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Dior Flowers for Dior Fragrances.

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Grasse at the heart of Dior Fragrances – Film 360°

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You climb to the top of the mountain and smash some ice to reveal the perfume.

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With the Alchemist you can create your own signature scent over an online call, which you can then repurchase for a reduced cost.

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This private online session will allow you to discover in detail each of the 34 scents that make up The Alchemist Atelier scent library and see how easy it is to design perfumes from home with the Scent Creator.

To allow you to enjoy this creative process, we will deliver to you the Discovery Kit, a set of 34 samples in 3 ml bottles designed to let you smell all the ingredients that make up our library of cartridges while you discover the different olfactory families.

Armed with this knowledge, you just have to trust your intuition to adjust the proportions of each ingredient with our app, thereby producing a unique creation.
How does it work?
1. You will receive the Discovery Kit and one of our perfumers will contact you to schedule an online workshop.

2. During the workshop, the perfumer will guide you through the learning process, although thanks to our exclusive app, you will be the one designing your own formula.

3. The perfumer will create the fragrance using his Scent Creator and you will receive your perfume at home.

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This private online session will allow you to discover in detail each of the 34 scents that make up The Alchemist Atelier scent library and see how easy it is to design perfumes from home with the Scent Creator.

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Sephora is going to have a virtual beauty event

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Sephora is going to have a virtual beauty event

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exciting 3-D game-like environment

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Retailer brings back its in-person beauty event from a few years ago for a virtual, game-like experience that highlights its store brand Sephora Collection in spots.

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You can use the app to try on lipstick  shades and purchase them.

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You can use the app to try on lipstick  shades and purchase them.

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Qatar Airways connects to over 140 destinations worldwide and offers excellent services to its passengers. The airline makes sure that every passenger has a pleasant experience flying with them. It flies across the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, North and South America. The airlines started in 1997 and quickly became one of the top favourites among travellers. The business class and first-class seats are luxurious, classy and stunning. It guarantees a wonderful flight experience and is considered as the best airline in the world for all the right reasons.

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Qantas Airways is another one of the oldest and the best airlines in the world. It was founded in 1920 and has grown to become Australia's largest international and domestic airline. Qantas also has flyer miles, which is called Flight Credit, that can be used to avail discounts or cover the cost of the air ticket. Their in-flight dining and entertainment options are yet another reason why it is still one of the top 10 airlines in the world.

Most of these airlines are a tad expensive compared to other airlines, but it is worth every penny spent. After all, you can't put a price tag on comfort and luxury. All of the airlines take up special precautions and follow all safety regulations to ensure that the passengers reach their destination safe and sound. Loyal customers make the most of the flyer miles or loyalty points to get discounts and seat upgrades. If you fly during the right season, you might also get tickets at a lesser cost.

Visit InterMiles to book your flights for yourself and your loved ones and earn miles. You can earn InterMiles when you book flights across multiple airlines not just in India but worldwide. These miles when accumulated can get you free flights and lot more. This will directly help you save costs when you fly!

For Flights, Hotel Booking, Shopping, and other lifestyle needs, download the InterMiles App on Google PlayStore and iTunes

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Qantas Airways is another one of the oldest and the best airlines in the world. It was founded in 1920 and has grown to become Australia's largest international and domestic airline. Qantas also has flyer miles, which is called Flight Credit, that can be used to avail discounts or cover the cost of the air ticket.

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From the data gathered, Sephora saw that 70% of customers who visited the retailer's website before heading to a store to make a purchase did so within 24 hours and that more than half of these website visitors were on mobile.

This allowed Sephora to gain a better view of the customer journey, and also the impact of its digital marketing efforts - namely that online advertising was driving in-store purchases. In fact, when in-store sales were included in the path to purchase, Sephora saw a 3.9X higher return on ad spend (ROAS), and a 3X increase in conversion rates from its digital ads. What's more, the retailer found that if customers visited the Sephora website less than one day prior to purchase, there was a 13% uplift in their in-store order values on average.

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Sephora "spent under $100 million on advertising in digital, print, and national TV in the last year. They invest in premium ad units and advertised on over 250 different Media Properties in the last year across multiple Media formats. Sephora USA launched and advertised 8 new products in the past twelve months."(Sephora USA, 2021)

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Sephora USA is part of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA. They spent under $100 million on advertising in digital, print, and national TV in the last year. They invest in premium ad units and advertised on over 250 different Media Properties in the last year across multiple Media formats. Sephora USA launched and advertised 8 new products in the past twelve months.

We have 41 people on file in marketing roles at Sephora USA, and 10 at their agencies.

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Sephora USA | Advertising Profile | See Their Ad Spend! | MediaRadar

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Sephora USA’s advertising profile, including ad spend, recent creative, company contacts, & the analysis you need to reach key decision makers and generate more business.

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Mat Hayward / Stringer/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Sephora's general target market is higher-income women, but the stores are cleverly designed to break down the target market into smaller segments. Sephora tries to appeal to women who value quality and are willing to pay for it.

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Mat Hayward / Stringer/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images Sephora's general target market is higher-income women, but the stores are cleverly designed to break down the target market into smaller segments. Sephora tries to appeal to women who value quality and are willing to pay for it.

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Founded in France by Dominique Mandonnaud in 1969.
Belongs to the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy ( LVMH ) group, the largest luxury group in the world and is present in 34 countries, spread across Europe, the Middle East, America and Asia.

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Fondée en France par Dominique Mandonnaud, en 1969, Sephora a rapidement acquis une réputation d'expert de la beauté.

En créant un modèle inspiré du self-service, il a développé une offre sophistiquée mettant en avant le meilleur de la beauté, tout en la rendant accessible à tous.

Son modèle de distribution avant-gardiste a révolutionné l'expérience shopping, faisant de Sephora la destination beauté par excellence. Avec un assortiment inégalé de plus de 250 marques et 16000 produits, il permet à sa clientèle d'avoir accès aussi bien aux marques de luxe qu'aux marques de niche dans des magasins où elle est libre de les toucher, sentir et tester.

L'enseigne se montre résolument tournée vers l'innovation avec la marque Sephora Collection, qui démocratise les nouvelles tendances beauté avec une gamme de produits toujours plus à la pointe.

Ses équipes d'experts conseil, véritables professionnelles de la beauté, assurent, par leur énergie et leur enthousiasme, un service d'exception pour mieux vous satisfaire et vous placer au cœur de la beauté : leçons de maquillage, conseils en soins, choix d'un parfum, elles vous aideront à vivre pleinement votre expérience beauté !

Aujourd'hui, Sephora appartient au groupe Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy ( LVMH), le plus grand groupe de luxe au monde et est présent dans 34 pays, répartis entre l'Europe, le Moyen-Orient, l'Amérique et l'Asie.
Et depuis 1999, pour que chacun puisse accéder à l'univers Sephora quel que soit l'heure ou le lieu, Sephora est aussi disponible en ligne avec un portail de 17 sites de vente en ligne accessibles en 10 langues différentes.

Enfin, Sephora encourage les choix audacieux dans la beauté comme dans la vie. Les engagements de l'enseigne, réunis sous le programme " Sephora Stands ", contribuent à développer les prises d'initiatives qui sont à la fois socialement et environnementalement responsables. A travers ce programme, SEPHORA et ses collaborateurs partagent, ensemble, un engagement commun visant à augmenter leur impact social positif.

Si vous souhaitez en savoir plus sur l'univers de Sephora, ses valeurs, et la vie de l'entreprise rendez-vous sur notre site carrière.

Pour trouver le magasin Sephora le plus proche de chez vous, ses coordonnées, ses horaires d'ouverture et les services qu'il propose, accédez à notre rubrique Magasins.

Si vous avez des questions ou suggestions vous pouvez également nous contacter. C'est en nous basant sur vos remarques que nous travaillons jour après jour à l'amélioration de votre expérience chez Sephora !

Nos emballages peuvent faire l'objet de consignes de tri : www.consignesdetri.fr.

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After a Sephora employee in California apparently racially profiled celebrity singer and songwriter SZA, who blasted the brand on social media, Sephora swiftly decided to close down all operations for an hour today so that employees can receive inclusion and diversity training.

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PR Fail? Sephora Denies Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reasons

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If you are following the crisis communications playbook, you know that taking swift, deliberate and public action to right a wrong is enough to not only mitigate a brand's crisis-it can even flip the narrative and earn that brand new followers.

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Lori Loughlin was indicted on charges related to bribing their kids into schools like USC. Loughlin’s daughter, known online as Olivia Jade, was a mega-influencer and beauty guru with at the time 2,000,000 subscribers.

Sephora pulled its collaborate products with Olivia Jade and made a statement immediately that it would no longer be working with her.

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What happens when influencer marketing goes south?

When the recent college admissions scandal broke out, where a group, including Fuller House's Lori Loughlin was indicted on charges related to bribing their kids into schools like USC, it didn't seem, on the surface, to affect the marketing world. But as soon as it was made known that Loughlin's daughter, known online as Olivia Jade, was a mega-influencer, that changed.

Olivia Jade is a beauty guru on YouTube and is known for her tutorials and lifestyle content. At the height of her channel, she was incredibly well known, and as of April 2019 had almost 2,000,000 subscribers. One of the ways she monetized her channel was by lucrative brand partnerships with companies like Sephora.

When the scandal broke out, Sephora could have easily found itself in hot water. But the business acted fast. It pulled its collaborate products with Olivia Jade and made a statement immediately that it would no longer be working with her.

This was a big moment for Sephora which works often with influencers. The way it handled the situation brings a few lessons to learn.

Act with haste. Making a snap judgement the day you hear news may lead you to make the wrong decision, but you shouldn't let things drag on, either. If Sephora had waited a month before ending its partnership, it would have made it seem like it was just bending to public pressure.

Remember your company values when choosing influencers. Olivia Jade had gotten in a bit of public hot water before for making videos where she complained about school and talked about not wanting to go to college. This was an area where Sephora perhaps could have had a bit more forethought. But once the nature of the scandal was exposed, it made the decision to quickly end the partnership, demonstrating that cheating had no place within its company.

Be clear. There was no wishy-washy questioning within Sephora's statement. It cut its ties and stood by its words. Removing products from its shelves was obviously costly, since it had taken the time to develop them with Olivia Jade, but that was an unfortunate cost of the clarity they chose to take.

Stay on top of the news. Sephora wouldn't have known what was happening if it wasn't closely monitoring the news as well as its influencers. Make sure you keep a finger on the pulse of what's going on in the world in order to spot ways breaking news may affect your influencer partnerships.

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What You Can Learn from Sephora's PR Crisis - Customer Contact Advisor

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What happens when influencer marketing goes south? When the recent college admissions scandal broke out, where a group, including Fuller House's Lori Loughlin was indicted on charges related to bribing their kids into schools like USC, it didn't seem, on the surface, to affect the marketing world.

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Sephora closed all 400 stores for inclusion training after SZA is racially profiled by security.

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Is your company prepared for a crisis? What measures do you have in place to repair trust once a crisis inevitably happens? We took a look at the past three years and identified some key moments brands could learn from.
At a panel we held earlier this year , we heard from Gregory Young, SVP of Integrated Communications Planning at Weber Shandwick, who emphasized that in order to be worthwhile, brand values must be clear and espoused early on. When your brand is inevitably in trouble, "at the end of the day, you need to control your story or else you're going to let someone else control it for you."
One company that has been controlling their own narrative despite a rough year is beauty retailer: Sephora. Sephora has received a lot of media coverage since the beginning of 2019 for various crises.
The most engaged one came in the wake of the college admissions scandal, where Sephora dropped Lori Loughlin's daughter, Olivia Jade, after facing significant backlash. A few months later, they were the focus of the media again when SZA tweeted that she was racially profiled at their Calabasas, California location.
Sephora quickly apologized directly to her and promised its customers they would remedy the situation. If that weren't enough, comedian Leslie Jones then also called them out for mistreating her makeup artist a few weeks later and by June 6, they had closed down all of their stores for diversity training. While it seemed coverage of SZA had blown up, even prompting Rihanna to send her a gift card to her own Fenty Beauty brand, relative to other crises handling racism as a brand, this was a mere drop in the bucket, as we will see later.

Sephora's PR Crises in 2019

The coverage of the college admissions scandal (blue) was far and away the most engaged story about Sephora this year. SZA's tweet prompted stories to break in April (pink) and then coverage of the store closure reached its peak in June (yellow). Sephora had already committed to diversity as a core value, put together an incredibly diverse team of influencers for the next year, and was working on their " We Belong to Something Beautiful" campaign a year prior to the crises. They were equipped to handle it and their workshop received renewed engagement because of the crisis immediately proceeding it.

Brand crises around racial discrimination

In that vein, the past three years has seen the likes of Starbucks, Airbnb, Dove, H&M, Gucci, and more on the public shaming block for racial discrimination or inappropriate designs. Halfway through 2019 isn't the time to be considering what to say in the heat of a racially-charged crisis, if you don't have brand values explicitly outlined and adhered to from corporate to product, you're behind.
Let's take a look at what the past three years can tell us about the timeline of a racially-charged crisis, and what other brands have done in response.

Major crises in 2017

The biggest crisis in 2017 was a Facebook ad beauty brand Dove promoted, depicting a black woman turning into a white woman after using a Dove product. In years prior, Dove had pretty much paved the way for being an inclusive, body-positive brand with memorable "real-beauty" ads. But following public outcry, they had to quickly issue an apology: the first stories covering the ad began on Oct. 2nd, and coverage didn't start falling until the 8th. During that time, articles about the ad kept gaining traction and even the model cast in the ad spoke up . It was quickly pulled from Facebook and Dove tweeted their apologies .

Relatively speaking, of the top three crises in 2017, Dove received the most coverage and engagement. Other notable crises: An Airbnb host was banned for cancelling on a guest after finding out she was Asian and a video of racist tirades recorded at a Starbucks went viral. The spikes in coverage for both correspond with 1) the initial offense and 2) coverage of the respective company's response. In the case of Airbnb, the host was fined $5,000 and the man screaming racial slurs in Starbucks was charged with a hate crime.

Major crises in 2018

While these events certainly caused a stir, the most engaged crisis in the past three years was H&M's choice to put a black child model in a "coolest monkey in the jungle" sweatshirt. Peaking at just over 2.4 million interactions across networks, it got reactions from celebrities and journalists on Twitter alike, and H&M was dragged through the mud for it.
Starbucks came in a close second, with its announcement of store closures for racial-bias training. Dolce & Gabbana had to cancel a show near the end of 2018 due to a racist portrayal of a Chinese model in their ads and Prada got a peek into what crises 2019 had for them with one of their keychain designs that resembled blackface.

While Twitter had a heyday with H&M, publishers latched on to Starbucks' attempt to address educating their staff on racial bias. Most of the highly engaged coverage even came from satirical sites like Huzlers and The Onion, poking fun at the reactions from the brands.

Major crises in 2019

And finally, halfway through 2019, it's been a dense 6 months in terms of brands mucking up. January brought us Gucci, Katy Perry, and Prada blackface, and just in time for Black History Month, Adidas served up an all-white shoe. Relatively speaking, nothing came close to the coverage Gucci got and the brand pulled the sweater immediately, offering an apology on Twitter .
The two most recent crises, an Airbnb host going viral for calling her guests "monkeys" and kicking them out of the home and Sephora's SZA kerfuffle was less engaged and dealt with quickly.

Most of the coverage for the Gucci, Prada, and Katy Perry snafus were grouped together, calling for fashion designers to pay attention to their products and hire diverse teams to ensure this doesn't continue to happen. Prada's response (or lack thereof) left fans upset , while Katy Perry pulled her shoes immediately and apologized.
When you live your life in their products, whether they be shoes or sweatshirts, or choose to use their makeup to express yourself, it's especially offensive to see brands not consider your perspective or include people like you in the decision to make the products, or even try to remedy the insensitivity. Which explains why it seems like fashion and beauty crises hit much higher engagement numbers, often in the millions, despite other terrible things that go viral.
Brands can't afford to wait for a crisis to happen anymore, it will. The onus is on the company to prevent the creation of crises, but social media will tell your story if you don't.
So what lessons can be learned from these brands?

1. Define brand values clearly and early on

2. Prioritize diversity and inclusion in products, casting models, and hiring decisions to avoid this in the future

3. If (when) an incident occurs, apologize and respond quickly with authenticity, while listening to consumers to make the necessary changes

Want to better understand historical trends and benchmarking around crisis monitoring? Take a look at NewsWhip Analytics.

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Is your company prepared for a crisis? What measures do you have in place to repair trust once a crisis inevitably happens? We took a look at the past three years and identified some key moments brands could learn from.

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similar approach to Starbucks.

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Sephora embraces employee golden rule in crisis management

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If you were shopping for beauty products at one of the 430 Sephora stores in the United States on Wednesday June 5th - you were out of luck. The Paris-based personal care chain closed all its US stores - plus distribution centers and corporate offices - to conduct diversity training for all its employees.

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Rihanna gave SZA a voucher.

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Once upon a time, Sza-née Solána Rowe-tended bar and worked at a Sephora. In 2013, though, having come to the attention of the higher-ups at Top Dawg Entertainment, she signed with TDE and released a mixtape, an album, and a song with Rihanna. And then she returned to Sephora.

At the end of April, Sza alleged that she had been racially profiled while shopping at a Calabasas branch of the beauty retailer: "Lmao Sandy Sephora location 614 Calabasas called security to make sure I wasn't stealing. We had a long talk. U have a blessed day Sandy," she wrote in a tweet. The gall, to call security on a former peer in beauty retail, let alone to call security on a current music superstar. "Can a bitch cop her fenty in peace er whut." (Never fear: A month later, Rihanna swooped in with a Fenty gift card to permit her pal to do just that.) (But also, why was Sza, one-time Fenty Beauty campaign star, shopping for Fenty Beauty like any other non-Fenty-Beauty-model shopper?) Sephora responded, via tweet, that it was "actively working with our teams to address the situation immediately."

So here it is: This Wednesday, all of Sephora's U.S. stores will close for diversity training-"inclusivity workshops," as a spokesperson told Reuters. She went on to explain that the closures are not "a response to any one event"; they've been in planning for months and are part of a wider initiative, not specifically a reaction to Sza's tweet.

But that underscores a larger issue: The Sza incident did not occur in isolation. It gained traction online in part because of her existing social following, but it was not the first time Sephora employees have been accused of racial profiling, as Jezebel pointed out. In late 2017, a video depicting several black shoppers confronting a white employee who they said followed them around the store and pointed them out to a security guard went viral.

In any case, when called upon to do so, Sephora can take decisive action.

Related: Rihanna Sends Sza a Fenty Gift Card after Racial Profiling Incident

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Every U.S. Sephora Store to Close for Diversity Training

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Once upon a time, Sza-née Solána Rowe-tended bar and worked at a Sephora. In 2013, though, having come to the attention of the higher-ups at Top Dawg Entertainment, she signed with TDE and released a mixtape, an album, and a song with Rihanna. And then she returned to Sephora.

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In the 21st century, Beauties come in all shapes and colors. Sephora, as one of the biggest beauty products retailers worldwide. If it did not happen on SZA, it is hard to imagine how many people are still victimized under the racial crisis in Sephora. Have they forgotten what the true essence is as a beauty advocator?

Here, let us recall the incident! At the end of April this year, SZA, a former outstanding employee at Sephora, plus a music celebrity that had once collaborated with Rihanna, was suspected of stealing things while shopping in Sephora. Based on the logic, common sense would lead us to believe this is a false message. But the suspicion had made SZA stranded at Sephora for hours under investigation. Here is what SZA posted on tweeter and the immediate response from Sephora. Sephora then announced, on Wednesday that week, all Sephora's US stores will close for diversity training. More shockingly, Sephora went on and explained. That the closures are not a response to anyone event, they've been in planning for months and are part of a wider initiative, not specifically a reaction to SZA's Tweet.

I understand that the PR in Sephora wants the public to know that they have a precise training program towards embracing diversity, implying that even if nothing happened, they would still hold this training. Therefore, I am curious if Sephora was also sarcastically trying to tell the world that "Ugh, too bad, SZA had to go through this before the training, since we haven't brought up the racial crisis in any existing training yet!" they claim to address the situation immediately, but they refuse to claim the right thing for the right reason.

This particular incident had underscored a larger issue that in fact, the SZA incident did not occur in isolation. It gained traction online in part because of her existing social following, but it was the first time Sephora employees had been accused of racial profiling. Overall It solely relied on the power of the social media platform to reveal this scandal. This had evoked the strength that social media endows civils to have their voice. I believe this situation could be avoided if Sephora had a clear mind of who should be suspected despite depending on racial judgment and non-sense stereotype. If a colored superstar could be wronged, then what about the ordinary population? How would the world hear us?

PR in Sephora should be more responsive to this particular issue! Since they are in charge of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using all sort worthy strategies. They should be the ones that contact SZA's agent and try to reconcile the relations with SZA and her followers. Also Rihanna's Fenty beauty is part of Sephora's family, and SZA and Rihanna are good friends and often collaborate together! Before things go further in to chaos, Sephora should take precise actions.

In my opinion, facing racial crisis like this, what the public wants to hear is a sincere apology and admission of guilt. Sephora should signal all customers with a simple response of "We hear you, let us make it right!" I would suggest Sephora should use this to their advantage and come up with a statement on social platform addressing what they have learned through this experience and be grateful to SZA's social reputation to finally bring this into attention. Sephora should show their sincerity by announcing a long -period effort to consistently assess their diversity embracement, besides a one-hour workshop." Depends on whether or not SZA would like to collaborate, they can even film a video of SZA advocating beauty come from diversity, and so on. The once ignorance of true essence of beauty could either destroy sephora's reputation, or it would elevate them, it depends on how they solve social media crisis!

Praising Social media provides us a platform to speak up ~
Hope racial crisis could be minimized in time🌞🌞
Thank you for reading!
Have a wonderful week ahead! ❤️

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Sephora's once ignorance on the true essence of beauty

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In the 21st century, Beauties come in all shapes and colors. Sephora, as one of the biggest beauty products retailers worldwide. If it did not happen on SZA, it is hard to imagine how many people are still victimized under the racial crisis in Sephora.

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First started out as a perfume shop called Shop 8.

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Since its development in the 1970s, Sephora has risen to become a hugely successful chain of cosmetics stores. The company has shop fronts in countries all over the globe, and today, the Sephora name is synonymous with beauty, style, fun, and elegance. This store chain continues to grow and shows no signs of slowing down, making cosmetics enthusiasts everywhere rejoice.

Sephora's Storied History

Part of Sephora's success is due to the company's ability to adapt and develop over time. From global expansion to creating a strong web presence, the company has made many changes over the years.

Related Articles

Before Sephora: Shop 8 - 1969

According to the company history, what is now Sephora started out as a small perfumery in Limoges, France, called Shop 8. Dominique Mandonnaud wanted to provide a place for customers to try out the products before making a purchase, something almost unheard of at the time. Products were grouped together by type, not brand. By 1979, 12 more stores had opened.

Sephora Begins - 1970

Sephora store in Paris

The UK's Boots PLC chain, which became the 38 Sephora-branded stores Mandonnaud would later purchase, began in Paris. This group of stores partnered with a department store group, Nouvelles Galeries. Unfortunately, these stores were not very profitable.

Shop 8 and Sephora Combine - 1993

Mandonnaud purchased the Sephora chain in 1993, according to the company history. This meant merging the 38 Sephora stores with his 12 Shop 8 stores.

Sephora's Brand Launched - 1995

In 1995, Sephora company history reports that it launched a brand of its own name. The Sephora brand included bath and body products.

