Use famous events to make your Luxury brand shine in China
The 2014 Cannes film festival saw the appearance of two of the most famous Chinese stars, Zhang Ziyi and Li Gong. Wearing luxury and fashion creations, they stole the spotlight and steered scores of comments and discussions on social media such as Weibo or WeChat.
Indeed, Piaget, Roberto Cavalli, and L’Oreal all linked their name to Gong Li. In addition, Zhang brought a lot of focus on French creator Stéphane Rollad at the opening ceremony, wearing one of his creations, a splendid black, and white gown. In addition, to complete the set, the jeweler Bochic gave her the clutch she carried.
How do Premium brands use luxury events to show-off?
Luxury brands are known to have a presence at major events. They’ll often unofficially partake in these by having their goods worn or handled, and then posting pictures on their Chinese social account such as Weibo and Weixin showing off the celebrities who were wearing them.
This way their thousands or even sometimes millions of followers would see their favorite movie stars wear the brand’s creations: luxury dresses, jewelry, to make people dream to be like them.
This may sound simple, but if your brand is quite new in the market or you do not have the right network it can quickly become a daunting task to achieve. Fortunately, there are luxury agencies that will help you promote your luxury brand in China through events.
To go a step further, do not hesitate to play with PR. Indeed, in this situation, a strong PR about the event helps spread the news of the event by publishing on a series of online blogs and journals.
Your luxury fashion brand would need the following strategy
Chinese e-commerce is developing at a very fast pace. Luxury brands can benefit from this by having a brand website allied with a shop on Tmall just as Burberry or Cartier did.
- In doing so you respect the Chinese netizen way of purchasing goods: they will go and see your brand website before going to Tmall to buy your products via your Tmall account.
- Buzz around the event. Here, the Cannes Festival has already a very strong reputation since it is a well renowned event.
- A SEO/SEM campaign on Baidu aimed at your brand website as well as your Tmall shop to increase your visibility.
- Intense social media campaigns will help you to make sure that everyone knows the stars are wearing your brands in front of the world.
Brand awareness and luxury events are all about KOLs
However the more famous is the star the more expensive it becomes to have the star wear the gown or the jewel you want him or her to wear. Social media such as Weibo and Wechat help spread the news of the event very fast among your targets especially in China where such platforms are commonly used.
KOLs, or Key Opinion Leaders, are the key factors while trying to shine during a big event. There are KOLs and KOCs, smaller and cheaper, for each need and budget! If you chose to contact a KOL, you can ask him to wear your products in order to create a buzz and shine bright. Photocalls will be an occasion for influencers to reflect your products and brand image! Be visible on magazines and start creating your e-reputation.
To conclude, set a global digital strategy to build your brand’s e-reputation in China
Luxury is all about customer experience and making the customer feel privileged and unique or looking very much like a celebrity. All the steps of a digital marketing campaign for luxury must reflect this in order to catch the customer’s attention and preserve your brand image.
GMA is a French-Chinese agency with a strong reputation and 7 years of experience in China. Our team is an expert on various subjects, such as the digital market, Chinese trends, and fashion in China. To discover our services and set your tailor-made digital marketing strategy, you can contact us on our website! Don’t wait to establish your visibility and e-reputation in China, there are a lot of possibilities for new brands on the Chinese market.
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1 comment
Kate
Very good struggle even nowadays! Event are by essence luxurious: all senses are activated, the gathering of chosen people to live a real experience… but what about digital? Espacially in China, maybe events are willing to disappear; very interesting debate!