Zheng Qinwen’s China Open win shows why beauty bets on athletes

When Zheng Qinwen (郑钦文) closed out the China Open final with an ace on October 11, Lancôme was among more than 10 sponsors that posted congratulatory posters overnight. The beauty brand had made its call five months earlier. In May, it promoted the Olympic tennis champion from skincare ambassador to skincare spokesperson, weeks before a run of first-round exits pushed her world ranking down to 160th. None of Zheng’s 15 brand partners walked away during that slump. Her straight-sets win over Mirra Andreeva made her the first Chinese player to win the tournament’s women’s singles title and lifted her back to 23rd in the world. For the brands that stayed, the win was a payoff. It also shows why China’s beauty labels, after years of competing for the same pool of actors and idols, are adding athletes to their rosters in search of something harder to manufacture than reach: credibility. Over the past three years, at least 64 partnerships between beauty brands and athletes have been announced in China, according to industry publication Qingyan. Skincare accounts for 33 of them, followed by haircare with 15 and makeup with six. Sun Yingsha (孙颖莎) has signed with eight beauty and personal-care brands since the Paris Olympics, while names including Eileen Gu (谷爱凌), Quan Hongchan (全红婵) and Wang Chuqin (王楚钦) are appearing across campaigns from SK-II, Winona and other major players. “I’d frame it as a move from borrowed attention to earned credibility,” said Liang Chen, senior brand manager at e-commerce accelerator Pattern. “A traditional celebrity deal buys reach quickly, but reach has become the cheapest thing in the market. What’s scarce now is trust.” Consumers are scrutinizing efficacy claims more closely, outdoor activities are producing new needs around sun protection, sweat, recovery and skin-barrier care, and brands are looking for ambassadors whose lives give them a believable reason to talk about those products. Athletes give beauty companies access to that trust, but the commercial case is becoming more complicated as the field gets crowded. The same champions are accumulating multiple endorsements, top-tier fees are rising, and strong launch-day sales do not necessarily translate into repeat purchases. The bigger opportunity may sit beyond the endorsement itself, in using sport to connect beauty products with increasingly specific consumer routines, from a weekend ski trip to a morning run. Why athletes are attractive to beauty brands Actors and singers remain powerful marketing assets, but their value is built largely around visibility, cultural relevance and fandom; but athletes bring a different kind of credibility. “An athlete’s story, such as discipline, setbacks and winning under pressure, is real and publicly verified,” Liang said. “For skincare especially, that gives the brand a credible narrative around performance, resilience and recovery, rather than a borrowed glamorous image.” This is especially useful in skincare, where companies are trying to persuade consumers that products deliver measurable results over time. The language of consistency, endurance and recovery maps naturally onto training, while the physical conditions faced by athletes can also give brands a more concrete way to talk about efficacy. Adam Knight, cofounder of Yaso, which helps brands navigate China’s e-commerce landscape, tells Jing Daily, “I’d be careful with the idea that athletes are replacing entertainers. What brands are really doing is broadening the roster. An athlete’s reputation is earned in public over many years, and people can see the work behind it. That sits very naturally with skincare, which is ultimately selling consistency and results.” Elisa Harca, cofounder and Asia CEO of China marketing agency Red Ant Asia, points to another advantage: “What athletes showcase are traits and values deeply respected in China — discipline, hard work, focus, national pride, and resilience. When a brand aligns with that athlete, it inherits an aura of high performance, which directly reinforces consumer perception around product efficacy — the ultimate driver in Chinese beauty.” That’s why skincare has drawn the largest number of athlete deals, well ahead of haircare and makeup. Fragrance remains much smaller, where the category depends more heavily on emotion, fantasy and personal identity than physical performance. Brands also see athletes as carrying a different type of reputational risk from entertainment stars. Chinese celebrity scandals have repeatedly forced companies to remove campaign materials at speed and absorb the cost of canceled media and production. “Athletes are generally subject to tighter public scrutiny and career discipline, and their reputation is built on performance,” Liang said. “That doesn’t remove risk, because performance slumps, injuries and retirement exist, but those risks are more predictable and easier to contract around.” Liang added, “Chinese consumers feel real ownership over their champions. When an athlete wins, a moment of national pride creates a rare, positive emotional window, and brands that stand with that athlete share in it.” Can sporting fandom turn into beauty sales? Some of the strongest evidence for athlete endorsements has come from launch-day sales. Following the Paris Olympics, table tennis champion Sun Yingsha signed beauty and personal-care deals with eight brands, including Olay, Little Dream Garden (半亩花田), La Roche-Posay and Colgate. Little Dream Garden said its Sun-endorsed haircare range generated more than 30 million RMB ($4.5 million) in GMV within one hour of launch and topped relevant rankings across three major e-commerce platforms. Chinese skincare brand Uniskin also saw the share of male consumers aged 25 to 35 increase by 27% after signing table tennis player Wang Chuqin. For brands that have traditionally struggled to reach male skincare consumers, athletes can bring in audiences that sit outside the usual beauty marketing channels. Though, Knight points out, “I’d still read those figures with care. A big first day tells you the fanbase is mobilized. It doesn’t tell you you’ve gained long-term customers.” For Knight, the more useful measurement comes 90 or 180 days later, when