Re-entering the competitive beauty market of China, SK-II was faced with the challenge of striking an emotional chord with younger users.

Tapping into the insight that women find inspiration to stay true to their passion when they witness someone else find success in pursuing their passion, we began a movement to inspire young women to realize their passion can change everything.

The movement was sparked with the success story of a brand ambassador’s pursuit of passion that engaged women in the conversation and acted as the catalyst for them to pledge to pursue and find success with their own passion.

In a digital landscape of over 500 million users, Weibo and Youku capture a lion’s share of China’s digital consumption with 80% and 10% of active internet users having a registered account on the two respective platforms.

Based on our audience’s digital consumption patterns, the campaign was rolled out across various platforms to maximize reach and effectiveness.

Whilst browsing and sourcing for information in leading beauty forums and websites, dynamic web banners piqued and directed users to the integrated social eCommerce application on Weibo. There, users were presented with a rich digital brand experience where they could find inspiration in the film, pledge to pursue their passion, learn more about the brand’s heritage and share their experience with their friends. Within the same application, a social commerce module allowed consumers to directly purchase the product. Further conversation was driven by housing the microfilm on Youku which encouraged share and commenting.

The goal of the campaign to increase brand awareness was a success with the application receiving over 800,000 unique visitors and the film garnering over 900,000 views and 1.1 million shares.

The SK-II fan base on Weibo increased by over 14.5% across the span of just 3 months. With over 200,000 direct click-throughs to eCommerce, success was also reflected in the 71% increase of sales across the duration of the campaign.

Most importantly, chatter was rife across social platforms with users identifying with and echoing the campaign’s message– a sign that SK-II was finally speaking on her target audience’s terms.