Marketing China

Taobao Live launched in 2016. By 2019, it was moving billions of yuan of product every month. By 2026, it is one of the most mature live commerce platforms in the world, with its own ecosystem of professional hosts, brand-operated studios, and influencer tiers that brands need to understand before spending a single yuan on this channel. The original playbook of “find a big KO...

In China right now, the biggest celebrities are trying hard to look like normal people, and the best normal people are becoming celebrities. That flip is one of the clearest marketing shifts I have seen this year, and it changes a real decision every foreign brand has to make: do you book a famous face, or do you book a creator?

Something changed in how Chinese brands talk to the public this year. The bold, opinionated brand voice that worked so well a few years ago is quietly going out of style. Marketing teams are choosing their words with more care, founders are posting less on their personal accounts, and comment sections are getting closed more often than they get opened up.

That shift i...

Chinese marketers have a new favorite phrase this year: “求异业合作”, which roughly means “looking for a cross-industry partner.” Type it into Xiaohongshu and you get a wall of posts from brand managers, small business owners and independent creators, all asking the same question: who can I team up with to reach people I cannot reach alone?