E-commerce Giants Up Their Livestreaming Game for 618 Shopping Festival
Plus: Infiniti's star strategy, Atelier Cologne's "Citrus Dream," and our Report Corner.
It’s not even June yet, but the competition to win at the 618 Shopping Festival is already in full swing. The mid-year sales promotion was created by JD.com back in 2004 to mark its June 18 anniversary, but has since been picked up by rival retailers and expanded into several weeks of splashy campaigns. As we noted in our last newsletter, this year’s 618 Festival has taken on additional importance as an indicator of China’s broader consumer recovery and the nation’s prospects for reversing the economic contraction seen in the first quarter of 2020.
E-commerce livestreaming received a major boost from the coronavirus, and continues to build on the momentum. Alibaba’s platforms are going for star power, tapping into the recent trend of using celebrities and corporate bosses to draw viewers.
For the Tmall 618 campaign, more than 300 performers will take to Taobao Live for what’s being billed as the largest celebrity broadcast in history, including Kris Wu, Liu Tao, Zhu Yilong and Ouyang Nana, and the platform is promising at least ten celebrity broadcasts per day through June 20.
In addition, Taobao Live will feature broadcasts with more than 600 top brand executives to promote 618 sales, with a lineup that includes representatives from Huawei, Lenovo, L'Oréal, and Suning Tesco. Alibaba reports that more than 1,200 brands have started livestreaming on the platform since February, and there have been roughly 450,000 broadcasts during this period.
To compete with Alibaba’s powerful Taobao Live platform, which has access to more than 700 million consumers, JD.com announced a long-term strategic partnership with short video platform Kuaishou to pool resources to create a “short video e-commerce livestreaming ecosystem.” (Both JD.com and Kuaishou are backed by Tencent.)
Kuaishou users will be able to purchase products from JD that they see on the video platform without leaving its app, and both sides aim to collaborate on brand marketing, combining JD’s insights into consumer shopping behavior with Kuaishou’s data on short video and livestreaming. JD Retail CEO Lei Xu said the deal “will provide Chinese consumers with a high-quality experience in richer shopping scenarios.”
It’s a win for both sides. Though JD already has a livestreaming platform, it will gain better access to Kuaishou’s audience of more than 300 million daily active users, a large share of which hails from China’s lower-tier cities and rural areas (the so-called “submerged market”) that are key drivers of consumer growth. Meanwhile, Kuaishou will be able to further burnish its image by association with JD’s reputation as a trusted source of quality products, distancing itself from past scandals over counterfeit goods.
JD is also planning to bring bosses and celebrities to the 618 livestream party, though on a smaller scale than Tmall, and is working with other platforms such as Douyin and Bilibili to expand its reach even further.
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Mentioned in today’s newsletter: Atelier Cologne, Estée Lauder, Huawei, Infiniti, JD.com, Kérastase, Kuaishou, Lancôme, Lenovo, L'Oréal, Perfect Diary, Suning, Tmall.
Infiniti Spins Celebrity Appeal and Talent in Star-Studded Campaign
In China, brands often choose to sponsor television series that their celebrity spokespersons appear on, a strategy that enhances the association between an actor and products that are placed on a show, hopefully leading fans and viewers to purchase. In a reversal of this scenario, luxury auto brand Infiniti recently worked with a new celebrity spokesperson to develop derivative content tied to an earlier hit performance.
Actor Zhang Ruoyun’s fame got a big boost from his starring role in the historical epic “Joy of Life” (庆余年), which aired on Zhejiang Satellite TV, iQiyi, and Tencent Video between November 2019 and January 2020 and was one of the top-rated shows of the period. One of the highlights of the series was a scene in which Zhang’s character, though drunk, recites one hundred poems from memory over the course of a night.
Infiniti announced Zhang as a spokesperson in April, several months after the series finale had aired, but creatively deployed content inspired by “Joy of Life” in its work with Zhang. At a livestreamed press conference for the launch of the new Infiniti QX50, Zhang recited a new brand poem that cleverly incorporated the characters of Infiniti’s Chinese name (英菲尼迪). The livestreamed event reportedly drew more than 19 million viewers, in large part thanks to Zhang’s appeal and promotion to his fans via Weibo.
