Gaming Archives - The WeChat Agency

In the last decade, Christmas has settled as an important event for brands in China. Of course, it is not as large as traditional Chinese holidays or e-commerce festivals, but many brands, particularly those with Western roots, are celebrating with their fans in various ways.

Shopping malls, restaurants, and entertainment venues in China’s major cities are all decked out with Christmas trees, and Santa is on his way to deliver gifts to children. This year, we looked at several different international and domestic brands to see how they celebrate Christmas.

🎄 Read our previous article about how Christmas changed in China over the last couple of years

Christmas in China

When it comes to any festive campaign, social media plays an important role. With WeChat being the biggest social media platform, brands are super keen to get the best engagement for their campaigns. We’ve seen a lot of beautifully crafted interactive articles and WeChat campaigns for this Christmas. Again, we worked with Montagut to produce a fun interactive post that led readers through a short narrated story with a Christmas-themed setting. Scan the QR code to open the article and interact with it for yourself.

Montagut Christmas China WeChat

This is not the first time we’ve collaborated with Montagut on holiday content. Click here to learn more about our “Winter Wonderland” Christmas campaign.

Christmas in China is more about gifting between couples during romantic dinners or self-gifting than it is about family gifting. As a result, many jewelry brands are taking this task seriously and planning eye-catching and interesting campaigns. Tiffany and Boucheron created some cool interactive posts. Harry Winston, on the other hand, delights with an online quiz that helps you find the best gifts for your other half or for yourself. Fendi prepared a whole winter-themed universe leveraging WeChat Channels, stickers, and gaming, all in one! Not to mention creating a super cute brand mascot – Brother Fen to top off the trends targeting Chinese Gen Z.

🔥 Explore more about China’s Gen Z as Luxury Consumers

Fendi – Brother Fen’s Universe:

Fendi China

Harry Winston Mini-Program Quiz:

Christmas WeChat Interactive Posts:

Interactive Post from Pandora:

Interactive Post from Boucheron:

Interactive Post from Tiffany:

Advent Calendars in China

Many beauty companies have released Christmas-themed products as well as full-fledged advent calendars. Following last year’s public relations disaster, in which the Chanel advent calendar was deemed overpriced for the value of the products inside, other brands’ seasonal blind boxes fared well this year due to customer satisfaction with better product quality and price points.

In China, blind boxes are a popular marketing tool, and advent calendars fit the bill perfectly if done correctly. Brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, MAC, or Diptyque released theirs through their own channels as well as in collaboration with KOLs. The following are some of the 圣诞限定礼盒 (Christmas Limited Edition Box) mentions on Xiaohongshu, “RED,” where users were unboxing and showing off their treasures.

RED Xiaohongshu Advert Calendar China

Christmas on Chinese E-commerce Platforms

Naturally, compared to complete promotional takeovers during 11/11 or other shopping festivals, Christmas is less visible on e-commerce. However, many brands prepared their own promotions and Christmas content for their official Tmall stores. Many brands took a creative approach to Christmas, tying the festive season with more inclusive winter, astrology, or winter sports themes rather than a dull Santa and reindeer approach. Since the Olympic Games in Beijing in early 2022, the latter has also become synonymous with winter. Astrology is also a big trend leveraged this Christmas, particularly in makeup, and can be seen not only in Western brands like Dior and Gucci but also in Perfect Diary.

Christmas Tmall Taobao

This year’s lower enthusiasm for celebrations is also related to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases across China as a result of relaxed restrictions, which appears to be the first step toward China’s reopening in 2023.

📌 Click here to learn more about WeChat interactive posts and how you can make the most of it!

Takeaways

It only makes sense for a brand with European roots to want to celebrate this holiday with its customers and provide them with a little extra. You can engage and amuse your fans with a comprehensive marketing campaign, depending on your goals and resources. You could also offer exclusive holiday discounts or festive add-ons. Alternatively you could just wish them a happy holiday in a special post or interactive article.

