Tag: China

Beijing, China – Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency under WPP’s GroupM, has been awarded integrated media duties for smart short-distance transportation and robotics company Segway-Ninebot in China. This partnership will be led out of the agency’s Beijing and Shanghai offices.

In 2015, Segway-Ninebot was formed in a strategic merger and acquisition by Ninebot. As a global enterprise in the fields of intelligent short-distance transportation and service robots, Segway-Ninebot’s perspective and mission are to simplify the movement of people and things and make life more convenient. The company’s extensive product line includes electric self-balancing scooters, electric kickscooters, electric mopeds, electric gokarts, and all-terrain vehicles and service robots, catering to various aspects of life, from daily commute to entertainment and point-to-point delivery.

As part of the mandate, Essence’s scope of work includes strategy, creative, content innovation, media planning, and media activation for all of Segway-Ninebot’s products in the market. Additionally, Essence’s first initiatives with Segway-Ninebot include the launch of an integrated brand campaign and tagline, as well as a partnership with Chinese celebrity Jackson Yee as the brand’s global spokesperson to reach out to consumers across generations. 

Essence said that the communications plan, covering strategy, creative, media, and content marketing would propel Segway-Ninebot’s awareness and generated positive discussions amongst audiences across platforms since its launch in the early third quarter, effectively positioning the company as a breakout brand in the market.

Benjamin Wei, Essence’s CEO for China, commented that they are greatly excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with Segway-Ninebot to make the brand more valuable to consumers.

“With our full-service media offering, strategic and creative expertise, as well as cutting-edge use of data and technology, we look forward to helping Segway-Ninebot create new innovations to meet the evolving demands of modern transportation, and drive enhanced growth for the brand and business in the market,” said Wei.

Most recently, Essence has also been appointed as the integrated media agency of record by online restaurant company Rebel Foods in India. The agency’s scope of work includes strategy, analytics, media planning, and media activation for the internet restaurant company’s brand marketing activities.

Hong Kong – As part of observing the ‘920 National Dental Care Day’, one of P&G’s toothpaste brands Crest has launched a week-long campaign to further promote a healthy dental care lifestyle, and advocating the belief that daily dental protection is the key to healthier teeth.

Crest has launched a brand platform called ‘Great Crest Protection, Greater Smiles’ for the campaign, alongside a campaign film, which strategically depicts three families of different backgrounds and ages to show how Crest is the enabler of their healthy yet ordinary day-to-day lives.

The film features a young family of three, a couple, and a family of three generations, each bringing to life the belief that we are all born with beautiful smiles, but the confidence to smile needs to be encouraged.

In addition, through a series of activations, the brand partnered with Local Chinese channel CCTV and hosted an open class on public awareness of oral health. The film was also distributed on digital platforms such as Weibo and TikTok. As a result, the campaign transformed the public’s attitude towards dental care to prevention rather than solution, whilst also reshaping Crest’s brand image to ‘all-around oral protection’. 

Joe Yue, creative partner at GREY Hong Kong, said, “I love Crest’s new brand proposition. The brand draws insights from real-life matters and illustrates the relationship between being born with smiles and being encouraged to smile. Crest also provides the right emotional value for its target consumer group. Because of better dental protection, we can have the confidence to smile, breaking through traditional barriers through strong brand empathy.”

Meanwhile, Shannon Li, vice president of oral health for Greater China at P&G China, commented, “Consumers’ oral health awareness and practices are improving. This year, Crest is furthering this movement by introducing a new line of products for dental care with the aim of bringing more protection and more smiles.”

China – Regional e-commerce giant Shopee has reportedly cut more jobs, this time in the Chinese market, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

The recent layoffs in China follows recent reported layoffs from Shopee in Singapore, Indonesia, and in Latin America.

According to SCMP, the layoffs are to optimise operating efficiency with the goal of achieving self-sufficiency across Shopee’s business. In addition, they will be extending support to their affected colleagues during this transition.

However, the report didn’t mention how much of Shopee China’s workforce are impacted.

It should be recalled that Shopee’s parent company Sea has also announced that it is shutting some of its projects and downsizing staff in Garena and Sea Labs.

Shopee is one of the latest tech companies to announce employee layoffs, including Netflix, Snap, Oracle, and Hootsuite.

Shanghai, China – Data and measurement-driven media agency Essence has been appointed by fast moving consumer goods company Liby as its integrated media partner in China. The remit includes consulting, strategy, content innovation, media planning and media activation for all of Liby’s brand and performance marketing activities across the market.