Zhang also appears in a brand film for the QX50, which was released right after the livestream. Drawing on Zhang’s performance on “Joy of Life” along with the series’ humor and time-travel themes, the film received more than 13 million views within a few days.
The brand further leveraged star power with a Weibo campaign that called on celebrities to share the talents behind their attractive appearances, paralleling the marketing of the QX50 as a good-looking car with impressive performance attributes. More than 200 celebrities participated in the challenge, which has drawn 590 million views. Fans of Zhang displayed their own talents by sharing their drawings of Zhang with the QX50, creating a new type of brand content. Read more in Chinese from SocialBeta.
Can Luxury Brands Survive in China Without Online Partners?
Although luxury labels have long sought to maintain an aura of exclusivity and retain control over the brand experiences, the Chinese consumer’s appetite for e-commerce, coupled with the impact of the coronavirus — shuttering stores and halting travel — has forced a seismic shift in digital strategy.
It’s unrealistic for brands to “go it alone” in China, and partnering with a trusted e-commerce platform has become imperative. Working with major players such as Alibaba’s Tmall or JD.com may reduce costs and can help target customers and offer personalized experiences through data.
Access to new technologies, such as AR and VR services enabled by 5G technology, with infrastructure support that would not otherwise be available.
The platforms also offer a way to reach customers in the increasingly important “submerged market” of third- and fourth-tier cities, where a rising middle class is seeking to upgrade their consumption.
Read the full story on Jing Daily
Brand Film Pick: Atelier Cologne’s Three-Part Dream
Atelier Cologne, a luxury perfume brand under French beauty conglomerate L'Oréal Group, produced a romantic trio of short films as part of its recent May 20 Chinese Valentine’s Day campaign.
The release of the series, titled “Citrus Dream” (柑香寻梦) coincided with the announcement of Atelier Cologne’s newest brand ambassador: Taiwanese actor Greg Hsu, who stars in the “boyfriend” role, aptly drawing on Hsu’s recent surge in popularity from the series “Someday or One Day” (想見你).
Each episode corresponds to one of three fragrances: Oolong Infini, Orange Sanguine, and Pomelo Paradis, with the narratives and settings evoking the distinct features of each scent. Hsu’s character attempts to distinguish between romantic dreams and reality.
While Hsu doesn’t yet have the huge fan base of major Chinese idols, the up-and-coming actor has a potentially broader appeal that L'Oréal Group looks to be betting on, as he has also been appointed to represent its Kérastase and L'Oréal Men brands.
Report Corner
PwC’s latest findings on the recovery of China’s consumer market note the strong showing in activity around the recent May 1 Labor Day holiday and Shanghai’s Double Five shopping festival.
A post-coronavirus update to Coresight Research’s e-commerce trends includes discount luxury and group-buying.
Vision Star’s Q1 beauty products marketing report looks into recent campaigns from international and domestic brands including L'Oréal, Estée Lauder, Lancôme, and Perfect Diary.
News in English
Bytedance reportedly made $3 billion in net profits last year, with $17 billion in revenues, and now has around $6 billion in cash on hand. Bloomberg
The popular luxury influencer Mr. Bags hosted his first livestream, working with Net-a-Porter on its May 20 Chinese Valentine’s Day campaign. Azoya
Benefit Cosmetics is creating an AR feature for trying on makeup via WeChat. Mobile Marketer
Revenge spending will not be enough to avoid a major contraction in Chinese demand for apparel this year, with the market expected to shrink by 15%, equivalent to $60 billion in value. WWD
Fashion e-commerce platform Vipshop saw revenues fall by 12% in the first quarter, largely due to decreased spending during the coronavirus outbreak, but its earnings beat expectations. Investor’s Business Daily
And young Chinese may be increasingly wary of spending in the aftermath of the coronavirus. Sixth Tone
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