RedAnt Asia

This article originally appeared in JING DAILY.

Overview

The post on Jing Daily discusses the recent partnership between our client, haircare brand Amika, and the Voguing Shanghai community. The partnership was seen as a way to support and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in China and showcase the diverse and vibrant culture of voguing.

The collaboration highlights the importance of brands being socially responsible and authentic in their marketing efforts, particularly in China where consumers are increasingly conscious of social issues and are looking for brands that align with their values.

Full article appears in JING DAILY.

The article on Jing Daily identifies and discusses the top lifestyle trends that are expected to dominate the Chinese market in 2023. These trends include an increased focus on health and wellness, particularly in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a growing interest in sustainability and eco-friendliness.

The article also highlights the rise of “homebody economy” and the importance of creating personalized and unique experiences for consumers. Additionally, the article notes the continued growth of social media and influencer marketing, and the increasing importance of livestreaming in e-commerce.

Overall, the article emphasizes the need for brands and businesses to be aware of these trends and adapt their strategies accordingly in order to stay competitive in the Chinese market.

Thanks to Jing Daily for including our commentary!

Another edition for our annual curated and collected China trends to help us navigate 2022.

To read our report, please click here:

bit.ly/3lBfhLl

Professionals at McCann, Ogilvy, R3 and RedAnt in China recount their experiences of balancing life and work while coping with the overall gloom of Covid in the country.

China’s abrupt re-opening in the middle of winter when respiratory viral infections usually peak, is turning out to be a deadly decision. Though the official cases of infections and mortality remain suspiciously low, according to leaked information, health officials estimate that about 250 million people—18% of the population was infected with Covid in the first three weeks of re-opening itself.

As the virus rips through the country with fever medicines in short supply, familiar scenes of overwhelmed morgues and chaotic public hospitals continue to fill our social feeds. Those working in the marcomms industry, of course, are not immune to what’s happening. Campaign Asia-Pacific reached out to adland professionals in Shanghai to get a sense of the ground reality.

Shanghai is not only the largest city in China, but also its marcomms hub. The city went through a stark period of extended lockdowns earlier in 2022 and is now experiencing the worst Covid crisis since the start of the pandemic. While some younger professionals are recovering and looking forward to reuniting with family once the country comes out of its self-imposed isolation on January 8, others are struggling but optimistic about the light at the end of the tunnel.

Linda Yu
General manager, Red Ant Asia, China

It’s a little absurd when my husband was in a fangcang (stadium turned quarantine centre) while everyone outside had already caught Covid. He’s one of the last fangcang “victims” travelling back from another country and I’m one of the first “home grown” new wave victims. 

Everything changed in just one second, people caught Covid as quick as lightning. The streets were empty for a few weeks. 

At the moment, there is a visible impact on my daily life versus the last few years of hardcore zero-Covid. My parents are old and worry about falling sick. That in turn, leaves me worried about taking care of my children. Schools are now online, and I am back to working from home. It’s really two worlds out there: those without children or caring responsibilities have it different. I also need to check on my parents from time to time, and it’s worrying. Other than that, it’s refreshing to be on the same page as the rest of the world, though it will take time to finally sync, it’s a start, and soon we will get there.

Yong Yuan
President, Ogilvy Advertising, China & President, Ogilvy Shanghai

This recent Covid wave has felt more like a tsunami, with infections spiking at a speed that was difficult to imagine even a month ago. The top priority for me has been to ensure that all our staff were healthy and had access to medicine, antigen kits and any other type of assistance they could need after getting infected. I have to say it has been once again amazing to see how our teams supported each other over the last few weeks, with employees taking more on their plate to allow sick team members to fully rest and recover, whilst still ensuring client projects were completed on time. Everyone has been impacted across China, and whether it is among our teams, partners or clients, there’s been a great level of empathy and understanding across the board.

Luckily now we are past the peak, and I personally feel a renewed sense of optimism for 2023, with mobility steadily returning to pre-pandemic levels and a progressive rise in domestic consumer confidence. The challenges of the past year have made us more resilient than ever, and we’re ready to seize new opportunities that arise in this post-reopening era.

Pekyee Lai
General manager, L’Oreal Business, McCann China

2022 has taught us all to be resilient, flexible and appreciative. We lost precious time with our families, but we fostered new friendships with neighbours and our community. We learn to deal with whatever that is thrown our way and find a way to make things work.

