These global brands have built outstanding localization strategies in China by rethinking their marketing offers and tailoring content to their regional consumers.
China is a complex and diverse market, where brand-conscious consumers dominate luxury purchases. Yet, personal consumption expenditures are wildly different. And still, most international brands employ a homogenous marketing strategy in China.
“The Chinese market is very interesting for many companies that want to go global,” says Marketing to China. “But while this huge market presents huge commercial opportunities, entry into China poses its own unique set of localization challenges.”
Some global brands like Louis Vuitton, Burberry, and Gucci have built outstanding localization strategies by rethinking their marketing offers and tailoring their content to the experiences their regional consumers prefer. But not all global brands have curated their content according to regional needs yet. Let’s look at the Western brands that are already resonating with Chinese consumers.
1. Gucci
According to Vogue Business, the search volume for Gucci increased ahead of the Lunar New Year, and the brand’s New Year’s collaboration with Japanese manga character Doraemon generated a serious buzz.
Opinions on the campaign were divided. Several netizens left rave reviews. However, the more skeptical ones lamented the move as a “lazy” marketing trick, Jing Daily’s Wenzhuo Wu reports. Despite the mixed reactions, Gucci succeeded at word-of-mouth marketing, confirming that nostalgic branding is still an effective marketing tactic.
During the year, Gucci maintained its relevance through a smart digital strategy and a targeted localization strategy. And its focus on lower-tier cities has allowed the Kering-owned brand to expand its product offering. The Business of Fashion reports that Kering’s strategy for China “is to tap on the network it’s already created in top-tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing while opening new stores in so-called tier 2 cities.”
Gucci also launched on the Little Red Book and the short video app Douyin, where it engaged a younger and more diversified demographic. Moreover, Gucci got quite a buzz with its “apple of my eye” collection, released for the Qixi Festival. And while the Qixi capsule collection could have spelled disaster for the brand, the promotional video that showcased a friendship blossoming into teen love saved the day. Continue to read the full article here
