Campaign Summary

Elder family members are the crux of family reunions in China, and many younger generations only return home once a year to be with their aging parents. Gifts for elder family members must be practical, and given with care and love. To become a part of the gift giving season, UNIQLO leveraged mobile social media to inspire young consumers to purchase UNIQLO clothing as gifts for their elder family members.

Strategy

Objective and Context:

Chinese New Year is like Christmas in China — it’s a time when people go back to their hometowns and prepare gifts for their families. In China, gifting is an important and special practice that represents a strong union with elder family members.

Unfortunately for UNIQLO, clothing was not the first thing that came to mind during the country’s biggest gifting season, and its challenge became to drive sales throughout this occasion.

Target Audience:

UNIQLO believes that there is no better gift to bring home for elder family members in the winter season than its health technology clothing. It chose to target young consumers and encourage them to consider UNIQLO clothing as the gift to bring back home.

Creative Strategy:

UNIQLO leveraged artificial intelligence, social media, and an “order online, pick up offline” service to target young consumers, inspiring them to offer UNIQLO’s Ultra Light Down (ULD) series as gifts to the elder generation.

Execution

Overall Campaign Execution:

UNIQLO targeted the right consumers at relevant moments:

1. Prior to the holiday, UNIQLO identified target consumers returning back to their hometowns for a family reunion. It targeted them using location-based services and mobile payment data on plane and train ticket purchases, sending them relevant ads and coupons as a reminder to buy clothing gifts for their family back home.
2. When families were together during the actual festival, UNIQLO launched a mobile artificial intelligence feature on WeChat social media, inviting people to take family photos and share them online. The AI function identified the age, gender, and personality (according to smiles) of family members. UNIQLO then used this information to suggest product recommendations, accompanied with a one-click order button.
3. For those unable to go back home during the holiday, UNIQLO promoted an “order online, pick up offline” service where consumers could buy clothing gifts online and elder loved ones could then pick up their gifts at a UNIQLO store in their hometown. Those picking up in-store were also targeted via location-based services, inviting them to browse and buy more.

Mobile Execution:

UNIQLO’s campaign was executed on mobile. It leveraged mobile social media as social media today is the best way to communicate and share.

Results (including context, evaluation, and market impact)

Campaign results included:  

• 14.24 million consumers given UNIQLO coupons
• 1.04 million family pictures were uploaded in the WeChat feature
• 744,000 consumers became new UNIQLO store members

UNIQLO’s ULD series for the elder generation sold 326 percent more compared to the previous Chinese New Year, and clothing became a large part of holiday gift giving.