The 21 Best AI Marketing Campaigns in China

ft: Sprite, Coca-Cola, Nescafe, Gentle Monster, AMD, Cartier, Huawei, Lenovo, Lacoste, Yili, Meitu, Tmall, JD, Xintiandi, New Weekly, Miaoya, 3CE, Yili, Tmall, Coca-Cola, Xintiandi, Chicecream, Satine.

Radar Report #12 features insights into the 21 best AI powered campaigns in China and the 4 marketing trends driving their success.

Brands launching AI campaigns in China

Brands are leveraging AI to revolutionize customer engagement through personalized and innovative experiences both online and offline. This includes using AI for virtual try-ons, art generation, and interactive photo templates. They're also involving Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in the creative process, co-creating content that deepens consumer connections and enriches brand narratives.

AI's role extends into product design and development, allowing for unique consumer interactions and the creation of visually compelling assets like posters and commercials, thereby enhancing overall brand presence and consumer interaction.

Trend 1: AI Interaction

Sprite's "Cool Space" campaign used AI to create personalized photos with celebrities, driving high engagement with over 18 million hashtag views. Users accessed through QR codes, interacted with celebrity templates, and won merch via product purchases, all within WeChat, enhancing Sprite's summer promotion visibility.

The "AI Co-Writing Will Initiative" by New Weekly and China Will Bank utilized AI to produce personalized wills through WeChat, achieving over 100,000 views. Users engaged by answering 10 questions, leading to high social media sharing and interaction, demonstrating significant user interest in AI-driven estate planning.

Nestlé's "AI Parallel Mountain Photo Studio" campaign used AI to fuse coffee with mountain scenery, attracting 140K new users and nearly 100,000 accesses in a week. The initiative featured three AI-enhanced videos and offered users a chance to win travel prizes, significantly boosting engagement.

Gentle Monster's AI Student Card Experience promoted their 2024 optical collection, drawing over 70,000 participants and achieving 15 million social media views. Users created digital and physical student cards, with a Beijing pop-up enhancing the campaign's interactive and UGC elements through the #GentleHighSchool hashtag.

Miaoya Camera's AI try-on event with Tmall Luxury during Qixi Festival saw high engagement, with 170,000+ social media views. Users virtually tried on luxury items from brands like Burberry, with the event leveraging hashtags for user-generated content and offering direct purchase links, enhancing online shopping experiences.

3CE's collaboration with Tmall for the "Spring AI Flower Goddess Makeup" collection used AI for virtual makeup try-ons, attracting over 150 million views with #春日AI花神妆#, and engaging 60,000+ participants through an interactive mini-program, boosting product exploration and purchase on Tmall.

Yili's AIGC campaign for the 2024 Year of the Dragon featured a TVC and an AI-driven MBTI dragon character test, achieving over 1.14 billion social media views. The interactive WeChat Mini Program significantly enhanced user engagement by personalizing experiences with unique dragon characters.

Tmall's AI Dragon Year painting project with over 20 celebrities led to 2.18 billion social media views. Users collected digital cards to unlock AI co-created paintings, leveraging celebrity influence for high engagement through interactive and tradable card activities on Tmall and Xianyu.

Coca-Cola's "Dragon Connects Us" campaign used AI to generate dragon-pattern portraits, aiming for a Guinness record with high engagement, attracting over 690 million social media views. Users participated via can scans or WeChat, fostering digital art creation and family connections through interactive challenges.

Trend 2: KOL Co-Creation

Lenovo's #AIOnFullBlast campaign for the Paris Olympics utilized AI art with KOLs, achieving 1.3 billion views and engaging over 50,000 in discussions on social platforms. The campaign featured AI-generated posters blending Lenovo products with Olympic themes, enhancing brand visibility through giveaways and interactive content.

Huawei and JD.com's AI art campaign on RED for the MatePad Air tablet engaged over 1.5 million views, leveraging KOLs to create and share AI-generated art, promoting the tablet's capabilities and boosting brand exposure through interactive and creative social media strategies.

Tmall's 618 Super Launch featured AI art by collaborating with 7 digital artists for 8 brands, generating over 1.28 billion views and nearly 240,000 discussions. This AI-powered campaign showcased futuristic brand posters, significantly boosting engagement and visibility during the mid-year sale.

Meitu's AI contest with AMD China featured on Weibo and RED, engaging over 3,700 discussions and achieving 51.5 million views. It utilized AI to foster creativity around AMD chips, leveraging high-profile AIGC artists for promotion and user-generated content.

Tmall's "AI Genesis" contest during the 618 event engaged AIGC creators to design brand posters, pulling in over 380,000 social media views. Five major brands participated, offering winners significant prizes and digital collectible opportunities, boosting both creativity and brand interaction.

LACOSTE and Smiley's AI poster contest used #Lacoste×Smiley to boost engagement, achieving over 12.54 million views. Participants combined brand icons using AI, with winners receiving tech and fashion prizes, fostering creativity and brand interaction on social platforms.

Trend 3: AI Innovative Usage

Coca-Cola's "Future 3000" campaign with Xiaodu featured an AI-designed flavor and packaging, drawing over 190 million social media views. The interactive WeChat mini-program allowed 900,000+ users to experience AIGC-generated futuristic photos, enhancing engagement with futuristic themes.

The "AI Symbiosphere" at Shanghai Xintiandi saw nearly 16,000 interactions over 16 days, using AI to transform visitor reflections into virtual animals. This free, immersive art installation blended tech with nature, offering personalized video souvenirs via QR codes, enhancing visitor engagement.

Chicecream's Sa'Saa ice cream, fully developed by AI, showcased innovation with its unique concept to market strategy, drawing over 3.84 million social media views. Its launch included AI-generated promotional content, highlighting technology's role in product development and consumer engagement.

Trend 4: Brand AI Assets

Yili utilized AIGC to craft Olympic-themed posters featuring Chinese table tennis players, achieving over 13.817 million views. The campaign blended sports with local landmarks, promoting both online engagement and an offline pop-up event in Shanghai, enhancing brand visibility during the Olympics.

Tmall's "Tmall AI Play Action" for the 2023 618 campaign, involving 20 brands, used AIGC for creating posters and digital collectibles, amassing over 370 million social media views. The campaign leveraged Weibo hashtags and WeChat Moments ads to boost brand exposure and engagement.

SATINE introduced "Jin Yin," an AI-designed digital ambassador, featured in a TVC, variety shows, and online promotions, achieving over 1.61 million views. This innovative branding strategy utilized Weibo and RED for promotion, enhancing SATINE's visibility through AI-generated content.

Resonance is a digital / social media marketing agency based in Shanghai, China. Our service is “everything digital x social marketing”. We’ve been around since 2008 and have done great work for many of the world’s most well-known lifestyle brands. Visit us on the web or email us to find out more.

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