a brand can see whether the new customer is buying again and whether demand has spread beyond the athlete’s existing fanbase. The biggest athletes are also becoming increasingly crowded commercial properties. Top names can command fees exceeding those of A-list actors, according to Knight. As more companies compete for the same group of champions, the challenge becomes building an association strong enough for consumers to remember the brand rather than simply the athlete. “Consumer loyalty is notoriously slippery in China — simply attaching a brand to an ambassador, whether an athlete or an entertainer, isn’t enough on its own to lock in long-term loyalty,” Harca said. “The long-term commercial impact depends entirely on how the brand activates the partnership over time.” More than a campaign face Sporting stars now operate across a much broader media landscape, many run their own social accounts, appear on television and variety programs, attend commercial events and remain public figures after retirement. “Athletes are now media platforms in their own right,” Liang said. “In the past, an athlete was featured in a commercial and the relationship was largely limited to that one asset. Now a brand can co-create content with the athlete on their own channels, show up naturally in TV programming, and keep the story going before, during and after competition seasons.” That can help justify the rising cost of the biggest sporting names, particularly when the athlete continues to attract attention long after leaving professional competition. “The partnership doesn’t end when the athlete’s competitive career does, because their influence continues into a second chapter,” Liang said. “One relationship supports advertising, social content, media appearances and events together, rather than separate buys that have to be stitched together.” Outdoor lifestyles are creating new product demand The business case for sport is also becoming stronger as more Chinese consumers participate in running, skiing, cycling and other outdoor activities themselves. Marathon-related events drew around 6.4 million participants in China in 2025, while race participants spent more than 14,000 RMB ($2100) each on running during the year, according to figures cited by Knight. Most runners are men, with people in their 40s making up the largest age group. “For beauty, running is first and foremost a men’s skincare, body care and sun care opportunity, and that isn’t how many prestige brands think about it,” Knight said. City hikes, ski weekends, running clubs and outdoor social activities are increasing exposure to UV, wind, cold, sweat and friction, giving companies a reason to develop products for specific situations rather than broad skincare routines. “Outdoor sport is moving from an occasional activity to a lifestyle,” Liang said. “That makes beauty a functional category as well as a vanity one.” The product opportunities range from sweat-resistant sunscreen and barrier repair to scalp care, lip protection, anti-chafe products and post-exercise recovery skincare. Knight said more than half of sports and outdoor searches on Xiaohongshu are now based around a scenario rather than a specific sport. “What interests me more is the lighter end of outdoor activity: city hikes, a run before work, a weekend on the slopes,” he said. “That creates demand around specific moments, like sweat-proof base, after-sun repair, scalp care and winter sunscreen.” Running and skiing are particularly interesting because they already have commercial infrastructure around them. Marathons, clubs, ski resorts, outdoor retailers and equipment companies give beauty brands a way to reach participants before an athlete ever reaches a podium. “Traditional Olympic disciplines such as gymnastics are largely driven by national teams and federations, and brands typically come in late, mainly to endorse a champion after the success has happened,” Liang said. “Running and skiing are different. They grew up with commercial ecosystems built in.” Beauty companies can therefore work with events and communities over time instead of entering only when a championship creates a brief surge of attention. “It feels natural to consumers because the brand is part of the sport’s culture rather than an outsider borrowing its glory,” Liang said. When the product fits the sport Some athlete partnerships work particularly well because the demands of the sport are already relevant to the product. SK-II’s partnership with Eileen Gu uses conditions familiar to a professional skier — cold temperatures, wind and strong UV exposure — to support its skincare storytelling. Winona has a similarly direct connection with diving champion Quan Hongchan, whose long hours training in chlorinated pools give the sensitive-skin specialist a credible way to talk about dryness, redness and skin-barrier stress. Winona has also signed table tennis player Wang Chuqin and fencer Sun Yiwen, creating a broader athlete roster across several sports. At an October event in Shanghai, the brand linked Quan’s diving experience with the launch of products targeting redness and sensitivity after exercise. “It works when the athlete’s conditions genuinely match something the customer deals with,” Knight said. “SK-II and Eileen Gu is a good example, because wind, cold and strong UV on the slopes are real skin stressors, and a professional skier lives with them at the extreme. Swimmers and chlorine-damaged skin barriers is another natural fit.” Harca agreed, “seeing an athlete in action — whether in intense preparation or out in the field — actively using a product creates an authentic proof-of-performance narrative.” In a market where consumers regularly test and compare products on platforms such as Xiaohongshu, and where cosmetics efficacy claims must be substantiated under Chinese regulation, “The athlete gets your attention, the product evidence has to do the rest,” Knight said.

Zheng Qinwen’s China Open win shows why beauty bets on athletes

TUMI’s new growth playbook: From travel expertise to lifestyle performance

Upgrade to Pro

Sectors

Insights

Company

Zheng Qinwen’s China Open win shows why beauty bets on athletes

TUMI’s new growth playbook: From travel expertise to lifestyle performance