Ultimate guide to KOL marketing in China: What is a KOL and how to unravel their enormous potential

In June 2022, out of a population of 1.41 billion, China had 1.05 billion Internet users, accounting for around 74% of the population, thus recording an increase of 3.8% compared to 2021. Moreover, according to CNNIC, netizens spend an average of 29.5 hours per week online, and 99.6% of them use their mobile to surf […]
Why the next stage of Chinese virtual influencers is body positivity

A virtual influencer is an AI-generated fictional character that brands in China have been using in place of human Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) for a variety of marketing-related activities. Their flawless evergreen youth and ability to be controlled is highly desirable as often a human KOL’s actions or political comments can lead companies to face […]
What to expect from Double 11 2021? Pre-sales, new records and top brands

The Double Eleven Shopping Festival, also known as Single’s Day refers to the online promotion day on November 11 (11/11). 2021 is the 12th Double Eleven shopping festival in history. On this day, many online merchants conduct large-scale promotional activities on online platforms like Tmall, Jingdong and Taobao. As sales start at midnight, according to data from iiMedia Research, in […]
Cultural Opinion Leaders (COLs): The future of China’s KOL economy

As Li Jiaqi and Viya win the titles “king” and “queen” of this year’s Singles’ Day and fashion brands keep on collaborating with the same handful of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), China’s KOL economy is in flux. Gen-Z consumers looking for more authentic and deeper tastemakers are the main driver of change. KOLs’ standardized format […]
AYAYI: The first metahuman in China has already made an “offline appearance” at Guerlain’s event

The first metahuman AYAYI (super realistic digital human) was created by RM Inc. (燃麦科技) earlier this year. AYAYI made her first appearance on Red on May 20th, 2021, the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day. As of July 1st, AYAYI’s first笔记 (note) launched on Red has won 95,000+ likes, 13,000+ favorites, and 2+ million reads. All […]
Business opportunities in the Chinese beauty market: Consumption upgrade of the Skincare market in China|Daxue Consulting

Skincare market in China overview The skincare market in China sales volume reached 26.5$ billion, representing 50% of the total cosmetic market’s sales revenues in 2017 – twice as much as the world average. Skincare products in China are seen as essentials among Chinese women, and increasingly more so among men. In 2017, the sales […]
Daxue Talks 61: KOLs’ and users’ behavior on Xiaohongshu during and after the coronavirus outbreak

KOLs’ and users’ behavior on Xiaohongshu during and after the coronavirus outbreak In this episode of Daxue Talks, Miro Li, an expert in marketing foreign brands on niche Chinese platforms, discusses how KOLs and the Chinese lifestyle sharing platform Xiaohongshu (Red) have adapted to the COVID-19 outbreak. Jump to the questions: 0:38: How have KOLs […]
Daxue Talks 43: Effective B2B strategies to enter China’s market

In this episode, Olivier Verot, a digital marketing specialist in China, discusses the trends for B2B marketing in China and the effective B2B strategies to enter China’s market. From this episode, you will learn about the relevance of KOLs for the B2B sector, the B2B O2O strategies and the marketing formats that B2B companies should […]
Daxue Talks transcript #9: Working with KOLs on Douyin

Find here the Daxue Talks episode 9. From the talk with Fabian learn in 2-5 minutes how to work with KOLs on Douyin. Full transcript below: My name is Fabian, I am the founder and co-director of UPLAB, a company where we help influencers become better at who they are and at the same time we […]
Daxue Talks 9: Leverage Douyin to reach gen Z

Leverage Douyin Fabian Ouwehand, Douyin expert and entrepreneur in China gives us the most recent information on the Chinese digital giant, Douyin (called Tik-Tok in the West). In this China business vlog, we discuss how to use Douyin for marketing purposes and especially how to work with Chinese influencers, KOLs on Douyin. Jump to the […]