When we talk about popular apps in China, WeChat is still one of the first names that come to mind. The app currently holds the position of the 5th most popular app in the world based on MAU, making WeChat campaigns popular amongst the top brands.

Every big brand name worth their salt is using WeChat ads to grow their audience and engage a loyal following. If you are new to the China market, WeChat could be a great place to begin.

We’ve put together a list of 6 best WeChat marketing case study examples for you to take inspiration from:

Burberry “Pocket Bag” WeChat Campaign

Industry: Luxury
Brand: Burberry

Burberry is seen as a luxury brand that has nailed its China digital strategy. The brand’s WeChat content is heavily tailored to China’s audience. 

To promote its Spring 2020 Pocket Bag, the brand roped in actress Zhou Dongyu and shared vertical mobile-friendly campaign videos on WeChat.  Besides WeChat, the brand also ran this campaign on Weibo and Little Red Book platforms. The campaign messaging was tweaked based on what is vital for each platforms’ core userbase. This helped the campaign shine on each of these platforms and receive a positive response from consumers.

Takeaway: Tailor your campaign based on the digital platform

Coca Cola’s “Chinese Font” campaign

Industry: Beverage
Brand: Coca Cola

To celebrate their 134th anniversary, Coca Cola released a new Chinese font titled  “Care”.  The whole font package consisting of 6,769 Chinese characters and 976 symbols is available to download for free.

The brand also rolled out an engraving service via its Tmall Global store allowing customers to order custom engravings for their bottles.

Overall, the WeChat campaign generated over 100,000 views for the brand. Customers appreciated the brand’s effort to localize as well as their dedication to the China market that spans several decades.

Takeaway: Meaningful localization wins hearts

Prada’s Mathematics of Love campaign

Industry: Retail
Brand: Prada

Titled “Mathematics of Love,” Prada’s latest WeChat campaign explores love in the post-pandemic era. The campaign starred Prada’s brand ambassador Cai Xunkun and consisted of a series of short videos on WeChat,  Weibo, and Douyin. Promoting a special selection of products dedicated to 520 Day, the campaign led people to a WeChat pop-up shop.

Prada also rolled out a filter to increase social engagement that allows them to personalize posters with the Prada logo. The campaign saw impressive results with their hashtag “Embracing New Norm” used 410 million times by May 2020 giving it a good social boost.

Takeaway: Use innovative social engagement options to boost your campaigns

BMW’s WeChat launch

Industry: Auto
Brand: BMW

BMW Canada recently joined the ranks of luxury automakers on WeChat. WeChat currently has 750,000 Canadians among its 1.1 billion monthly active users. About 63% of them are male. The brand is planning to create a consistent presence on WeChat, sharing product launches, sales, info on BMW technology and more.

Additionally, the brand generated exceptionally high engagement and social sharing in its initial test campaigns and is hoping to continue with the same results in the coming months.

Takeaway: Create test campaigns before your launch

Van Cleef & Arpels Frivole collection launch

Industry: Jewelry
Brand: Van Cleef & Arpels

Van Cleef & Arpels has always been great at creating interactive and creative content on WeChat. Their latest campaign launched their flora and fauna inspired Frivole collection. By using interactive elements within their ads, they created an engaging campaign.

In addition, their WeChat ad campaign featured flowers floating in the wind revealing their delicate line of jewellery.

Takeaway: Create interactive ads that grab attention

McDonald’s Spring Festival campaign

Industry: F & B
Brand: McDonald’s

For it’s Spring Festival campaign, McDonald’s created a Moments ad that featured an interactive video. The ad guides users to trace a bucket on the screen to invite good luck. Each burger name was also integrated with words that mean “blessings” that appear on the screen.

As a result, McDonald’s managed to attract 190 million brand impressions with this ad making the campaign a huge success. 

