STRATEGY REPORT

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 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
COVER SHEET for SUBMISSION of ASSIGNMENTS
Course Name: Course Code: Department Date Stamp
International Advertising MKTG1184
Assignment Title: Assignment Due Date:
Final Report June 6, 2021
Academic’s Name: Date of this Submission:
Dr. Julie Bilby June 6, 2021 (For Office use only)
Student(s)
Family Name: Given Names: Student Number: Class/Group:
1) Trinh Chi Trung S3461765 3
2) Yu Shufeng S3762522 3
3) Chen Diandian S3728101 3
4) Zhang Yichi S3766162 3
Declaration and Statement of Authorship:
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source except where due acknowledgement is made.
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including review by external examiners.

I/we understand that:

7. Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is my/our own. It is a form
of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to exclusion from the University. Plagiarised
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I/we declare that I/we have read and understood the declaration and statement of authorship.

1) Chi Trung Trinh 3) Diandian Chen

2) Shufeng Yu 4) Yichi Zhang

Further information relating to the penalties for plagiarism, which range from a notation on your student file to expulsion from the University,
is contained in Regulation 6.1.1 Student Discipline and the Plagiarism Policy which are available on the Policies and Procedures website at
www.rmit.edu.au/policies.

Table of Contents

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1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. Brand Analysis
 Brand Overview
 Brand Value/Key Products
 Previous Advertising/PR Practice
 Brand Competitors
4. Market Analysis
 Product Category
 Market Segmentation
 Product Distribution/ Advertising
5. Customer Analysis
 Demographic
 Culture & Behaviors
6. Brand Challenge
7. Goal and Objectives
8. Strategy
 Big Idea
 Communication Strategy
 Media Strategy
9. Execution
 Tactics
 Channels
10. Budget & Timeline
11. Conclusion
12. References

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 1. Executive summary

Urban Decay, an US based cruelty free cosmetic brand owned by L’Oréal is planning to
expand its business to a new market, China. For the brand to become visible toward its
target customers, which are young beauty lovers, as well as fitting the famous rebellious
culture of the brand into the Chinese market, suitable marketing and advertising
approaches are required. In terms of marketing, with a great demand for facial, eyes
and lips make up products within the market, it is recommended that Urban Decay focus
on their Vice lipstick range, the Naked Eye-shadow palettes, the All Nighter setting
spray for initial distribution in major cities. For the launching campaign, it is possible to
localize ‘Pretty Different’, Urban Decay’s previous successful advertising campaign, as
its content and approach are highly relevant for the Chinese target consumers based on
the existing market culture. In a market where appearance anxiety and beauty
stereotypes have become a huge concern, the way ‘Pretty Different’ defies society and
industry standards might help the brand to achieve mass awareness and recognition.
To spread the message across the market, integrated marketing communication
customer engagement, and celebrity endorsement strategies are recommended.
Communication tactics such as Video advertising, still advertising, and Hashtag
Challenge have been proven to be the most effective for the Chinese market. In terms
of media strategy, it is recommended to utilize both social media and out of home
approaches for maximizing reach and communication effectiveness. Social media
platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, Wechat and Little Red Book are suitable for both
long-term and short-term media strategies, while out of home channels such as free trial
machines and pop-up stores are suitable for initial distribution. For long-term distribution
and communication, official website/fanpages accompanied with brand ambassadors
can be utilized. 

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 2. Introduction

Urban Decay, an US based cosmetics brand owned by L’Oréal is planning to expand its
business to a new market, China. The brand has been recognized in its place of origin
for its cruelty free, vegan product range, as well as its rebellious attitude and punk style.
However, expanding to another market means the brand will have to face hardships
coming from the economic, political, and cultural differences between the original
market and the destination market. This report will address the challenges the brand
might need to face while trying to penetrate China by providing market and customer
insights and culture. The paper will also attempt to make necessary recommendations
for the launch of Urban Decay and communication strategies to solve the addressed
challenges. These recommendations include product recommendation, long and short-
term communication and media strategies as well as product distribution strategies. 

3. Brand Analysis

a. Brand Overview

Based in California, Urban Decay is an American cosmetics company founded in 1996

(Urban Decay n.d). It became a subsidiary of L’Oréal, a French cosmetics company
since 2012 (NY Daily News 2012). Urban Decay products are designed to target mainly
but not limited to women, especially the young beauty lover segment (Negiz 2015). The
brand widely distributes its products across the globe through official websites and
stores, as well as through authorized retailers such as Sephora, Nordstrom, Macy’s and
e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Ebay (Cannata 2018). Urban Decay’s key
market includes US, UK, Singapore, and Malaysia (Cannata 2018).

