wechat ads Archives

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, like the majority of nations, has enacted laws governing advertisements to safeguard the health and safety of consumers. The Republic of China’s Advertisement Law stipulates general rules that all advertisers must abide by.

There are also more stringent regulations for certain sectors, such as the tobacco, alcohol, and healthcare industries. However, as non-traditional media platforms like WeChat have grown in popularity, the nation has tightened its regulations on advertising.

Get started with WeChat advertising

WeChat is one of the most used social media platforms in China. That’s why is very attractive to brands looking to market their products in China. Marketing using WeChat can reach a huge number of target audiences.

And here comes the WeChat advertising. WeChat advertising enables companies to display promotional messages through:

WeChat Moments
Official Account articles
Mini-programs

Additionally, WeChat advertising is a great tool for brands to enhance and maximize the number of WeChat Official Account followers, it helps companies to drive their traffic and generate conversions into sales.

Industries banned or restricted in WeChat

The Chinese government in general has many laws and bans that overlook advertisements, including ads on social media platforms like WeChat. Here are some of the industries banned by the Chinese government for advertising.

Pharmaceutical/drugs;
Obscenity;
Pornography;
Gambling;
Superstitions;
Terror;
Violence.

In addition, regulated industries for advertisements in China are:

Alcohol
Tobacco
Health and Medical
Investments
Real estate
Education
Legal Services
Airlines
Financial Services

However the list is very dynamic, and WeChat always has the final say on whether your company is eligible or not to run ads on the platform.

On the other hand, note that for overseas entities WeChat requires a separate application for a WeChat advertising account and the scope of ads is strictly related to your company’s registered business. It can get quite tricky, right?

However, if your company falls within any of the above categories not all is lost. You still have plenty of indirect and legal solutions to promote your content on WeChat. For instance, you can focus on WeChat SEO and optimizing your keywords to whitelisting. Subscribe to our newsletter for more news on this topic.

Advertising regulations on WeChat

The key elements of the advertising law as they apply to WeChat are outlined below. Firstly, qhen attempting to create effective advertisements, WeChat also has its own terms that are frequently updated:

Avoid superlative adjectives like best, highest, greatest, etc when talking about any product or service
Do not place a brand, product, or service on a scale like 5-star rating or international/national ratings
Kindly avoid using words such as top quality, excellent, cutting edge, or premium when advertising a product/service in WeChat
Do not use words with “one” like “one of the top”, “one of the best” or “one of a kind” etc to describe anything in WeChat advertisements
Please avoid any mentions of scarcity in an ad like very rare, unique, one few left, etc.
Do not mention anything claiming to be “national leader” or of “international quality” or words similar to this
Do not use any national flag, emblem, or anthem of any country in WeChat ads
You can only use RMB for settlements and foreign currencies are not allowed
The content of the advertisements must be practical and should not be exaggerated
Should not talk about transportation, educational, commercial, or cultural facilities under planning or under construction
All the images used in the advertisement should be realistic
For the ads related to bank loans and other bank services, complete details of the bank must be provided
WeChat ads should not have language that sounds discriminatory

Secondly, there are more requirements for advertising:

When publishing ads about limited sales, the exact dates and duration must be provided in the advertisement
Do not provide statistical information in WeChat ads until a proper evidence source link is given
Avoid ads with unlicensed tie-ups with major events happening in the country like Winter Olympics, Olympic Games, etc.
Should not use language that can possibly manipulate the consumers
Do not use Click-for-gift tactics in WeChat ads. Any gifts offered must include all the details like name, value, quantity, and any timeline for the event
Never use words referring to a special title like superstar, leader, or synonyms

In addition, WeChat accounts registered with overseas business licenses must apply separately for WeChat advertising accounts.

In conclusion, advertisement regulations are a great way to protect consumers. Similarly, China, like any other country, wants to protect consumer safety and health. But the restrictions are stricter than in most countries, and it’s common for all social media platforms, including WeChat.

On the other hand, WeChat has its own restrictions too, which makes it even harder to advertise using WeChat ads. In addition, specific wording requirements might make your ad not pass the verification by Tencent.

If you are a business that’s looking to advertise on WeChat, it is very important to understand the rules and regulations on the government and platform levels and above all abide to the requirements to not have your WeChat official account suspended or deleted.

At The WeChat Agency, we use our knowledge and expertise to help businesses build content in accordance with the advertising regulations in China and WeChat. We help create meaningful partnerships and networks among Chinese customers. For additional information, please contact us at contact@thewechatagency.com. Feel free to subscribe to our monthly newsletter too.

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