On June 11th, Xiaomi’s campaign targeting women was first released on Weibo by Marie Claire 嘉人’s official account, and gained 25,000+ reposts and 50,000+ likes. In this campaign, Xiaomi and Marie Claire invited actresses, Wu Jinyan and Zhang Huiwen, and seven industry elites to answer questions under the themes “告别过往，生生不息 An Endless Life with a Farewell to the Past” and “凡是过往，皆为序章 The Past Are All Prologues.” These nine people were asked questions like: “What is the thing that you want to change most?” “What is the thing that you want to forget most?” and “What is the thing that you want to throw away most?.” This campaign is a follow-up of the event of “嘉人女性影响力之夜 Power of Women.” Xiaomi’s fan club has been overwhelmingly male, but now Xiaomi wants to make its brand more relevant for women.
On June 2nd, Marie Claire, one of the top five most influential fashion magazines in mainland China, held the fashion event named “Power of Women.” It is the first fashion gala in China with all-female celebrities and entrepreneurs. The gala invited 42 high-profile female celebrities and 24 businesswomen to explore the influence and power of modern women in China. This event’s hashtag on Weibo and TikTok, #嘉人女性影响力之夜# (#Marie Claire Power of Female Influence), had 50+ related hot topics, 10+ billion reads, and 5,000,000+ discussions over the internet. Xiaomi’s logo on the background of event photos also marked its new focus on female consumers and female-specific need for technology.
On August 17th, 2011 Xiaomi launched its first smartphone and had the core competency of being affordable. Nonetheless, the brand was weighed down by the image of being a copycat in phone designs and low quality. Later, it had collaborations with French artist Philippe Starck (2016), the British Museum (2018), and the Dunhuang Research Academy (2018) to rebrand itself as artistic and innovative. After years dedicated to product research and development, in 2020, Xiaomi moved to the premium market with the Xiaomi Mi 10 series. The new Xiaomi 11 even features one of the best screens in mobile phone industry. However, after establishing a brand image of affordability and high performance, Xiaomi still sought ways to increase its female user base.
In 2018, 70% of the users of Xiaomi were male. With a more feminine design and a lighter weight, Xiaomi Mi 11 gained three times female customers in the first month of retail (January of 2021) than that of the previous product. After that, Xiaomi had the first attempt in female-targeted marketing: a collaboration with Bazaar China earlier this year in April. Xiaomi ran a contest for female spokespeople, selected 9 Xiaomi female non-celebrity users to be the brand spokespeople, and shot ads with Bazaar.
This time with Marie Claire’s Power Trip, Xiaomi further overhauls the brand with an image of high-class, technology, art, and fashion. The series of rebranding campaigns and strategies help Xiaomi to engage in women’s empowerment and stress its user-centricity for all genders.
Author: Zhiting (Vanessa) Sun
