Chinese Marketing Case Studies Library

In 2015, Montblanc launched the ‘Mystic Moon Phase Campaign’ in order to promote their new Bohème and Heritage luxury watch collection. Although with many luxury watch brands promoting a ‘moon phase’ feature, it has been increasingly difficult for Montblanc to find a unique point of differentiation and attract consumers with the same feature.

Last year, Calvin Klein drove a 50% increase in sales volume during a campaign for Chinese Valentine’s Day, carried out in August last year by matching up WeChat with outdoor screens.

In today’s mobile-led era, the importance for relatively newer businesses to make a digital impact is all the more important. Mulberry understanding this, took forward with their marketing campaign for Qixi Festival, or Chinese Valentine’s Day in August 2015.

Uniqlo understood quickly that China was a mobile dominated environment and having very strong physical presence in the country with their numerous stores, allowed then to launch their “Style your life” campaign back in 2014.

In 2012, Starbucks launched a new product by the name of Refresha, made from green coffee bean extract. To introduce the new drink on a large scale to their Chinese consumers, Starbucks launched a social media platform campaign that was both fun and memorable and also effectively persuaded their fans to actively participate.

During August 18 of 2013, Dunkin’ Donuts China invited its fans in Shaanxi area to participate in a Weibo campaign titled “take a photo of our ad for a free coffee”.

Shiseido launched a campaign on Weibo reflecting the sun protection and skin whitening craze that persists among Chinese consumers.

On July 13th 2012, Swarovski began a campaign called Sparking Secrets at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, sharing its crystal-making process with the public in an exhibit that incorporated a behind-the-scene look at the brand with interactive experiences.

Coca Cola launched its global advertising campaign in early 2013 in Europe, where it sells bottles with names common in each major European country to boost sales.

Sometimes companies hire cutting-edge agencies to handle their Weibo marketing. Other times, users give out brand image-building content for free. So it was with one popular Weibo user, who regularly produces humorous content for his 8,000 followers, during the large-scale flooding that Beijing experienced in 2011.

Dove Chocolate scored a flashy online marketing coup with its viral campaign on Valentine’s Day, 2012. Dove engaged the savvy marketers at SapientNitro, a Shanghai-based agency, who came up with a way to promote Dove chocolate without any external costs.

IWC, has created an innovative Weibo campaign that focuses on China’s Mid-Autumn Festival. The campaign, The Most Stunning Moon, is encouraging participants and Weibo followers to follow the brand’s Weibo page and share a photo of the moon with a caption.

Coach released a Weibo campaign in China called Coach Footprints back in 2013. The campaign encourages any of Coach’s Weibo page followers to provide their contact information for an opportunity to win a luggage tag, valued at RMB 500 ($82).

In 2013, the Italian luxury fashion brand Fendi recently launched an interactive campaign on Weibo, Fendi Play with Colors, featuring their latest handbag collection called “Crayons.”

Lots of international companies have already tasted success on the most popular social network in China. In 2011, Tourism New Zealand signed up multi-award-winning Chinese actress Yao Chen as their brand ambassador in mainland China. At the time she had more than 40 million Weibo followers.