NARS Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary in Shanghai
On 10th September 2019, the Shiseido subsidiary cosmetic brand NARS launched its 25th-anniversary celebration in Expo Park, Shanghai in collaboration with Tmall Little Black Box (天猫小黑盒).
Little Black Box is an official channel for launching new products on Tmall whereby brands gain exposure for their products in return for running an offline event to cross-promote. The NARS event marked the official release of four limited edition products from the NARS “Orgasm” collection in China.
The Global CEO and Chief Growth Officer from Shiseido, Mr Marc REY, attended the event and unveiled the four limited edition products. Chinese singer Liangying Zhang, Actress Bridgette Qiao, Jinna Fu from Rocket Girls 101 as well as major beauty KOLs and Chinese media representatives were invited to share the launch moment with NARS.
The exhibition was shaped by six immersive, interactive beauty spaces – brand, makeup, highlighter, blusher, couture plate and lipstick – and attracted continuous footfall to the site throughout the launch day. Importantly, prior registration and time slots were booked via a WeChat mini-program with attendees required to provide their name, city, phone number and time slot before being given a unique QR code to be presented for entry.
Upon entry attendees received a special card that enabled them to collect stickers from each of the interactive spaces. As a reward for collecting all six they were able to redeem a NARS exclusive package at the end of the exhibition. To drive offline interaction there was also a claw crane arcade machine for participants to try and win exclusive NARS prizes. Lastly the exhibition featured a Tmall-integrated vending machine where attendees could scan a NARS Tmall QR code to place online orders and then collect the products immediately on-site.
In addition to the continuous footfall to the site, the event generated significant engagement across Chinese social media platforms.
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The campaign launch post about the event (featuring KOL UNINE) had 22,665 shares and 7,121 comments
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The brand-owned hashtags #NARS25# and the more risqué #愉悦蔓延美到颤抖# (“spreading beauty to make you quiver”) drew over 1.2 million discussion comments respectively
Overall The NARS 25th Anniversary campaign and exhibition is a prime example of how innovative global brands are thinking holistically by providing stand-out experiences offline with the goal of reach and capturing high-value target audiences online.
Key Considerations from Hot Pot
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NARS have created a truly immersive campaign to commemorate a key milestone in the brand’s history in China. Omni-channel integration and consistency of messaging across channels is fundamental to reaching and engaging target audiences in the short and long-term
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The digital sign-up function is significant from a data-capture and retention perspective. The value of a follower that has opted-in and experienced the brand first-hand far outstrips the more casual social browser (e.g. acquired through paid ads only). These high-value audiences can be leveraged as early-adopters, driving organic messaging for future campaigns.
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Physical, offline initiatives remain hugely important to the consumer’s user journey, even as they evolve to be more experiential, creative, and holistically integrated with online. Global brands headquartered outside of China may feel that they can manage a single-channel eCommerce presence from arm’s length, but they miss a key opportunity to delight their audience. Even if brand advocates cannot attend in person, they can relive offline experiences through other’s social media posts. Brands may face questions of authenticity in China if their competitors have a greater or more meaningful offline presence than they do.
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Chinese consumers are increasingly craving a wider array of specialised products within the beauty category and are eager to build a depth of knowledge around the brands and products that they adopt. This deeper affinity was facilitated via the six immersive and interactive spaces presented at the NARS exhibition and is a key to driving loyalty and repeat purchase.