Loewe is launching a new candle with a Chinese brand ambassador

The Social Edition is our weekly deep dive series analyzing luxury initiatives in China’s social media landscape. Each week we highlight brand campaigns being shared across Chinese digital platforms – WeChat, Weibo, Tmall, Douyin and beyond.

Our coverage highlights global luxury and beauty as well as local Chinese brands. It highlights some of the country’s most successful campaigns, often from local actors and outside of the beauty and fashion realm.

In this week’s recap, we look at three campaigns: Loewe’s collaboration with Chinese brand ambassador Leo Wu, Tom Ford Beauty’s new fragrance ambassador, and C-beauty label Florasis’ collaboration with local designer brand Susan Fang.

Loewe is launching a new candle with a Chinese brand ambassador

BRAND Lion
CATEGORY luxury
PLATFORMS WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu
MEDIUM picture
SELECTED TALENTS Leo Wu (44.2 million Weibo followers)

OVERVIEW
On July 13, Loewe launched a scented candle with cucumber essence, created in collaboration with the house’s global ambassador – Chinese Gen Z actor Leo Wu. The candle is available in two sizes priced at $97 (RMB 650) and $238 (RMB 1,600) respectively and is available now in the company’s offline boutiques and WeChat mini-program. Announced in February 2022, the appointment is credited not only to his name (which, of course, shares the same first four letters as the label), but also to his commitment to his art, which fits well with the brand’s DNA.

NETIZE RESPONSE
Leo Wu, who first appeared as a child star, gained recognition for his performance in the historical drama in 2015 Nirvana in Fire. His appearance in recent films such as coming summer and My country, my parentsas well as the TV series Love like the galaxy constant online traffic, which contributed to the turnover of the cooperation. Over 600 Weibo users commented under the campaign post with their order confirmations for the candle.

VERDICT
Luxury groups have taken their partnerships with brand ambassadors to a new level by launching collaborations with them. Last month, Tod’s released a capsule collection with its ambassador Xiao Zhan that sold out in a day across offline and online channels. And now Loewe has seized the opportunity to convert Leo Wu’s social impact into sales. With his support, the company’s fragrance line aims to increase its awareness in the local market.

Tom Ford Beauty announces Chinese actor Bai Jingting as its fragrance ambassador

BRAND Tom Ford beauty
CATEGORY beauty
PLATFORMS WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Tmall, Douyin
MEDIUM picture
SELECTED TALENTS Bai Jingting (33.7 million Weibo followers)

OVERVIEW
On July 12, Tom Ford Beauty named Chinese actor Bai Jingting as the brand’s fragrance ambassador in China. The announcement campaign features the beauty label’s signature perfume White Suede, one of the most popular fragrances in the Chinese market. The brand also introduced an exclusive bonus for online consumers who joined its membership program on Tmall and offered the celebrity’s portrait with his autograph.

NETIZE RESPONSE
With 33.7 million followers on Weibo, Bai Jingting has been cast in the time travel/crime streaming series Reset to default Aired earlier this year, which received widespread acclaim from local audiences. His endorsement drove massive online traffic for the brand, reaching a combined viewership of 60 million for the campaign hashtags on Weibo within 8 hours. Many of his fans spontaneously posted about his partnership with the brand to show their support.

VERDICT
Endorsing famous men has become a magic selling point that many brands find difficult to give up. Compared to androgynous looks in years past, brands are now favoring traditional masculinity in their visual assets. Bai Jingting is one of the faces that fits this shift as he has taken on more ‘masculine’ roles such as that of a police officer you are my hero. As the featured fragrance is a gender neutral fragrance, in the case of Tom Ford Beauty, finding the right face will not only increase fans’ purchasing power, but also inspire more men to become consumers in this space.

C-Beauty brand Florasis is collaborating with designer brand Susan Fang

BRAND Florasis
CATEGORY beauty
PLATFORMS WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Tmall, Douyin
MEDIUM Image, short video, live stream
SELECTED TALENTS Susan Fang (102,000 Weibo followers)

OVERVIEW
To celebrate this year’s Qixi Valentine’s Day, C-beauty brand Florasis has partnered with local designer label Susan Fang to launch a special beauty collection. The collection includes an eyeshadow palette, lipstick and eyebrow pencil, and features pearls as the main element of the Fang-designed packaging. To promote this, the company released a campaign video co-created by photographer Yin Chao and digital art studio Roubit, depicting a virtual pearl land full of romantic mood.

NETIZE RESPONSE
The unexpected collaboration between Florasis and Susan Fang wowed Chinese fashion and beauty lovers. At the time of publication, the campaign hashtag #FlorasisQixiGift had garnered over 12 million views, while the short video was viewed by 32,000 Weibo users thanks to its dreamy and futuristic visuals. Meanwhile, the company used extended reality technology (an umbrella term for augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality) in its live stream channel on Tmall and received 230,000 views as of July 11.

VERDICT
This fashion and beauty collaboration isn’t the first of its kind in the domestic market. For last year’s Qixi Festival, Estée Lauder partnered with local design house Shushu/Tong to release a limited edition beauty gift box. Given that beauty players need to add a sense of novelty to their hero products, collaborating with fashion designers for exclusive packaging has proven to be an effective approach to festival marketing. Known for her ‘fairy’ aesthetic, Susan Fang fits perfectly with Florasis’ beaded Qixi campaign.