Liby joins Essence’s rapidly growing portfolio of clients, including Chang’an Ford, Crocs, GAC Motor, Google, Hermès, UPS and War Horse, across its Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai offices.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Guangzhou, Liby is a leading enterprise in the Chinese daily chemical industry with a mission to bring health and happiness to every family. Through nine production bases, over 30 branches and more than 10,000 employees across the country, Liby offers various products for fabric washing and care, tableware cleaning and oral care, with brands such as Liby, Kispa and BlueSky Liu Bi Zhi.

Benjamin Wei, CEO at Essence China, said, “It is imperative for brands to be ready for the challenges of communicating with consumers in today’s complex, competitive and ever-changing media ecosystem. With Essence’s full-service media offering, defined by an approach to strategy, analytics and creativity grounded in data, and dedicated to delivering value through innovation, we are excited to partner with Liby to create value for its brands by creating value for its consumers.”

He added, “Supported by our next-generation tools, technology, and data-driven service model that enables smarter and more efficient decision-making, we are looking forward to helping Liby transform its approach to marketing and achieve its business goals in its next phase of growth.”

Shanghai, China – Beverage company Coca-Cola has launched a new summer campaign with offline and online experiences. Called ‘Share a Coke’, the campaign is available in Mainland China, Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong.

Developed in partnership with Ogilvy Shanghai under OpenX, WPP’s bespoke team dedicated to Coca-Cola globally, the summer campaign aims to turn every Coke bottle into a connection point for friends to engage and create magical shared memories wherever they are, something deeply important for digital natives.

Tapping into the insight that local Gen Z shoppers particularly enjoy the thrill that comes with surprises, Coca-Cola, alongside Ogilvy Shanghai, has created a limited-edition Coca-Cola ‘Summer Get-Together’ Bottle, with labels that transform as your drink to provide Coke lovers with hundreds of fun scenarios to enjoy the summer with their friends.

The activations also extended online to further facilitate connections through two interactive mobile games, including a WeChat-embedded game, which allows participants to shuffle their phones and generate a social poster with summer activity ideas. They can also tag their friends to meet up offline and share a Coke together. Another interactive mobile game is the ‘Metaverse Music Festival’, which uses a metaverse-inspired 3D-fication of avatars, 3D gameplay experience and a chained ‘share-challenge’ mechanism.

Tapping into the insight that local Gen Z shoppers particularly enjoy the thrill that comes with surprises, Coca-Cola, alongside Ogilvy Shanghai, has created a limited-edition Coca-Cola ‘Summer Get-Together’ Bottle, with labels that transform as your drink to provide Coke lovers with hundreds of fun scenarios to enjoy the summer with their friends.

The activations also extended online to further facilitate connections through two interactive mobile games, including a WeChat-embedded game, which allows participants to shuffle their phones and generate a social poster with summer activity ideas. They can also tag their friends to meet up offline and share a Coke together. Another interactive mobile game is the ‘Metaverse Music Festival’, which uses a metaverse-inspired 3D-fication of avatars, 3D gameplay experience and a chained ‘share-challenge’ mechanism. 

When entering the game, users are invited to customise their avatar and choose one of four scenarios to music-battle their friends. Played just by finger tapping, each gameplay is rewarded with special lucky draw coupons, with the added excitement of out-dancing friends over the summer. As players invite their peers to join the challenge through social sharing, their avatars will all appear on stage at the same time – a way to foster connection even in the virtual world. 

Elsa Gu, Coca-Cola’s Senior Creative Manager for Greater China and Mongolia, said, “Coca-Cola has always been a beacon for connection, and this year more than ever, we wanted to bring the real magic of summer to life by inviting consumers to unlock fun activities and celebrate moments of shared happiness with friends around their favourite drink through a range of offline and online story doing experiences, as well as interactive meetups in the metaverse.”

Meanwhile, Ole Luk, Coca-Cola category lead of OpenX in China, commented, “We are uniquely placed to help clients create impact in the current macroeconomic landscape through the cross-capability OpenX team setup. This campaign is a fantastic example of the power of borderless creativity in producing work that generates stronger bonds between the brand and its target audience.”

Coca-Cola said that the entire campaign was amplified on social, as Ogilvy produced short humour-filled videos that went viral on Weibo and Douyin, generating over 140 million impressions.

Guangzhou, China – China-based automobile company GAC Motor has awarded its integrated media agency of record duties to full-service media agency Essence, led out of the agency’s Guangzhou office in China.

Essence China’s scope of work includes brand strategy, integrated media planning and activation, and creative development and production, covering all of GAC Motor’s sedans, sport utility vehicles, multi-purpose vehicles, and new energy electric vehicles across its international business, including in SEA, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Moreover, Essence and GAC Motor will be launching new car models such as GS4 and GS8 in the Middle East and Latin America, as well as establishing a global strategic partnership between GAC Motor and Chilean football club Colo-Colo, resulting in GAC Motor becoming the first Chinese car brand to make an appearance in the Copa Libertadores. In addition to developing new innovations in media and communications in the automobile industry, Essence will also be helping grow GAC Motor’s brand and business through multi-dimensional, cross-industry initiatives.

