Lancôme, Zhang Jingyi & Zhang Linghe partnership: Key takeaways
- Lancôme has elevated actors Zhang Jingyi and Zhang Linghe to brand spokesperson roles, broadening the scope of their work with the French beauty house
- The announcement supports a limited-edition L’Absolu lipstick launch, using the pair to give individual shades distinct personalities
- It also develops a celebrity pairing that Lancôme has spent several campaigns turning into a serialised social-media story
Lancôme has promoted Chinese actors Zhang Jingyi (张婧仪) and Zhang Linghe (张凌赫) to brand spokesperson roles in China. The promotion expands their previous roles at the brand, and ties into a very narrative take on brand ambassadorship. It’s an interesting spin on a marketing ploy that sees very little innovation.
Zhang Jingyi has a long history with the brand in China
- Linghe’s campaign had logged 1.81 million views on Weibo
The announcement – which arrives alongside the launch of Lancôme Absolu’s Sound & Color limited-edition lipstick collection – positions the stars as faces of two of the lipstick’s new shades. Outside the product launch, Zhang Linghe gets quite a promotion. He’s been Lancôme’s skincare ambassador since at least 2023, appearing at brand events and fronting its hero skincare lines. The new spokesperson title means the brand can deploy him across makeup, fragrance and skincare launches.
Lancôme are creating an entire emotional arc to keep fan sentiment sticky
Zhang Jingyi’s promotion looks a bit more like a repositioning. Lancôme actually named her a brand ambassador in 2024. She had already represented its makeup and skincare lines. That campaign also put her in front of products across skincare, fragrance and lips. The new title does signal Lancôme’s intention to place her front and centre of its China-facing communications. And here’s where things get interesting…
The Dao view: Lancôme are nailing the romance angle with Zhang Jingyi and Zhang Linghe
It’s not the first time the stars have appeared together in Lancôme ads. They’ve done Valentine’s Day and seasonal films, and through them cultivated a romantic narrative. Fans are now embracing this as an unofficial celebrity couple pairing – or CP storyline, even though there’s no confirmation the pair is actually dating.
Giving the duo a repeated romantic dynamic – fictional or suggestive – gives audience far greater room for engagement in those all-important places like comments sections and fan forums. The clever part is that the brand does not need to claim they are together. It only needs to return to the same emotional world often enough that people recognise the story.
