In this episode of the China Marketing Podcast, Lauren and her guest discuss a topic that has never been talked about on this podcast before but is relevant for many listeners — how to manage a Chinese team, particularly a team in the marketing industry. 

The guest today is Elisa Harca, the CEO and co-founder of Red Ant Asia, a China marketing agency in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which was founded in 2012. It works with lifestyle and luxury brands such as Lush, Charlotte Tilbury, Lane Crawford, Birkenstock, and more.

For the past eight years, Elisa has led an entirely Chinese team, and she has many employees who have been with the company for five to seven years. As anyone who has worked in the communications industry in China knows, this is quite impressive, as many people tend to hop around and change positions every one to two years.

In this interview, she shares some of the biggest lessons she’s learned about leading a Chinese team, mistakes she has made or frequently sees other foreigners make when building a team of Chinese employees, and her top tips for finding and retaining high-quality Chinese talent.

Elisa also shares how her company is handling the coronavirus and managing a remote workforce.

To learn more about marketing in China, sign up for Lauren’s newsletter, China Marketing Insights! 

Guest: Elisa Harca

Instagram | Website | WeChat: RedAntOfficial | Email: [email protected]

Host: Lauren Hallanan

Website | LinkedIn | WeChat: H1212118514

This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.

The rise of Chinese domestic brands is one of the defining business stories of the last decade. Listening to Mia Wang, the CEO of the popular Chinese women’s fitness apparel brand MAIA ACTIVE, it is easy to see why domestic brands are doing so well. 

This episode will be particularly useful for brands that are just entering the China market, as Mia shares a lot of the tactics her team used to take the company from 0 in 2016 to having over 300 different products, a very successful Tmall presence, and three offline stores today. 

­To learn more about marketing in China, sign up for the China Marketing Update!

Resources:

MAIA ACTIVE Company Intro Deck

Guest: Mia Wang

LinkedIn | Email 

Host: Lauren Hallanan

Website | LinkedIn | WeChat: H1212118514

Check out Lauren’s book: Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs.

This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.

With China on lockdown due to the COVID-19 epidemic, offline retail is nearly nonexistent and ecommerce has slowed, since logistics companies are unable to deliver goods. But industries such as gaming, health and fitness, and online education are booming. 

How should brands handle these complex times? What can they do to support consumers and set themselves up to recoup losses once the crisis has passed? 

 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

疫情之下，企业该如何做营销? (“How to do business under the coronavirus?”), by 刀姐doris

我们统计了800名抖音快手达人，谁是今年春节档最大的“黑马 (“We gathered 800 Kuaishou and Douyin experts — who is this year’s “dark horse”?), by Short Video Production House

Responding to the coronavirus: strategic brand advice, by United Media Solution

This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.

In 2019, male beauty and skincare was one of China's fastest-growing consumer product segments. In fact, data from Euromonitor shows that the Chinese male beauty market is growing at over double the global average (13.5 percent vs. 5.8 percent). In this episode, Lauren and her guest, Joyce Sheng, give an overview of the male beauty industry in China, including its size, products, and consumer demographics, as well as the cultural drivers of the trend. 

In addition, Joyce — a Chinese post-1990s consumer and avid fan of this podcast — shares her personal perspective on how her male friends and colleagues are engaging with this trend.

Resources mentioned in the show: AIRPARIS China Male Beauty Report 2019.

Guest: Joyce Sheng

LinkedIn

Host: Lauren Hallanan

Website | LinkedIn | WeChat: H1212118514

This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.

This week’s guest is Arnold Ma, the founder of Qumin, a Chinese digital marketing agency with a mission to open the world to China, specializing in Chinese creative branding and marketing.

In this episode, Lauren speaks with Arnold about what he sees as some of the biggest trends that could shake up the marketing industry this year in China.

What to look for:

• Content-led platforms, like TikTok, could potentially overtake network-led platforms like Twitter, Weibo, and Facebook. 
• Influencers becoming creators.
• The concept of Xiàchén 下沉, which implies a greater need for brands to market to consumers outside of first-tier cities in China.

To learn more about marketing in China, sign up for Lauren’s newsletter: The China Marketing Update!

Guest: Arnold Ma

Website | Podcast | LinkedIn

Host: Lauren Hallanan

Website | LinkedIn | WeChat: H1212118514

This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.

This episode features Ron Wardle, CEO of a multi-award winning China e-commerce trade partner and digital marketing services agency, who gives an inside look at one of China's biggest marketing trends — ecommerce livestreaming.

While using livestreamed video to promote ecommerce has existed in China for several years, it really took off in 2019 during last year’s Singles’ Day shopping festival, when livestreaming on Alibaba’s Taobao platform generated $2.85 billion in sales — around 7.5 percent of the day’s total. 

Across the Chinese internet, marketers have dubbed 2019 “the first year of the ecommerce livestreaming era,” and some of the top hosts have become celebrities. 

But how does it work? Ron Wardle talks about his experience running livestream campaigns for big international brands.  

­To learn more about marketing in China, sign up for Lauren’s newsletter: China Marketing Insights!

Guest: Ron Wardle

LinkedIn

Twitter 

Host: Lauren Hallanan

Website

LinkedIn

Check out Lauren’s book: Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs.

This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.