During lockdown, the team had to juggle with ordering food, work and family. I am amazed at the level of resilience the team demonstrates. With the recent outbreak, 80% of the team was down with Covid, but we carried on with shoots and tried to meet our timelines.

Now that borders are open again without quarantine restrictions, we are looking forward to reuniting with our families again.

Henry Shen
Chief strategy officer, McCann Health, Greater China 

The winter treats people like a roller-coaster, from zero-Covid policy to the other extreme, which also creates divisions among people. The government requests everyone to become the first person responsible for his or her health. But the question is whether people are aware of the responsibilities and fully prepared? It’s a time of uncertainty, but also a critical opportunity for brands to play a meaningful role, to bridge divides or rebuild confidence. Don’t waste this crisis.

Freedom versus life: what’s the optimal solution for the pandemic? Some argue nothing is more valuable than freedom and say no to any form of quarantine is worth it, while others feel nostalgic about the government safeguarding the people in the past three years. Unfortunately, there’s no standard answer to satisfy everyone.

The young versus the elderly: for young folks, it’s becoming a trend to claim positive results of Covid on social media. Get it and get over it, almost like a carnival. However, when it comes to the elderly, it can be a matter of life and death. It’s almost impossible to access critical medical resources, and neither can they distinguish what’s right or wrong in the explosion of information on the internet. 

Teriea Lu
Business development & marketing expert, R3

It’s good to see everything finally on the way back to track. Slow but processing. Luckily, I am one of the first tiers who had Omicron a month ago. I think the most important thing is if you’re mentally ready rather than worrying about everything that could affect you.

In the meantime, I also believe people understand more now about “远亲不如近邻” because of the lockdowns. It was dark but also brings out the most beautiful part of people. Just from myself, I’ve experienced and seen many examples of neighbourly cooperation, even between total strangers who just see needs and help. Information online becomes friendship.

Professionally, it’s certainly more challenging from three angles:

• how to develop business with quiet market and brands
• self-business transformation or upgrading, including business focus and team structure to adapt to the market
• how to present ‘boring’ consulting work in a more attractive way to avoid losing the one on the other side of the screen.

Thanks to our global and local teams, I can now see a good sign that we have started well on all above. It’s about time to let life rock and go on again.

Jason Wu
CEO, DDB China  

As the pandemic enters its third winter and the world slowly returns to normalcy, we have to adapt to the current situation instead of complaining about the current circumstances; only the bold and the flexible can thrive as the global landscape continues to evolve.

The pandemic over the last three years had seen people’s passion for consumption and their desire for a high quality of life diminishing. With clients more or less rethinking their approach to advertising as well, it is imperative that we break the mould and adopt new ways of thinking; in such extra ordinary times, keeping the status quo will no doubt bode ill for both advertising agencies and their clients.

While people from different sectors are lamenting about budget cuts and cancelled jobs, one should nevertheless still keep his head up and always take the first step––which is what we did during the pandemic. By actively discussing with clients on how people’s sentiments had shifted during the outbreak, we were able to formulate the right strategies that could be delivered with more effective digital marketing channels. It is the principle of “trying our best to adapt to the current era with respect to customer insights” that drove and continues to drive us; with the numerous success stories we have had with different clients like Mars China, we are proud to say that this practice has served us very well so far indeed.

This winter season is undoubtedly a very chilly one. As pandemic restrictions continue to be lifted, however, we believe that topics like travelling, sports, and health will become popular among consumers again. By incorporating these topics into an advertising campaign and then fine-tuning its design, success will no doubt be just right around the corner.

Karen Lv
Associate Director of Strategy, Zenith China

With the release of the “New Ten Measures”, we have entered a whole new chapter. Many of our clients are concerned about the impact of these changes on their brands and our strategy to deal with them. Therefore, Lion Inspiration Hub quickly started the team to deep dive the insights of consumer behavior changes.

As a strategist from Publicis lion inspiration hub, I noticed that consumers always maintained a positive mindset in the face of adversity. As we all know, they created a series of new trends this year to deal with the restrictions. Behind the rise of camping, skateboarding and cycling, we saw that consumers still love life despite the limited conditions, and this love continued into the present. They actively prepared medicines, as well as many products that can bring solace, such as canned yellow peaches (very popular!). After recovery offline consumption scene is gradually heating up and tourist attractions are seeing traffic. Although it is still a cold winter, the spring is gradually reviving.

