Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Claudia C. | Delivered August 29, 2019

China Influencer Marketing Analysis

Goals

To understand how brands in China are using influencer marketing in their marketing mix and succeeding at growing their business in order to facilitate a marketing deck preparation.

Early Findings

Influencer marketing is a huge market in China, with market size of between $8.6 billion and $17.49 billion (15.8 billion euros).
Brands in China are increasing their influencer marketing budget because they are seeing a bigger return on investment from the marketing.|
A survey of Chinese brands found that "72% of brands interviewed in China indicated that they would continue to focus on social media marketing, while 63% revealed they would enhance their collaboration with influencers in terms of product or brand promotion because they believe in the ROI (Return on Investment) of influencer marketing."
One of the reasons influencer marketing is huge in China is because "people are wary of official information outlets, weary of standard media advertising and carry wide suspicions of business following repeated food and product safety scandals." People tend to believe 
China's influencers are generally known as Key Opinion Leaders (KOL's) and one of the most popular KOL's is "Becky Li who partnered with American fashion house Rebecca Minkoff to promote a limited edition purse." 
Becky Li also partnered with British auto-maker Mini and helped the "brand sell 100 of the brand’s special edition vehicle to her followers in five minutes."
Gucci is another brand that has successfully tapped into the power of influencer marketing in China. The company influencer marketing campaign includes a well-received "virtual influencer campaign on WeChat last summer. Titled, “Why Are You Scared of Me?”, the campaign features an AI-powered robot created in a Japanese lab, who takes on the persona of 23-year-old “Erica,” dressed head to toe in the Italian fashion house’s latest clothing collection."
Another Gucci influencer marketing engagement in China includes "one short video on Weibo from fashion and beauty blogger, @大佬甜er, who included a Gucci bag in her top recommendations for spring buys, along with a product giveaway."
 On Xiaohongshu, Gucci was also "mentioned in a post by @深夜徐老师 who writes lighthearted, comedic posts on the fashion trends of China’s young celebrities and wanghong. The post received more than 4,500 likes, more than 700 comments, and more than 2,800 favorites."