Going Global - 1997

In 1997, Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessey purchased the chain. Mandonnaud retired right around the time of his 50th birthday. Since that time, the Sephora brand has branched out into 30 countries across the globe. By 1998, Sephora had expanded into Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Poland.

Expanding in the United States - 1999

Sephora reports that they opened their first store in the United States in New York city in 1998 . Today, there are more than 250 stand-alone stores in the United States. Many of the stand-alone stores in the U.S. are found in large shopping malls.

Online Shopping - 1999

In addition to the company's impressive number of stores, Sephora now offers its products for sale on its website. According to the company, the U.S. site launched in 1999, and the Canadian version followed in 2003. While online customers cannot benefit from the company's in-store sampling program, the convenience of shopping online is a draw for many. Additionally, the online store may have brands and products that local stores do not. With the comprehensive return policy, shopping is mostly worry-free.

Customer Loyalty Program - 2003

We Are Sephora reports that in 2003, the company started its Beauty Insider program. This program allows customers to earn points as they buy. As points build, customers become eligible for small gifts. There are three levels you progress through as you earn points on your purchases: Beauty Insider, VIB, and VIB Rouge.

Sephora in Montreal, Canada

First Canadian Stores - 2004

Following the success of its online presence with Canadian consumers, Sephora reports that it launched its first Canadian store in Toronto in 2004. Like their U.S. counterparts, many Canadian Sephora stores are located in malls.

Beauty Bars - 2005

We Are Sephora explains that the company took the "try before you buy" idea a step further in 2005. That's when they introduced beauty bars , which became popular in Sephora stores.

Sephora Inside JCPenney - 2006

As part of Sephora's ongoing effort to reach as many beauty aficionados as possible, the company partnered with JCPenney stores in 2006 to create "Sephora Inside JCPenney," a store-within-a-store concept. There are over 485 of these mini-versions of the freestanding Sephora stores. They often do not contain as many products, but they still operate in much the same way with sampling and the Sephora Beauty Insider program.

Teaming up with Pantone - 2013

Sephora + Pantone Universe™

In 2013, We Are Sephora reports that the company teamed up with Pantone to create a shade selector. Not only does Pantone announce a "color of the year" every year, this addition to Sephora's makeup assistance repertoire allows you to select your features (eye color, skin color, and hair color) from a drop-down menu to create palettes that include the shade of the year in the most beautiful ways for you to wear it. Choose from several color combinations and get the step-by-step walk-through on how to recreate your favorites and which products to use.

Secrets of Success

The Sephora company is known for a few special characteristics, including the following:

One of the unique aspects to the development of the Sephora brand is the concept of in-store sampling, which began at the very inception of the chain and is central to their continued success.

Return policy: The company is well known for its flexible return policy that includes complete refunds, store credits, or exchanges.

Events: Some Sephora stores offer consultations and other events for customers and clients. These events vary by location.

Wide variety of product lines: You can find everything from Sephora's own brand to high-end brands of makeup, skin care, hair care, and more.

Sephora, Then and Now

Sephora has grown quite a bit over the last three decades. The company has forged ahead into several countries, making a name and a brand for itself. The cosmetics industry continues to grow, and it's very likely that Sephora will expand and grow right along with it.

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What Is the History of Sephora? | LoveToKnow

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Since its development in the 1970s, Sephora has risen to become a hugely successful chain of cosmetics stores. The company has shop fronts in countries all over the globe, and today, the Sephora name is synonymous with beauty, style, fun, and elegance.

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The Sephora Loyalty Program has three levels:

the Sephora White program,

the Sephora Black program,

the Sephora Gold program.

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Moyens de collecte. Sephora collecte des données personnelles concernant l'adhérent au moment de l'adhésion au Programme de fidélité Sephora sur le site Internet sephora.fr, l'application mobile Sephora France (disponible sous iPhone et Androïd) ou en magasin.

Ces informations sont collectées oralement par le conseiller de vente en magasin ou par écrit via le formulaire d'adhésion, sur le site Internet sephora.fr ou sur l'application mobile Sephora France (disponible sous Iphone et Androïd).

Lorsque le client dispose déjà d'un compte sur le site Internet sephora.fr et souhaite souscrire au Programme de fidélité Sephora, il lui suffit de réaliser le processus en ligne et de compléter si besoin les données manquantes pour pouvoir participer au Programme de fidélité Sephora.

Les données du compte en ligne non modifiées lors de l'adhésion au Programme de fidélité Sephora sont considérées comme mises à jour dans le profil de l'adhérent et ont vocation à être utilisées dans le cadre dudit Programme de fidélité Sephora, dans les conditions prévues aux présentes ainsi qu'aux termes de la Politique Données Personnelles et Cookies.

Par ailleurs, l'adhérent peut relier sa Carte de fidélité souscrite dans l'un des magasins Sephora à son compte en ligne pour bénéficier des avantages sur le site Internet sephora.fr : l'adhérent devra ainsi renseigner le numéro de sa Carte de fidélité et, le cas échéant, compléter les données manquantes ou vérifier certaines informations non cohérentes.

Données collectées. Les informations suivantes sont obligatoires pour adhérer au Programme de fidélité Sephora : civilité, nom, prénom, adresse postale, email ou numéro de téléphone mobile (2 moyens de contacts requis pour assurer l'authentification des adhérents, éviter les doublons et permettre à Sephora d'adresser les offres et avantages du Programme de fidélité Sephora). Si ces informations ne sont pas renseignées, il n'est pas possible de participer au Programme de fidélité Sephora et de recevoir des offres ou avantages.

Les autres informations demandées par Sephora au moment de l'adhésion le sont pour mieux connaître l'adhérent et, le cas échéant, lui adresser des communications adaptées à son profil et à ses préférences mais ne sont pas obligatoires.

Finalités. Sephora conserve les informations relatives à l'historique des achats de l'adhérent et à l'utilisation des services dès lors que ce dernier présente ou renseigne son numéro de Carte de fidélité Sephora. Cette conservation est nécessaire pour gérer l'éligibilité de l'adhérent aux différents avantages du Programme de fidélité Sephora et assurer sa bonne exécution. Par ailleurs, ces informations sont utilisées pour adresser à l'adhérent les offres, les actualités ou les publicités personnalisées en fonction de ses précédents achats et/ou intérêts. Ces informations sont associées avec celles collectées à l'occasion des interactions avec d'autres services Sephora afin d'affiner le profil et la connaissance de l'adhérent.

Lorsque l'adhérent a accepté le placement de cookies sur le site Internet sephora.fr ou sur l'application mobile Sephora France (disponible sous Iphone et Androïd), ces données sont également combinées avec les données de navigation. Cette combinaison permet à Sephora d'afficher des publicités ciblées sur le site Internet sephora.fr ou sur l'application mobile Sephora France (disponible sous Iphone et Androïd), ainsi que sur des sites de tiers.

Ces informations permettent également à Sephora aux fins de son intérêt légitime d'améliorer sa connaissance des préférences de l'adhérent.

Durée de conservation.

Les informations relatives aux adhérents sont conservées par Sephora pendant une durée qui n'excède pas la durée nécessaire aux finalités pour lesquelles elles ont été collectées, c'est-à-dire pendant la durée de votre participation au Programme de fidélité Sephora, augmentée des délais de prescriptions légales applicables notamment aux fins de conserver la preuve des transactions et permettre à Sephora de répondre à ses obligations légales.

Vos données personnelles traitées dans le cadre du Programme de fidélité et votre compte Sephora (si vous en possédez un) seront supprimées si :

* Vous décidez de quitter le Programme de fidélité.

Pour cela, vous devez nous en faire la demande en nous contactant par courrier à l'adresse suivante : Service Clients Sephora, 41, rue Ybry, 92200 Neuilly-Sur-Seine, France, par téléphone de 9h à 20h du lundi au samedi au 0 809 40 40 45 (Service gratuit + prix de l'appel) ou par email en écrivant à : privacy@sephora.fr. Dans ce cas, votre compte Sephora (si vous en possédez un) sera également supprimé.

OU

* Vous n'utilisez plus le Programme de fidélité

Nous considérons que vous n'utilisez plus le Programme de fidélité Sephora si vous remplissez les deux critères cumulatifs suivants :

1. Vous n'avez effectué aucun achat chez Sephora en présentant votre Carte de fidélité pendant 5 années consécutives

Et

2. Vous avez cessé d'interagir avec Sephora au cours de cette 5eme année, en particulier, vous n'avez pas ouvert les emails que Sephora vous a adressés, vous ne vous êtes pas connecté à votre compte client sur le site Internet sephora.fr ou sur l'application mobile Sephora...

Destinataires. Les informations relatives aux adhérents font l'objet de communication aux prestataires et sous-traitants de Sephora intervenant dans la gestion du Programme de fidélité Sephora.

Transferts de données en dehors de l'Union européenne. Sephora rend accessibles les données des adhérents nécessaires à la gestion du Programme de fidélité Sephora depuis Monaco dont la législation en matière de protection des données personnelles diffère de celle applicable au sein de l'Union européenne et n'offre ainsi pas des conditions équivalentes en terme de protection des données. Ce transfert est toutefois nécessaire pour permettre à l'adhérent d'utiliser sa carte Sephora dans les magasins monégasques. Sephora a pris les mesures nécessaires pour assurer la sécurité de l'accès et du traitement des données personnelles par ses magasins monégasques.

Droit des adhérents. L'adhérent peut à tout moment vérifier et/ou modifier les données personnelles renseignées dans son compte en se rendant sur sa page mon " compte " du site Internet sephora.fr ou sur l'application mobile Sephora France (disponible sous Iphone et Androïd).

Il peut également exercer ses droits d'accès, de rectification et de portabilité par écrit :

par courrier adressé au : Service Clients Sephora - 41, rue Ybry, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine (France)

par email à l'adresse suivante : privacy@sephora.fr

Ces demandes doivent être accompagnées de la photocopie d'un titre d'identité de la personne qui exerce son droit.

L'adhérent (ou son représentant légal), peut également, selon les mêmes modalités, exercer son droit d'opposition au traitement de ses données personnelles à des fins de prospection et de profilage commercial ou solliciter l'effacement de ses données personnelles ou la limitation de leur traitement.

Informations supplémentaires. Pour une information plus complète concernant le traitement de ses données à caractère personnel, l'adhérent est invité à lire la Charte Données Personnelles et Cookies de Sephora disponible sur le site sephora.fr.

L'adhérent peut saisir la Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés ( www.cnil.fr) de toute réclamation ou plainte concernant le traitement de ses données à caractère personnel.

Coordonnées du délégué à la protection des données (DPO). Pour toute question en lien avec la collecte et le traitement de ses données personnelles par Sephora, l'adhérent peut contacter par email le délégué à la protection des données de Sephora à l'adresse suivante privacy@sephora.fr

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Moyens de collecte. Sephora collecte des données personnelles concernant l'adhérent au moment de l'adhésion au Programme de fidélité Sephora sur le site Internet sephora.fr, l'application mobile Sephora France (disponible sous iPhone et Androïd) ou en magasin.

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Free gift wrapping, laser engraving for perfumes and more

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Envie de faire plaisir à un proche pour une occasion particulière : anniversaire, Saint Valentin, Fête des Mères, Fête des Pères, Noël ou tout simplement pour le plaisir d'offrir? Sephora vous propose l'emballage cadeau : c'est simple et offert !

En magasin, demandez le service emballage cadeau offert à votre conseillère, elle s'occupera de tout.

En ligne, ajoutez vos cadeaux au panier, une fois validé, choisissez l'option emballage cadeau. Vos cadeaux seront envoyés déjà emballés à votre adresse ou à celle de votre destinataire. C'est vous qui choisissez! Pour envoyer votre cadeau pré emballé directement à la personne de votre choix: c'est simple, il vous suffit de modifier l'adresse de livraison.

Et pour rendre votre cadeau encore plus unique, vous avez également la possibilité d'ajouter un message personnalisé.

Si vous offrez un parfum, n'oubliez pas de le personnaliser grâce à notre atelier gravure. Simple et offert, la gravure est disponible en magasin et en ligne sur une sélection de produits.

En manque d'inspiration ? Découvrez toutes nos idées cadeaux grâce au moteur à cadeaux Sephora. Il vous aidera à trouver le cadeau idéal pour ceux que vous aimez, qu'ils soient accros au maquillage, fans de parfum ou encore adeptes de soin visage. Laissez-vous guider et trouvez l'inspiration en seulement 3 étapes grâce à notre sélection d'idées cadeaux.

Peur de vous tromper ? Sephora vous propose une sélection de cartes cadeaux physiques ou en ligne, personnalisables et pour toutes les occasions. La carte cadeau physique pour les plus authentiques, ceux qui aiment offrir dans les règles de l'art et voir leur cadeau être déballé. La carte cadeau en ligne pour les retardataires, simple et rapide, elle s'imprime ou se transmet par e-mail en quelques minutes, avec la possibilité d'ajouter un message vidéo personnalisé ou de créer un pot commun.

N'hésitez plus, toutes les idées cadeaux pour faire plaisir à coup sûr sont dans nos magasins ou sur Sephora.fr.

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Envie de faire plaisir à un proche pour une occasion particulière : anniversaire, Saint Valentin, Fête des Mères, Fête des Pères, Noël ou tout simplement pour le plaisir d'offrir? Sephora vous propose l'emballage cadeau : c'est simple et offert ! En magasin, demandez le service emballage cadeau offert à votre conseillère, elle s'occupera de tout.

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If you scour the Internet looking for the best deals on beauty products, look no further than Groupon Coupons. We've already done the digging to find out exactly when Sephora will be having its best sales of 2021. Sephora has notoriously few sales and promo codes, so you do not want to miss out when they do. We'll be updating this sales information as we learn about a deal, so be sure to bookmark this page and check back often. And in between sales, head to our Sephora Coupons page for everyday savings of up to 50% off.

Limited-Time Deal: Up to 50% Off Select Hair Care (Ends 10/10)

Free Shipping with Code FREESHIP

Around the same time as Ulta's uber-popular 21 Days of Beauty Sale, Sephora launches its own beauty bonanza. Every March and September, Sephora runs a steep discount every day on some of its most popular products. And beauty lovers should be pretty excited about it. Here's why!

These deals are for-real limited. Only one product gets the 50% off treatment, and they are new every day. Not only that, folks clamor so hard after these deals that Sephora literally has to limit the number of purchases to two per customer and the deals often still sell out!

We're talkin' top-notch stuff. If past is prologue, then we can reasonably assume that we're in for a real barn-burner of a sale every March and September. Expect 50% discounts from brands like Mario Badescu, Kat Von D, Urban Decay, and Tarte.

The variety is literally stunning. From refresh powder to professional-grade ionic hair dryers, the discounts cast a wide net.

How to Save Between Sephora Sales

Sephora Black Friday Sale-Nov. 26, 2021

Sephora really makes a meal out of Cyber Week. For starters, shoppers can get their glamorous hands on during the HoliYAY sale. Holiday gift sets, and other favorites from beauty brands like Kiehl's, Fenty Beauty, and Milk Makeup are all included! There are often exclusive deals on the app, j ust text "APP" to 63485 get free VIP access.

Sephora's Holiday Savings Event-November

Holiday shopping started early in 2020, including at Sephora. This fall sale works just like Sephora's big Spring Savings Sale with exclusive access for Beauty Insider members and different roll out dates for Rouge, VIB, and Beauty Insider members. All Beauty Insider members are eligible for savings now with Sephora promo code HOLIDAYFUN. Join Sephora's free rewards program to save anywhere from 10% to 20%.

Skincare Savings Days-January 2021 (Ended)

Every day from now until Monday, January 25, Sephora will offer 50% off a single skincare product! The item will change every day, so you need to check back often to make sure you don't miss out on some epic savings. On January 21, you could score Lancome's Advanced Genifique Anti-Aging Face Serum for just $52.50 (original price $105)!

Beauty Insider Member Points Sale-January 2021 (Ended)

It really pays to sign up for Sephora's free Beauty Insider rewards program. From today until January 31, members can cash in on super savings-if they have enough points. Typically Beauty Insider members save up points to take $10 off a purchase or get free goodies, but the Points Sale is a chance to save even more! Members can trade in 750 points for a promo code to save 10% off or 1,000 points for a 15% off promo code. Depending on how much you spend, the savings can really add up!

Sephora Spring Sale 2021-April 2021 (Ended)

Sephora's Spring Savings Sale ( promo code OMGSPRING) raged for 11 days, from April 9 to April 19. Here's what we absolutely loved about it.

Beauty Insider members got the chance to save with promo codes for 20% off (Rouge 4/9-4/19), 15% off (VIB 4/13-4/19), and 10% off (Beauty Insider members 4/15-4/19)

The codes are good for literally everything!

Tip: You have to sign up for Sephora Beauty Insider rewards program to get those deals. And great news: membership is 100% free (click here to sign up in literally 10 seconds)

Pro-Tip: Bookmark this link to the Spring Sale page! (We don't get paid on this guy here. It's just our way of saying "Thanks for reading!") Most of the year, the page may not look like much, but when the Spring Savings Event comes to town, here's where you'll find the best deals. Plus, if you're anything like us, half the fun of the sale is refreshing the page every 2 minutes the second April rolls around.

Other Sephora Sales & Deals to Know About

More Ways to Save at Sephora

Aside from checking the Groupon Coupons Sephora page for verified promo codes, the easiest way to rack up savings is by joining Sephora's Beauty Insider program. It's free (& seriously easy) to join, and you'll get points for every dollar you spend, access to tutorials and classes, and your choice of free birthday gifts every year.

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Don't let the next Sephora sale surprise you! We know when about every upcoming Sephora sale and promo code for 2021. And we update this list with new sales, so be sure to bookmark this page and check back often.

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While treating yourself to a new make-up or skincare product is always a thrill, it's even nicer when you know that the brands you love are giving back to charity, too.

We've rounded up our favourite beauty lines that help support worthy causes, from cancer research to endangered wildlife preservation, every time you buy their products.
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this a rticle
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Louis Vuitton Perfumed I (RED) Candle

Neal's Yard Remedies Bee Lovely range
Look Good Feel Better Beauty Box, available June 2019 exclusively to Debenhams
Look Good Feel Better, is an organisation that runs make-up workshops and masterclasses for cancer patients, helping them quite simply 'look and feel better'. Now, they are releasing a special beauty box so people can give themselves a makeover at home.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

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Louis Vuitton joins the fight against AIDS with new charity candle

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While treating yourself to a new make-up or skincare product is always a thrill, it's even nicer when you know that the brands you love are giving back to charity, too. We've rounded up our favourite beauty lines that help support worthy causes, from cancer research to endangered wildlife preservation, every time you buy their products.

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The Sephora Virtual Artist App (SVAA) Product Try-On is an augmented reality feature housed within the Sephora app. This feature enables users to try on makeup products carried by Sephora, virtually, before purchasing.

Role Assumed:
Solo UX Researcher

This study was designed to understand the end-to-end user experience of shopping for makeup using the SVAA. Specifically, I wanted to know if users would actually buy makeup products after trying the augmented reality feature and how purchased makeup products compared to what was shown on the app.

One afternoon, I was surfing YouTube looking for makeup videos (as makeup is my side hustle @swati.mua, #shamelessplug), and came across the video:
I Tried the SEPHORA VIRTUAL ARTIST MAKEUP APP... YIIIIKES where the YouTuber described her experiences using the SVAA. You can tell from the title of the video that the review wasn't positive.

I decided to download the app and see for myself. My initial thoughts were "YIKES!" indeed. I wondered if others felt the same. I also wondered about what users wanted to do with this app. Would their goals be to do a full-face makeup look or just find one or two specific products? Regardless of the goals, I figured that an augmented reality app like the SVAA should enable users to find what they were looking for, apply it easily and get a good sense of how the product would look in real life. The obvious answer here was to do a usability test, which became Part 1 of my study.

However, this wasn't enough because the assumption of the app's creators was that once users tried the makeup, they would then BUY it right off the app. Okay, but not all users would jump at this opportunity. Makeup is expensive and some users might not be ready to fork over the cash, if they weren't 100% confident in what they were getting.

For those who would actually buy after they try, I had the following questions:

Does what they get in the mail really match with what they saw on their phone screens?

When they actually receive the makeup, does the makeup meet users' expectations in terms of the shade or feel of the product?

How can users be sure they are actually getting what they think they are getting?

It was clear to me that the end-to-end user experience of the SVAA doesn't just stop after hitting the checkout button. It fundamentally includes the real-life application of the makeup. I decided to include this in my study design. However as I already mentioned, makeup is expensive and I didn't have the budget for it.

I decided to do the next best thing. If I couldn't buy the makeup, then I could at least have my participants try out the recommended products in-store. I figured this would be a realistic next step too because if I were in this position, I probably would have done just that.

I imagined what it would be like to be in my participants' shoes. Would they want to put on the makeup in front of other people? What would they use to actually put the makeup on? What are all the emotions that would come from doing that out in the open? Would the products meet participants' expectations? There were a lot of questions that came to mind here. The best way for me to really see what would happen in this setting would be to observe it directly. Hurray! Part 2 of my study was born! Contextual Inquiry!

What do I want to know? - Defining my High-Level Research Goals
At a very high-level, I wanted to get the answers to the following questions:

1) How do users use the Product Try-On feature on the Sephora Virtual Artist App?

2) What is the complete user experience for the users that don't buy right away?

To achieve each of these goals, I broke them down into operational research questions. I had to be clear about what I meant by "use" the feature and "complete" user experience. I landed on the following research questions:
Research Questions to Achieve Goal 1 Can participants easily navigate the app and successfully select makeup products?
Research Questions to Achieve Goal 2 What do participants do when given the opportunity to try products suggested on the app, in-store?
What tools do participants use in-store to apply makeup products?
Makeup is for Everyone! - Defining my Users What are participants' mental models about the Sephora Virtual Artist App and do these match with their experiences in-store? Can participants create a complete makeup look? (Complete look = select and apply a product from each section)
Are there any features that distract or impede participants from selecting products?
What are the opportunities for improvement for the Product Try-On feature?
Great! It looked like I was on my way. Now I just needed...participants.

True! Makeup is for everyone! That's one of the things I love about it! Theoretically, I could have included just about anyone for my target audience... for the most part.
Participants recruited! Now what do they do? - Tasks and Instructions
This is where being broke can be useful! Hurray!

I was doing this project totally on my own. I thought the best (and really only way) I could get myself some participants was to ask my friends.

So, that's what I did. But that also meant my sample (n =5) was not going to be representative of A LOT of potential users. My findings couldn't be stretched to the very young (teens and maybe even some tweens) or older users (my mom and her friends). I couldn't stretch my findings to boys or men. Oh well maybe next time!
(P.S- Sephora if you are reading this, hit me up to do a more representative study!)

My target population and recruiting criteria for this study was:

Target Population - (Young Users):
Females aged 20-39 who were well-versed in using smartphone apps, well-versed at online shopping, may have funds for purchasing makeup and were from various nationalities/ speak various languages.