Takeaway: Use festive occasions to give your campaigns a boost

San Francisco’s ‘Draw Something’ campaign 

Industry: Travel and tourism 
Brand: SFTA

When the San Francisco Travel Association (SFTA) aimed to increase Chinese tourism in the American city, they looked to WeChat for the answer. 

Teaming up with a WeChat advertising partner, the organization drew in Chinese tourists with a dynamic WeChat Mini-Program that asked users to correctly identify distorted drawings of iconic San Francisco landmarks. 

Named ‘Draw Something SF’, the game increased in difficulty at each round, before finally rewarding successful players with themed prizes, such as airline tickets to San Francisco, free hotel accommodation, and city merchandise. 

The result? A 34% increase in bookings from Chinese tourists, over 31 million impressions on the SFTA website.

Takeaway: WeChat games can boost engagement, and lead to tangible results.

Fendi’s Spring 2020 campaign 

Industry: Luxury 
Brand: Fendi 

To promote its Spring 2020 collection to Chinese consumers, Fendi turned to its WeChat Official Account to leverage its base of loyal followers. 

Featuring Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) on the platform, such as Xu Weizhou and Qiao Xin, the brand released stylized photoshoots that directly linked to Fendi’s Chinese website where users could purchase the collection. 

Alongside previous campaigns, this is a great example of how WeChat KOLs can connect Western brands to Chinese consumers, tapping into their trust of reviews and celebrity endorsements. 

Takeaway: WeChat influencers or KOLs offer a direct (and trusted) route to Chinese consumers.

Helena Rubinstein’s ‘Powercell Skinmunity Serum’ campaign 

Industry: Beauty 
Brand: Helena Rubinstein 

With the help of popular beauty KOLs, Helena Rubinstein launched the fourth generation of its Powercell Skinmunity Serum in China via its WeChat Mini-Program, allowing users to purchase the product directly on the app. 

Once ordered, the program prompted buyers to publicly share why they purchased the product, leading to an influx of comments and reviews that generated trust and excitement among users, boosting sales as a result. 

It’s savvy moves like these that explain why parent company, L’Oreal, has seen impressive growth in China, despite falling year-on-year across the globe. 

Takeaway: Tapping into Chinese consumer habits is a fast track to success.

Sephora’s WeChat Mini-Program 

Industry: Beauty 
Brand: Sephora 

Tasked with engaging its predominantly Gen Z and millennial consumer base, Sephora knew it had to go to great lengths to stay relevant and ahead of the curve. 

And to do just that — an immersive WeChat Mini-Program did the trick. 

Connecting its physical stores with the online world, the brand’s Mini-Program offers users the chance to book in-store beauty services, share beauty tips, and engage with a community of other Sephora shoppers. 

Featuring an integrated loyalty scheme, the program also encourages users to share the brand’s latest promotions online, creating word-of-mouth marketing that lowered its customer acquisition costs by 30% and increased its WeChat traffic by over 200%. 

Takeaway: Building WeChat communities can significantly increase traffic and reduce marketing costs.

Burberry’s ‘Ratberry’ campaign

Industry: Luxury
Brand: Burberry

From Pocket Bag promos to festive fun, Burberry’s Chinese New Year campaign on WeChat is the second example of its clever marketing moves on the platform. 

Sidestepping the negative connotations of ‘the rat’ — 2020’s zodiac animal in China — Burberry developed a cute cartoon character, ‘Ratberry’, that featured in an online game and across a series of exclusive stickers on WeChat. 

Alongside the hashtag #BurberryChineseNewYear, the fashionable mascot generated over 300,000 views on the brand’s official WeChat account, compared to its average reach of just 61,000. 

Takeaway: Creatively fusing Chinese culture with Western trends can lead to great results.

Conclusion

While producing top-quality content is important, brands also need to invest in advertising to ensure their content gets seen. Creating interactive ad campaigns that engage users can help increase brand awareness as well as generate sales. We hope these WeChat campaign examples inspire you to get started with your next campaign.