For years, the playbook for doing business in China was scale. Likely driven by eyes charmed by the enormous numbers in population, disposable income, GDP growth, brands would pick a hero SKU, find a celebrity, roll out their offerings nationally and watch their own numbers stack up. It was never that simple, but in the old, accelerating market, it was simple enough to work.
Come 2025, and the logic has collapsed. In the post-Covid market slowdown, conditions are becoming unforgiving. Any brands that think they can win with the old playbook need to think again.
The old China playbook: blunt strategies
Coming out of Covid, the average Chinese consumer – if there is such a thing – is more cautious and much harder to impress. They take a better look when comparing brands, they sit on decisions longer, and are less happy-go-lucky with their cash.
At the same time, recent years have seen China’s soft power star rise. With it has come a peak in pride around domestic products that is driving stiffer competition, especially in markets like EVs and luxury. Here, a foreign logo alone no longer does the work. Something extra is required before people commit to buying.
The reality has made that one-size-fits-all strategy feel blunt. Betting on your brand to win everywhere looks like folly. So what are businesses to do?
The new China playbook: localisation
What we’re seeing instead is a more demanding form of localisation. Not cosmetic tweaks, but structural choices about where and how to show up. Louis Vuitton’s Chengdu pop-up focused on the city’s cultural and creative confidence, not vague regional symbolism.
On’s tennis court refurbishment in Shanghai embedded the brand in an existing urban routine rather than staging a momentary spectacle. Nike and Heinz’s National Games ads landed because they spoke to shared experiences local audiences already recognised.
These weren’t attempts to speak to all of China at once. They were deliberate local plays, designed to resonate first and scale second – if at all.
For domestic brands, this approach is not new. Many build growth through city-level activations, local-life platforms, festival calendars and tightly targeted product tests. Some experiments are explicitly not built to scale nationally, and that’s the point.
The objective is relevance, not replication. A pop-up that works in one city can be considered a success even if it never travels. An idea that resonates locally still builds brand equity, even without national reach.
People, culture and platforms are drifting apart
It’s important to remember that your audience may not be where you expect. It’s common for foreign brands to default to Shanghai as a starting point, but, say, Gen Z consumers in lower-tier cities can offer something different: more time, comparable or even stronger spending power in some categories, and fewer competing brand messages. Less saturation often means more willingness to engage.
To get to these segments you might need to think deeper about what platforms are going to get you there. While Rednote and Douyin might be popular in tier one cities, consumers in other parts of China may be more Kaishuo-focussed. What’s more, they may not be responding to the same cultural cues as their Shanghainese counterparts. So how are you going to resonate with this group once you find them?
If you know, you know
In 2025, there is no such thing as ‘winning China’ with a single strategy. There are only portfolios of local bets – some big, some small, some that quietly disappear. For foreign brands, deep localisation is now the most credible route into the market. It is also the most demanding. It requires proximity, patience and a tolerance for ideas that don’t scale neatly.
Drop your Chengdu panda associations. Kill off your Great Wall imagery. Chinese consumers are looking for something deeper. The brands that will succeed in this environment are the ones that understand China not as one market, but as many.