During the project, we also experienced the situation that the team were infected, and even I became the only survivor. Although there exist many difficulties, I am glad we overcame them and made the project complete on time. I also hope to stay positive in 2023. A new challenge has come, and I believe we will win in the end.

Sylvie Liu
Business director, BBDO Beijing 

From looking forward to waiting for it and then enduring while enjoying, it’s been a full circle moment. I have no serious symptoms, just high fever which did not impair my appetite. Work from home is a challenge especially when you have a three-year-old child and 40℃ temperature. I have been living in anxiety because it’s impossible to predict the infections in the team. There’s this constant fear of who and when will be the next positive case.

This article originally appeared in campaign.

“Your skin’s a bit dry,” one user commented on a video posted by Angie, a popular influencer who first appeared on Chinese social media last fall. “You should apply a face mask.”

In the video, uploaded to Douyin, the original Chinese version of TikTok, Angie’s skin looks bumpy and uneven. A gaping yawn reveals slightly crooked teeth.

She doesn’t have “the face of a celebrity,” another user remarked.

Typical influencers might clap back with a comment, but Angie is not a typical influencer — she’s not even a real person.

Angie is an imperfect virtual personality. She may still be conventionally pretty, but unlike China’s other virtual influencers, Angie doesn’t pose in designer clothes, walk the runway or promote new songs. Instead, she sports simple white tees, sips Coca-Cola and yawns on screen.

Sometimes she can be seen with a flushed face, and even zit or two. And her down-to-earth persona is clearly resonating on Douyin, where she has amassed over 280,000 followers to date.

Virtual influencers are nothing new in China. The country’s first digital KOL (key opinion leader) to go viral, Ling, was created in May 2020. With her sharp jawline, slender face and rosy lips, Ling reflects a traditional Chinese beauty ideal. This February she graced the cover of Vogue Me, a fashion magazine targeting China’s “post-’90s” generation,” alongside real-life celebrities G.E.M., Liu Haocun and Liu Yuxin.

But Angie offers a refreshing alternative, her fans say, in a country where demand for plastic surgery is surging and beauty apps compete to create filters that show users more beautiful versions of themselves.

More realistic virtual idols

Angie is the creation of Jesse Zhang, the director of a Shenzhen-based CGI animation company.

Zhang was looking for a way to express his creativity and thought it would be fun to create a virtual character with imperfect features — someone who could help people relax and feel more positive about themselves. Angie started taking shape in July 2020, and within three months Zhang had posted his character’s first video to Douyin. By December, she had already gained around 100,000 fans.

“I didn’t think she would take off so quickly,” he said, attributing her popularity to her calming, casual videos.

“Her characteristics and details all have a bit of this ‘real-life’ feeling,” Zhang said. “But she also has some things a real person wouldn’t have. Her ears are a bit like a fairy’s, and her eyes are round, big and cute.”

Despite knowing she’s not real, many of Angie’s followers eagerly tell her about their day in two group chats on Douyin.

“Some fans will also invite me to talk about things in life — they’re in a predicament, or they encounter some difficulties,” said Zhang said, who responds to comments as Angie in his free time each day.

Some fans have credited Angie with cheering them up or helping them de-stress amid life’s predicaments. “Angie, last time I left you a message saying that lately I was feeling really sad. Now, I’m doing much better,” one fan wrote. “As I was getting ready to take an afternoon nap, I saw your video and was put in an even better mood!”

The follower said they were prepping for the upcoming semester, and that they would strive to work hard in school. “Keep pressing on,” Angie wrote in response, adding that sad moments will become things of the past.

“The reason why I like her is that Angie is more realistic than many people who are actually real,” one of her followers Xiao Qi, a millennial living in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, told CNN. “She gives the impetuous world a touch of beauty.”

Low-risk influencers

For now, Zhang has no plans to monetize Angie by livestreaming, though he is open to collaborations. If the designer were to cash in on the market for virtual influencers, however, he may find a willing audience — on Douyin, fans often support their favorite content creators by sending money during livestreams, ranging from a couple cents to hundreds of dollars or more.

