8 March is International Women’s Day (IWD), and it is one of the major dates on China’s marketing calendar. Not only is it a recognised holiday (where women get half a day off), but also feminism or, as it’s called in China, women’s rights (女权) remain a somewhat contentious issue, especially online.
C-beauty brand Proya experienced backlash last year due to its campaign about gender roles and stereotypes, including several men and their stories. This year, we also saw SK-II’s “dare to bare” makeup-less campaign fall flat as Chinese netizens doubted the sincerity of the message from the premium skincare company about showing off healthy skin without makeup.
Brands chose an artistic and cultural approach to connect with its urban intellectual target audiences
This year, we are seeing a trend of more intellectual and artistic International Women’s Day marketing from major brands including Aesop, To Summer and Valentino who all chose an artistic and cultural approach with an intellectual flavour to connect with its urban cultured target audiences.
A tearoom of one’s own
For IWD this year, Australian luxury cosmetics brand Aesop aimed to create a spiritual space, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own for women, but a more public space like a tea house. Between 1 and 9 March, Aesop will be hosting a series of four events at its stores across China called “Her Story”, “Her Expression”, “Her Voice”, and “Her Blossoming”. Anyone can reserve a place on the brand’s official accounts to attend these activities.
In the true spirit of solidarity, for “Her Story”, each participant can exchange a book at the store that is written by a woman or a supporter of women’s rights. For “Her Expression” Aesop will be hosting an exhibition in store for 3 women artists. “Her Voice” will involve listening to vinyl records of female blues singers. Participants of “Her Blossoming” will receive a lily bulb to grow at home.
Through the events, not only does Aesop try to unite women with the arts but the brand also tries to transcend the forms or vessels of the arts to their core. The storytelling of lived experiences as a woman in the age of information. Of course, these activities are targeted at a more intellectual class of women because of the forms they have taken.
The world is her playground
On the other hand, Chinese fragrance brand To Summer released another issue of its “Nosepaper” publication, which started as part of its “Open and Close” (自由与想象 in Chinese, lit. Freedom and Imagination) initiative last March. To Summer’s concept last year, incidentally, is also inspired by Woolf’s essay. The latest issue is titled “Your World is a Playground” (和世界玩儿, lit. playing with the world).
Like Aesop, To Summer also approached International Women’s Day marketing with a four-pronged campaign: fragrance, art, poetry and round table. The Open and Close fragrance collection welcomes two new additions, Pearl Box and Her. The Nosepaper, a collaboration between the brand and Parallel Poetry Festival published a new Spring 2025 issue hosting 11 female writers and their contribution to a collection of poetry with “Your World is a Playground” as its theme. Between 7 and 9 March, 10,000 copies are available for pickup at the Guozijian branch in Beijing or the To Summer flagship store in Shanghai. Two offline round table discussions with special guests were hosted on 6 March at the “To Summer Living Room” concept store in Sanlitun, Beijing.
The medium is the message
Italian luxury fashion house Valentino also approached IWD in a similar manner. It is noteworthy, despite Valentino not being a direct competitor to Aesop and To Summer. The Italian brand took a hyper-localised approach in Shanghai and launched a “citywalk” style route along Suzhou Creek. The campaign is three-pronged with photography, music and literature, with an immersive photography exhibition at the Fotografiska gallery, a music party at the Women’s Live House and a book club event at the Naïve bookshop.
It should be noted that these brands are adopting more intellectual or artistic forms which not only reinforce their brand image but also appeal to the audience with other campaigns. This applies to To Summer who started the Nosepaper with its Woolfian concept store, but also to Aesop who launched a cinephilic pop-up space in Shenzhen last November to celebrate its then-new collection.
This “highbrow” marketing approach might have already been democratised in China
The “arty and cultured” youth (文艺青年) and “xiaozi” (小资, lit. petit bourgeois) cohorts are still one of the key target audiences for these premium brands. With art exhibitions and niche film screenings continuing to be a popular pastime for the urban young, this “highbrow” marketing approach might have already been democratised in China. For elevated brands like the three above, it is a great way of maintaining the luxury brand narrative while connecting with urban consumers.
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