This year, more young consumers appeared on luxury brands’ radars. As global and domestic players strived for a foothold in a crowded marketplace, many put more effort into innovative, localized campaigns to effectively engage with these Chinese consumers. Having learned lessons from previous campaign missteps, foreign brands became more meticulous while also staying creative.
Meanwhile, a host of creative campaigns that integrated offline and digital channels refreshed the market and consumers’ spending appetites. More luxury houses hosted runway shows in mainland China, from Dior’s Spring-Summer 2020 show in Shanghai to Valentino’s haute couture show in Beijing, which resonated well with Chinese fashionistas. Attempting to connect with young consumers, MCM built an immersive pop-up playground, and Prada bent to idol culture by teaming up with singer, dancer, and rapper Cai Xukun. Luxury brands continued to celebrate traditional Chinese festivals like the Mid-Autumn Festival while also betting on new holidays, such as White Valentine’s Day.
Now, let’s jump into Jing Daily’s selection of the Top-5 Brand Campaigns in 2019. For more of our 2019 year reviews and highlights, read here.
Valentino experiments with haute couture-meets-streetwear#
In November, Valentino’s staged his dreamy show in Beijing’s legendary Summer Palace and featured Pierpaolo Piccioli’s latest collection: a brilliant fusion of haute couture and streetwear. As one of the highest forms of fashion, this launch spoke volumes about how much Valentino values the Chinese market, which now accounts for 30 percent of the brand’s global business. The fashion house created a Mini Program on WeChat that showed off everything from the event, from its showpieces to the celebrity attendees and their outfits. A capsule collection of the show was also offered in Valentino’s newly-opened flagship store in the hip central neighborhood of Sanlitun in Beijing. Read more
Luxury brands extend their craftsmanship to mooncake gift boxes#
The Mid-Autumn Festival quickly evolved from a regional holiday to a globally-recognized festival, and eating mooncakes remains its most deeply-rooted tradition. Leading luxury brands are competitive in crafting their yearly mooncake gifts and have smartly adopted this tradition to show off their fashion acumen through elaborate mooncake box designs but also to connect with Chinese consumers around the world. In September, we reviewed the efforts of seven luxury brand mooncake gift boxes in regards to their specialness, cultural interpretation, and taste. Read more
MCM transforms its Shanghai flagship store into a dreamland#
To celebrate their 2019 Autumn/Winter collection alongside Tmall’s Super Brand Day, the German leather goods brand MCM built a giant playground inside of its flagship store in Shanghai’s iapm mall, transforming the space into an immersive dreamland. The goal of the campaign wasn’t just about selling (though entrants can visit the brand’s Tmall shop afterward), but was more about the brand giving off a playful impression for trendy Chinese millennials. The initiative is part of MCM’s in-depth collaboration with Tmall that helped the brand gather data and insights for their 4th-quarter, Double 11 promotion. Read more
Prada bends to China’s idol culture#
In June, as part of their Fall/Winter 2019 menswear collection showcase, Prada debuted a new campaign called “Code Human,” which featured the Chinese icon Cai Xukun. That was big news for millions of Kun fans, who are always eager to support their favorite star with their spending power, but it was also a big leap of faith for the Italian fashion house, which rarely attaches its name to a celebrity, let alone a controversial Chinese one. The campaign was also part of Prada’s aggressive China expansion plan. Nearly a week after announcing the Kun campaign, the brand hosted its very first Spring/Summer 2020 Menswear fashion show in Shanghai while concurrently launching on two Chinese e-commerce platforms: JD.com and Secoo. On June 10, Prada’s share price opened at 23.65 Hong Kong dollars ( a 6-percent rise) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange — a market value of over 60.4 billion. Read more
Men’s product sales rise on White Valentine’s Day#
In Asian countries, March 14 is known as White Valentine’s Day (or White Day), which is an occasion when women give gifts to their male partners (commonly white chocolate or marshmallows). This year, more luxury brands jumped on the opportunities this gifting holiday offers, as they have with Chinese Valentine’s Day (Qixi). For the occasion, many brands played around the themes of “relationship and commitment” and the gender dynamic between men and women. For example, a big trend that was more male-centric brands ran holiday campaigns as a way to persuade female consumers to splurge on their partners. Read more