For marketers, virtual influencers are a low-risk alternative to real-life stars — they’re available at all hours of the day to do whatever is required with minimum fuss. Viola Chen, a strategist at Red Ant Asia, said pixel-perfect influencers can also be more easily molded to fit a company’s campaign.

“It is easier for them to be upgraded and customized to fit into different styles and to ensure their image is always on-brand,” Chen said.

But Chen said virtual influencers aren’t about to replace real people. In some campaigns they have come across as inauthentic or too commercialized, she added, like when internet users called out virtual influencer Ling when she posted about Gucci lipstick. According to Chen, fans were unconvinced.

“Followers question if it’s appropriate for virtual influencers to speak for beauty and skincare products whose performance needs to be verified by (human) touches,” Chen said.

Red Ant Asia’s co-founder Elisa Harca agrees, seeing a future where brands’ digital and real-life influencers coexist.

“With any kind of marketing you want to find a blended program so not all your eggs are in one basket,” she said. “Diversity is key in digital — it’s never one size fits all. And you have things that will appeal more to the masses, and more to certain tribes.”

Shifting beauty standards

Angie’s real-life characteristics are part of her appeal — but they have also attracted criticism online. Some Douyin users have disapproved of her thick thighs, creased makeup, faint acne scars and uneven skin.

Underneath one video, in which Angie is seen sipping Coca-Cola, one user asked why she wasn’t created with “double eyelids.” (Around half of East Asian and Southeast Asian women are born with double eyelids. Many opt for a surgical procedure to create a visible crease, known as blepharoplasty, now the most popular cosmetic procedure among people of Chinese descent, according to the academic publication Aesthetic Surgery Journal.)

Criticisms of Angie’s appearance reflect ongoing debates over beauty standards in China. Though there are signs that attitudes may be slowly changing — with stars like the tanned and curvy singer Wang Ju increasingly in the spotlight — female celebrities are often slim and dewy-skinned.

There is still huge pressure on women to conform to certain beauty ideals, according to Jaehee Jung, a professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware. Her research into perceptions of attractiveness among college students in Shanghai found that most wanted to change something about their bodies — for example, slimmer bodies or bigger eyes.

“Many of these young women think, ‘Wow, you have to keep up with beauty trends’, otherwise you’re considered lazy,” Jung said.

As such, an imperfect virtual character like Angie is, Jung suggested, more relatable for many Chinese girls and women.

“I think it’s refreshing that you find the complete opposite figure who is almost like a regular person — and she doesn’t have to look like anyone else,” she said. “I think for many viewers, they see themselves.”

This article originally appeared in CNN.

Article from JING DAILY, including our thoughts.

The Tmall Luxury Pavilion, launched in 2017, has become a critical platform for luxury brands looking to reach China’s lucrative e-commerce market.

With its focus on delivering a premium shopping experience, the Pavilion has been successful in attracting high-end brands and catering to the needs and expectations of Chinese luxury consumers.

Over the past five years, the platform has undergone significant changes and improvements, including expanded brand offerings, personalized content, and a seamless online-to-offline shopping experience.

As the luxury market in China continues to grow, the Tmall Luxury Pavilion is poised to play an even more significant role in connecting luxury brands with Chinese consumers.

This article appears in JING DAILY.

The article discusses how ultra-luxury brands like Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana, Stefano Ricci, and Delvaux are thriving in China, despite the global pandemic. These brands have managed to gain a strong foothold in the Chinese market by adopting a localized strategy and creating a unique brand experience. They have also benefitted from Chinese consumers’ growing appetite for ultra-luxury goods, particularly in the post-pandemic era where there is an increased emphasis on quality and longevity.

The article cites examples of how these brands have expanded their footprint in China by opening new stores and using innovative marketing techniques, such as social media and virtual events, to engage with Chinese consumers.

Thanks to Jing Daily to including our thoughts!

The video streaming platform has attracted Louis Vuitton, Nike and others looking to recruit the next generation of Chinese consumers. But brands need to understand its unique community to avoid making mistakes.

This article originally appeared in The Business of Fashion.

Another edition of our curated and collected China trends to help us navigate 2021.

To read our report, please click here:

http://bit.ly/3XjZLRW