Part 1: Pinpointing my Usability Tasks Now that I had my participants, I needed to give them something to do. Usability tasks can be either open or close-ended. I thought about asking them to create any look they liked, so I could learn about app exploration without constraints. This would've been realistic of what users normally do with an app like this. For example, if a participant didn't want to select an eyeshadow because they didn't use eyeshadows, then that was realistic for that participant. However the drawback was, I would lose information on these particular makeup products. Hmm...🤔

I didn't want to tell my participants exactly which products to select either, as that was a bit too constrained and unnatural. I opted to choose tasks that landed somewhere in the middle. The tasks were verifiable to an extent. If the task was to "select a red lip product", so long as the participant picked a red lip product, they would be considered successful at that task. The brand, shade or style (lipgloss vs. lipstick) they chose was up to them. I thought this was the best way to discover major usability issues when navigating the app for products. It also helped participants feel comfortable with the makeup they chose, as they would be recreating that look in-store.
Part 1: Usability Tests
I structured my usability tasks in the order in which I put makeup on myself or my clients (again @swati.mua, #shamelessplug), starting with the eyes, doing the skin and then finishing with brows and a lip color. There is no right way to pick products but many makeup artists do start with either the eyes or skin. Every attempt was made to ensure the wording of my usability tasks was as neutral as possible, so as to not lead participants. However, it's hard to rephrase makeup terms like "eye crease" in a different way. For a full list of my usability tasks click here.
Personas and Journey Maps
I did not tell participants they would be recreating their look after the usability testing (in-store) as I did not want to influence my participants' makeup selections in any way. I simply told them they should be comfortable with the look they achieved. I did tell them that we would be visiting a Sephora store after the usability test to take a look at the products.

Side note: The whole "try before you buy" theme might make you wonder if I included the checkout process in my usability testing. I definitely considered it but realized that that process wasn't necessary for achieving the research goals in this particular study.

Part 2: Instructions for Contextual Inquiry
Part two of my study was very simple. Once participants had created and saved a look by completing the usability tasks, I took them to a Sephora makeup store. I gave them one instruction and set them loose, while I followed them around the store and recorded what happened. Just in case I didn't get everything, I sent out a survey after returning from the store, asking participants about their end-to-end experience. You can check out that survey here.

Instructions:
"I would like you to recreate the look that you created on your app, using the products available in-store."

Usability tests revealed that there were several features on the app that impeded participants from accomplishing the task of creating a full makeup look. Most of the usability issues surrounded navigation of the app. More specifically, participants had immense difficulty selecting and staying on a product and knowing what certain features did. For a full list of findings/recommendations click here.

To better empathize with my users I created some personas and journey maps of them interacting with the app.

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Understanding the end-to-end UX of the Sephora Virtual Artist app - a UX case study

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The Sephora Virtual Artist App (SVAA) Product Try-On is an augmented reality feature housed within the Sephora app. This feature enables users to try on makeup products carried by Sephora, virtually, before purchasing. Role Assumed: Solo UX Researcher This study was designed to understand the end-to-end user experience of shopping for makeup using the SVAA.

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Welcome! Unfortunately, your web browser does not have JavaScript enabled at this moment, which will cause errors if you proceed on our website.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings to resume shopping on Sephora.

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Welcome! Unfortunately, your web browser does not have JavaScript enabled at this moment, which will cause errors if you proceed on our website. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings to resume shopping on Sephora.

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Instead of a selfie users can now view virtual makeup in real time.

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Sephora is bringing live 3D facial recognition to the existing Virtual Artist feature on its application and Web site, a move expected to boost conversion rates through more accurate facial tracking and rendering.

The augmented reality feature currently allows users to upload a still selfie to virtually try on various products that can be purchased from Sephora, but the new update will allow users to view themselves moving in real time with the digital makeup, with more effective technology. The update comes from the developer ModiFace after a survey of non-modiface and non-sephora apps showed that a 22 percent drop in conversion rates occurred when the virtual products did not line up or appear correctly on the user's face.

"We believe the ability to see yourself with products can impact sales online," said Parham Aarabi, CEO of ModiFace. "We now have significant data and test cases to back this up.

"And thus the integration on Sephora will, based on our expectation, result in increased conversions and user engagement," he said.

ModiFace is rolling out the software update to Sephora first, with many more retailers and brands to soon follow.

Beauty and mobile
Augmented reality has made a big splash recently for beauty brands and retailers, with many such as Sephora driving sales by allowing users to try on products through cameras on mobile and online. Research has shown that while these endeavors can significantly drive sales for beauty retailers, if the technology does not hold up, neither will sales.

Sephora's Virtual Artist will now include updated technology to combat these lost sales, as well as a more interesting user experience with live 3D movement. Now that more and more mobile apps are leveraging real-time augmented reality, those that require uploading a selfie may seem outdated.

Originally as a reflection of augmented reality's growing role in beauty, Sephora brought the technology to a wide audience via its Virtual Artist app feature that enabled users to virtually try on different lip shades in January ( see more).

Users are now comfortable with an experience during which they can see how the virtual products appear on their face while they move. Sephora's inclusion of the new experience will provide a more fun and comprehensive experience.

The new tech update will also focus on providing the least amount of steps possible during the user experience, as ModiFace's research shows that more clicks result in less conversions. For instance, one simple click has a conversion rate of 84 percent, but four clicks only see a rate of 10 percent.

The current 2D Sephora app is reportedly performing well and ModiFace expects the 3D version to perform even better.

Sephora and mobile
The new update is one of many endeavors Sephora is taking on to ensure a completely personal shopping experience while on mobile.

For instance, Sephora also just debuted on the messaging app Kik is a reflection of the push towards conversational commerce through chatbots and how to drive sales with one-to-one experiences on mobile that mimic in-store interactions ( see more).

"The unique aspect of this launch is the web-based live 3D try-on capability, which looks very realistic," Mr. Aarabi said.

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Sephora boosts augmented reality shopping with real-time facial recognition

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Sephora is bringing live 3D facial recognition to the existing Virtual Artist feature on its application and Web site, a move expected to boost conversion rates through more accurate facial tracking and rendering.

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Sephora is joining multiple other companies in recognizing the importance AR is going to play in future beauty product shopping.

The makeup retailer introduced a "Sephora Virtual Artist" this week in an update to its iOS app. The feature, which was developed in partnership with AR company ModiFace, scans your face, figures out where your lips and eyes are, and lets you try on different looks.

Right now, you can only play with lip colors, eyeshadows, and false lash styles. If you like the look, well, you can buy it. Convenient! The app also offers "virtual tutorials" that show you how to contour, apply highlighter, and create winged eyeliner. It overlays the tutorial on your face.

get sucked into the makeup void

I played around with the app and found that it worked fine, but it didn't do a great job overlaying the looks. The lipstick swatches, which I'd be most interested in, went on lightly. I didn't get a good sense of the color, so I probably wouldn't buy straight from the app - I'd still prefer to try products on in-person.

The tutorials, however, are really cool. It's infinitely preferable to see where to apply highlighter on your own face than to guess after watching a YouTube video. I might even use this at home when trying out a new look.

More generally, though, it's obvious lots of companies see beauty as a lucrative area for tech developments. Physical devices, like the HiMirror Plus, scan users' faces and recommend products and skin regimens. And other apps, like Meitu's MakeupPlus, rely on a smartphone to overlay looks, getting at the same idea. It's a smart move for Sephora to work on a proprietary product, although it's late to the game and other apps are already doing a better job.

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Sephora's latest app update lets you try virtual makeup on at home with AR

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Sephora is joining multiple other companies in recognizing the importance AR is going to play in future beauty product shopping. The makeup retailer introduced a "Sephora Virtual Artist" this week in an update to its iOS app.

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L’Oréal Group, read more about : Makeup Virtual Try-on Maybelline

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SkinConsult AI, the 1st skin aging algorithm developed with dermatologists.

With one selfie, you can measure skin aging, followed a dermatologist reference scale to deliver a personalized skincare prescription.

How does it work?

Available at vichy.co.uk:

Start with a clean face (no make up, glasses, no hair on your face)

Find good natural light

Take a selfie

Give your age and Skin Type

Get an estimate of your skin age and a personalized skin analysis

Receive a tailor made product prescription.

Discover Vichy Laboratoires SkinConsult AI

Measure skin aging, and get a personalized skincare prescription

Award

Winner of E.G.B price 2019

Privacy and data

The pictures collected through this service is used only to perform skin analysis and it is deleted automatically post analysis.

Back on Top

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Language Switcher search SkinConsult AI, the 1st skin aging algorithm developed with dermatologists. With one selfie, you can measure skin aging, followed a dermatologist reference scale to deliver a personalized skincare prescription. How does it work?

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Latest Retail Technology News From Across The Globe - Charged

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L'Oréal Paris launches its first virtual makeup - "only wearable online"

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Cosmetics brand L'Oréal Paris this week launched its first line of virtual makeup products.

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beauty packaging gateway to asian beauty

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L'Oréal Paris Launches 'Virtual Makeup Line'

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The ten new filters, called Signature Faces, works with Google Duo, Snapchat and Instagram -- take a look at the video below.

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FRANCE. L'Oréal Group hosted its first-ever Virtual Transparency Summit today (4 March). The Summit outlined the company's enhanced commitment to creating products that are more effective, safe and respectful for the environment.

L'Oréal Group announced that it will transition 95% of all ingredients to renewable plant sources, abundant materials or circular processes; and ensure that 100% of all product formulas are respectful to the aquatic environment by 2030.

To achieve these goals, L'Oréal Group has committed to adopting more Green Science practices. Green Science uses cutting-edge technologies to enable the sustainable sourcing of natural ingredients. It also embraces recent advances in agronomics, biotechnology, green chemistry and modelling to advance the group's sustainability goals.

As of 2020, 80% of L'Oréal Group's raw materials are easily biodegradable, 59% are renewable or plant-based, 32% are natural or natural-origin, while 29% were developed using Green Chemistry principles.

According to L'Oréal Deputy Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Hieronimus, the Summit aims to address consumers' enhanced demand for sustainability, safety and transparency amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis. He said: "Holding a Transparency Summit is very important for L'Oréal. COVID-19 has increased many pre-existing concerns from consumers about health and sustainability and they deserve products that are good for them and the planet.

"Science and technology are the solutions to these world issues, but at the same time, consumers expect full transparency from brands and companies. In this context, L'Oréal wants to speak transparently with our consumers."

Hieronimus added, "With Green Sciences, we are entering a new chapter for L'Oréal Research & Innovation, which has been a key driving force behind the company since its creation. Our ambition is that by 2030 we will be able to offer women and men around the world increasingly effective, safe cosmetics that respect the environment.

"Our goal is to reshape the beauty industry by leveraging science and technology, increasingly inspired by nature, to create beauty that moves the world."

L'Oréal Research & Innovation employs approximately 4,000 scientists working across 50 disciplines in 21 different facilities to help advance the company's sustainable mission. In 2020, the Group invested 3.4% of its total sales (US$1,160 million) to research.

Today, L'Oréal Research & Innovation is driven four key pillars: product safety, respect for the environment, ethical and scientific study and solidarity sourcing.

"Our group was born from science, which has been at the heart of our company and is a fundamental pillar in our business today," commented L'Oréal Group Chief Research, Innovation and Technology Officer Barbara Lavernos. "We are the best in cosmetics in terms of safety and performance and this historic expertise in science supports our dedication to transparency and sustainable development."

Lavernos added, "Thanks to Green Sciences we are able to take up this ambitious scientific and technical challenge. This virtuous, circular economy-based approach will allow us to achieve new levels of performance and discover unprecedented cosmetic benefits without compromising on quality or safety, in the service of beauty that is respectful of the planet."

The plenary session also offered insightful keynote addresses from L'Oréal Global Consumer Insights Director Julia Sarhy, L'Oréal Group Global Head of Human and Environmental Safety Evaluation Stéphane Dhalluin, and L'Oréal Director for Sustainable Innovation Laurent Gilbert.

The Summit also highlighted some of L'Oréal Group's key transparency and sustainability initiatives. The first is the group's expanded 'Inside Our Products' website, which provides information on product formulations covering nearly 1,000 listed ingredients.

The website - originally launched in 2019 - is now available in 45 countries in eight languages. The Inside Our Products website will be promoted through an integrated social media campaign, across 20 different counties, beginning this month.

Transparency information is also being rolled out across the websites of L'Oréal's brand portfolio. The L'Oréal Paris brand has launched its own strategic transparency communication platform called 'The Other Side' which provides the public with information on the safety, efficacy and environmental impact of its products.

In addition, L'Oréal is also launching an education campaign that highlights the environmental and social impact of its cosmetics products as part of the L'Oréal for the Future programme. The campaign is currently being rolled out around the world with support from the Garnier brand.

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"Beauty that moves the world" - L'Oréal Group hosts first-ever Virtual Transparency Summit - The Moodie Davitt Report

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FRANCE. L'Oréal Group hosted its first-ever Virtual Transparency Summit today (4 March). The Summit outlined the company's enhanced commitment to creating products that are more effective, safe and respectful for the environment. L'Oréal Group announced that it will transition 95% of all ingredients to renewable plant sources, abundant materials or circular processes; and ensure that 100% of all product formulas are respectful to the aquatic environment by 2030.

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The L'Oréal Beauty Lab in New York City's posh Chelsea neighborhood contains a new secret weapon in the ongoing battle for key retailer partnerships and consumer insights: an ultra-high resolution (4K) immersive visualization solution. Virtual reality engagement with their retail partners enables L'Or é al to bring the store to the retailer, whether it's the local Walmart or Mannings in Hong Kong. By applying a business methodology and a focus on growing their relationships in the beauty industry, L'Oréal is utilizing VR for everything from future store concepts to qualitative packaging tests. Immersive virtual technology enables L'Oréal designers to get a true feeling for products, shelves, and store layouts before development ever begins.

"We like to think of the Lab as the place where big ideas are allowed to happen," says Joe Sinisi, assistant vice president of the Future of Retail team. "Collaboration has always been at the heart of our relationship with our retailers, this room just takes it to a whole other level."

Geoff Meade, one of the program's key initiators who has since moved on to the E-Commerce team concurs, "There are a lot of costs associated with fixtures, plastics, and design testing with cosmetics," he says. "We used to physically build everything before we could get a true feel of what something would look like. This solution gives us the ability to further refine and test concepts without incurring those development costs."

L'Oréal partnered with Mechdyne Corporation to design and integrate the virtual reality solution. Drawing inspiration from a similar solution Mechdyne designed for L'Oréal's corporate headquarters in Paris, the Future of Retail team proposed to visualize and test packaging and store layouts in a virtualized store. The idea became a reality in the form of the new Beauty Lab in New York City: a 13-foot by 7-foot 3840 x 2160 resolution Powerwall.

With the virtual store, L'Oréal strengthens industry ties while also lowering development costs by:

Taking retailers on their "World Tour" of best in class international retailers

Working through Store of the Future conceptual designs

Understanding best practices for layouts, style guides, trays, and fixtures

Working with vendors to finalize store layouts and update shelf designs based on product arrangement optimizations in the virtual space

Integrating into the L'Oréal Consumer Technical Center for qualitative feedback on merchandising concepts

It began with The Beauty Shakers Awards, an internal innovation competition that spans L'Oréal's biggest markets across three continents. As part of L'Oréal's entrepreneurial culture, any employee is invited to submit their ideas to drive sustainability, innovation, excellence, and creativity. Finalists and semi-finalists present their ideas to L'Oréal's executive leadership team as part of the awards process before winners are announced at the annual Beauty Shakers Awards event. The leadership team also saw the value in the Beauty Lab solution.

"L'Oréal will be able to simulate in-store walk-throughs in full-scale with this solution," says Mechdyne senior vice president James Gruening. "After seeing the positive results the Paris Beauty Lab has achieved with their Mechdyne solution, we are happy to see this success extended to New York."

L'Oréal's goals don't stop with American retailers and minimizing development costs. Integration has already begun with shared projects between their Paris and New York Labs. In the long-term, the Future of Retail team hopes to collaborate with their Parisian counterparts more regularly, to realize more seamless global integrations.

"This solution will allow us to fully evaluate why and how new concepts work in local retail markets, and into the larger global market as well," says Sinisi. "Mechdyne's solution will help us understand what's working across the globe."

About L'Oréal

L'Oréal has devoted itself to beauty for over 105 years. With its unique international portfolio of 32 diverse and complementary brands, the Group generated sales amounting to 25.26 billion euros in 2015 and employs 82,900 people worldwide. As the world's leading beauty company, L'Oréal is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, pharmacies and drugstores, hair salons, travel retail, branded retail, and e-commerce.

Research and innovation, and a dedicated research team of 3,870 people, are at the core of L'Oréal's strategy, working to meet beauty aspirations all over the world. L'Oréal's sustainability commitment for 2020 "Sharing Beauty With All" sets out ambitious sustainable development objectives across the Group's value chain. Visit www.loreal.com to learn more.

About Mechdyne

Mechdyne Corporation is a broad-based technology partner specializing in audiovisual and information technologies (AV/IT), visualization and software solutions, immersive virtual reality technologies, and technical support services. We address complex projects where an in-depth understanding of user requirements leads to the development of customized solutions involving elements of display, graphics computing, software, and professional services. Headquartered in Marshalltown, Iowa, Mechdyne serves a global client base that includes leading government laboratories, university and research centers, energy, aerospace, manufacturing, and medical organizations, as well as any other user of advanced technology. For more information, visit www.mechdyne.com.

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L'Oréal Shares Their Beauty Expertise While Slashing Development Costs with Mechdyne VR Solution

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The L'Oréal Beauty Lab in New York City's posh Chelsea neighborhood contains a new secret weapon in the ongoing battle for key retailer partnerships and consumer insights: an ultra-high resolution (4K) immersive visualization solution. Virtual reality engagement with their retail partners enables L'Or é al to bring the store to the retailer, whether it's the local Walmart or Mannings in Hong Kong.

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To adapt to the new reality of shopping during the pandemic, cosmetic brands found themselves having to reinvent their approach in order to allow customers to enjoy an online shopping experience that was similar to that in physical stores. Testing makeup, textures and shades in particular, is becoming a must to ensure that customers end up with products that suit them. Virtual try-ons have, therefore, become essential for beauty industry players who now want to focus on digital, whether on their own e-commerce platforms or on social networks.

With this in mind, L'Oreal and Facebook have joined forces, and brought their respective expertise in the field to an initiative that allows Instagram shoppers to virtually test makeup products before they buy. This service is offered through ModiFace, L'Oréal's augmented reality and artificial intelligence company.

Instagram shoppers can now virtually try on Lancôme lipsticks thanks to ModiFace. (Photo: © Courtesy of L'Oréal)

" AR Try-On is an exciting new foray within Facebook that's already helping people shop online with more confidence. Through this new integration with L'Oréal, shoppers can expect a more personal shopping experience from even more of the brands they love, right where they're already finding beauty inspiration: on Instagram," outlined Sue Young, Head of Spark AR at Facebook.

For now, Instagram shoppers can experience virtual try-ons for NYX Professional Makeup, Urban Decay, Maybelline New York, and Lancôme lipsticks. They will soon be able to use it for other brands, and other product categories.

Facebook will also integrate ModiFace AR try-on into new advertising formats on Facebook app.

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Virtual makeup try-ons are now possible for Instagram Shopping

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Now an essential when it comes to online cosmetics shopping, virtual try-ons are now available for some brands on Instagram. A small technical feat made possible thanks to a partnership between L'Oréal and Facebook, via their respective augmented reality companies and platforms, ModiFace and Spark AR.

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Presentation to present to beauty group and get feedback on.

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Check out this presentation designed by Hayley.

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Analysis on Grazia Magazine and PR links from Fashion Monitor

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Analysis on Grazia Magazine and PR links from Fashion Monitor

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How customisation is needed.

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Makeup subscription boxes are a great way to learn about and test out the best beauty products on the market. For a small fee - anywhere ranging from $7 to $60 a month - you can get skin care samples, hair care products and cosmetics sent right to your door. The best part is you can test various products from the high-end brands without making the commitment - sample fragrances from Dolce and Gabbana, Prada and other luxury designers at a fraction of the cost.

There are makeup subscription boxes for just about anyone out there, whether you're into clean beauty, constantly need new makeup brushes or enjoy surprise finds, like a really good rose-scented perfume to wear for date night. And, most of them require you to take a quick beauty questionnaire to ensure that the products you receive are things you'd actually like and use. Pro tip: these also make great gifts for the beauty fanatic in your life.

Subscription boxes are for more than just makeup. We've found the best subscription boxes for the men in your life , kids subscription boxes, subscription boxes for teens and even subscription boxes for food!
Here are the best makeup subscription sets you can buy in 2021:
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18 Makeup Subscription Boxes Perfect for Any Budget

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Makeup subscription boxes are a great way to learn about and test out the best beauty products on the market. For a small fee - anywhere ranging from $7 to $60 a month - you can get skin care samples, hair care products and cosmetics sent right to your door.

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How much it costs to be in Vogue Magazine, to work out whether it is worth it.

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How much does it cost to put an ad in Vogue magazine?

Running a fashion magazine ad in Vogue brings with it the opportunity of reaching all of them. The magazine ad cost is not cheap but may be more than worth it for the revenue it generates. The open rate for a print ad on a regular page is $187,609. For a cover, you will pay $197,007, $225,156 or $234,554.

How much does it cost to put an add in the paper?

The average newspaper ad cost depends on the circulation of the paper, the size, day, and ink. A full-page ad can cost anywhere from $2,700 to over $163,000 depending on these factors, whereas small modular ads can cost as little as $50.

How much does a add cost?

The average small business using Google advertising spends between $9,000 and $10,000 per month on their online advertising campaigns. That's $100,000 to $120,000 per year....The Average Cost of an AdWords Ad by Industry.

Are magazine ads worth it?

Magazines are particularly high cost to place ads in, but you can often get smaller ads for less. Overall, if your audience is over 30-35, you should consider ads in newspapers. Magazines, because of their targeted marketing and appeal in print, are still an excellent way to reach any target market.

How much does a local magazine ad cost?

Got a niche product or business? Then advertising in the local section of a national magazine may be a smart move. Typical Cost: $500 to $20,000, depending on whether the publication is local or national, the size of your ad, whether you use color and if you've negotiated a multiple-ad rate.

What percentage of magazines are ads?

The percentage of ad pages in magazines has ranged between 45 percent and 51 percent over the past 10 years, according to Magazine Publishers of America. In 2007, advertising was 47 percent of all magazine pages, up from 45 percent in 2001 but down from 51 percent in 1997.

Are magazines still profitable?

For legacy and established brands, print magazines are still a great steady source of income. Although cost of production can be high, print has a few distinct benefits a medium: First, print subscribers a loyal and reliable. Oftentimes they are long-time fans and will be less fickle than new readers.

What is the cheapest medium to advertise?

The cheapest way to advertise is social media ads and classified ads, generally speaking. These kinds of ads can be placed starting as little as $20.

How many pages is a standard magazine?

A magazine can be anything between 8 and 160 pages depending on what it covers. Many publishers stick to between 32 and 40 pages. The reason behind printing 32 to 40 pages is that readers are used to this size. 32-paged magazines are considered standard, rarely do mainstream magazine publications go beyond 40 pages.

How many pages should an online magazine have?

Most magazines range from 30 to 120 pages. Your digital magazine should be as long as you feel it needs to be to achieve your goals.

What is the best resolution for magazines?

The most commonly quoted offset-printing standard is 300 ppi. But resolutions of 1.3 - 2 times the halftone screen for the project are considered safe. For example, if the images will be printed as 150-lpi halftones (common for magazine printing), the appropriate image file resolution range would be 195 ppi to 300 ppi.

How can I design a magazine?

How to make a magazine in 12 steps

1. Pick your topic. You can't have a magazine without a subject.

2. Choose a title. I've decided to create a travel magazine.

3. Choose your cover article.

4. Find your cover image.

5. Design your masthead.

6. Write body articles.

7. Incorporate graphics.

8. Decide on feature articles.

What makes a successful magazine?

The best magazines don't just deliver great content to their readers, they do it in a conversational style that creates a rapport. A good editor should stamp his or her personality on a magazine. Every single feature or story in your magazine should convey the message that you know and understand your readers.

How long does it take to design a magazine?