GAC Motor is devoted to the production and sales of world-class vehicles, engines, automobile components, and car accessories, as well as research and development of automobile engineering technology. Its overseas distribution spans 26 countries across five regions, and strategic plans are in place for further development globally.

Benjamin Wei, CEO of Essence China, noted that as a new generation full-service media agency with a pioneering use of analytics, technology and creativity, Essence is committed to helping companies in China accelerate their data-driven marketing transformation and business growth, both locally and globally.

“In the post-pandemic era, there is strong growth potential for GAC Motor’s outbound business in international markets. We are honoured to have the opportunity to partner with GAC Motor on its journey to further expand globally and help create its next generation of business to achieve its growth goals,” said Wei.

In May 2022, Essence has also been awarded digital media duties by automotive manufacturing company Chang’an Ford in China. Led from Essence’s Shanghai office, the agency’s remit includes media planning, media activation and content innovation for digital brand and performance marketing activities across Chang’an Ford’s automobile business, covering all its vehicles and dealers in the market.

Shanghai, China – Brand experience agency Uniplan in China has announced key leadership appointments, led by Sonny Shen, currently managing director of Uniplan Shanghai, adding responsibility as managing director of Uniplan China. In addition, Gordon Wang, currently managing director of Uniplan Beijing, has been appointed as chief growth officer of Uniplan China.

Shen will work with leaders across Beijing and Shanghai offices to lead the transformation and growth of the agency’s China business. Meanwhile, Wang will continue to manage the Beijing office’s client business and lead the agency’s new business development in China. 

Both will report to Christian Zimmermann, chairman and group CEO at Uniplan directly.

Wang said, “I am delighted to take on this new role in this phase of our China transformation. As the China market changes rapidly, the new team enables us to meet the changing requirements of our clients for cross-channel brand experiences along the entire customer journey. We’ll leverage the joint efforts from Beijing and Shanghai offices to achieve sustained growth.”

Meanwhile, Shen said, “We are a well-defined, unified creative network that brings together as many experts, capabilities, and ideas as possible in pursuit of creating exceptional brand experiences. Our clients are increasingly looking for the right strategic partners who can understand the needs of their business to help them deliver sustainable brand growth at scale. I look forward to the new challenge and working with Gordon and Robert to unlock new pathways for success.”

In addition, Robert Paschen has joined Uniplan as executive creative director of Uniplan China to reinforce the creative team and enhance creative effectiveness. He is based in Shanghai and reports to Sonny Shen.

“I’m excited to be joining Uniplan. The post-pandemic landscape in China presents greater opportunities for us to enhance our creative capabilities and create more integrated and inspiring brand experiences, delivered in the most engaging and impactful ways. I’m also looking forward to collaborating with this talented team and creating meaningful work that truly memorable moments for audiences across China,” Paschen said.

Speaking about the appointments, Zimmerman said, “I’m very grateful to have Sonny and Gordon stepping up and take on the new roles, and welcome Robert to join our family. The new structure will form a new One China Team with an even higher integrated service portfolio and a broader consulting offering to further drive innovation. We are confident that under the leadership with Sonny and Gordon, the new team will drive the next chapter of our growth and transformation journey and unlock the tremendous opportunities emerging in the fast-evolving Chinese market.”

Shanghai, China – China’s FMCG conglomerate, MasterKong Beverage, has reappointed media agency Mindshare China as its agency of record. The win, which will see Mindshare China provide media planning and buying services for the beverages business, further cements the agency’s already eight-year strong relationship with MasterKong.

According to MasterKong Beverage, Mindshare China’s advanced proprietary media tools, integrated strategic offering, and dynamic and diverse talent offerings were impressive. Furthermore, MasterKong Beverage has highlighted Mindshare China’s global leading creativity, which has seen its work in partnership with the agency awarded three Gold, two Silver and two Bronze in the first half of 2022 at globally recognised shows.

Angie Liu, director of MasterKong Beverage, said, “MasterKong Beverage’s products and marketing never cease to continue innovating, futureproofing the brand’s popularity with young consumers. We look forward to continuing our cohesive and collaborative partnership with Mindshare China to create further industry-leading work. We wish Mindshare China congratulations on their success.”

Meanwhile, Benjamin Condit, Mindshare China’s CEO, commented, “Our eight-year relationship with MasterKong Beverage’s business has grown from strength to strength, and we are grateful for the opportunity to take this relationship to new heights as we drive good growth through industry innovation together.” 

