7 Examples of Successful WeChat Marketing Campaigns Share: Dragon Social Limited Date Published 26 June 2019 Categories Blog Reading Time 9-Minute Read WeChat Marketing can be a major hassle for overseas companies in China. Look at 7 examples of companies who did it right in this article! Wondering how to get started marketing and China and considering launching a WeChat marketing campaign? If you are running out of ideas or simply don’t know what works best, look no further! Read on to draw inspiration from these 7 WeChat marketing cases we’ve handpicked for you! WeChat Marketing for a Luxury Brand – Burberry Wondering how to utilize digital marketing channels to drive foot traffic to a brick-and-mortar store? or boost in-store purchases? Every luxury brand grapples with this question, yet Burberry seems to have found the answer. In its 2016 CNY WeChat marketing campaign, Burberry sent a photo of a decent cylinder-shaped gift box to its WeChat followers through the app. Fans had to follow the instructions – “Shake, tap and swipe to try and open the gift” to find out what was inside. This fun little interaction was unique and helped it stand out from its competitors. After opening the gift, users would receive a greeting letter from Burberry, which fans could then personalize to send greetings to their loved ones. This is an excellent example of using HTML5 to create unique user experiences and create a positive brand image with social media users. Burberry’s interactive Chinese New Year WeChat marketing campaign WeChat Marketing for A Hotel – THE LINQ When we say WeChat marketing, you are probably thinking of using WeChat Moments & HTML5 like what Burberry did. But what other possibilities are out there? Are there other options that cater to different business models and different industries? (If you don’t know what are the possible channels you could and should use, visit here for a complete WeChat Advertising guide!) Well, WeChat Official Accounts offer plenty of ways for businesses to create a unique marketing strategy. As WeChat has evolved into a Super-App with a range of functions, the ways that businesses can interact with their customers has become essentially limitless. Linq Hotel brought an amazing feature to WeChat users through its IoT connected room suites. By scanning the QR code inside their room, guests were linked to the hotel’s official account, through which they were able to control everything inside the room remotely with only a few taps. You can adjust lighting, air-con temperature and even the volume of the TV through the Hotel’s WeChat official account with ease. Through this unique feature, the hotel was able to attract more followers to its official account (where they could further promote their offerings through targeted messaging, blogs, and updates). This function was able to help the hotel significantly grow its follower base for future marketing efforts. The interface of the control panel Apart from the basic functions, they even offer some installed set programs. For example, if you chose the “sleeping mode”, the lights would turn off, the curtains would close, and the doors would lock with just one tap! Imagine how easy it is for your brand to impress your clients with that! Overall this was an astounding effort in WeChat marketing, that utilized WeChat’s various functions in a truly unique way! The LINQ hotel room with smart IoT system embedded in WeChat WeChat Marketing for Health & Wellness Products – Mead Johnson With the combination of the Sanlu milk powder scandal in 2008 and the abolition of China’s one-child policy, there’s more babies and even greater demand for reliable baby formula products. However, it is absolutely crucial for baby brands to build trust among worried consumers. Mead Johnson’s WeChat marketing campaign really steps into the shoes of Chinese moms. The “360 supermum” campaign it launched was a brand new initiative to build up a team of brand ambassadors. Leveraging the testimonials of satisfied consumers, the brand was able to engage with mothers around China and assure them of the safety of their baby formula “Enfagrow.” Mead Johnson’s 360 Supermom campaign calling on consumers to become its brand ambassadors To truly build up a great brand image among consumers, boosting brand awareness is only a part of the game. Seamless user experience and easily accessible and detailed product information matter just as much. Mead Johnson’s WeChat official account offers an all-in-one platform – offering a loyalty program, brand, and product information, and constantly updated content. All of this served to drastically increase user engagement and bring its brand image to the next level. Johnson Mead’s efforts in WeChat marketing are a clear example of understanding their target audience’s needs. Johnson Mead put all the resources that new mothers need together in one platform, helping mothers with their purchasing decisions and building trust in the brand. The services Mead Johnson’s official account offers include 1) Tracking the product supply chain 2) Verifying product authenticity 3) Professional pediatrician Q&A 3) Product reviews from moms WeChat Marketing for Wine – Fancy Cellar Selling wine using E-Commerce on the WeChat platform can be challenging due to the counterfeiting issues present in China. According to sources, nearly 70% of all wine in China is fake. Chinese consumers are