A Guide To Luxury Fashion Advertising in China

International Brand Strategy

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The majority of the luxury fashion brands in China are of European origin. This means that they are international brands and their advertising will reflect this. Due to the international nature of these brands, many advertising images in China look very similar to their western counterparts.

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• Western celebrities, who are often internationally known, are heavily featured in advertisements, as can be seen in the images to the left.

• It is rare to see Chinese models used in advertisements for luxury fashion brands, even for brands of Chinese origin. In fact, the majority of models used are Caucasian. One possible explanation for this is the wealthy target audience and the Chinese notion that imported products are more sophisticated. This is a very complex issue and a deeper discussion on the matter can be found here.

• In China, if a brand wants to be seen as modern and luxurious, it will use both Chinese and English language.

• It is more difficult for Chinese luxury fashion brands to break into the market becuase they don't have the same brand equity as western brands.

  • Because of this, Chinese designers use advertising to promote the quality of their goods.

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Advertising and Creativity

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A brand's advertisements must stand out to be noticed, especially in cities as saturated as Beijing and Shanghai.

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• Content is key. For example, in an interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific, Dirk Eschenbacher of luxury hotel-booking site Zanadu talks about the need for luxury brands to generate substantial content. Eschenbacher's team includes 10 full-time writers who generate content and share it via social media.

• Publicis Shanghai believes that creativity comes from interacting with consumers. This allows them to "Lead the Change," as they say. When referring to advertising creativity, Publicis believes "if you are not leading the change, the change will lead you."

• JWT Beijing believes in creating ideas people want to spend time with. People generally don't have time for advertising, but when they connect with an idea, they will want to spend time with the brand. This leads to brand loyalty.