Jessica Zhang, Mindshare China’s chief client officer, noted, “As one of China’s most prominent FMCG brands, MasterKong Beverage is an industry leader in both its product and marketing offers. From their Iced Tea helping to break through norms to He Kai Shui’s innovative heritage, MasterKong continues to drive impactful marketing. It is a great honour for the team to continue as MasterKong’s chosen growth partner and we look forward to the many chapters ahead.”

Beijing, China – Integrated communications agency WE Red Bridge has been appointed by Cytel, the provider of statistical software and advanced analytics for clinical trial design and execution, as its communications agency of record in China. The appointment, which will be led by Martin Xu, WE Red Bridge’s director of technology, comes at a time of significant growth for the agency.

As part of the remit, WE Red Bridge will be supporting Cytel’s launch in China, and handling stakeholder engagement and media relations activities. The agency will also be bolstering the company’s position as a statistical innovation leader in the biopharma clinical research sector through thought leadership and experiential programs. In addition, WE Red Bridge will be supporting Cytel’s initiatives in complex and adaptive designs, as well as expanding the industry-leading East and Solara platforms for clinical trial strategy and design.

Jing Ping Yeo, Cytel’s vice president and head of APAC, noted that Cytel’s mission is to help biotech and pharmaceutical leaders unlock the power of data to solve their toughest problems and make evidence-driven decisions with confidence.

“WE Red Bridge’s emphasis on data-driven intelligence and extensive media relations experience makes the agency an ideal partner for introducing Cytel to the Chinese market,” said Yeo.

Meanwhile, Tony Zhang, general manager of Beijing and head of corporate at WE Red Bridge, said, “The intersection of health and technology is at the centre of the global pandemic response, and we have seen how quickly the ecosystem must adapt to change. Martin and his team bring the expertise, strategy and nuance necessary for today’s complex healthtech needs. We look forward to helping Cytel accelerate its growth in China.”

Earlier this year, WE Red Bridge has also been appointed by automotive brand McLaren in China as its communications agency of record. This appointment will see WE Red Bridge supporting the automaker’s growth in China by increasing brand equity and exposure in the country.

Shanghai, China – China’s kid’s clothing label, Balabala, has partnered with advertising agency Ogilvy Shanghai, to launch its new official brand ambassador, Gu Yu, a one-of-a-kind virtual child influencer. This latest move is part of Balabala’s brand rejuvenation journey, shifting away from the traditional fashion marketing playbook in favour of innovative, tech-infused activations that resonate with the new generation of digital-native parents.

Gu Yu, which translates literally as ‘grain rain’, takes her name from the eponymous Chinese lunar calendar festival on 20 April, signalling a rise in temperatures and the arrival of heavy rainfalls essential for good crop growth – a symbolic nod to Balabala’s belief in promoting children’s free growth and self-expression. 

To bring Gu Yu to life, Ogilvy Shanghai has conducted extensive target consumer research and analyzed data sets of children’s faces that were then aggregated into a 3D rendering software to create an initial prototype. The creative technology team then used a suite of AI and 3D modelling tools to further refine her facial features including eye shape, hair thickness, and skin texture, and animate the virtual influencer in various scenarios as she explores her passions.

First introduced to the world on the social commerce app Xiaohongshu, Gu Yu doubles up as an independent fashion blogger, connecting with fans through regular short-form content that documents her life as an influencer, such as sharing behind the scenes of upcoming promotional videos and introducing some of the most recent clothing item releases from Balabala, alongside real-life child models or in the form of NFT digital collectibles.

In this first phase of a multi-dimensional strategic repositioning campaign for Balabala, Gu Yu acts as a modern companion of real-life children with their unique passions and lifestyles by showcasing a variety of outfit styles, inspiring kids to express themselves freely through fashion.

Thomas Zhu, group executive creative director at Ogilvy Shanghai, shared that bringing Gu Yu to life has been an incredibly exciting creative journey, from the very early research and conceptualization stages where they defined her key traits, facial features and personality all the way to technology implementation and agile social content creation. 

“As one of the first virtual influencers for a childrenswear brand created in China, Gu Yu is a testament to Balabala’s commitment to digital innovation and positions the brand as a true metaverse pioneer in the kids’ fashion category. We look forward to seeing her interact with fans over the next few months in novel, exciting ways,” said Zhu.

Meanwhile, on e-commerce, Balabala took the launch of these new modern silhouettes up a notch to release a limited-edition ‘meta dress’ NFT piece, which 1000 lucky customers could get their hands on by shopping on the brand’s flagship store or by using their loyalty points. Gu Yu’s presence will not be limited to China’s top social media and commerce platforms. Soon she will be at the heart of new phygital experiences, where digital and physical boundaries will blend in to deepen customer interactions – from walking down the runway at Balabala’s offline fashion shows to co-hosting in-store brand events, fans will be able to connect with Gu Yu way beyond their smartphone screens.