How long does it take to design a magazine? It depends on the number of pages and the complexity of your subject matter, but a minimum of two weeks is needed on even the smallest and simplest magazines.

What should be included in a magazine?

Magazines have (and need) structure

Cover pages.

Front-of-the-book content, which may include: a table of contents, a masthead, columns (including an editorial) and assorted departments such as letters to the editor, news, quick-hit trend pieces and publisher-focused content.

What makes a magazine stand out?

Color is a sure-fire way to make your magazine stand out. But you need to use it wisely. A mix of bright, well-matched colors can really make a page pop. But by the same token, a minimal use of perhaps just a single color can also make a page look incredibly classy.

What makes a magazine cover appealing to readers?

The perfect arrangement of "visual design" and "verbal design" is what results in an attractive magazine cover. It's advised to spend time on devising what suits your theme and audience best. Play around with the hierarchy and placement of the cover page content, both text and images to optimize the cover page design.

Are magazines formal or informal?

If you regularly read magazines (like Oprah) or the sports pages for entertainment-and nothing else more formal-you are likely to risk informality in your writing. Oprah and every sports player would want students to succeed. Oprah and sports magazine writers can be informal to reach their audience.

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How much does it cost to put an ad in Vogue magazine?

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Running a fashion magazine ad in Vogue brings with it the opportunity of reaching all of them. The magazine ad cost is not cheap but may be more than worth it for the revenue it generates. The open rate for a print ad on a regular page is $187,609.

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4 questions to ask customers to personalize their subscription box

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One of the best ways to customer churn and support a personalized experience is by including the right queries in the initial questionnaire.

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4 questions to ask customers to personalize their subscription box

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Essence Cosmetics is the latest brand with a virtual Instagram influencer

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Kenna is the latest CGI avatar on Instagram, continuing an ongoing trend.

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L'Oréal's Mr Ou, a virtual idol introduced in China this week. L'Oréal

By Casey Hall March 4, 2021 10:51

L'Oréal Group this week announced its first-ever virtual idol, an anime-style two-dimensional character named Mr Ou. The idol, who is described as being a 24-year-old, Chinese-French entrepreneur who cares for the environment and works within the beauty industry, will be tapped to contribute content on L'Oréal's social media channels related to beauty trends, ingredients, sustainability initiatives, as well as interviews with influencers (know as Key Opinion Leaders, or KOLs in China) and celebrities.

The virtual idol industry in China has exploded in recent years. According to a 2019 report on virtual idols released by Chinese streaming giant iQiyi, 64 percent of people aged 14 to 24 were followers of virtual idols and last year, on Bilibili, there was a 225 percent year-on-year increase in the monthly average viewing time of virtual idol livestreams.

As real life celebrity and KOL endorsement prices skyrocket in the China market, the relatively small investment in a virtual idol is certainly a cost-effective move from L'Oréal, but it remains to be seen whether virtual idols can inspire the same kind of fervid devotion among fans that Chinese celebrities boast.

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L'Oréal Unveils First Virtual Idol in China

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L'Oréal's Mr Ou, a virtual idol introduced in China this week. L'Oréal By Casey Hall March 4, 2021 10:51 L'Oréal Group this week announced its first-ever virtual idol, an anime-style two-dimensional character named Mr Ou.

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The many faces of virtual influencers in China: Vocaloids, KOLs, KOCs, and brand ambassadors

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The many faces of virtual influencers in China: Vocaloids, KOLs, KOCs, and brand ambassadors

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L'Oréal announced their branded virtual idol for the brand's Chinese fans, Mr Ou. L'Oréal is not the only brand to invest in a virtual ambassador, virtual influencers in China are a growing phenomena. In fact, by 2023, China's virtual KOL market is expected to be worth RMB 1.5 billion according to South China Morning Post. While the virtual influencer market in China is currently only a sliver of the over 100 billion RMB KOL market, the market boasts great potential. According to research by streaming platform iQiyi, 64% of Chinese 14 to 24 year-olds followed virtual idols in 2019.

Where KOL marketing meets augmented reality technology: virtual influencers in China

China's virtual influencers come in many shapes and forms. As we will dissect later, not only are their branded and independent influencers, but there are also distinct differences between virtual KOLs, which mostly promote through social media posts, virtual KOCs which manage more intimate connections with consumers, and virtual Idols, which take their influence to the next stage by performing.

Especially when it comes to live streaming, brands are eager to partner with virtual influencers in China. During 2020's Double 11 shopping festival, Philips, L'Oreal, Unilever, and L'Occitane all used virtual hosts in their product promotion live-streams. In a China Daily interview, Philip's head of Tmall marketing, Xiang Jing, said that every day they had a virtual host they saw record traffic.

Depending on how you calculate the costs, virtual influencers can either be a money saver or a budget breaker. Building the 3D models can be expensive, more expensive than hiring a popular KOL. However, as the technology improves, these costs will certainly decline. On the other hand, the creation of virtual influencers doesn't necessarily need to be expensive, take Xiaowanzi for example, Perfect Diary's two-dimensional non-animated KOC who can cover the work of an infinite amount of KOCs.

When and where did virtual influencers originate?

The first worldwide famous virtual idol was Japan's Hatsune Miku. She was 'born' in 2007, and had run-away fame, which was about to land her on the 2020 Coachella stage (had the event not been cancelled due to COVID-19). In 2021, she has 1.5 million Youtube subscribers. Hatsune Mike will now be the first of many, as virtual idols and virtual influencers are popping-up on social media all over the world.

Let's meet some of our favorite virtual influencers in China
Data source: Daxue consulting analysis, comparing virtual influencers in China on a scale of branded to independent, and cartoonish to realistic
Volcaloid Luo Tianyi, China's most famous virtual idol

Like Hatsune Miku, the Chinese virtual character Luo Tianyi (洛天依) is a volacoid at heart. As a part of Yamaha's Vsinger project, she performs at holographic concert which fill arenas, and has also partnered with brands like Pizza Hut, KFC and L'Occitane. She has over 5 million Weibo followers, most of whom are generation z.

In May 2020, alongside other virtual idols, Luo Tianyi hosted a live-stream show on Taobao, where there was an astonishing 2.7 million viewers, most of which gave cash tips to the idols.
Source: Luo Tianyi's official Weibo account, the Chinese virtual idol shared a video dancing for the 2021 Lunar New Year. Source: Luo Tianyi's official Weibo, the Chinese virtual idol singing Frozen's 'Let it Go' on stage
Ling: China's first AI generated virtual influencer

In May 2020, Xmov Information Technology Co., Ltd and Beijing Cishi Culture Media Company unveiled China's first AI virtual influencer. Ling's incredibly realistic look is thanks to Xmov's own full-stack AI technology. Her facial expressions, and body movement down to each finger is driven by AI performance animation technology.

As the technology behind her supports ultra-realistic live-streaming and videos, Ling has some big plans in the near future. According to Xmov's new release on PRNewswire, "Ling's team will generate content around such characteristics as the national essence of Peking Opera and the combination of classic and modern fashion on social platforms like Weibo, Instagram, and TikTok"

Ling has made it onto the CCTV broadcasted "Bravo Youngsters" (华彩少年), a survival talent show featuring Chinese contestants under 25 years old, where she will sing Beijing Opera.

Aside from performing on the show Bravo Youngsters, Ling has partnered with Vogue, Tesla and Nayuki.

Noonoouri

Though originating from Germany, and created as a 18 year old French model, this chic virtual influencer made waves in China in 2019. She has collaborated with the likes of Dior, Louis Vuitton and Vogue China, and even became a Tmall Luxury Pavilion ambassador. Noonoouri has made the list as one of the top 15 virtual influencers globally in 2021, and is one of the only top global influencers to have a Weibo account. However, her Weibo post frequency has since waned while the influencer's Instagram presence has only grown.

What is unique about Noonoouri is that she is value-oriented. She promotes a vegan lifestyle, and makes posts for the movement Black Lives Matter.
Source: noonoouri official Instagram account, the virtual influencer promotes activism on her Instagram, along with luxury brand sponsorships and travel.
Poka Poka: China's homegrown virtual influencer

Poka Poka is one of China's first home-grown influencers. Created in 2018 by the online magazine Voicer as a fashion-savvy "intern", she sports a punk look and is often seen with a hint of paint splatter on her face. To make her more real, she even got a haircut and shares her 'drawings' on social media. Poka has collaborated with Gucci, Adidas, Canada Goose, and Monaco.

Ruby Gloom: The cyber-punk alter-ego of a Hong-Kong digital artist

In contrast to the other virtual influencers in this list, Ruby Gloom was not created by a company or agency, but by an individual. Ruby Gloom first appeared on the internet in 2012, between then and 2018 she has created her own "Cyber Ghetto" brand 'Weegirlsclub', and created art lines exhibited in California, New York, Vancouver, Berlin and Argentina.

The 30 year-old creator of Ruby Gloom, Chan Ka-yu, told The Popular Times, "I wanted to have an identity that could live forever - something which could replace me, because on the Internet we just want to portray the best version of ourselves." She says she made the virtual influencer based on her own personal tastes and style, and even superimposes the face of Ruby Gloom onto her own photos.

The Hong Kong-based virtual influencer has accumulated over 70K instagram followers and posts several times a week, promoting brands like Adidas, Fendi, Balenciaga, and Chanel.

Branded virtual KOLs in China

There are a lot of benefits for brands to create their own virtual influencers in China. For one, though the up-front costs are high, the virtual influencer can potentially replace costs of hiring a brand ambassador, and on a more obvious note, doesn't have to sleep, drink or eat. Additionally, virtual brand ambassadors can be a good tool in co-branding and collaboration, as they can be lent out to other brands. Take KFC's virtual Colonel Sanders, for example, who recently partnered with the brands TurboTax and Dr. Pepper.

L'Oréal's Mr. Ou, a two-dimensional French-Chinese idol

Unveiled in early March 2021, Mr. Ou is a 2D multi-potentialist. He is a 24 year-old Chinese-French entrepreneur, environmentalist, and skincare ingredient enthusiast who works in the beauty industry. L'Oréal says that he will contribute content related to beauty, ingredients, sustainability and KOL interviews on their many social media channels.
Source: Business of Fashion, Mr. Ou is an all-around stud, at 24 years old being an entrepreneur, environmentalist, secretary of news, and skin-care ingredient fan.
Perfect Diary's Xiaowanzi: Every make-up lover's dream cosmetics consultant

Xiaowanzi is the Chinese beauty brand Perfect Diary's own virtual KOC. She is any beauty fan's dream digital make-up consultant; her personality is positive and lively. Private Traffic is key to Perfect Diary's China market strategy, which Xiaowanzi plays a very important role.

At brand touch-points such as the Tmall store or an offline store, consumers are nudged to scan the QR code for Xiaowanzi's WeChat account. From there, Xiaowanzi invites them to a WeChat group and may also give 'lucky draw' financial rewards.

Source: daxue consulting's official Brand Independence in China repot, the virtual KOC shares 2-4 high quality beauty-related posts a day on WeChat and acts as a reliable beauty-savvy friend.

Tmall's Aimee: The e-commerce platform's own clothing model

Aimee is Tmall's digital luxury pavilion ambassador who first appeared during the 2019 single's day. In March 2020, she promoted Prada and Miu Miu during their Tmall launches. This virtual influencer helped launch Tmall's clothing sales back into motion after the shock of COVID-19. Aimee is the first virtual influencer created by a Chinese e-commerce platform, which the platform can conveniently leverage to promote any of the products on their platform.

Questions brands have to ask before leveraging virtual influencers in China

Is it worth taking the risk of sacrificing authenticity?

In a time already filled with aggressive influencer marketing, many consumers are craving more authentic interactions. However, for a band targeting a consumer base that's keen on authenticity, choosing a virtual influencer could be a step in the wrong direction. Real humans provide the security of knowing that the product passed through their own judgment, but virtual influencers lack this dimension. However, some virtual influencers can still maintain their authenticity when they are run by a person, and function as an extension of that person, rather than being ran by a company. For example, Ruby Gloom is a virtual influencer with a higher level of authenticity.

Whether to create own branded virtual influencer or collaborate?

Designing a virtual influencer has high up-front costs, but if a brand can manage the costs, the return could last for years. Additionally, branded virtual influencers are a tool to collaborate with other brands. However, a fashion-forward brand accustomed to having a variety of celebrity endorsements may not benefit as much by having a single consistent virtual influencer, and would better invest the up-front creation costs on collaborations with existing virtual influencers.

Is it better to be real or cartoonish?

While realistic influencers are striking and futuristic, there are still benefits for simple and cartoony influencers.

Firstly, from an ethics standpoint, the more realistic an influencer, the more real people will feel the pressure and be compared to their appearance. While it may be tempting to design a perfect "36-24-36" model, keep in mind that real women will be compared to this model. So in designing a realistic virtual influencer, it is the responsibility of the designer to keep it real, and represent realistic body shapes.

Secondly, in aiming to be realistic, some avatars end up being creepy. Being very close to real has its benefits, which are clear from scrolling through the Weibo of Ling, or the Instagram of Ruby Gloom, however the skills and precision to create a highly realistic avatar is no simple feat, and falling short may cause virtual creations to land in the 'creepy' realm. Alternatively, keeping the avatar simple not only saves time and money, but may be more appealing for certain audiences. The character Noonoouri is unrealistic enough to not appear eerie, but still has the futuristic look of being 3D. In terms of simplicity, Xiaowanzi is a clear winner; she is a simple cartoon, which is all that is needed for her to get the job done.
Thank you for reading! I always share my work on daxue consulting first, so if you enjoyed this piece, I recommend you follow daxue consulting's WeChat by scanning the QR code below!

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The many faces of virtual influencers in China: Vocaloids, KOLs, KOCs, and brand ambassadors

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L'Oréal announced their branded virtual idol for the brand's Chinese fans, Mr Ou. L'Oréal is not the only brand to invest in a virtual ambassador, virtual influencers in China are a growing phenomena.

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The many faces of virtual influencers in China: Vocaloids, KOLs, KOCs, idols and brand ambassadors

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The many faces of virtual influencers in China: Vocaloids, KOLs, KOCs, idols and brand ambassadors

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Daxue Consulting - Market Research China

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L'Oréal announced their branded virtual idol for the brand's Chinese fans, Mr Ou. L'Oréal is not the only brand to invest in a virtual ambassador, virtual influencers in China are a growing phenomena. In fact, by 2023, China's virtual KOL market is expected to be worth RMB 1.5 billion according to South China Morning Post. While the virtual influencer market in China is currently only a sliver of the over 100 billion RMB KOL market, the market boasts great potential. According to research by streaming platform iQiyi, 64% of Chinese 14 to 24 year-olds followed virtual idols in 2019.

Where KOL marketing meets augmented reality technology: virtual influencers in China

China's virtual influencers come in many shapes and forms. As we will dissect later, not only are their branded and independent influencers, but there are also distinct differences between virtual KOLs, which mostly promote through social media posts, virtual KOCs which manage more intimate connections with consumers, and virtual Idols, which take their influence to the next stage by performing.

Especially when it comes to live streaming, brands are eager to partner with virtual influencers in China. During 2020's Double 11 shopping festival, Philips, L'Oreal, Unilever, and L'Occitane all used virtual hosts in their product promotion live-streams. In a China Daily interview, Philip's head of Tmall marketing, Xiang Jing, said that every day they had a virtual host they saw record traffic.

Depending on how you calculate the costs, virtual influencers can either be a money saver or a budget breaker. Building the 3D models can be expensive, more expensive than hiring a popular KOL. However, as the technology improves, these costs will certainly decline. On the other hand, the creation of virtual influencers doesn't necessarily need to be expensive, take Xiaowanzi for example, Perfect Diary's two-dimensional non-animated KOC who can cover the work of an infinite amount of KOCs.

When and where did virtual influencers originate?

The first worldwide famous virtual idol was Japan's Hatsune Miku. She was 'born' in 2007, and had run-away fame, which was about to land her on the 2020 Coachella stage (had the event not been cancelled due to COVID-19). In 2021, she has 1.5 million Youtube subscribers. Hatsune Mike will now be the first of many, as virtual idols and virtual influencers are popping-up on social media all over the world.

Let's meet some of our favorite virtual influencers in China

Data source: Daxue consulting analysis, comparing virtual influencers in China on a scale of branded to independent, and cartoonish to realistic

Volcaloid Luo Tianyi, China's most famous virtual idol

Like Hatsune Miku, the Chinese virtual character Luo Tianyi (洛天依) is a volacoid at heart. As a part of Yamaha's Vsinger project, she performs at holographic concert which fill arenas, and has also partnered with brands like Pizza Hut, KFC and L'Occitane. She has over 5 million Weibo followers, most of whom are generation z.

In May 2020, alongside other virtual idols, Luo Tianyi hosted a live-stream show on Taobao, where there was an astonishing 2.7 million viewers, most of which gave cash tips to the idols.

Source: Luo Tianyi's official Weibo account, the Chinese virtual idol shared a video dancing for the 2021 Lunar New Year.

Source: Luo Tianyi's official Weibo, the Chinese virtual idol singing Frozen's 'Let it Go' on stage
Ling: China's first AI generated virtual influencer

In May 2020, Xmov Information Technology Co., Ltd and Beijing Cishi Culture Media Company unveiled China's first AI virtual influencer. Ling's incredibly realistic look is thanks to Xmov's own full-stack AI technology. Her facial expressions, and body movement down to each finger is driven by AI performance animation technology.

As the technology behind her supports ultra-realistic live-streaming and videos, Ling has some big plans in the near future. According to Xmov's new release on PRNewswire, "Ling's team will generate content around such characteristics as the national essence of Peking Opera and the combination of classic and modern fashion on social platforms like Weibo, Instagram, and TikTok"

Source: , Ling's official Weibo account, post shared in early February shows the fine detail of the Chinese virtual influencer's hair, eyebrows and fingernails.
Ling has made it onto the CCTV broadcasted "Bravo Youngsters" (华彩少年), a survival talent show featuring Chinese contestants under 25 years old, where she will sing Beijing Opera.

Aside from performing on the show Bravo Youngsters, Ling has partnered with Vogue, Tesla and Nayuki.

Noonoouri

Source: 努努noonoouri's official Weibo account, the virtual KOL's Vogue promotional video Source: noonoouri official Instagram account, the virtual influencer promotes activism on her Instagram, along with luxury brand sponsorships and travel.
Though originating from Germany, and created as a 18 year old French model, this chic virtual influencer made waves in China in 2019. She has collaborated with the likes of Dior, Louis Vuitton and Vogue China, and even became a Tmall Luxury Pavilion ambassador. Noonoouri has made the list as one of the top 15 virtual influencers globally in 2021, and is one of the only top global influencers to have a Weibo account. However, her Weibo post frequency has since waned while the influencer's Instagram presence has only grown.

What is unique about Noonoouri is that she is value-oriented. She promotes a vegan lifestyle, and makes posts for the movement Black Lives Matter.

Source: Poka_Pokaka, Poka's official instagram, the Chinese virtual influencer's instagram posts have slowed since 2020
Poka Poka: China's homegrown virtual influencer

Poka Poka is one of China's first home-grown influencers. Created in 2018 by the online magazine Voicer as a fashion-savvy "intern", she sports a punk look and is often seen with a hint of paint splatter on her face. To make her more real, she even got a haircut and shares her 'drawings' on social media. Poka has collaborated with Gucci, Adidas, Canada Goose, and Monaco.

Source: Ruby Gloom's official instagram, what sets her apart from other virtual influencers in China is that she is the digital alter-ego of a 3D artist.

Ruby Gloom: The cyber-punk alter-ego of a Hong-Kong digital artist

In contrast to the other virtual influencers in this list, Ruby Gloom was not created by a company or agency, but by an individual. Ruby Gloom first appeared on the internet in 2012, between then and 2018 she has created her own "Cyber Ghetto" brand 'Weegirlsclub', and created art lines exhibited in California, New York, Vancouver, Berlin and Argentina.

The 30 year-old creator of Ruby Gloom, Chan Ka-yu, told The Popular Times, "I wanted to have an identity that could live forever - something which could replace me, because on the Internet we just want to portray the best version of ourselves." She says she made the virtual influencer based on her own personal tastes and style, and even superimposes the face of Ruby Gloom onto her own photos.

The Hong Kong-based virtual influencer has accumulated over 70K instagram followers and posts several times a week, promoting brands like Adidas, Fendi, Balenciaga, and Chanel.

Branded virtual KOLs in China

There are a lot of benefits for brands to create their own virtual influencers in China. For one, though the up-front costs are high, the virtual influencer can potentially replace costs of hiring a brand ambassador, and on a more obvious note, doesn't have to sleep, drink or eat. Additionally, virtual brand ambassadors can be a good tool in co-branding and collaboration, as they can be lent out to other brands. Take KFC's virtual Colonel Sanders, for example, who recently partnered with the brands TurboTax and Dr. Pepper.

L'Oréal's Mr. Ou, a two-dimensional French-Chinese idol

Unveiled in early March 2021, Mr. Ou is a 2D multi-potentialist. He is a 24 year-old Chinese-French entrepreneur, environmentalist, and skincare ingredient enthusiast who works in the beauty industry. L'Oréal says that he will contribute content related to beauty, ingredients, sustainability and KOL interviews on their many social media channels.

Source: Daxue consulting Brand Independence in China official report, each Xiaowanzi manages multiple WeChat groups, one operator controls many versions of the Chinese virtual KOC.

Source: Business of Fashion, Mr. Ou is an all-around stud, at 24 years old being an entrepreneur, environmentalist, secretary of news, and skin-care ingredient fan.

Perfect Diary's Xiaowanzi: Every make-up lover's dream cosmetics consultant

Source: RadiiChina, Aimee sporting Prada and Miu Miu on Tmall
Xiaowanzi is the Chinese beauty brand Perfect Diary's own virtual KOC. She is any beauty fan's dream digital make-up consultant; her personality is positive and lively. Private Traffic is key to Perfect Diary's China market strategy, which Xiaowanzi plays a very important role.

At brand touch-points such as the Tmall store or an offline store, consumers are nudged to scan the QR code for Xiaowanzi's WeChat account. From there, Xiaowanzi invites them to a WeChat group and may also give 'lucky draw' financial rewards.

Source: daxue consulting's official Brand Independence in China repot, the virtual KOC shares 2-4 high quality beauty-related posts a day on WeChat and acts as a reliable beauty-savvy friend.

Tmall's Aimee: The e-commerce platform's own clothing model

Aimee is Tmall's digital luxury pavilion ambassador who first appeared during the 2019 single's day. In March 2020, she promoted Prada and Miu Miu during their Tmall launches. This virtual influencer helped launch Tmall's clothing sales back into motion after the shock of COVID-19. Aimee is the first virtual influencer created by a Chinese e-commerce platform, which the platform can conveniently leverage to promote any of the products on their platform.

Questions brands have to ask before leveraging virtual influencers in China

Is it worth taking the risk of sacrificing authenticity?

In a time already filled with aggressive influencer marketing, many consumers are craving more authentic interactions. However, for a band targeting a consumer base that's keen on authenticity, choosing a virtual influencer could be a step in the wrong direction. Real humans provide the security of knowing that the product passed through their own judgment, but virtual influencers lack this dimension. However, some virtual influencers can still maintain their authenticity when they are run by a person, and function as an extension of that person, rather than being ran by a company. For example, Ruby Gloom is a virtual influencer with a higher level of authenticity.

