Over the last few years, Chinese domestic brands such as Perfect Diary and HPF have started to dominate the beauty sector. 520 is a clear example of how they’ve achieved their success – highly localised products and marketing content based on a deep knowledge of Chinese consumers. For this year’s 520, HPF partnered with popular artist Gangsida to put on a virtual exhibition, aimed at marketing their new eye cream. The exhibition is filled with collages of lovers’ eyes, producing some striking artwork. This campaign shows HPF’s deep understanding of their target consumer, working with a popular artist to celebrate 520.
![Hpf X Gangsida Virtual Art Gallery Campaign](https://www.tongdigital.com/web/uploads/HPF-X-Gangsida-Virtual-Art-Gallery-Campaign.png)
HOW CAN FOREIGN BEAUTY BRANDS COMPETE?
Brand positioning is key. For now, the majority of domestic Chinese brands primarily compete on price. But this is changing. The influence of Japanese and Korean beauty has raised the standards that Chinese consumers expect from low-priced products. Luxury Western brands have traditionally performed well, as they operate in a different market segment. It’s important therefore for foreign brands seeking to enter China to carefully work out their brand positioning. Needless to say, luxury foreign beauty brands must still work hard to attract Chinese consumers. Here at TONG, we’ve found that holidays like 520 provide a great opportunity for brands to create engaging, localised content.
Brand collaborations are an effective way to create localised content. For 520 this year, MAC collaborated with Honor of Kings (王者荣耀), a wildly popular multiplayer online battle arena game. Through a WeChat article, the reader is encouraged to choose one of the handsome avatars to go on a 520 date with. After clicking on the chosen avatar, a themed set of makeup is revealed. This unique and engaging concept demonstrates MAC’s understanding of current youth culture in China.
![MAC X Honour of King 520 WeChat campaign](https://www.tongdigital.com/web/uploads/mac.png)
![Malone Souliers 520 influencer campaign](https://www.tongdigital.com/web/uploads/WechatIMG1145.jpeg)
![Influencer-generated 520 content for Malone Souliers](https://www.tongdigital.com/web/uploads/WechatIMG30.jpeg)
![Repurposed content used for Shay and Blue's 520 WeChat campaign](https://www.tongdigital.com/web/uploads/anna-and-alex.png)