Week In Review: June 3-7, 2013

In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of June 3-7: Bryce Whitwam: An Insider's Take On Social Media Marketing Wunderman Shanghai's "Evoque My Style" campaign for the Range Rover Evoque. (Wunderman Shanghai) Although the New York-based digital marketing company Wunderman is perhaps best known for the creation of the 1-800 toll-free number for businesses and the first ever customer rewards program for American Express, the number one global digital network is now a major marketing force in China. Jing Daily caught up with Bryce Whitwam, Managing Director of Wunderman Shanghai, about the importance of social media and digital strategy in China, where the business operates seven offices. In the interview below, conducted via email, he discusses his successes with Chinese social media, the importance of engagement strategies for luxury brands, and his opinion of the major brand standouts when it comes to digital marketing in China. Is Your Brand Ready To Enter China? The Louis Vuitton store at Plaza 66 in Shanghai. Luxury brands are still mainly sold through single-brand boutiques in China. (Women's Wear Daily) With uneven growth numbers coming from China in both the luxury and overall consumer apparel and footwear market, many brands are left wondering whether now is the right time for them to enter the China market. And with the Chinese tourist exerting so much influence on the international retail scene, many are questioning whether to skip the mainland China market altogether and simply target Chinese consumers in the brands’ own home markets. The answers to these questions really depend on your brand’s specific situation and can’t be generalized across sectors and brands. Global Study Confirms: For China’s Affluent, Luxury Spending Now “A Way Of Life” Pei Bei Wang and Zhu Xiao Yin at a recent event celebrating designer Stella McCartney's China expansion. The report cites McCartney as one of the designers gaining in popularity in China as consumers become more interested in niche labels. (Women's Wear Daily) Swiss bank Julius Baer released its third annual “Wealth Report” today, and its findings on China reflect several key trends that we’ve been seeing for a while now: a growing number of affluent Chinese consumers are viewing luxury purchases as “lifestyle” rather than “celebratory” acquisitions, and are becoming more sophisticated with a greater interest in niche labels, quality, authenticity, brand heritage, and understatement. “Today’s affluent Chinese consumers see luxury as a way of life, not just the occasional purchase of a good or service, separate from the rest of their lives,” read the report. Independent Chinese Travelers: 8 Things You Should Know Prague, Czech Republic. When Lin Xu, the digital marking manager at Affinity China, a lifestyle platform for affluent Chinese travelers, was recently traveling in Europe to attend a friend’s wedding and researching Chinese free independent travel tourism trends, she made several useful observations about service industries and retail shops regarding how they can better tailor their services to Chinese customers. Below, she provides eight important pieces of advice for any international company hoping to appeal to visitors from China. Luxe Brands Take Strategic Approach To China’s Lower-Tier Cities The Mixc luxury mall in Chengdu. (Chengdu Life) In the past two weeks, Armani and Burberry both announced strong China growth numbers in spite of the country’s luxury slowdown, but their sources of success were not the same. While Armani’s pivot to second- and third-tier cities has been cited as a major driver of its 39 percent profit gains, Burberry’s growth was attributed to demand in major hubs like Hong Kong and Shanghai after the company implemented a more upmarket approach to promotion. Meanwhile, when Louis Vuitton-owner LVMH reported disappointing numbers earlier this year, chief executive Bernard Arnault stated that, despite a previous push into second-tier cities, Louis Vuitton will slow its lower-tier expansion to “avoid becoming too commonplace.”

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Week In Review: June 3-7, 2013