Whether to create own branded virtual influencer or collaborate?
Listen to China Paradigm on Apple Podcast
Designing a virtual influencer has high up-front costs, but if a brand can manage the costs, the return could last for years. Additionally, branded virtual influencers are a tool to collaborate with other brands. However, a fashion-forward brand accustomed to having a variety of celebrity endorsements may not benefit as much by having a single consistent virtual influencer, and would better invest the up-front creation costs on collaborations with existing virtual influencers.

Is it better to be real or cartoonish?

While realistic influencers are striking and futuristic, there are still benefits for simple and cartoony influencers.

Firstly, from an ethics standpoint, the more realistic an influencer, the more real people will feel the pressure and be compared to their appearance. While it may be tempting to design a perfect "36-24-36" model, keep in mind that real women will be compared to this model. So in designing a realistic virtual influencer, it is the responsibility of the designer to keep it real, and represent realistic body shapes.

Secondly, in aiming to be realistic, some avatars end up being creepy. Being very close to real has its benefits, which are clear from scrolling through the Weibo of Ling, or the Instagram of Ruby Gloom, however the skills and precision to create a highly realistic avatar is no simple feat, and falling short may cause virtual creations to land in the 'creepy' realm. Alternatively, keeping the avatar simple not only saves time and money, but may be more appealing for certain audiences. The character Noonoouri is unrealistic enough to not appear eerie, but still has the futuristic look of being 3D. In terms of simplicity, Xiaowanzi is a clear winner; she is a simple cartoon, which is all that is needed for her to get the job done.

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The many faces of virtual influencers in China: Vocaloids, KOLs, KOCs, idols and brand ambassadors - Daxue Consulting - Market Research China

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L'Oréal announced their branded virtual idol for the brand's Chinese fans, Mr Ou. L'Oréal is not the only brand to invest in a virtual ambassador, virtual influencers in China are a growing phenomena. In fact, by 2023, China's virtual KOL market is expected to be worth RMB 1.5 billion according to South China Morning Post.

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Double Eleven The Biggest Shopping Event in China

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Double Eleven The Biggest Shopping Event in China

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Would Double 11, the biggest shopping event in China, remain the most important shopping festival in 2021? The total amount of GMV this year will be twice that of 2019, reaching about US$85 billion, according to App Annie's forecast.

Alibaba Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival; top 2 live streamers sold 20 billion yuan in Tmall presales

Alibaba Group kicked off its Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival 2021 on 20 October 2021. This is Alibaba's 13th annual Double Eleven shopping festival in China with an emphasis on sustainability and inclusiveness.

This year marks the largest Double 11 Festival to date, with a record 290,000 brands participating. Alibaba Tmall is offering more than 14 million deals to over 900 million consumers in China. Double 11 2021 will once again have two sales windows - the first will be from November 1 to 3, and the second will be on November 11, on the day of the main event.

Livestreaming will be a key consumer engagement mechanism for brands and merchants to build awareness and drive sales. Starting on October 20 throughout the Festival, Taobao Live will feature 700 leading KOLs, celebrities and brand representatives in livestream sessions.

In addition, Taobao will roll out a new feature for users to share their "shopping cart" items with friends and family, creating a more social shopping experience.

Taobao app introduced an option for " senior mode ", a new feature designed to make the user interface more accessible for senior citizens.

It offers voice-assisted technology, simplified navigation, larger font size and icons. The app homepage also offers games for elderly users to unlock special discounts for groceries, making the experience more engaging for the silver generation.

Consumers are encouraged to share their "Goods for Good" purchases with their friends and family, and Alibaba will make a RMB1 donation for every successful social media share.

Launched in 2006, Alibaba's "Goods for Good" program enables merchants to donate a portion of their sales to charitable organizations of their choice, while consumers can support their favorite charitable causes through their purchases.

The donations from this year's Double 11 Festival will provide support to three major beneficiary groups: elderly citizens living in solitude, "left-behind children" in remote areas and low-income workers.

Tmall Double 11 Pre-sale

At 8 p.m. on October 20, Tmall Double 11 officially opened the pre-sale. This year, Tmall's Double 11 will collectively discount 14 million products, of which all the popular products in 1000 brand flagship stores will be subsidized to 50%.

According to Taobao live streaming data, Li Jiaqi, one of the top anchors, listed 439 products on the evening of October 20. The cumulative transaction value of the live broadcast room is as high as 11.5 billion yuan, and the estimated sales volume is 37.71 million.

In addition, the maximum sales volume of a single product was 1.8777 million yuan, the maximum sales value of a single product was 389 million yuan, the average customer purchase was 306 yuan, and 2.83 million new followers.

Another top influencer Viya started live streaming at 12:55 on October 20, with a cumulative live streaming duration of 14 hours and 28 minutes. The total sales reached 8.533 billion yuan and the average customer purchase was 317 yuan.

There are 499 products listed and the estimated cumulative sales volume is 26.89 million. The maximum sales volume of a single product is 605,600, and the maximum sales value of a single product is 490 million yuan.

JD Double 11

Presales

On October 20, the 2021 JD"s Double 11, Singles Day Grand Promotion, began with the pre-sale rolling in at 8 pm. The number of customers who placed orders within the first four hours increased by nearly 40% compared with the first day of the pre-sale in 2020.

The first order delivered by JD's on-demand "Shop Now" service was swiftly fulfilled within only 10 minutes.

According to JD, an increasing amount of young people joined the pre-sale as consumers aged 18-35 accounted for over 70% during the pre-sale period. Since many brands also opened pre-sales at 8 pm, they swiftly shattered the pre-sale record set on the first entire day of the pre-sale last year.

This shopping enthusiasm was fully ignited across China. Within the first four hours of the pre-sale, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Beijing took the top 3 in order amounts; and when it comes to the product category, large appliances took the lead, followed by phones, sports shoes and bags, and facial care products.

Haier ranked the most popular brand out of all the large appliances during the pre-sale period, and Siemens came after.

On computers and digital products, hardware devices for education purposes came out strong.

Xiaomi, Huawei, and OPPO were also among some of the highly popular tech products, as the pre-sale order volume for Xiaomi phones in the very first hour exceeded that of the first entire day last year.

Within the first four hours of the pre-sale, order amounts of OPPO phones this year increased by 227% YoY.
Dossier: Double 11 (Singles Day)

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Double 11 (Singles' Day) Shopping Festival to reach US$85 billion in 2021

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Would Double 11, the biggest shopping event in China, remain the most important shopping festival in 2021? The total amount of GMV this year will be twice that of 2019, reaching about US$85 billion, according to App Annie's forecast.

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Is the worlds first virtual influencer.

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Just as robots replaced the factory workers, and the drive-through workers were outsourced to India, those employed to yacht the world, drink fat-burning smoothies and just be attractive are getting furloughed too. Stars-they're just like us.

Influencers are being upended by Virtual Influencers, and these CGI avatars may be disrupting something even more integral: truth.

We've already been mystified by their soft edges and been made uncomfortable with their attractiveness. There's Shudu, the world's first digital supermodel, Blawko, the digital tattooed "fuccboi," and Miquela Sousa AKA Lil Miquela, the Princess Leia-bunned poster child of the movement. They now come in an array of options. Human or alien. Political or apolitical. White or BIPOC. Lean or plus-sized. Choose your player.

Insecure by your own success? These names have been sponsored by the likes of Chanel, made out with Bella Hadid, and graced the covers of Esquire. This year, Lil Miquela signed with CAA and is projected to earn over $10M. Someone who doesn't exist is more successful than you. Let that sink in.

Virtual Influencers' success thus far is clear from the business POV. Brands are attracted to the novel like bugs to a light. Virtual Influencers are controllable and pose no risk-Miquela doesn't have seven-year-old racist tweets to blow her film prospects. Further, it's proclaimed that Virtual Influencers command three times higher engagement than a human Influencer. And most apparently, they're nice to look at. So why not shell out for a sponsored post or invest tens of millions in their animators?

As these fictitious personas begin to thrive in the uncanny valley and spin off business implications left and right, what's just as noteworthy is what they silently scream about today's cultural climate. As the headlines mount, their prices climb, and more brands test drive the concept, we should take a beat.

How duped are we?

Virtual Influencers are not that original of a concept. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have been successfully animating their virtual band Gorillaz for over 20 years, snagging Grammy noms and even appearing on MTV's . But this was only after Alvin and the Chipmunks cleared the way back in 1958. Making them sexy isn't new either-check out Jessica Rabbit. And brands playing in this space is old hat. GEICO has been pulling the strings of their own virtual influencer, Martin the accented gecko, for over 15 years now.

What Tony the Tiger is to cable, Miquela is to Instagram. The only difference is that today's animated characters now have a life worth following. Miquela also isn't owned by the man... and she supports #BLM. It's only fitting that in 2020 our mascots are progressive free-agents hustling in the gig economy.

Christopher Travers, founder of VirtualHumans.org, the database for all things Virtual Influencers, says they "represent the ongoing merger of humanity and the internet." He believes, "Virtual influencers enhance and humanize the world's relationship with digital experiences." But what we're humanizing-our online convergence-may be unfit for personification. Perhaps it's a step too far.

In a 2018 interview with the publication Business of Fashion, Miquela shared, "I definitely wouldn't say my identity is crowdsourced. I'm an artist and have expressed opinions that are unpopular and as a result have cost me fans." Her literally crowdsourced answer is the work of Brud, the transmedia studio which is valued upwards of $125M. And it's this untruth-"I'm not crowdsourced"-a thread of deceptiveness, that when pulled, doesn't seem to end. When media literacy costs elections, we need more truth, not deception.

Miquela claims she's an AI robot. A fictitious entity, acting as a human, manifested as a life-like robot. "I'm a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude." Of her millions of young followers, how many of them are fully conscious of her misrepresentation? Truth in Advertising, the industry watchdog, is calling for FTC reform. Scroll by fast and you can't spot the difference. And that's the very draw of Miquela, over the cartoonish Seraphine. Miquela attempts to pass. It's this effort that's critical. Any less realistic, it's try-hard. Any more realistic, it's nefarious. But while the majority notice the fakery, they're still left confused.

"There needs to be internet literacies for young people if Virtual Influencers are going to become more common," advises Dr. Jamie Cohen, an expert on digital culture. "The internet did not come with an instruction manual and we accept certain unique things to occur in that space, but knowledge of how Virtual Influencers operate, who operates them, why they operate them, and who they are for, is crucially important to a consumer culture."

Beyond transparency, another popular demerit of Virtual Influencers is their bar of unrealistic beauty. As Kaitlyn Tiffany for Vox puts it, "They are physically perfect women made of pixels, standing in for women who have long been pressured to become physically perfect, without the advantage of that even being possible." On a photo of Miquela posing with an actual model, one Lil Miquela fan account comments, "the robot more pretty." Miquela's handlers at Brud rush in to disagree with the commenter, perhaps recognizing "we went too hot."

Miquela isn't just competing with models, but real underrepresented talent. The fact that, "a glorified sticker", as writer Rob Horning puts it, is now competing with actually marginalized people is sinister. CGI-diversity is mistaken with real diversity. One online commenter asks, "Why rep a real woman of color when you can have a fake one that you can totally control everything about them?" To those leaning in, this is insincerity without awareness-a score against Team Human. And we're doing this to ourselves. It's self-deception at its worst.

Another more operational untruth is whether Miquela is even AI. That Brud claims to be a computer software, robotics and AI company, yet according to LinkedIn exclusively employs visual effect artists and content producers is another distortion. It's a collage of misrepresentation.

We don't seem to mind, though. What we're engaging in is kayfabe-Miquela and The Undertaker are one in the same. It's all pretend. We suspend our belief, and listen to Miquela's answers as if she was actually opinionated and freckled. VC's are spellbound too, just by sticker companies.

The world of Virtual Influencers permits adult playtime.

There's an irony here. Social media has become the bungalow to house our curated and filtered highlight reels, and Influencers, built up from trust, have sold out, pushing products and cashing oversized checks. Meanwhile, starlets like-for-like, and pay to inflate their metrics and procure verified checkmarks. This entire ecosystem is drenched in fiction. That GenZ is willing to engage with a flagrantly fake person should not be surprising. The illusion of "attainable beauty" is just the tip of the iceberg. It's all fake. We love it. And we can't get enough.

Miquela is a caricature of many users' own Insta presence. We strive for and fawn over her exaggerated life, but ignore the warning: it's not real.

Travers of VirtualHumans.org points out, "Virtual Influencers do not make social media fake-social media platforms predicated on celebrating fictional ideologies of life grew to create an environment now ripe for fictional characters to step in and succeed." One ushered in the other. But what's fascinating is that GenZ is both leaning into and rejecting this state of affairs. It's a push and pull.

When sweatpants-wearing, high school TikTokers rise to fame in their parent's kitchen and begin to dethrone The Kardashians, Jenners and Ratajkowski's of the world, change is afoot. GenZ is recognizing these people are in fact nothing like them. They never were. And who even wanted that? Those objects on our screen are not as close as they appear. What is the Influencer Economy, but just the redistribution of stardom and power from legacy names? And that a Brazilian, 20-year-old Miquela can be perceived and valued as more relatable than the traditional A-listers is significant.

The fake is more real.

According to a study by social content agency, Fullscreen, nearly a fourth of GenZ and Millennials would describe a Virtual Influencer as "authentic."

Some ask her, "Do you feel pain? Can you actually eat food? Do robots dream of electric sheep?" Others ask what her favorite song is or where she currently lives. She doesn't reply. Whether one is playing along or feels shrewd enough to try to out her, she's under our skin. For Dr. Cohen, the perennial question is, "Who is the one playing us, or are we the one playing the game?"

The yearning for this to all be real reveals a desperation. Miquela, unaffected by politics, debt, COVID-19 and bullies is what's truly aspirational. She's our best selves, stripped of our messy human shortcomings, disappointing flaws, and soft vulnerabilities-the inverse of a zombie. Being called less-or more-attractive than the real model beside her doesn't affect her ego. She has none. Isn't that the dream?

"We should be concerned by a Virtual Influencer's ability to create parasocial relationships," warns Dr. Cohen. When something is designed to take more from us than give back, we encounter trouble. When we close Instagram feeling worse, not better, after exploring Miquela's life, we hurt ourselves. Tell Siri you love her as a joke, it doesn't care. Not a stretch, our attraction toward Miquela hints at what's down the pike with the future of intimacy.

What is Miquela but the sex robot in each of our pockets?

According to Dr. Stacy Thayer, Professor of CyberPsychology at California Lutheran University, "[Virtual Influencers] create a fantasy, but has the potential to move us further away from acceptance of our own realities."

Miquela is a fantasy, but she's not to be mistaken with escapism. A sci-fi movie is escapism. Miquela captures, not frees us. Her looks and role straddles the fence between real and fake-or rather, there is no longer a fence, but just spillover. We don't know what to make of this early mess. As a result, we just stare and yell hypnotized-contrasting our looks to CGI beauty, getting lost in their fictitious feuds, and applauding the diversity and stretch marks of the plus-sized ones.

We're not entirely lost, though. There was proper backlash for when Miquela shared her "sexual assault encounter" in a rideshare via a vlog-one which never occurred in reality. PR at Lyft should be peeved. What's the legal basis for slander here? Also, can this piece be considered libel as it may affect Miquela's career prospects? In any case, slim chance law catches up this fast.

Publicity around Virtual Influencers should not be used as a proxy for their success or justification of their existence.

We're not too far gone. "Virtual influencers are a neutral content medium," says Travers. "Like podcasts, like short-form videos, or like selfies, Virtual Influencers can be used for whatever purpose the creator desires."

As more Virtual Influencers are spawned and Samsung works on their virtual human project, NEON, we should focus on intent. It's not that these characters exist, it's what we decide to do with them. Some are already leveraging the concept to educate people about The Holocaust, memorializing victims to share their stories after they pass. Others are approaching virtual avatars as characters to confide in as they don't judge and are more accessible and affordable than talk therapy.

Our way through is to remember what we've been taught. Let's not judge Virtual Influencers because they're different. Let's look past appearances. Rather, let's consider their character. Not how they look, but how they behave, and why they're here? What is their purpose, and how do they help us?

Technology is a tool to better understand ourselves, after all. A black mirror.

Miquela isn't real. Which begs the question, are we any better?

... Read More

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The Problematic Fakery Of Lil Miquela Explained-An Exploration Of Virtual Influencers and Realness

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Just as robots replaced the factory workers, and the drive-through workers were outsourced to India, those employed to yacht the world, drink fat-burning smoothies and just be attractive are getting furloughed too. Stars-they're just like us. Influencers are being upended by Virtual Influencers, and these CGI avatars may be disrupting something even more integral: truth.

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The use of CGI models is sure to increase throughout the coming years due to their distinct and life-like appearance - virtual ambassadors for Balmain, Prada and Fenty are only the start of this new technological concept.

Lil Miquela compilation image

From Instagram AI influencer to YouTube Music's presenter at Coachella - is there anything she can't do?

Miquela Sousa, a 19-year-old Brazilian-American model, musician and verified Instagram influencer has stepped into the limelight as YouTube Music's presenter for Coachella, this year. Like any other teen, Sousa known as @lilmiquela, loves fashion and music but most of all, she wants to make a difference to the world. So, what's so special about her? She is Coachella's very first CGI presenter.

The growing interest of virtual models brought attention to Brud, an L.A based intelligence and robotics technology start-up - the creators of Miquela Sousa. Not only does she have 1.5 million followers on Instagram but, she also has her own music on Spotify and has worked in partnership with designer labels such as Prada for their Fall/Winter 2018 collection. Watch as she takes on Coachella and interviews some of the amazing artists that attended this weekend, giving us the inside scoop as she streams live on her Instagram feed and posts on her Youtube channel.

Miquela's debut interview on Youtube Music Coachella, was with Reggaeton artist J Balvin, the first Colombian singer to play a set at the all-time American music festival and has also been nominated in the 2019 Billboard Awards for his song "X" with Nicky Jam. Listen as they talk about their appreciation of Spanish music that has gained popularity within music festivals and the evolution of music genres.

There's no doubt that Miquela was the perfect match for Youtube Music's Coachella channel, especially with the release of her most recent single "Right Back" hitting the music industry. From being a CGI virtual influencer on social media to reporting on Coachella for Youtube, there's no telling where she'll go next.

With the influx of AI models and virtual influencers joining the creative industry, it seems like we've seen it all, from the first virtual supermodel who started this trend, Shudu, to Instagram's favourite virtual influencer, @lilmiquela. The ever-expanding knowledge of technology and the creation of human-like robotics show the beginning of our high-tech fashion future.

Terry Gates, a model turned photographer and 3D avatar creator, who has worked for Vogue, Glamour and Wonderland, claims that AI models can revolutionise the creative industry financially and artistically - "For example, with beauty brands, you don't need to hire a whole team; make - up, hair, model, photographer, stylists and a studio. They just need one digital artist." Editing the image then becomes quicker, "...you have a lot of flexibility in terms of changing the image afterwards... you can modify every aspect of it" rather than construct around a still 2D image from a photoshoot.

The use of CGI models is sure to increase throughout the coming years due to their distinct and life-like appearance and long-term financial benefits for the brand - virtual ambassadors for Balmain, Prada and Fenty are only the start of this new technological concept. Avatar designers hope that their 3D creations will benefit models rather than obliterate them as Gates says, "I hardly see it replacing all these jobs. Think of a modelling agency that are continuously bringing on new talent. They aren't afraid that these new models will take work away from their existing roster. They are simply offering an alternative. Sometimes it's cheaper, and it makes sense to work with new models."

These new discoveries in technology and robotics are only the start. AI models are an interesting concept for the industry and it could advance to being used on the catwalk. We've already seen drones down the runway holding D&G handbags for AW18 so, why shouldn't we see Lil Miquela strutting her stuff too? We can't wait for what she'll get up to next!

Miquela hanging out with Latina artist, @rosalia.vt at Coachella Week 1

Moodboard by Samera Artificial intelligence

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Faking It Is The New Making It: AI Lil Miquela Shows How - Voir Fashion

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The use of CGI models is sure to increase throughout the coming years due to their distinct and life-like appearance - virtual ambassadors for Balmain, Prada and Fenty are only the start of this new technological concept. From Instagram AI influencer to YouTube Music's presenter at Coac

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Li Jiaqi is a chinese influencer who raised more than US$145 million in sales on Singles’ Day.

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Who is Li Jiaqi, China's millionaire 'Lipstick King'?

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He has close to 40 million fans on Douyin, China's version of TikTok, donated masks to Wuhan and won the hearts of Chinese women on social media everywhere

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For L'oreal Mr Ou is a Chinese-French entrepreneur who:
Cares about the Environment

Works in the beauty industry

His role for L'Oreal involves contribute content on L’Oréal’s social media channels related to beauty trends, ingredients, sustainability initiatives, as well as interviews with influencers (know as Key Opinion Leaders, or KOLs in China) and celebrities

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L’Oréal debuts virtual idol for Chinese market - Global Cosmetics News

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L’Oréal Group has launched a virtual idol for the Chinese market, according to a report published by TechiAzi. The anime-style character, who has been dubbed Mr Ou, is charged with creating content for the French beauty giant’s social media channels.

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L’Oréal debuts virtual idol for Chinese market

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Reach content

Year after year, the beauty market in China continues to grow , and L'Oréal had another exceptional year there in 2019, despite an overall slowdown in the Chinese economy. The market is benefiting from major shifts in demographics as well as emerging trends in cosmetics. It is a fast-changing environment where consumers' expectations are reaching new heights but L'Oréal continues to be the number one beauty group , and records China as its second biggest country in terms of sales.

Fabrice Megarbane, President L'Oréal China

Eileen Zong, Brand General Manager, L'Oréal Paris, L'Oréal China, is passionate about how the brand is building a closer relationship with consumers. Listen to her talk about co-creation, innovation and new ways of interaction.

Inspiration from abroad

Makeup was also one of the Group's star categories in China. Among consumers, there is a current obsession for brands and fashion styles from overseas. Thanks to L'Oréal's strong portfolio, the Group is able to address these trends through the distribution of international makeup brands such as 3CE by Stylenanda from South Korea, Shu Uemura from Japan, and the American-inspired Maybelline New York, not forgetting the big European brands, Giorgio Armani and Yves Saint Laurent, which continue to be a great source of inspiration from abroad.

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L'Oréal in Mainland China: the success story continues - L'Oréal Finance : Annual Report

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Reach content Year after year, the beauty market in China continues to grow , and L'Oréal had another exceptional year there in 2019, despite an overall slowdown in the Chinese economy. The market is benefiting from major shifts in demographics as well as emerging trends in cosmetics.

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This Charity will show Sephora is trying to improve its diversity issues.

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Global Diversity Foundation is a non-profit organisation that protects the natural environment and enhances people’s wellbeing. Our vision is a world of diversity in which there is dignity, justice and respect for all beings and environments.

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About

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We help older people living in some of the world's poorest places to have improved wellbeing and be treated with dignity.

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At Age International, we care for older people living in poverty in some of the poorest countries in the world.

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As Sephora is a very female focused brand it is important to show we cater and support men aswell.

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Movember, the month formerly known as November, is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men's health.

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As Sephora as a brand don't test on animals this supports their brand values.

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Cruelty Free International works to end animal experiments worldwide. We believe there is no ethical justification for using animals in experiments. For over 100 years, we have championed progressive, humane scientific research and cruelty free living.

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Cruelty Free International works to end animal experiments worldwide. We believe there is no ethical justification for using animals in experiments. For over 100 years, we have championed progressive, humane scientific research and cruelty free living.

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Skin is translucent and changes depending on light

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Ayayi is a non-human influencer that looks just like a real person.

Her skin texture changes depending on the lighting and surroundings, just as a real person's would.

She's already starting to work with brands like Guerlain.

For some time now, companies have been creating their own virtual influencers.