Description: Today I’m chatting with Charlie Gu, Founder of the agency Kollective Influence which helps brands reach Chinese travelers and Chinese young professionals and students living abroad, mainly through working with local Chinese influencers. ­To […]

Today we’re talking all about KOCs or key opinion consumers with my guest, Ray Veras, co-founder of the KOC marketing platform Pingjia Daren (评价达人). This episode will give you an overview of the topic: who […]

Today we’re talking all about KOCs or key opinion consumers with my guest, Ray Veras, co-founder of the KOC marketing platform Pingjia Daren (评价达人). This episode will give you an overview of the topic: who are KOCs, how are they different than KOLs, why has KOC marketing become so popular, and what kind of goals and ROI expectations brands should have when running KOC campaigns. At the end we also chat a bit about a great report that Pingjia Daren put out ahead of 11.11 where they surveyed over 6,700 KOCs and Ray shared some of the key findings from the report. Read the report: 11.11 China female consumers’ shopping plan survey 2019 To learn more about influencer marketing in China, sign up for our newsletter: The China Influencer Update!   Notes: Ray’s background: Ray has been involved in KOC marketing for 5 years, before the term existed. His professional background was in consumer research and back in 2014 was surprised by how few brands were using word of mouth (WOM) marketing in China What are KOCs? KOCs are ordinary everyday consumers who enjoy sharing their experiences on social media. Generally, they are knowledgeable on certain topics. May only have an audience of several hundred to a few thousand followers therefore have a much closer relationship with them. He feels one of the biggest differences between KOLs and KOCs is that KOC content is generally not financially motivated. Most of the time, at least with their collaborations, KOCs are just being gifted product and product samples. Very important when gifting KOCs that the product fits the KOC’s lifestyle and is relevant, not just randomly gifted I asked “Is there a lot of churn? Do a lot of KOCs become KOLs?” Yes, this year especially. Now that KOC marketing has become popular brands have started paying them and MCNs have been scooping them up to see if they can train them to become larger KOLs What is Pingjia Daren? It is a product recommendation community (somewhat similar to Xiaohongshu). Users answer a questionnaire when then sign up to share their interests and product preferences, then when there is a campaign, PJ Daren will invite a select group of users to receive free product. They are then encouraged to review the products on their social accounts, brands will indicate preferred platforms. Difficult for brands to do KOC marketing without the help of a platform. To engage with thousands of consumers at one requires a system, you need tech to track performance. Why has KOC marketing taken off this year? Several factors: Chinese consumers are becoming more sophisticated, they have a lot of options to avoid traditional advertising. Consumer are now very aware that KOLs are promoting products because they are being paid to. He feels they are craving more content that is not commercially influenced. Social media landscape is becoming more fragmented. Consumers have more options. Adds complexity for brand side to determine which platforms to leverage. Harder for them to keep messages consistent, also platforms each have their own rules and best practices. Consumers’ attention span decreasing therefore less attention on marketing campaigns. Last few years seen a decrease in performance of KOLs in China yet costs have increased and become unbearable for many brands. Also cases of KOLs inflating performance, fraud. What goals should brands have when running a KOC campaign? driving advocacy amplifying other campaigns the brand may be running at the time lifting incremental sales. Need to think about mid-term results, not short term. KOC marketing is about building brand equity. ROI - $1-4 per dollar invested in a campaign Think mid to long term – short terms successes aren’t what they seem With e-commerce live streaming most cases where you hear crazy sales results, the brand is paying for the hype, they aren’t making a profit, the products are heavily discounted, tied to aggressive commissions, short term burst of exposure, not a long lasting effect which is what KOCs produce Great case study of building brand equity through KOCs is Perfect Diary. They have been using KOCs, building communities, using private traffic for several years and that’s paying off now Pingjia Daren reports: One that came out ahead of 11.11, was a survey of over 6,700 Chinese female KOCs, evaluated their purchase intent, Key insight - consumers in 3rd tier cities and below are taking the lead with consumption growth in China. Willing to spend more than consumers in 1st and 2nd tier cities Did follow up research – found out they have a lower cost of living, which means they have greater disposable income. Cost of housing really affecting 1st and 2nd tier city consumers. Key drivers of product choice – in 1st and 2nd tier cities discounts are a big driver, but for 3rd tier cities and below, the impact was much lower, they are more focused on value and quality, not paying as much attention as we think on cheap products   Guest: Ray Veras Website: https://pjdaren.com/ PJ Daren LinkedIn Ray’s Linkedin Host: Lauren Hallanan Website: www.chinainfluencermarketing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-hallanan/ WeChat: H1212118514 Check out my book: Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs ------- Thanks to our sponsors PARKLU: www.parklu.com and Chatly: www.chatly.com For additional information and show notes head over to www.chinainfluencermarketing.com If you like this podcast and know someone who might find it interesting, please share!

Description: In last week’s episode I spoke with the COO of Becky’s Fantasy, the company of top Chinese fashion influencer Becky Li.  Today we’re going to give you another perspective into Becky’s business. My assistant and frequent co-host Kejie interned at Becky’s Fantasy in 2017 and today she shares what that experience was like.  We first discuss the basics such as the size of the company, what are the main teams, how does Becky’s editorial process work, and then later on she shares what she feels differentiates Becky from other Chinese KOLs, and why Becky, a top tier influencer, has stayed popular as consumers are starting to prefer smaller micro influencers. To learn more about influencer marketing in China, sign up for our newsletter: The China Influencer Update!   Becky’s Fantasy WeChat Account: 黎贝卡的异想世界 Host: Lauren Hallanan Website: www.chinainfluencermarketing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-hallanan/ WeChat: H1212118514 Check out my book: Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs ------- Thanks to our sponsors PARKLU: www.parklu.com and Chatly: www.chatly.com For additional information and show notes head over to www.chinainfluencermarketing.com If you like this podcast and know someone who might find it interesting, please share!