Additionally, international B2B brands shouldn’t be reluctant to celebrate Christmas with their clients. In fact, this is one of the few times when you can get away with using lighter language. We assist our clients in planning holiday events each year that will highlight their brand values and improve their relationships with their staff, partners, and clients. See some of the examples from previous years:

Last but not least, since Christmas is here, it means that Chinese New Year is also approaching fast, and this year it falls particularly early on January 22. It’s the last chance to start getting ready for China’s most significant holiday. There are a number of options, including intricate campaigns, interactive articles, holiday posters, and even red packets.

🧧 Visit our article to learn more about what a “red packet” (hongbao) is

China is a nation that enjoys playing. More gamers reside there than in any other nation in the world, and a third of them use their phones for gaming. It also makes China one of the most lucrative gaming markets in the world, with 666 million gamers spending an average of 445 yuan each on video games.

Despite being a domain where men predominate, video games are no longer just for men. Women are experienced gamers who like anything from mobile crossword puzzles to first-person shooting games.

Players in the business can no longer deny how female-focused gaming has evolved from a niche interest to a mainstream market, especially when considering monetization.

Female Gaming China

Why Should Companies Focus On Female Gaming

Approximately 300 million women play video games in China, according to the 2019 China Gaming Industry Report. Over 46% of all people in the country identify as gamers.

According to Abacus, both larger Chinese studios (such as Tencent, NetEase, and Bilibili) and smaller ones have started focusing on the still-relatively unexplored market of female gamers.

In this regard, China differs from Western nations where games geared toward female gamers haven’t achieved significant economic success. On the other side, a few years ago, female-focused games in China began to gain widespread acceptance. As the top downloaded game in China in 2018, the role-playing game Love and Producer from publisher Paper Games even momentarily dethroned Honour of Kings.

Games for female gamers may become the next big thing when the “conventional” gaming market becomes saturated.

Most Popular Game Types & Scenario

China’s game producers have recently become aware of the potential economic value of the “second sex”. The success of games catered to women like Shining Nikki, Love and Producer, or I Should Be a Rich Lady only strengthen this trend.

Female Gaming China

Most of them fall into the category of otome, story-based video games that is targetting women. Their goal is often to develop a romantic relationship with the game character. Others like the Nikki series focus on style battles and beatifying avatars through a series of challenges.

As Miriam Dabrowa, Head of China Strategy at The WeChat Agency says ‘romance-oriented storytelling of the most popular games is not surprising. Since the beginning of COVID-19, most of the Chinese have been living from one lockdown to another. Hence often had limited human interactions, especially in a romantic sense. Often these young people work long hours as a part of the 9-6-6 culture (working from 9AM to 9PM, 6 days per week) and simply don’t have time or energy to get build intimate relationships.’

Of course, the female gaming industry is more complex than that and many players enjoy a wide variety of games.

Mistakes Most Companies Make When Marketing To Female Gamers

The majority of female gamers have noticed how the business still prioritizes male players over female consumers. Female characters are frequently dressed in sexy styles and are objectified in the games aimed mostly at the male audience. It’s extremely hard for the game designers to change this narrative when games’ profits are often based on upselling more revealing clothing for female characters in the game.

Numerous improvements have lately been made to promote more diversity in response to the persistent and contentious issue of female underrepresentation in the business.

Because of discrimination and judgemental behaviors, Chinese female players often prefer to discuss in their own circle establishing online communities on platforms like Douban.

Companies wanting to establish a strong community should be hyper-sensitive to their audience needs to effectively attract them.

Conclusion

Around 390 million female gamers were active in China as of February 2020, an increase over the previous few years. The purchasing power of Chinese women gamers has been increasing. This calls for a great opportunity for fashion, make-up, or lifestyle businesses if tapped into this target market.

Most of the otome games actively leverage key Chinese holidays like Valentine’s Day or the 520 festival. They launch special campaigns or new digital products. Co-branding with them can be the next Holy Grail when marketing to Chinese women.

Ultimately, the female gaming trend will likely continue. With more women getting involved in gaming, it’s only natural that more games will be developed for a female audience. Hence, it is a great opportunity for smaller companies looking to build a brand in China.

If you wish to know more about other gaming & marketing techniques in China, please contact our team. We use our knowledge and expertise to help businesses build meaningful partnerships and develop their network among Chinese customers. For additional information, please contact at contact@thewechatagency.com.

This Christmas, Find Out What Brands in the Chinese Market Have Been Up To