It is what it says on the tin - an animation in human form, developed either to promote a company's own products or to act as an influencer that they can use to negotiate advertising rates with brands.

A post shared by @ayayi.iiiii

However, if there's one thing most of these new virtual influencers have in common, it's that most of them couldn't always pass for real people.Now, though, another virtual influencer named Ayayi has joined the list and her appearance is eerily realistic.

One of the things that stands out the most about the influencer is the texture of her skin, as it changes depending on the lighting and surroundings, just as a real person's would.

Ayayi's appearance does sometimes look artificial but is still very realistic, especially considering that it was created by a computer program.

A post shared by @ayayi.iiiii

Big brands will now pay large sums of money to fund their design and animation.

There are a lot of virtual influencers who have already starred in campaigns for prestigious brands like Chanel or Prada.

For now, she has a few photos on Instagram, and about 1,000 followers - although her presence and popularity are growing in China.

This virtual influencer has a long way to go, but she's already starting to work with brands like Guerlain.

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A creepy virtual influencer looks so human, her skin changes with her surroundings

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Ayayi is a non-human influencer that looks just like a real person. Her skin texture changes depending on the lighting and surroundings, just as a real person's would. She's already starting to work with brands like Guerlain. For some time now, companies have been creating their own virtual influencers.

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What sites should our virtual influencer be on?
Weibo is the second most popular social media in China with its user base nearing 500 million users.

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10 Most Popular Social Media Sites in China (2020 Updated)

The key thing every company must know in order to do business in China is that Western social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and so on are banned in China. With businesses across the globe using Facebook/Instagram to reach new customers, entering a new market without them might seem impossible. However, there's a range of other platforms available that businesses can use for social media marketing in China.

While none of the platforms can really be called The Chinese Facebook or Chinese Instagram, there are many platforms that share similar features and allow for paid advertising. If you want to learn about where Chinese internet users spend their time and what platforms you can use to grow your business in China this is the article for you.

People spend a good portion of their daily lives on social media in China, particularly on WeChat. However, it's not just about WeChat, which has become one of the most competitive marketing channels in China. There are many platforms that can be used for social media marketing in China, so read more below to determine which ones are right for you!

Top 10 Chinese Social Media: Table of Contents

1. WeChat: Not Just the Chinese Facebook Read Now

2. Sina Weibo: Twitter of China Read Now

3. Tencent QQ: Popular Instant Messaging App Read Now

4. Tencent Video: The King of Online Video in China Read Now

5. Xiao Hong Shu (Little Red Book): Where Community Meets Cross-Border E-Commerce Read Now

6. Douban: Lifestyle Discussion Platform Read Now

7. Zhihu: The Quora of China Read Now

8. Meituan - Dianping: The Chinese Versions of Yelp Read Now

9. Toutiao: The Hottest News & Information & Entertainment Platform Read Now

10. DouYin (TikTok): The Short-video App Taking the World By Storm Read Now

Runner Ups for the Top 10 Chinese Social Media Platforms! (2020 Update)

Meitu: From the Creators of Meipai Read Now

Kuaishou: The Short-video Platform For Life in China Outside Tier 1 Cities Read Now

Youku Tudou: The Former Youtube of China Read Now

Baidu Tieba: A Search Engine Forum Read Now

Industry-Specific Social Media Platforms

1. Xueqiu: Equity & Finance Social Media Network Read Now

2. Keep: Health and Fitness Community Read Now

3. Mafengwo: Social Media for Travelling Read Now

6. Maimai: The Up & Coming Linkedin of China Read Now

If you are interested in any China marketing services, you can talk to our social media experts directly!

1. WeChat: Not Just the Chinese Facebook

User Statistics:

What is WeChat?

WeChat is an all-in-one messaging app developed by Tencent, which also provides games, online shopping, and financial services. Users can get almost everything they need from their within the app, leading to its classification as a "Super-App." Due to these reasons, it's risen to become the most popular social media in China.

WeChat offers far more than any of the Western messaging apps. In terms of comparison, it can be likened to a combination of the Chinese Facebook, Whatsapp, Google News, Tinder, and Pinterest combined. It also contains ten million third-party apps called WeChat mini-programs.

There are different types of accounts on WeChat. Personal accounts are used by individuals, while businesses can create WeChat official accounts to stay in contact with their customers and post promotional information. To learn more about how to use WeChat for business check out the blog below:
The Ultimate Beginners' Guide to WeChat for Business
WeChat Mini Programs, apps that run within the WeChat ecosystem, have also been growing at a blistering rate. With DAU of mini-programs in China exceeding 400 million, these lightweight apps are becoming more and more popular with both users and businesses. For more on WeChat mini-programs check out the blog below.
WeChat Mini Programs: The Complete Guide For Business

Why is WeChat so important to businesses?

Today, WeChat is the largest social media platform in China, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Compare this to Facebook's 2 billion worldwide. Given that WeChat's user base is concentrated heavily in China it's easy to see why many users call it the Chinese Facebook. Chinese users spend an average of over 70 minutes a day within the app. All this makes it one of the most popular choices for businesses looking to get started with social media marketing in China.

The Chinese use the WeChat app for restaurant bookings, flights, making investments, shopping, paying bills, hailing taxis, transferring money, creating posts on their Newsfeed (called WeChat Moments), etc.

Aside from that, WeChat allows companies and celebrities to create official accounts to generate content for promotional purposes. Businesses can even implement CRM (Customer Relationship Management) functionality on their WeChat official accounts, allowing businesses to track and manage the contacts on their WeChat Official Account! This makes WeChat one of the most popular tools for social media marketing in China. Read more about this below.
Top 3 WeChat CRMs You need to Recognize
WeChat allows for one-to-one personalized interaction between brands and users. This allows brands to communicate directly with their followers through the messaging functions on their account. This also allows brands to provide customer service directly through their WeChat account. It's due to this reason that many companies in China don't even operate traditional websites instead of focusing their efforts on constantly improving their WeChat official accounts.

Tencent previously did not allow advertising as they focused primarily on building their user base. In recent years they've launched WeChat Advertising, allowing brands to advertise on WeChat with banner ads, KOL advertisements, and Moments ads.

A Moments ad allows advertisers to advertise within the Moments section, which can be compared to Facebook's news feed. These are the most effective and unfortunately the most expensive form of advertisement for WeChat. Read all about this ad format and more in our blog on WeChat advertising. If paid advertising isn't your thing, you can also look into KOL Marketing & live streaming which both have been proved incredibly popular in 2020, with the latter being seeing a huge spike in interest during the Coronavirus lockdown period.
Related Post: [Infographic] A Snapshot of How Over 1 Billion Users Behave on WeChat
In addition, QR codes might be dying in the Western world, but they are still widely used in China. Mobile users often scan for promotion, passwords or to follow a brand. To gain more followers, QR codes are essential and provide a link from the online world to the physical world. For more detail on this and everything related to WeChat Official Accounts, check out the Ultimate Guide to WeChat Official Accounts for Business (2019)

For more information about WeChat advertising, you can read our article WeChat Advertising 101: All You Need To Know.

2. Sina Weibo: Twitter of China

User Statistics:

What is Weibo?

Sina Weibo, or Weibo, is a micro-blogging platform in China released in 2009. Weibo is one of the most popular sites in China and is often considered to be a combination of Chinese Facebook & Twitter. However, given the character limits its most often labeled as the Chinese Twitter. Weibo is the second most popular social media in China with its user base nearing 500 million users. Like WeChat, Weibo is another platform brands commonly use for social media marketing in China.

With Weibo, users can upload videos, images, and gifs. Also, they can follow an individual and read their posts, then like and share them, without being followed back. Like Twitter, Weibo is often the platform most often used for discussing breaking news & cultural events in China.

Related article: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to The Weibo for Business

Why is Weibo important for your business?

As of Q1 2020, Weibo had 550 million monthly active users, growing by nearly 100 million users in 2019 alone. It is specifically popular among young white-collar workers and the urban online population with mobile phones. Weibo's users make up a huge market that companies cannot just ignore. With over 94% of Weibo's users accessing the platform through mobile brands need to be sure to take this into account before launching any marketing activities on the platform.

Chinese people come to Weibo for several reasons including information, sharing, and the opportunity to engage with other users.

Because Weibo is a blogging site, it acts as a large source of informational and trending content. Companies, organizations, and celebrities in China have Weibo accounts to interact with their customers, fans, and followers. This is one of the most popular platforms for KOLs in China to work on. Since there are no limits on posting like there is on WeChat, KOLs on Weibo can do multiple promotions a day, significantly increasing their income.

Other than that, companies can create and manage a page for users to interact and discuss on to increase the level of communication with their customers. It also allows brands to communicate with large groups of users through hashtags & paid advertising. In a tie-up with Alibaba, Weibo even allows companies to sell their products directly through the platform. All this makes Weibo another incredibly popular channel for social media marketing in China.

Related article: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to The Weibo for Business

3. Tencent QQ: One of the Earliest and Most Popular Social Media in China

User Statistics:

What is QQ?

1. Monthly Active Users (MAU): 693.5 million (Q1 2020)

2. Average Daily Active Users (DAU): 267.7 million (Sep 2018)

3. Penetration Rate: 69.3% (Oct 2018)

QQ is another instant messaging app developed by Tencent. Just like WeChat, it offers users multiple services like games, music, shopping, micro-blogging, movies, group chat, and voice chat.

QQ has a desktop version that is incredibly popular with white collar workers. Plus, QQ doesn't require a phone number to register like WeChat. Users each have a unique numerical ID for their accounts. This was the most popular form of online communication in China prior to the release of WeChat.

While QQ is still often used for corporate communication among white-collar workers but, the user base is younger than on other platforms. It's been facing stiff competition from WeChat Official Accounts & WeChat Work, a product launched by Tencent that is similar to the Western messenger, Slack.

Why is QQ important for your business?

As of September 2018, QQ had more than 802 million users according to Tencent's third-quarter results. Making this platform another giant market for advertisers, and another popular platform for social media marketing in China.

Businesses can open an organization account, which is known as a QZone. This was previously one of the most popular advertising channels in China but has seen a decline in recent years due to the popularity of WeChat.

Furthermore, Tencent offers paid marketing programs. With these programs, you can pay Tencent, and have them create content for you, then have it published in different areas of QQ. Some examples of where this content/advertisement can be published are on QZone games, in pop-up windows, banners, etc.

It is important to note that QQ is more popular in 3rd and 4th tier cities and its users tend to skew younger, meaning they have limited spending power. While it is a powerful tool for social media marketing in China, advertising luxury products on Qzone might not be the best option if you're looking to drive sales.

QQ in 2020: A Pivot Towards E-Learning.

QQ made quite a large pivot in 2020 due to the impact of the Coronavirus. With schools shut-down in response to the virus, schools scrambled to find a solution to help students continue their studies without interruption.

Tencent quickly released a new feature on QQ that allowed teachers to live stream and share their screen in the already popular QQ group chats. Students are able to access the classes through both PC or phone and can even submit their homework through the platform's file-sharing feature.

Nonetheless, the platform did see an overall decline in monthly active users but it seems like QQ definitely still has its place in the Chinese social media ecosystem.

4. Tencent Video: The King of Online Video

User Statistics:

As you probably know, the online video market in China is highly competitive. In recent years it's always come down to 3 major players, IQiYi, Tencent Video, and Youku. Formerly, Alibaba's Youku had dominated the online video market, but its grip has slipped in recent years. Tencent Video has now completely overtaken its competition.

Statistics from the show that Tencent Video is now leading the online video market by having over 900 million mobile monthly active users and 112 million subscribers as of Q1 2020.

1. Tencent Video - Premium Subscriptions: 112 Million (Q1 2020)

2. Average Monthly Active Users (MAU): 900 million (Dec 2019)

As of October 2018, Tencent video achieved a record-high market penetration rate of 48%, with IQiYi right behind it with 44.6%. Youku remained low in comparison with 30.8%. The difference in daily active users is even more striking, with Tencent Video leading the pack with 116 Million DAU, as compared to IQiYi's 85.6 million and Youku's 37.5 million. While IQiYi and Youku's numbers are nothing to sneeze at Tencent Video has clearly taken the lead in this market. We'll see how the market progresses as we continue into 2020.

Why is Tencent Video important for your business?

I won't go too deep into this, but just as with Youtube, Tencent Video is a fantastic platform to reach a broad and diverse audience. With its advertising features there are plenty of ways to reach your target audience through Tencent Video.

However, like Youtube, Tencent Video works best when used as a more top of funnel strategy to build awareness rather than drive conversions.

Xiao Hong Shu (Little Red Book): Where Community Meets Cross-Border E-Commerce

User Statistics:

Xiao Hong Shu is an e-commerce platform that also has many features commonly seen on social media networks. Users can post reviews, join in on discussions, and post their own content. Content on the platform tends to focus on product photos and shopping experiences, including shopping tips, deals, and experiences from their trips abroad. Xiao Hong Shu was built to be a platform primarily focused on User Generated Content, where users could share reviews and their experiences to help others with their purchasing decisions.

Users can browse through lists of the most popular brands for a category, and through products on brands' exclusive pages. They can share also share pictures of products that they have purchased, on a board that bears a strong resemblance to Pinterest, where other users can like and comments.

1. Average Monthly Active Users (MAU): 250 Million (June 2019)

2. Percent of Users Identified As Female: 85% (June 2019)

3. Brands Registered on the Platform: 29,000 (June 2019)

Aside from its social aspects, Xiao Hong Shu is an advanced e-commerce platform. The home page features items that have received the most shares. This allows users to dictate which items are featured on the home page and to direct trends.

KOLs on this platform can directly influence sales through the content that they generate, making this a very attractive platform for foreign luxury brands, with most of the larger ones already taking advantage of this advertising method.

Xiao hong Shu had a very rough 2019. After seeing massive growth in its user base and transactions conducted on the platform, the company ran into trouble with authorities for hosting fake and misleading content. This led to a massive purge of fake users and KOLs using fake users to boost their metrics. The platform was forced to implement a rigrous process for KOLs who must now register to conduct commercial activity on the platform.

Why is Xiao Hong Shu important for your business?

If you're targeting females in China, it's almost required to get on XiaoHongShu, particularly if you're targeting younger demographics. Xiao Hong Shu has become one of the most popular platforms among Gen-Z in recent years due to its strong focus on user generated content and community aspects.

While Xiao Hong Shu has been going through a rough patch recently it hasn't disappeared and remains an effective channel for driving e-c0mmerce sales for this target demographic. However, competitors are appear seemingly left and right, with WeChat jumping into the e-commerce market with its WeChat Mini-Programs and E-Commerce giants like T-Mall adding community based features to their platforms.

While the field is crowded, Xiao Hong Shu offers brands a window into an attractive demographic for brands in the fashion, beauty, and cosmetics industries.

For more on XiaoHongShu Check out the following blogs!

6. Douban: Lifestyle and social discussion platform

User Statistics:
Related Article: The Best Guide To XiaoHongShu Marketing: How To Sell to Gen-Z & Millenials
Douban is a social networking platform that focuses on expressing oneself and one's lifestyle. Users often post on Douban to discuss books, movies, music, and events. The landscape on Douban is constantly shifting and trends emerge and die off relatively quickly on the platform. This is another platform that is often considered to be something similar to a Chinese Reddit.
Related Article: How to Master XiaoHongShu: From A User's Perspective
Douban makes it easy for users to book tickets for movies and concerts, download e-books and even listen to their own radio station, douban.fm, through their interface.

Users can also connect with each other based on similar tastes and interests.

Demographically speaking, the platform is used mostly by citizens of Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. Douban has a relatively low user base compared to other platforms, primarily because it does not require users to sign-up and create an account to access content. While this might deter some marketers, this is an incredible platform for promoting more sophisticated and culturally oriented products. For businesses in the arts, this is one of the most popular platforms for social media marketing in China.

1. Monthly Active Users (MAU): 300 million (2016*)

2. Average visit Duration: 4 minutes 28 seconds (Dec 2018)

Why is Douban important for your business?

SimilarWeb shows that Douban has 170.9 million monthly total visits as of the 1st of July 2020, another promising number for advertisers.

Douban offers very little in terms of advertising, as they only offer banner ads (with a relatively high CPM of 15-20 RMB). However, Douban also allows brands to create a "brand station," a separate page, where they can post about their brand story, history, logo, etc. Brands can also advertise over Douban FM with audio advertisements, similar to traditional radio advertisements.

Due to the nature of the platform, utilizing word of mouth marketing on the platform can be very effective. The primary reason users come to Douban is for reviews, ratings, and discussions. Brands can seize opportunities to change and improve opinions of their brands or products on the platform, but they must also be careful not to aggravate the community as this could have negative consequences.

Brands can create events that are able to get people with the same interests together as a discussion group so that you and the consumers can have authentic interactions with potential customers. This is another amazing way to gather feedback on your brand from Chinese netizens.

7. Zhihu: The Quora of China

User Statistics:

What is Zhihu?

Zhihu is a question and answer site just like the English equivalent, Quora. Zhihu raised 100 million USD in its series D, leading to it becoming one of China's many "unicorn," companies with over a 1 billion USD valuation. Zhihu started in a similar fashion to Quora, but it has become much more in recent years. Zhihu users are highly engaged, with many posts accruing tens of thousands of upvotes/downvotes and hundreds of comments.

While posts on Quora can be quite lengthy, it is common for posts on Zhihu to be over 5k words and cover incredibly specific questions. Users often include charts, graphics, and other media to further demonstrate their point and improve the quality of their answers. Zhihu has also introduced several new features which Quora has yet to emulate, for example:

Zhihu's Latest Features

1. Registered Users: 160 Million (Jun 2018)

2. Average Daily Active Users (DAU) 7.05 Million (Sep 2018)

3. Average Visit Duration: 4 minutes 36 seconds (Dec 2018)

Thanks to Matt Hartzell for noting these new features!

In terms of demographics, Zhihu users are highly educated, wealthier than average, and concentrated in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. With over 100 million monthly active users, Zhihu's users base should seem very attractive to brands throughout the world. For complex purchases, there's no better platform to use than Zhihu!

Why is Zhihu important for business?

One important fact to note about both Quora and Zhihu, is that they both have tremendous trust rankings on search engines. If you're a Google user, I'm sure you've noticed how often Quora posts appear in your search results, and the same is true for Zhihu on Baidu in China. Creating the discussion on these platforms regarding your brand and providing useful information to users on these platforms can greatly improve your presence on search engines.

While advertising in the traditional sense might not be incredibly effective on either platform, providing users with useful content will almost certainly result in some increased brand awareness. Businesses can answer questions that relate to their industry and post links to their company website or contact form. However, businesses must be careful to not come off as too sales-oriented and self-promotional. Users accept the presence of links to websites and contact forms in exchange for useful content and contributions to discussions, but outright sales pitches will not fare well.

One way to ensure that your the content you create on this platform is through KOL promotion. While they might not consider themselves as KOLs in the traditional sense, top contributors on Zhihu have managed to gain massive followings on the platform. Collaborating with these top contributors can help brands to reach their target audience and impart a sense of trust to Zhihu users. For B2B brands or businesses with very complex products, Zhihu is the ideal platform for social media marketing in China. Especially when products require customers to be educated about the uses, benefits, and features of a product Zhihu is the perfect platform.

What is Zhihu? A Marketing Guide To China's Largest Q&A Platform

User Statistics:

What is Meituan-Dianping?

Dianping, roughly translated as everyone's comments, was first created to collect people's feedback on restaurant services and to share reviews with consumers. It's basically the Yelp of China. However, like everything else in China, it offers even more than its Western counterpart. In 2015, it merged with Meituan a similar service more popular in 2nd and 3rd tier cities. After the merger, Meituan became another "Super-App" with a wide range of functionality. Meituan has changed so much over the last five years it can barely be considered a Chinese social media platform.

However, Meituan services are broken down among 4 apps, that are all linked together, Meituan, Dianping, Maoyan, and Meituan Waimai. Users can order food directly from within the apps, purchase promotional offers at nearby restaurants for later use, book movie tickets, or participate in group buying. The service has become so popular that they process over 20 million orders daily, according to Jane Zuo of Meituan-Dianping.

The platform is not only limited to restaurants as users can also post reviews and buy discounts on bars, beauty salons, hotels, gyms, and so on. However, the platform's core business is in food & beverage. When you search for a restaurant on Dianpang, for example, there are tons of photos that help to give you an idea of what to expect at the restaurant. These pictures will also often include useful information like restaurant menus, storefronts, and promotional offers. All of this makes Meituan-Dianping the ultimate social media in China for restaurants and other businesses in the Food and Beverage industry.

For More Information on Meituan Dianping check out this article below

Why is Meituan-Dianping is important to your business?

According to DMR, Dianping has 60 million reviews and 12 billion monthly page views. It has obviously become the largest local review service in China, with a strong focus on restaurants. With such impressive numbers, and it's developed into a great channel for social media marketing in China

Meituan-Dianping's users are typically white-collar urban people with money to spend. The site is still growing bigger due to economic development in China as disposable incomes have begun to increase and expectations for service quality have also increased.

Unlike other social media sites, Meituan-Dianping's target users are older people between the age of 25lff and 35 in major and fast-growing cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Their revenue comes from advertising and promotional fees for businesses and group buying services. Both services offer powerful location-based targeting which businesses can use to offer promotions to nearby users. You can read some examples of this here.

9. Jinri Toutiao: The Hottest News & Information & Entertainment Platform
How Meituan Dianping Became The World's Most Innovative Company
User Statistics:

Toutiao is a news distribution app that focuses on providing all kinds of information using complex algorithms. The company has over 4,000 partners producing content daily. The AI will first analyze each user regarding their locations, click and browser history. Toutiao then recommends the best-fit articles and videos to users accordingly.

Toutiao adopts a different style of giving the news to people. Additionally, they provide short-videos, funny jokes, and featured articles to keep users entertained. The platform ensures each user's experience to be personal and distinct. As of September 2018, Toutiao already had 120 million daily active users, spending 76 minutes on the app daily (comparing to 66 minutes on WeChat during the same period).

Over 85% of Toutiao users are young people from ages 18 to 30 years old. 37.8% of them are freelancers, self-employed or private company owners, concentrated in first or second-tier cities. Putting ads on Toutiao can have significant effects on brand awareness. If you're in the media business you can develop a stronger presence in China through setting up an official account (Toutiao Hao). You can gain followers through constant updates and interactions on Toutiao, similar to how many businesses post content on The Medium.

Businesses can open publisher accounts called a Toutiaohao. Administration departments, media organizations, companies, and individual writers are all able to open this type of account which the Toutiao algorithm then distributes to relevant users. By 2016 there were already 350,000 Toutiaohao accounts.

Related Post: 3 Ultimate Reasons Why You Should Know China's Toutiao

10. DouYin: The Short-video Platform Taking the World By Storm!

User Statistics:

Douyin has been making some huge waves in 2018, most noticeable is the fact that it is one of the first Chinese social media platforms to obtain popularity abroad. With its Western counterpart Tik Tok, Douyin has become a force to be reckoned with in the Chinese social media landscape. As of November 2018, the platform had 400 million monthly active users, 200 million daily active users, and an average time spent on the app per user of 52 minutes per day!

Douyin allows users to create videos in response to challenges posted on the platform, the first one that went truly viral was "The Karma is a Bitch" challenge. The challenge was to transform from an ordinary image to a bad-ass or surprising one. Westerners regarded it as the "Chinese Transformation meme" on social media, bringing a brand-new trend globally. In fact, these amazing clips are mostly from China's influential short-video platform: DouYin.

