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Singles' Day Brand Strategy China

Singles’ Day: which fashion brands garnered the most attention?

By Anja Kielmann, Senior director creative strategies

TD Reply

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November 22, 2022 | 7 min read

Marketing and innovation consultancy TD Reply used Chinese social media data to investigate which fashion brands were able to attract the most buzz on Singles’ Day 2022.

Woman sat on chair facing window

In China, business is booming for domestic fashion brands with the help of Singles’ Day / Anthony Tran via Unsplash

During Singles’ Day in China, the world’s biggest shopping festival, fashion brands do their best to attract consumers’ attention with attractive discounts, spectacular PR stunts and other marketing activities.

The Berlin-based marketing and innovation consultancy TD Reply measures which brands attract the most attention every year on Singles’ Day. The measurement is based on one digital metric: buzz. In other words, this is the number of mentions a brand has in discussions on social media, e-commerce and other online platforms.

A brand’s share of the total buzz for a particular category (such as fashion brands) says a lot about how much attention the brand is able to generate in relation to the competition. This metric can be a good indicator of brand visibility and the effectiveness of marketing activities, particularly in the context of important events like Singles’ Day.

Louis Vuitton successful with boy band as brand ambassadors

The French luxury brand Louis Vuitton clearly won the battle for attention this year. With a 17.1% share of the total buzz, it generated almost twice as much attention during Singles’ Day activities as second-placed Italian luxury shoe and bag specialist Tod’s (9%). Yves Saint Laurent comes in third position (3.6%).

TD Reply specialists attribute much of the buzz generated by Louis Vuitton this year to two activities: the recent opening of the first Louis Vuitton restaurant in China in the city of Chengdu, and the partnership with the boy band Teens in Times, which Louis Vuitton has picked as brand ambassadors. In the Chinese market, partnerships with well-known influencers, the so-called key opinion leaders (KOLs), play a key role.

The communities of leading KOLs – which are much larger than the communities of western influencers – usually respond very positively to the business partnerships of their idols. As a result, these partnerships are among the most important marketing instruments for companies with ambitions in the Chinese market.

It is important to note, however, that Louis Vuitton has been one of the most popular non-Chinese brands in China for years thanks to its good understanding of Chinese cultural codes and sensitivities. In 2020, for example, the Chinese public reacted overwhelmingly positively to Louis Vuitton’s decision to hold the ‘See LV’ exhibition in Wuhan – a comparatively insignificant city in terms of economy (and the probable place of origin of the Covid-19 virus).

Li-Ning gets more attention than Adidas and Nike

Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning lands in a strong fifth place with a buzz share of 3.1%, but drops two positions compared to last year.

It performs considerably better than competitors Adidas (1.3%) and Nike (1%). However, Adidas still manages to garner significantly more attention than last year, when it could only claim a 0.3% share of the total buzz.

JD ahead of Tmall

Somewhat surprisingly, JD.com outperformed its main competitor Tmall.com this year, which is considered to be the most popular Chinese e-commerce platform. JD.com received 43.1% of the share of total buzz with its Singles’ Day promotions, while Tmall.com only gained 24%. Last year, Tmall.com (42.8% at the time) was still narrowly ahead of JD.com (38% at the time).

TD Reply experts in Beijing state that about 20% of JD.com’s buzz can be attributed to social media posts by the popular actor Xiao Zhan, with whom JD.com cooperated this year – again, underscoring the importance of KOLs for generating buzz in China.

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Western brands are still dominant

Our analysis of last year revealed the growing importance of domestic fashion brands in the Chinese market, with four out of the 10 top brands coming from China. The Chinese brand Bosideng, known for its down jackets, also generated the most buzz last year by a wide margin.

This year, only three Chinese brands made it to the top 10. Bosideng dropped from first to 10th position. The first four positions are held by western brands, showing that western brands are still dominant in terms of generating attention from Chinese consumers – in spite of having to navigate increased political pressures in view of deteriorating relations between the west and China.

Singles' Day Brand Strategy China

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TD Reply

TD Reply is a marketing and innovation consultancy that drives change by merging data science and business expertise with creativity. Founded in 1999 at the Technical...

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