on September 17, featuring the brand's musical ambassadors Zhou Bichang, Wang Feifei, and Vava. Meanwhile, the Kors Tmall flagship store has leveraged the marketplace’s “store loft” feature where campaign content gets presented to shoppers, who can enter a lottery to win complimentary tickets for the Chengdu event. NETIZEN REACTION Thanks to endorsements from brand ambassadors via short videos, the campaign hashtag #CLUBKORS garnered 45 million social views within a week. The brand's livestreaming announcement also attracted many netizens to RSVP to the upcoming event. In particular, Leo Wu’s attendance drove significant traffic to the campaign. VERDICT Tmall Super Brand Day, also known as the brand’s exclusive Double-11 Shopping Festival, has become a crucial marketing tool for rewarding brands’ loyal digital consumers by giving out special launches and vouchers. Yet, discerning players in the accessible luxury sector have collaborated with their e-commerce partners to extend engagements beyond the online platform by initiating physical interactions with audiences, facilitating more dynamic campaign touchpoints. Alibaba’s Metahuman Serves up NFT Mooncakes in China BRAND Tmall CATEGORY Fashion, Virtual Idol PLATFORMS Weibo, Little Red Book MEDIUM NFT OVERVIEW AYAYI, the first Chinese “metahuman,” just announced her position at Alibaba, becoming the digital creative director of Tmall Super Brand Day, a brand-oriented marketing tool with special promotions and exclusive perks. The virtual influencer will also partner with Tmall Super Brand Day to release limited-edition NFT mooncakes and physical gift boxes in celebration of this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival. The collaboration further explores the possibilities of digital marketing within China's ever-popular metaverse. NETIZEN REACTION #Metaverse and #NFT are buzzwords on Chinese social media at the moment, and they drove substantial traffic for Alibaba's campaign. Meanwhile, the hashtag #AlibabaDigitalEmployeeAYAYI has racked up over 53 million views within one week. Netizens are also interested in the NFT mooncakes and are actively participating in an online lottery to win them. VERDICT A top-tier Chinese virtual idol, AYAYI attended several physical fashion events recently, such as Louis Vuitton’s popup in Shanghai, and visited art exhibitions like Daniel Arsham’s solo show at UCCA Dune Art Museum. With her “employment” at Alibaba, AYAYI is expected to develop more extensive collaborations with fashion and beauty brands to help fuel their digital campaigns in China.

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How Has Shang Xia x Pop Mart Collab Tapped Blind Box Economy?