Businesses can use the platform to post advertisements and create content. This new content format has been giving brands troubles though as short video is not something most companies are familiar with. We expect brands to get better at creating short videos in 2019 (most likely with the help of some KOLS).

Given the surge in popularity on the platform, we expect this to be one of the most popular platforms for social media marketing in China going forward. For more information on Tik Tok and how to use it for business check out the blog below:

Runner Ups for the Top 10 Chinese Social Media Platforms! (2019 Update)

Momo: Tinder of China

User Statistics:

What is Momo?

Momo is an instant messaging app and also the number one dating app in China. In fact, it is the third largest fully mobile app after WeChat and QQ with 81.1 million monthly active users, a stat from DMR. While it now faces competition from the more direct Tinder clone, Tantan, it remains the largest dating app in China, even going public on the NASDAQ in 2014!
Tik Tok: A Look at China's #1 Up and Coming Social Media
The app allows users to connect with strangers based on interests and location.

Other than that, the company is trying to make the app more than just a dating site by launching a campaign to help homeless cats and dogs in China. They also offer mobile gaming and live-streaming, to improve the way users connect to each other on the app.

Why is Momo important for your business?

One of Momo's biggest sources of revenue comes from advertising. They also launched a new advertising platform for offline retailers.

Advertisers can target customers through location-based services as well as standard targeting options based on interests, demographics, etc. For instance, when users are searching for their potential dates, advertisers can place an ad for a local bar or club with a discount offer on their result sites so as to attract customers to pay a visit.

1. Monthly Active Users (MAU): 108 Million (Aug 2018)

2. Average Daily Active Users (DAU): 16.8 Million (Sep 2018)

3. Market Penetration Rate: 5.5% (Sep 2018)

Momo offers relatively advanced targeting for advertising, as users purposely populate their accounts with their interests and other relevant information to make themselves more attractive to other users. This makes advertising on Momo very powerful for businesses. It doesn't offer much in terms of social media, but dating is a social activity, so this one makes the list!

Meitu: From the company behind Meipai (2019 Update)

Source: Meipai

User Statistics:

What is Meitu?

Meitu is an app that has been incredibly popular in China for years. It was one of the first apps to bring photo touch-ups to the masses. Users on Meitu simply uploaded their pictures and were able to airbrush/edit their pictures to make them appear more beautiful. Almost all the selfies you see in China now undergo this process. It also allows users to upload these photos directly to other social media platforms.

However, in a recent announcement Meitu has announced that it is going to focus more on the social aspects of Meitu, which has been in beta since May, and plans to expand its offerings and become a full-fledged social media platform. Marketers throughout China are eagerly awaiting for this platform to fully released as with its massive user base it has the potential to be one of the strongest platforms for social media marketing in China.

What happened to Meipai?

Meipai was a pioneer in live video streaming, however, when other companies began to join the fray they saw their market share shrink drastically. The biggest competitor to Meipai was Douyin. With a similar user base and its skyrocketing popularity, Meipai was unable to keep up. It attempted to implement a variety of new strategies to boost revenues and save the platform, but ultimately its user base has continued to shrink.

With its user base dropping from 157 million MAU to 98 Million in early 2018. Implementing the changes also resulted in several temporary shutdowns of the platform. All of the inconsistency and negative news resulted in both creators and users leaving the platform. Unfortunately, it seems like Meipai won't be making a comeback as the company focuses its attention on Meitu.

Why is Meitu important for your business?

Meitu has 455 million monthly active users with 81% of them being female. Advertising on Meitu is great for brands that focus on female consumers and rely on visuals to promote their brands.

1. Registered Users: 455 Million (Apr 2018)

2. Demographics: 81% Female (Apr 2018)

For businesses, Meitu does offer advertising options that brands can take advantage of. In terms of its social media features, it's shaping up to be quite impressive as seen by this quote from Ejininsight. "Since it started a beta trial in May this year, core users have spent 25 minutes a day in the community, browsing an average of 75 images and opening the app more than eight times a day. The average daily active users rose by 29 percent when there were theme promotion events. These statistics show that Meitu users have a strong desire for social networking and stickiness to the platform."

With the decline of Meipai and the successful beta of Meitu's social features, this is one platform that those targeting females in China should certainly keep an eye on. With the launch of the new platform, businesses will be able to start on the platform with a level playing field, as brands will likely all have to start from square one. An interesting prospect for companies just getting started with social media marketing in China!

This is one platform we'll be closely monitoring to determine how powerful it can be for business!

Kuaishou: The Short-video Platform For Life in China Outside Tier 1 Cities

Kuaishou was founded in 2011 by Hua Xu in Beijing. Kuaishou is one of the many short video sharing and live-streaming apps to gain popularity in 2019. Formerly a GIF-making app known as "GIF Kuaishou," it transitions into video sharing website in late 2012. It received investment from a number of companies including Sequoia Capital, but its most recent funds came from Tencent in the form a 350 million RMB investment in March 2017.

As of November 2017, its registered users had already exceeded 700 million. Users on the platform create, view, and engage with short videos. As of its last reporting in December 2018 the platform had 150 million daily active users. In a study done by QuestMobile in February 2018, it was found that users spent an average of 63 minutes on the app. The videos are able to be played rapidly, keeping users engaged and constantly hungry for new content. Videos on the platform have a maximum length of 57 seconds, making them easy to watch on mobile and on the go.

As of December 2018, Kuaishou introduced a new feature, a game center, that allows users to play games within the same app, trying to pave their way into an all-in-one entertainment app like Wechat. The game, named 'Tiao Tiao Qiu' (跳跳球), was their first game being introduced, but they intend to release more in the future.

The platform is known for being used outside of China's top tier cities, resulting in different types of content that can be found on other platforms. They recently landed themselves in hot water with the government after users began uploading videos promoting counterfeits and reform after being reported to have users uploading contents such as promoting counterfeits and glorifying the lives of pregnant teenagers.

This resulted in harsh statements from the government, with some even saying that their failure to curate their content and prevent this type of content from being posted to the platform "approaches a legal boundary." Since then they've updated their algorithms to more closely monitor content.

Why is Kuaishou Important for Business?

The majority of users on Kuaishou are from tier-2 cities or below with a comparatively low educational level (high school or below). Kuaishou allows companies to approach a different audience, apart from those in China's major cities (where most companies focus their marketing efforts.) This can help companies to expand their business in China in a place that likely has less competition.

Hearing the word 'tier-2 or below' brings a conservative impression to mind for most people, but many predict that these cities are predicted to be the primary driver of growth in the Chinese market going forward. With new infrastructure projects on the horizon and a populace getting more and more educated these areas to present a significant opportunity for businesses. As most of Kuaishou's users live In these lower-tier cities, use of the platform can be an effective channel for social media marketing in China, especially for businesses targeting users outside first-tier cities.

For more on how important Tier-2 & 3 cities are becoming check out this article on marketing trends in China

Youku Tudou: The Former YouTube of China

User Statistics:

What is Youku Tudou?

Youku was previously the top video sharing app in China. For many years it was called the Chinese Youtube, which you can see from the name seems to be exactly what they were going for. However, in the last year or so Youku has started to fall behind its rivals. We'll leave it in the top 10 for now, as it does still have brand recognition as one of the most popular video-sharing platforms in China and as the "Chinese Youtube".

However, unlike Youtube, where user-generated content is king, Youku contains more professional content than individual user-generated content. Users can even stream or download movies and TV shows directly on Youku. It's similar to what Youtube tried to do with its paid offering, Youtube Red.

Why is Youku important for your business?
Top 10 China Digital Marketing Trends (2019)
Youku has 580 million active users, according to DMR Stats. It also claims to have over 800 million views on its videos per day! For that reason, it is an effective way for your business to reach its target audience if you've invested in video content.

Youku offers an online viewing analytics tool, which enables brands to identify their audience by providing users' information such as demographics, location, browsing technology and language.

Youku offers many types of paid advertisements such as banner ads including (static and animated), text links, buttons, in-stream advertisements, branded viral videos, and pause ads. While Youku isn't the right channel for everyone it's still an effective tool for social media marketing in China.

Baidu Tieba: A Search Engine & Forum in One

1. Registered Users: 580 Million (Oct 2018)

2. Average Daily Active Users (DAU): 39.6 Million (Sep 2018)

3. Average Visit Duration: 4 minutes 7 seconds (Dec 2018)

User Statistics:

*Updated MAU unavailable as of January 2019

What is Baidu Tieba?

Baidu Tieba is the largest communication platform in China provided by the search engine company, Baidu. Baidu Tieba is a keyword-based discussion forum where users can search for information through a search bar. This forum covers hosts discussion on nearly every topic imaginable, making it another platform for businesses getting started with social media marketing in China. Users create individual "Tiebas" for each distinct topic with a dedicated moderator for each "Tieba." Unfortunately, Baidu has stopped publishing user numbers around the platform likely meaning that it is on the decline.

If you had to compare it to something in the West it would likely be most comparable to other open forum platforms. For the most direct comparison, this would likely be similar to China's version of Reddit, with "Tiebas" acting like subreddits. Forums can be popular for social media marketing in China, but given their open nature things can get nasty very quickly if users feel like you're abusing the platform for advertising purposes.

For a full overview of Baidu Tieba Check out the blog below:
As of 2019, Youku has lost its market position as the dominant force in online video. Tencent Video has taken the reigns. For more info Click Here
Why is Baidu Tieba important for your business?

Baidu has 660 million monthly active users, according to DMR Stats, which we do think is a bit inflated given that it only had 300 million users as of last official reporting in 2015.

Users, especially businesses, can create their own content and target specific niche groups through the platform. Businesses can post on a range of topics and utilize the platform to engage with other users. This is what makes it so popular for many social media marketers in China.

Using this platform correctly can help develop an organic presence in China without resorting to paid advertising. This platform can be very useful for businesses that have good brand awareness in China, yet little presence on Chinese social media platforms. It can also be a powerful tool for collecting feedback from Chinese netizens.

Industry-Specific Social Media Platforms

I'll just give a quick run-down of some more topic-specific social media in China that are more niche, but could be incredibly useful considering the nature of your business. Advertising on all of these platforms is available in some shape or form whether it be through KOL promotion, standard banner ads, or plain-old organic outreach! For companies that work in a specific industry, these will be the ideal platforms for social media marketing in China.

Xueqiu (Snowball): Equity & Finance Social Media Network
What is Baidu Tieba? An Introduction To The Largest Online Chinese Community
Xueqiu is a platformed designed for investors to discuss and learn more about a range of different financial assets. The platform reported that it had 12 million monthly active users in July 2018 when it received investment from Ant Financial, Alibaba's financial services arm. Considering the niche in which it operates it's incredibly impressive that it's been able to achieve these numbers.

Investors can examine data across the US, Hong Kong, and Chinese stock markets, along with several bonds, funds, trusts, and Bitcoin. Users can get up to date alerts, news bulletins, and price changes all within the platform itself. They can also follow other investors, communicate with them, and discuss investing strategies in large forums.

However, the platform does not offer broker services as of yet, but it plans to in the future. This would allow users to buy and trade stocks directly in the platform further increasing its attractiveness to individual and professional investors. Aside from equities and financial products, there is also a section devoted to real estate, where users discuss up and coming investment opportunities and trends in the real estate market. Many compare this platform to SeekingAlpha.

For those in the financial services or real estate industries, this is the ideal place to start social media marketing in China.

Keep: The Home of Health and Fitness Enthusiasts!

Launched in February 2015, Keep is meant to act as a professional trainer. Its primary draw is that it offers a variety of training courses and videos that teach you how to work out anytime, anywhere. It also offers dedicated activity trackers where you can record your progress. The company behind Keep also sells hardware, including a smart treadmill to track and analyze your workouts. It even opened an offline gym in Beijing to further connect with users! It had over 100 million monthly active users in August 2017, but no updates on the user base have been released as of now (Jan 2019).

It's also has a social, aspect, with which users can follow each other and share their progress. This can all be shared to other social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo. Technode states that " 23% of Keep's users live in China's top 5 megacities - Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. 77% are under 35 years old." Besides providing exercise videos, activity tracking, and tips, the app continues its reliance on social interaction by enabling users to share pictures and videos.

This is an ideal platform for businesses involved in the health, wellness, and physical fitness sectors to use for social media marketing in China.

Mafengwo: The One-stop Site for Things to do During Your Travels!

Mafengwo was launched in late 2010 and has since then acquired over 100 million active users. According to 2018 statistics, there are over 130 million registered users. The platform is available both as a webpage and an app. Users can go through the latest travel information, glance at Q&As and reviews, as well as book hotels, travel destinations and local tours.

Unlike Ctrip and the other OTAs, Mafengwo rose to popularity due to its social aspects, in that users can share information about their trips and post content for other users to discuss and up/downvote. Today Mafengwo hosts more than 1 million user-generated travel guides and has seen massive amounts of engagement on its content.

Chinese tourists travel in large tour groups organized by tour operators. However, in recent years a new type of Chinese tourist has begun to emerge, the free and independent tourist (FIT). In 2016, nearly 60% of outbound tourists booked trips independently. These tourists prefer to book on their own and decide their own itineraries. Mafengwo caters to this market as a source of information for these tourists.

Mafengwo has become the go-to platform for suggestions on travel and tourism, so those in the travel & tourism industry should certainly take note of its significance in influencing travelers decisions. For those in the tourism industry, this is the ideal platform for social media marketing in China. For paid advertising, it obviously makes sense to target the OTAs like Ctrip, Qunar, etc, but this is a platform where you can truly focus on building a brand.
Related Article: What is Xueqiu? The Ultimate Chinese Financial Platform
Advertising is available on the platform, but as with almost any platform in China, KOL promotion on Mafengwo can go a long way. Seasoned travel experts with large followings on Mafengwo are often willing to collaborate with brands to promote their businesses. This method can be incredibly effective for reaching the elusive FIT demographic in China.

Unfortunately, Mafengwo got into some trouble with fake user-generated content (UGC) in 2018. They claim that it makes up only 3% of content on the platform, however, we'll have to monitor this going forward. However, aside from these numbers, Mafengwo's features make it an attractive platform for those in the travel industry to use for social media marketing in China. Nevertheless, it managed to raise another USD $250 million in its series F financing round led by Tencent holdings on May 21st, 2019. For more information check out our article on Mafengwo below.

Douyu: The Twitch of China

Founded by Zhang Wenming in 2013 with headquarters in Wuhan, Douyu (斗鱼) is an online live-streaming platform designed for sharing and commentary on video games. It's mainly for users to broadcast e-sports competitions, showcase strategies, and share content related to videos, similar to Twitch in the West.

Although gaming is the main focus of the platform, videos with content ranging from sports, variety shows and entertainment can also be found on the platform. Douyu is partnered with Tencent, after Tencent became its largest shareholder in March 2016. As one of the largest game publishers in China, this partnership between Douyu and Tencent clearly makes sense.

According to SimilarWeb, Douyu's total visits reached 95.6 million in December 2018 with an average visit duration of around 8 minutes. As of September 2018, the platform had 7.6 million daily active users on the platform. The majority of the traffic to their website is from China at a rate of around 91.4%.

They have a detailed classification on live gaming and they include a lot of popular games on the platform, such as League of Legends (LOL) (英雄联盟), PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) (绝地求生), Honour of Kings (王者荣耀) etc.

The company also holds live e-sports competitions in the hopes of further developing the industry. E-sports is seen as an up and coming industry by analysts around the world, so we expect Douyu to continue to make waves in 2019. For more on Douyu & its rival Huya check out the blog below:

If you are looking to promote a new game in China, bringing it up on Douyu and working with Douyu influencers would be a great move for promotion. If you're involved in the video game industry this is the would be one of the best platforms to start with for social media marketing in China.

Maimai: The Up & Coming Linkedin of China

Maimai (脉脉), which somehow means 'connection' in Chinese, is a China-based career and social-networking platform, similar to Linkedin in the West. It was founded in 2013 by Fan Lin with its headquarters in Beijing. Maimai achieve unicorn status (a valuation over 1 billion dollars) just this year and is planning to IPO in the United States in 2019.

On this platform, you can discuss and share different information about your career on their forum which can make your job search a lot easier, and at the same time help you build a larger network. The platform claimed to have a registered user base of 30 million in November 2017 & a monthly active user base of 10 million. While these numbers seem a bit on the small side compared to other platforms covered above, this is a platform catered specifically to professionals making it a bit more niche. Users of Maimai can easily find potential investors for their business on this platform as well.
What is Mafengwo: Where Long-Form Content Meets OTA
This platform has huge potential for social media marketing in China. Odds are if your business has had success using Linkedin for marketing than this could offer similar results. By using this social media platform, you can find your potential Chinese employees as well as customers for your business. This platform is especially useful for those who sell services rather than products. While it's still growing we anticipate this will be a great tool for social media marketing in China going forward.

Conclusion: Top Social Media In China

These 10 Chinese social media sites above were the hottest ones in 2018. There are tons of other social media platforms that might be more suitable to reach your target audience that we haven't mentioned in this article, so be sure to do your research and find the platform that makes sense for you. Social media marketing in China can be difficult and there are significant barriers to entry, but given the size of the market it will pay off in the end.

I hope this helped you to understand how each of these Chinese social media sites works and what differentiates them from one another.

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, so be sure to contact us for a free consultation!

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Douyu vs. Huya: The Battle to Lead China's E-Sports Industry

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L'Oréal announced their branded virtual idol for the brand's Chinese fans, Mr Ou. L'Oréal is not the only brand to invest in a virtual ambassador, virtual influencers in China are a growing phenomena. In fact, by 2023, China's virtual KOL market is expected to be worth RMB 1.5 billion according to South China Morning Post. While the virtual influencer market in China is currently only a sliver of the over 100 billion RMB KOL market, the market boasts great potential. According to research by streaming platform iQiyi, 64% of Chinese 14 to 24 year-olds followed virtual idols in 2019.

Where KOL marketing meets augmented reality technology: virtual influencers in China

China's virtual influencers come in many shapes and forms. As we will dissect later, not only are their branded and independent influencers, but there are also distinct differences between virtual KOLs, which mostly promote through social media posts, virtual KOCs which manage more intimate connections with consumers, and virtual Idols, which take their influence to the next stage by performing.

Especially when it comes to live streaming, brands are eager to partner with virtual influencers in China. During 2020's Double 11 shopping festival, Philips, L'Oreal, Unilever, and L'Occitane all used virtual hosts in their product promotion live-streams. In a China Daily interview, Philip's head of Tmall marketing, Xiang Jing, said that every day they had a virtual host they saw record traffic.

Depending on how you calculate the costs, virtual influencers can either be a money saver or a budget breaker. Building the 3D models can be expensive, more expensive than hiring a popular KOL. However, as the technology improves, these costs will certainly decline. On the other hand, the creation of virtual influencers doesn't necessarily need to be expensive, take Xiaowanzi for example, Perfect Diary's two-dimensional non-animated KOC who can cover the work of an infinite amount of KOCs.

When and where did virtual influencers originate?

The first worldwide famous virtual idol was Japan's Hatsune Miku. She was 'born' in 2007, and had run-away fame, which was about to land her on the 2020 Coachella stage (had the event not been cancelled due to COVID-19). In 2021, she has 1.5 million Youtube subscribers. Hatsune Mike will now be the first of many, as virtual idols and virtual influencers are popping-up on social media all over the world.

Let's meet some of our favorite virtual influencers in China

Data source: Daxue consulting analysis, comparing virtual influencers in China on a scale of branded to independent, and cartoonish to realistic

Volcaloid Luo Tianyi, China's most famous virtual idol

Like Hatsune Miku, the Chinese virtual character Luo Tianyi (洛天依) is a volacoid at heart. As a part of Yamaha's Vsinger project, she performs at holographic concert which fill arenas, and has also partnered with brands like Pizza Hut, KFC and L'Occitane. She has over 5 million Weibo followers, most of whom are generation z.

In May 2020, alongside other virtual idols, Luo Tianyi hosted a live-stream show on Taobao, where there was an astonishing 2.7 million viewers, most of which gave cash tips to the idols.

Source: Luo Tianyi's official Weibo account, the Chinese virtual idol shared a video dancing for the 2021 Lunar New Year.

Source: Luo Tianyi's official Weibo, the Chinese virtual idol singing Frozen's 'Let it Go' on stage
Ling: China's first AI generated virtual influencer

In May 2020, Xmov Information Technology Co., Ltd and Beijing Cishi Culture Media Company unveiled China's first AI virtual influencer. Ling's incredibly realistic look is thanks to Xmov's own full-stack AI technology. Her facial expressions, and body movement down to each finger is driven by AI performance animation technology.

As the technology behind her supports ultra-realistic live-streaming and videos, Ling has some big plans in the near future. According to Xmov's new release on PRNewswire, "Ling's team will generate content around such characteristics as the national essence of Peking Opera and the combination of classic and modern fashion on social platforms like Weibo, Instagram, and TikTok"

Source: , Ling's official Weibo account, post shared in early February shows the fine detail of the Chinese virtual influencer's hair, eyebrows and fingernails.
Ling has made it onto the CCTV broadcasted "Bravo Youngsters" (华彩少年), a survival talent show featuring Chinese contestants under 25 years old, where she will sing Beijing Opera.

Aside from performing on the show Bravo Youngsters, Ling has partnered with Vogue, Tesla and Nayuki.

Noonoouri

Source: 努努noonoouri's official Weibo account, the virtual KOL's Vogue promotional video Source: noonoouri official Instagram account, the virtual influencer promotes activism on her Instagram, along with luxury brand sponsorships and travel.
Though originating from Germany, and created as a 18 year old French model, this chic virtual influencer made waves in China in 2019. She has collaborated with the likes of Dior, Louis Vuitton and Vogue China, and even became a Tmall Luxury Pavilion ambassador. Noonoouri has made the list as one of the top 15 virtual influencers globally in 2021, and is one of the only top global influencers to have a Weibo account. However, her Weibo post frequency has since waned while the influencer's Instagram presence has only grown.

What is unique about Noonoouri is that she is value-oriented. She promotes a vegan lifestyle, and makes posts for the movement Black Lives Matter.

Source: Poka_Pokaka, Poka's official instagram, the Chinese virtual influencer's instagram posts have slowed since 2020
Poka Poka: China's homegrown virtual influencer

Poka Poka is one of China's first home-grown influencers. Created in 2018 by the online magazine Voicer as a fashion-savvy "intern", she sports a punk look and is often seen with a hint of paint splatter on her face. To make her more real, she even got a haircut and shares her 'drawings' on social media. Poka has collaborated with Gucci, Adidas, Canada Goose, and Monaco.

Source: Ruby Gloom's official instagram, what sets her apart from other virtual influencers in China is that she is the digital alter-ego of a 3D artist.

Ruby Gloom: The cyber-punk alter-ego of a Hong-Kong digital artist

In contrast to the other virtual influencers in this list, Ruby Gloom was not created by a company or agency, but by an individual. Ruby Gloom first appeared on the internet in 2012, between then and 2018 she has created her own "Cyber Ghetto" brand 'Weegirlsclub', and created art lines exhibited in California, New York, Vancouver, Berlin and Argentina.

The 30 year-old creator of Ruby Gloom, Chan Ka-yu, told The Popular Times, "I wanted to have an identity that could live forever - something which could replace me, because on the Internet we just want to portray the best version of ourselves." She says she made the virtual influencer based on her own personal tastes and style, and even superimposes the face of Ruby Gloom onto her own photos.

The Hong Kong-based virtual influencer has accumulated over 70K instagram followers and posts several times a week, promoting brands like Adidas, Fendi, Balenciaga, and Chanel.