looking for quality foreign goods that they can trust, and are gradually turning to E-commerce to meet these demands. Fancy Cellar earned the trust of its consumers by educating them on the nuances of wine and spirits. Fancy Cellar operates a successful WeChat shop that provides an easy and reliable platform for consumers to purchase legitimate brand name wines and spirits. Through providing useful content that was highly shareable, they were able to build up trust in their brand, acquire new followers, and drive sales with a limited budget. This is a great example of using high-quality content to power your WeChat marketing strategy. Fancy Cellar WeChat Shop WeChat Marketing for Cosmetics – OLAY There’s no shortage of WeChat marketing examples in this particular industry as cosmetics brands spend an enormous amount of money on social media in China. This is especially true during the holiday seasons. Chinese New Year has always been the best time for brands to drive user engagement as nearly everyone is active on social media during the holiday period. Offering a creative way to help users send out their blessings to their beloved ones can never go wrong, as can be seen in this example from Olay. During the Chinese Year New Year, Olay launched a campaign that allows users to send electronic personalized greeting cards titled “Receive Red Envelopes on Horseback”. “Receive Red Envelopes on Horseback” WeChat marketing campaign by OLAY In order to get instructions for uploading pictures that contain specialized messages for the receiver, the users had to reply “HK” to Olay on WeChat. Once completed, it allowed the user to create customized cards that could be shared on any social media platforms for distribution to the users’ families and friends. WeChat Marketing for Cultural Heritage – The Forbidden City The key to promoting a historical theme to millennials is to break the stereotypical impression of something being “outdated and boring”. The Forbidden City achieved a good result by helping the younger generation relate to historical figures through humor and creativity. Campaign co-launched by The Next Idea and Forbidden City The Forbidden City, one of the most popular attractions in China’s capital city of Beijing, launched a WeChat marketing campaign to promote The Next Idea, a creative competition launched by its cooperative partner Tencent. The theme of the contest that year was to let the contestants design funny WeChat emojis using historical figures who had lived in the Forbidden City. To infuse fun elements into the WeChat marketing campaign, The Forbidden City launched an H5 landing page featuring Emperor Zhu, the Ming Dynasty emperor who ordered the construction of the Forbidden City. In the webpage, the ancient emperor acts like a teenager singing rap, taking funny selfies, and posting on his WeChat Moments. The H5 WeChat page quickly went viral on the internet. Screenshots from the WeChat H5 Landing Page Campaign The Forbidden City’s WeChat marketing campaign targeted the right audience: young and creative users likely to sign up for the contest. It also has a clear call to action which takes the audience directly to the Next Idea website. The campaign gained massive traction and was wildly successful in attracting users. WeChat Marketing for Beverage Chain – Starbucks For beverage chains like Starbucks, driving consumers to physical stores is their ultimate business goal, and one of the most efficient ways to achieve that was to distribute store coupons. With WeChat Pay becoming one of the most popular payment methods in the country distributing coupons has never been easier! During the Christmas Season, Starbucks launched a WeChat moments advertising campaign featuring its limited-edition Christmas themed red coffee mugs in a short video. Users were presented with a Starbucks Christmas special coupon after they clicked inside the ad. The coupon was automatically transferred into the users WeChat wallet for use instantaneously. Clicking the ad (left) and you will receive a 10RMB Christmas special coupon As a result, The Starbucks’ WeChat marketing campaign was so well-received that users played the video ad an average of 4.9 times each, and 50% of the coupons were redeemed! Conclusion – Make Your Next WeChat Marketing Campaign a Winning One All these successful cases show the many possibilities brands have available with WeChat marketing. If you decide to use WeChat for your next big China marketing campaign, you’ll need to be creative to achieve success. With a completely local Chinese social media like WeChat, deep knowledge of the local culture and the ability to differentiate yourself from your competitors is a must! We hope these cases gave you some inspiration for your future WeChat marketing efforts! Dragon Social is a China Digital Marketing Agency dedicated to providing expert solutions to businesses around the world! Our team of professionals will take a deep dive into your business and determine the optimal channels and strategies for promoting your business in China. If you want your business to outshine your competitors and achieve success like the companies featured in these WeChat marketing cases, be sure to Contact Us for a free consultation. If you would like to receive more information or get notified when we create new content like this, Subscribe to Our Newsletter for future updates straight to your mailbox!