SHANG XIA Hosts Valentine’s Day Art Workshops in Shanghai

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 two campaigns, including SHANG XIA’s Valentine’s Day campaign, adidas' collaboration with Su Yiming, and AMBUSH's interactive WeChat Mini Program. SHANG XIA Hosts Valentine’s Day Art Workshops in Shanghai BRAND SHANG XIA CATEGORY Luxury PLATFORMS Weibo, WeChat, Xiaohongshu MEDIUM Image, Short-video, Offline Event FEATURED TALENTS Xu JinJin and Jared Mimm OVERVIEW To celebrate this Valentine's Day, SHANG XIA partnered with the Chinese poet Xu JinJin and the American performance artist Jared Mimm to invite audiences to experience performance art and poem workshops at the Wukang Mansion in Shanghai. On February 13 and 14, a series of performances took place in public spaces surrounding the Wukang Mansion to engage the public unexpectedly. Also, on February 20, Xu will moderate a poetry-sharing workshop under the theme of lovers. NETIZEN REACTION The campaign hashtag #SHANGXIAValentinesDay has garnered nearly 1.6 million views thus far. Although social traffic was moderate, some netizens showed strong interest in the performance. But performance art and poetry are still niche genres for Chinese audiences, so the campaign isn't expected to resonate with the public, aside from small art communities centered around these two discourses. VERDICT SHANG XIA has been dedicated to rebranding itself with a more vibrant identity since 2021 after the brand appointed designer Yang Li as its creative director and unveiled a new logo. The lifestyle brand draws inspiration from ancient Chinese aesthetics (with a modern twist) while providing exquisite craftsmanship. However, it is always challenging to understand the differences between mainstream aesthetics and avant-garde ones. Adidas’ Bet on Snowboarder Su Yiming Pays Off BRAND adidas CATEGORY Sports PLATFORMS Weibo, WeChat, Xiaohongshu MEDIUM Image, Short-video FEATURED TALENTS Su Yiming (1.4M Weibo Followers) OVERVIEW On February 15, Su Yiming became the first Chinese snowboarder to win a gold medal in the men’s big air event at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Immediately afterwards, adidas released a short video recapping Su’s professional experiences. The video showcased his dedication and persistence, which aligned perfectly with the brand’s spirit of “impossible is nothing” theme. NETIZEN REACTION The one-minute video garnered over 1.6 million views on Weibo in one day and received hundreds of comments. Beyond his extraordinary performance, Su is also the youngest gold medal winner at the Winter Olympics in Chinese history. Given this, he’s quickly become a social media sensation, greatly increasing his endorsement exposure and value. VERDICT adidas announced Su Yiming as its brand ambassador last December. However, the young talent was not well-known outside the world of winter sports. Thus, the gamble of partnering with the relatively unknown Su set a benchmark for the brands’ approach to celebrity endorsements, and looks to pay off handsomely for adidas, as Su’s Olympic achievement, individuality, and personality should connect well with today’s younger generation of consumers in China. Ambush Jumps on Art-Toy Trend With Online-To-Offline Marketing BRAND AMBUSH CATEGORY Fashion PLATFORMS Weibo, WeChat, Xiaohongshu MEDIUM Image, Mini Program, Offline Exhibition OVERVIEW AMBUSH is participating in the pop art exhibition “Style in Revolt” at the SKP-S mall in Beijing from January to March. To better engage offline visitors, the brand launched a WeChat Mini Program, allowing users can take a quiz to win complimentary brand masks and stickers and enter a lottery for a chance to win a limited-edition AMBUSH®︎ Astro Boy Figure. The figure, designed by the brand’s creative director YOON, explores the relationship between human beings and artificial intelligence. NETIZEN REACTION Many visitors shared snapshots from the art exhibition on Xiaohongshu, many of which highlighted interactions with AMBUSH’s WeChat Mini Program. Thus far, UGC content featuring the AMBUSH®︎ Astro Boy Figure has been limited compared to other well-known art toys. However, the brand will launch exclusive figures in Tokyo and Beijing this month, which could spark wider recognition and social traffic. VERDICT Since AMBUSH is still a niche brand in China’s market, it will take time to educate consumers about the brand's culture through localized storytelling. But launching this online-to-offline marketing campaign is a good way to start building conversations with target audiences. Even though art toys have become a potentially lucrative segment for luxury and fashion brands, brands need to figure out the relevance between a figure and local Mainland culture while also underlining the object's exclusivity.

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SHANG XIA Hosts Valentine’s Day Art Workshops in Shanghai