Branded virtual KOLs in China

There are a lot of benefits for brands to create their own virtual influencers in China. For one, though the up-front costs are high, the virtual influencer can potentially replace costs of hiring a brand ambassador, and on a more obvious note, doesn't have to sleep, drink or eat. Additionally, virtual brand ambassadors can be a good tool in co-branding and collaboration, as they can be lent out to other brands. Take KFC's virtual Colonel Sanders, for example, who recently partnered with the brands TurboTax and Dr. Pepper.

L'Oréal's Mr. Ou, a two-dimensional French-Chinese idol

Unveiled in early March 2021, Mr. Ou is a 2D multi-potentialist. He is a 24 year-old Chinese-French entrepreneur, environmentalist, and skincare ingredient enthusiast who works in the beauty industry. L'Oréal says that he will contribute content related to beauty, ingredients, sustainability and KOL interviews on their many social media channels.

Source: Daxue consulting Brand Independence in China official report, each Xiaowanzi manages multiple WeChat groups, one operator controls many versions of the Chinese virtual KOC.

Source: Business of Fashion, Mr. Ou is an all-around stud, at 24 years old being an entrepreneur, environmentalist, secretary of news, and skin-care ingredient fan.

Perfect Diary's Xiaowanzi: Every make-up lover's dream cosmetics consultant

Source: RadiiChina, Aimee sporting Prada and Miu Miu on Tmall
Xiaowanzi is the Chinese beauty brand Perfect Diary's own virtual KOC. She is any beauty fan's dream digital make-up consultant; her personality is positive and lively. Private Traffic is key to Perfect Diary's China market strategy, which Xiaowanzi plays a very important role.

At brand touch-points such as the Tmall store or an offline store, consumers are nudged to scan the QR code for Xiaowanzi's WeChat account. From there, Xiaowanzi invites them to a WeChat group and may also give 'lucky draw' financial rewards.

Source: daxue consulting's official Brand Independence in China repot, the virtual KOC shares 2-4 high quality beauty-related posts a day on WeChat and acts as a reliable beauty-savvy friend.

Tmall's Aimee: The e-commerce platform's own clothing model

Aimee is Tmall's digital luxury pavilion ambassador who first appeared during the 2019 single's day. In March 2020, she promoted Prada and Miu Miu during their Tmall launches. This virtual influencer helped launch Tmall's clothing sales back into motion after the shock of COVID-19. Aimee is the first virtual influencer created by a Chinese e-commerce platform, which the platform can conveniently leverage to promote any of the products on their platform.

Questions brands have to ask before leveraging virtual influencers in China

Is it worth taking the risk of sacrificing authenticity?

In a time already filled with aggressive influencer marketing, many consumers are craving more authentic interactions. However, for a band targeting a consumer base that's keen on authenticity, choosing a virtual influencer could be a step in the wrong direction. Real humans provide the security of knowing that the product passed through their own judgment, but virtual influencers lack this dimension. However, some virtual influencers can still maintain their authenticity when they are run by a person, and function as an extension of that person, rather than being ran by a company. For example, Ruby Gloom is a virtual influencer with a higher level of authenticity.

Whether to create own branded virtual influencer or collaborate?
Listen to China Paradigm on Apple Podcast
Designing a virtual influencer has high up-front costs, but if a brand can manage the costs, the return could last for years. Additionally, branded virtual influencers are a tool to collaborate with other brands. However, a fashion-forward brand accustomed to having a variety of celebrity endorsements may not benefit as much by having a single consistent virtual influencer, and would better invest the up-front creation costs on collaborations with existing virtual influencers.

Is it better to be real or cartoonish?

While realistic influencers are striking and futuristic, there are still benefits for simple and cartoony influencers.

Firstly, from an ethics standpoint, the more realistic an influencer, the more real people will feel the pressure and be compared to their appearance. While it may be tempting to design a perfect "36-24-36" model, keep in mind that real women will be compared to this model. So in designing a realistic virtual influencer, it is the responsibility of the designer to keep it real, and represent realistic body shapes.

Secondly, in aiming to be realistic, some avatars end up being creepy. Being very close to real has its benefits, which are clear from scrolling through the Weibo of Ling, or the Instagram of Ruby Gloom, however the skills and precision to create a highly realistic avatar is no simple feat, and falling short may cause virtual creations to land in the 'creepy' realm. Alternatively, keeping the avatar simple not only saves time and money, but may be more appealing for certain audiences. The character Noonoouri is unrealistic enough to not appear eerie, but still has the futuristic look of being 3D. In terms of simplicity, Xiaowanzi is a clear winner; she is a simple cartoon, which is all that is needed for her to get the job done.

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The many faces of virtual influencers in China: Vocaloids, KOLs, KOCs, idols and brand ambassadors - Daxue Consulting - Market Research China

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L'Oréal announced their branded virtual idol for the brand's Chinese fans, Mr Ou. L'Oréal is not the only brand to invest in a virtual ambassador, virtual influencers in China are a growing phenomena. In fact, by 2023, China's virtual KOL market is expected to be worth RMB 1.5 billion according to South China Morning Post.

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The coronavirus pandemic upended air travel around the world, from half-empty planes and canceled flights to rapid Covid-19 tests and mask requirements.

But at least one thinghasn't changed: Qatar Airways is once again the "world's best airline," air transportation research firm Skytrax announced on Tuesday. Qatar Airways also topped Skytrax's global airline rankings in 2019 - the firm skipped its annual ranking in 2020 - making the Doha-based airline a repeat champion, and a six-time winner over the past decade.

This year's rankings are based on more than 13 million customer survey responses, judging 356 airlines on areas like online booking and check-in processes, friendliness of airline staff, seat comfort and the quality of in-flight meals and entertainment. The survey ran from September 2019 to July 2021, according to Skytrax.

Delta Air Lines won the title of best North American airline, while Japan Airlines ranked as the world's best economy class. The survey also recognized Malaysia's AirAsia as the world's best low-cost airline.

Here's a breakdown of Skytrax's 2021 airline rankings, both globally and in North America:

Here are Skytrax's top 10 airlines of 2021, by overall rating:

1. Qatar Airways

2. Singapore Airlines

3. ANA All Nippon Airways

4. Emirates

5. Japan Airlines

6. Cathay Pacific Airways

7. EVA Air

8. Qantas Airways

9. Hainan Airlines

10. Air France

Qatar Airways earned especially high marks from business travelers, topping all other airlines in business class-related categories like best seat, best airline lounge and best onboard catering. Travelers rated the airline third for in-flight entertainment, behind Emirates and Singapore Airlines, and fourth in airline cabin cleanliness.

But the reigning champion's dominance isn't without controversy.

Over the past decade, Qatar Airways has come under fire for its treatment of women employees, including contract provisions forbidding its mostly female cabin crew members from getting married or pregnant within five years of starting work with the company. The airline defended those practices in 2014, but then phased out those restrictions a year later.

Women passengers have also reported issues with their treatment on Qatar Airways flights. Last October, 18 women were subjected to invasive and compulsory medical examinations while traveling from Doha to Sydney. Weeks later, the company said it regretted "any distress or infringement" caused by the incident.

Despite that incident, the airline has racked up accolades since the pandemic hit. In July, Qatar Airways nabbed the "best airline" title from airline safety website AirlineRatings.com, which praised the company for adding new destinations during the pandemic. Many other airlines have cut down on flight routes to make up for massive revenue losses.

It's hard to tell how much the move helped: Qatar Airways reported a $4.1 billion annual loss on Monday, and a drop in passengers of more than 80% over the past year.

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Millions of travelers rated the 'world's best' airlines. Here's what they chose

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The coronavirus pandemic upended air travel around the world, from half-empty planes and canceled flights to rapid Covid-19 tests and mask requirements. But at least one thinghasn't changed: Qatar Airways is once again the "world's best airline," air transportation research firm Skytrax announced on Tuesday.

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China is generating the most revenue.

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Virtual Influencers: Key Accounts to Know

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Virtual Influencers: Key Accounts to Know

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Virtual Influencers have a 3 times higher engagement rate

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The guiding principle of public relations revolves around the use of news and content to put forth a message about anything -- a product, a business, an organization, an endeavor -- using just about any effective medium of reach. Through the years, public relations (PR) has taken a lot of faces depending on what medium of communication was most effective at a given point.

PR is not advertising. PR is all about storytelling. PR is an image-shaper. But with technological advancements reshaping almost every aspect of communications and interaction, leaving nothing untouched, you might ask, "Is it still, in essence, a storytelling, nonadvertising, image-shaping tool that we have known it to be?"

It goes without saying, public relations is still an ongoing influence that has been able to withstand the test of time. From my perspective, the law of supply and demand has given PR a beating heart, as companies are aiming for more ambitious depths in reaching out to their customers with a more specific focus of building and gaining an audience.

There is always a new beat, a new editor, a new editorial calendar, a new PR outlet, etc., which makes PR a very exciting and opportunistic landscape for brand building. In order to stay up to date, it is crucial to constantly read and research stories and articles within your target market in order to note any new editors, writers, columns, etc., and then craft a thoughtful pitch to fit. Any time you come across a new writer or editor, send an introduction email, even if you don't have a pitch ready that is a fit right away.
What's going on in PR right now?
The job of writing a press release just won't cut it anymore, however. As it turns out, writing is one thing, making it relevant and attention-worthy is another thing. Content demand now begins to put more focus on return on investment (ROI), and so we see two major disciplines starting to align: public relations and marketing. In simple terms, it's no longer about just content creation but rather about "content marketing" -- and today, it means an entire world of difference.

Then comes the major game-changer, in my opinion, that is the internet of things (IoT). Even though the internet has been around for quite some time now, the number of users is still growing, with more technologies conceived, making it more convenient for mankind to access anything online. For public relations, this means one thing: the internet is the biggest medium of communications and will stay there until the next tech revolution comes along.
So what does the future of public relations look like?
With technology coming into perspective, making change more volatile, this question is a little bit too ambitious to answer. But with current trends, I believe it is safe to predict that PR will remain steadfast in the many years to come. Inevitably, there will be a strong focus on online content and less on print.

As for the future of public relations, in my opinion, we are looking at a growing number of people turning towards online media as a source of relatable stories and organic, real-time responses. There is, and will be, a considerable shift from journalist/writer-based public relations to a customer-focused approach.

Public relations has definitely been moving to a more customer-focused structure recently, with the consumers playing a much larger role in how agencies go about pitching their clients to the media. I think it is an important factor to consider, and strategies should be altered slightly nowadays to hit your client's target customers with content that will ultimately create a quick and beneficial turnaround for the client, whether that be through product or service purchases, collaboration opportunities, impressions, etc. It's important now to focus not only on what the writer/journalist wants to write but what the consumer is hoping to read.

Public relations is about storytelling, and as people and activities evolve, so will the stories. Today, people spend more time browsing online than reading, and when they do read online, only 28% of the words are likely to be read. To optimize attention, the more condensed the content, the better.

For public relations, the direction is now pointing towards visual content -- infographics, GIF content and short, shareable videos. From my perspective, the future demands short, condensed, visually appealing and shareworthy content from the people in PR. As an agency, careful planning and brainstorming of visual content is key. We have to be on guard of what is current and potentially viral to appeal to audiences.

Given those facts, we add in the statistic that that biggest population of internet users is made up of people ages 18-49, a majority of which are millennials. We are talking about a globally growing population of people who are tired, or even unoriented, with the old public relations tactics. Do they read long articles? Do they skip advertisements? What types of influences sway their purchase decisions?

To answer these questions, the future of PR will entail more dependence on analytics. Any organization that does not heed the validation of the power of analytics will clearly be at a disadvantage. However, the good news is that we can now pinpoint a number of reliable analytics tools for marketers. Compared to printed material, it is easier to measure ROI for anything published online with more sophisticated tracking tools coming into view.

The business of public relations is here to stay and is not showing any signs of stopping, as far as I can tell. It is storytelling and image-building that will remain a constant. In the coming years within the PR vocabulary, you will likely hear the terms "data techniques," "data analytics" and "geo-location" added -- all are coined as tools to target people with relevant, customer-specific content. Companies need to be armed with data as a basis of dependable and influential stories in order to rise above the competition.

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Council Post: What You Can Expect From The Future Of Public Relations

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PR is not advertising. PR is all about storytelling. PR is an image-shaper. But with technological advancements reshaping almost every aspect of communications and interaction, you might ask, "Is it still, in essence, a storytelling, non-advertising, image-shaping tool that we have known it to be?"

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In today's world, it's no longer a secret that consumer's connect to brands and businesses through their story. Whether it's a sustainable hotel or a four-generation boutique, consumers crave personal anecdotes - so what's the best way to foster and promote the uniqueness of your business' story?

I spoke with Zoey Gulmi, CEO of Gulmi Group, a media relations firm, about her favorite tips and strategies to help your brand stand out - for free.

The Power Of Emotional Marketing

"Neuroscience proves that we buy on emotion and justify it with logic," says Gulmi. She advocates that loyalty grows once an emotional link to a brand is formed, and in order to do this, a brand needs to create a genuine story. "In today's fast-paced, overly-automated, and digitally-driven society, authenticity is the new premium. Have you ever thought of your favorite hotel and what makes you love it? Or your favorite clothing brand? I'd bet that the storytelling the brand told along the way played a key role in your brand loyalty."

88% of PR specialists say that digital storytelling is the future.

Though you can't falsify a brand story, a public relations specialist can help you dig into the details of what truly makes your business one-of-a-kind. When you think about how many hundreds of companies are launched every day, many of similar genres, it's the businesses with a story that stand out and ultimately find success in the long run. "It's important to wrap your brand's message into a story that transports people and provokes an emotional response," reiterates Gulmi.

For new businesses, it's essential to craft this narrative and identify a strong brand story prior to launch. And for existing businesses, the story is ongoing - it doesn't stop because you received coverage in a top tier publication or because your business is coasting. You are, and always will be, your brand and sometimes it takes a gentle reminder from an unbiased source.

Create Lasting Buzz

"The media landscape has changed. It's no longer only about just securing ongoing print, digital and broadcast features, it has to go beyond that, you have to create the story and it has to have the ability to create lasting buzz across all platforms. That means telling a cohesive story through events, social campaigns, partnerships and press," says Gulmi.

As with any component of your business, if you are continually behind-the-scenes building or managing your business, you aren't going to be able to focus your attention on other important aspects of the company. You need to delegate and hire out. This is increasingly important due to the shift in media landscape - demand for content has significantly increased and so have expectations for return on investment.

Content is King

"In simple terms, it's no longer about just content creation but rather about content marketing - and today, it means an entire world of difference," explains Gulmi. "There is an incredible amount of strategy that goes into what we do. You have to be a great writer, you have to be a researcher and an analyst. You have to find the heart of the story and more often than not, you're the one creating it."

"It's one thing to write a press release, its another thing to launch a PR campaign that's relevant and attention-worthy," she adds.

Though public relations and marketing are not equal, one discipline certainly helps the other, and vice versa. Public relations specialists will often tell you that public relations is storytelling, while marketing is putting money behind that story. But they'll also tell you, marketing dollars alone will be wasted if you don't have a story. For example, when you see an advertisement online that catches your eye (marketing), and then click the link through to their website only to find a blank page or there's no draw to the brand (poor storytelling), the money spent on that ad quickly falls flat. On the contrary, if you click that ad and there's an engaging story that draws you in, that's marketing and public relations executed in tandem.

"This type of marketing is meant to humanize or personalize a brand, allowing your customers to form an emotional connection with your product or service," adds Gulmi.

The Future Of Public Relations

Ultimately, public relations has evolved to fit the landscape of our ever-evolving world. Contemporary public relations is more than a press release, it's campaigns, partnerships, and constant storytelling. Gulmi describes it as a "one-stop-shop" where brand's can trust in a public relations expert and marketing professional, combining the two realms for pinnacle results.

"It takes more than traditional PR to drive consumers' engagement and awareness for brands," says Gulmi, adding that strategic partnerships are also part of her firm's approach. "A partnership with the right company on the right project goes a long way in helping you tap into a new audience and strengthening the brand identity through association."

Succinctly, it seems the future of public relations is the future of your business, and as long as the media landscape keeps changing, public relations will also have to adapt to ensure brand relevance and longevity.

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The Future Of PR And Getting Your Story Told

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In today's world, it's no longer a secret that consumer's connect to brands and businesses through their story. Whether it's a sustainable hotel or a four-generation boutique, consumers crave personal anecdotes - so what's the best way to foster and promote the uniqueness of your business' story?

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"There is a misconception that influencer marketing is all about 'authenticity'," says Dudley Nevill-Spencer, head of virtual human development at Virtual Influencer Agency. "The reality is very different."

Virtual influencers (VIs) are defined as fictional computer-generated influencers who have the characteristics and personalities of human influencers. This 'trend' has been making its way through Asia, particularly in China and Japan where a number of these virtual beings compete with human influencers for brand attention.

Influencers by default provide curated snapshots of their lives, and Nevill-Spencer argues that virtual influecers are no different.

"Some influencers provide you with 'aspiration', some with 'validation', some 'trust' and some provide an emotional relationship," Nevill-Spencer says. "I always make the point that no one trusts a thing that Kim Kardashian says. My 12-year-old niece knows everything she says is scripted or paid for, but that doesn't stop her aspiring to look like her.

"So different influencers provide different things. What we are focussing on is creating an emotional relationship between the brand and the consumer."

Didi Pirinyuang, ECD at Ensemble Worldwide, who was part of the team that created virtual influencer Maya for sportswear client Puma, says that the rise of virtual influencers is not an indication that they are human replacements, but rather, a form of escapism and fantasy that provides audiences with a canvas to project their voices, interests and personalities.

"Because audiences are aware that virtual influencers are not real per se, they are more open to the messages and stories of the visual narrative," she says. "Virtual Influencers do not experience products and brands in the same way we do of course, but we should treat them as a tool that can tell a story. Because they bridge into the real world, they're very capable of pointing towards real experiences as well."

So how are brands reacting? Quite positively, according to Pirinyuang. "Even as Maya is on a 'virtual holiday' for the time being, there has been active interest from several brands to collaborate with her, or to create their own. As the world adjusts to the new normal, the virtual space is ripe for innovative connection and partnership," she says.

Maya was created to launch the Puma Future Rider shoes across several Southeast Asian markets, after research showed that shortlisting a single influencer with equal relevance across the multicultural, multi-ethnic region was impossible. So the agency created a virtual influencer aggregated from millions of Southeast Asian faces, and the brand was able to have a 'face' representing and reflecting the lifestyle aspirations and values of the audience.

"Over the course of the six-month campaign, we saw high engagement with people around the region building emotional bonds with the character and her stories," says Pirinyuang. "The creation of Maya also enabled the brand to collaborate with like-minded brands, and while the initial launch campaign has ended, Maya's story has not, leaving the door open for long-term brand engagement."

Nevill-Spencer says that engagement rates for virtual influencer campaigns may vary as it heavily depends on content and personality, just as it does with a human influencer.

"There is some very skewed data that suggests virtual influencers have better engagement rates," he says. "They can, but this is often because of general fascination boosted by the 'newness' and PR around the campaign. The reality is that engagement rates will ultimately be determined by how good the story line and community management of the influencer is."

One campaign he quotes as a success is Weiden+Kennedy's virtual version of KFC's colonel. The campaign managed to produce a fresh, completely fictional character while also mocking 'influencer culture' including the use of vague and pensive quotes to accompany a glamorous portrait.

"We have done over 100 presentations to brands," says Nevill-Spencer. "Four years ago it was 'You're bonkers'. Three years ago it was, 'Interesting but I'm uncomfortable'. Two years ago it was, 'Tell me when my competitor does it'. Now we are flooded with requests and are receiving briefs with budgets."
Weighing the pros and cons
But can virtual influencers do exactly the same things as human influencers? Yes, and perhaps more. One major advantage, according to Nevill-Spencer, is that virtual influencers are less unpredictable, and therefore, less risky for brands. Every single narrative is controlled by the brand and agency, and so "your virtual influencer won't storm the Capitol".

Plus, virtual influencers are able to integrate a product with compelling storylines across a lengthy period, or what is called 'product cycle' and 'character lifecycle' alignment. "This is something that's very hard to do with real world influencers," says Nevill-Spencer.

Pirinyuang adds that virtual influencers are a platform of their own that can be crafted and created according to specific audiences, and this enables audiences to connect with the brand on a much deeper, more emotional level.

"In the case of Maya, people were building their own emotional connections with her, with many wondering if she was in fact, real, even going as far as expressing romantic interest in her," she says.

"Being able to blur the lines between the real and virtual world is intuitive to audiences that have grown up with heroes that have come to life through 3D renders, be it in gaming or films. This makes the idea and techniques behind virtual influencers very familiar to them. Add this to the power of social media storytelling and we can create very relatable stories that (nearly) makes fantasy a reality."

And with Covid having bound human influencers to their homes, their virtual counterparts are a practical solution in this climate. "From PSAs to talking about difficult, edgy or less mainstream topics, as well as being conceived and living in the virtual world, virtual influencers transcend lockdowns and can be best leveraged in an almost 100 percent digitised landscape," says Pirinyuang.

One factor that attracts brands is the use of AI to auto-generate multiple conversations with thousands of people at once in multiple languages. In the case of Maya, her conception and arrival into the influencer scene was very much a part of her story, and audiences were engaged from the start.

Pirinyuang says that 'automated communications' was a part of the transparency of her existence and audiences resonated with and accepted that. Interests can be adopted and adapted via social listening, and AI curation of the content can be generated via interactions with the audiences.

Where working with virtual influencers get exciting, says Nevill-Spencer, is studying the consumer through audience intelligence tools such as 'data kinetics' and understanding the values, storylines, images and fables that most resonate with audiences. Subsequently, the agency creates a character and story that it knows will generate a great response based on that data.

But the fact that it's 100 percent digitised is that the behind-the-scenes upkeep of a virtual influencer can be more strenuous. Especially during Covid where demand for lifestyle-centric consumer goods is at an all-time low, the reality is that the upkeep and management of virtual influencers requires significant investment.

Pirinyuang adds that effectiveness and success also take time and investment. "While many of the processes in creating content for virtual influencers have become streamlined, it is still at its infancy stage and there are many techniques that still require refinement," she says.

"Virtual influencers require their very own following for them to become effective, which means they are limited by the ability of storytellers to create captivating stories to toy with within the real and virtual worlds and still make it applicable to brands."

With this, she adds, comes the realities of any creative execution. "We are limited by the resources we have. Thus, it boils down to the resourcefulness of any team to have a balance of slow and fast thinking. Slow thinking represents the long tail effect of the influencer as a representation of the brand; fast thinking refers to topical relevancy that the virtual influencer can and should respond to," she says.

"But the beauty of virtual influencers is that they can be tailored to any audience or brand values and there is a tacit understanding between the brand and audience that virtual influencers are, at the end of the day, interactive visuals-entities of content meant to be enjoyed and consumed."
Click here to subscribe to the FREE Asia PR & comms bulletin to receive dedicated news, features and comment from the region straight to your inbox. Make sure you register for the site to access more than one story per month. To submit a news, comment, case study or analysis idea for the Asia bulletin, email Surekha.Ragavan@haymarket.asia Yet to receive the results you'd like from your influencer marketing efforts? Learn how to choose the right influencers, create and maintain long-lasting relationships and discover best practice for measuring campaign success at PRWeek and Campaign's online Influencer360 event this June.

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Virtual influencers blur the line between fantasy and reality

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"There is a misconception that influencer marketing is all about 'authenticity'," says Dudley Nevill-Spencer, head of virtual human development at Virtual Influencer Agency. "The reality is very different." Virtual influencers (VIs) are defined as fictional computer-generated influencers who have the characteristics and personalities of human influencers.