Within the product category, the brand positions itself and its product as medium price,
high quality with high accessibility (Figure 1). In terms of brand perceptions, Urban
Decay’s customers often view the brand as ’edgy with variety’, possessing a wide range
of products and colors to choose from (Figure 2). 
 

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Figure 1: Urban Decay’s price/accessibility matrix (Cannata 2018)
 

Figure 2: Urban Decay’s perceptual map (Cannata 2018)

 
 

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 b. Brand value/ Key products

Brand Value
For years, the brand has pursued the value of being ‘unique’ and ’rebellious’, with a
mission to bring its customers confidence while using its product (Urban Decay n.d).
The brand itself was created also to ‘rebel’ against the existing abundance of pink
cosmetics within the market (Yong & Jacques 2018). Its signature rebellious attitude
and punk style speak out the individualistic culture of the US, where the value of being
unique and independent are highly appreciated (USA Hello n.d).

In addition, Urban Decay is also well known for its cruelty-free line of products. This
means the brand do not take part in any animal testing activities (Negiz 2015).
Meanwhile, many of Urban Decay’s products are vegan and do not contain animal
ingredients, which create a vast difference between the brand and its competitors
(Negiz 2015).

Urban Decay’s product portfolio is extremely diverse in terms of colors, ranging from the
most basic to the trendiest tones (Urban Decay n.d). This allows consumers to create
unique palettes and customize their look freely based on their personality and
preferences (Cannata 2018). This is also one of the main factors setting the brands
apart from its competitors. 

Key products
Urban Decay’s key products include the Vice lipstick range, the Naked Eye-shadow
palettes, the All Nighter setting spray and so on (Urban Decay n.d). Among these best-
selling products, the Naked Eye-shadow palettes received the most attention from the
customers (Cannata 2018). Each palette is unique and suitable for an existing skin tone,
so the product is there for everyone (Mahalli 2020). The versatility of the product has
helped the brand to become the number one selling eyeshadow in the US market (Yong
& Jacques 2018). 

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Other facial products such as pounder and concealer also received a lot of attention,
however, it was not as popular as the eye-shadow product line.

c. Previous advertising/PR practice

Pretty Different Campaign

In 2019, to leverage its existing brand image, Urban Decay launched an advertising
campaign called ‘Pretty Different’. The campaign sparks fire among its target customer,
young beauty lovers, encouraging them to defy traditional beauty standards, challenge
the status quo and embrace their uniqueness (Aghadjanian 2019). 

Pretty Different features 5 of the brand’s key ambassadors namely Lizzo (Figure 3),
Joey King, Karol G, CL and Ezra Miller in its advertising video spot (Fernandes 2019).
In this 60 second ad, the brand shows a group of women in the same attire, wearing
similar facial make up taking selfies to symbolize the beauty standard in today’s beauty
industry. This standard was then challenged by the 5 ambassadors as they, in their
unique ways, send out the messages that beauty cannot be standardized (Fernandes
2019). 

The video spot was followed by a series of social media posts from Urban Decay and
the featured celebrities to amplify the campaign messages (Fernandes 2019). To further
boost target audience engagement with the campaign, the brand also collaborated with
Giphy to create unique GIFs for Instagram users to use on their stories (Aghadjanian
2019). In just 4 days after launching, the spot gained over 1.5 million views on
Instagram, as well as multiple media attention and endorsement (Aghadjanian 2019).

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 Figure 3: Lizzo featured in Pretty Different video spot (Sephora Portugal 2019)

d. Brand Competitor

Figure 4 illustrates the primary competitors of Urban Decay within its existing market.
The tables also identified the competitors key selling products, price range and
distribution channels. These brands share the same positioning within the category,
competing in terms of price range and accessibility. In Asia, Urban Decay competes
with Kat Von D, NARS and Smashbox and primarily with M.A.C. 

Even though M.A.C is the main competitor of the brand, its key products are different.
While Urban Decay focuses primarily on their eye related cosmetics such as
eyeshadow, eye primer and eyeliner, M.A.C focuses more on lipstick and foundation
products, namely Studio Fix Fluid and Matte Lipstick (MAC Cosmetics n.d). While Urban
Decay are rebellious and innovative, M.A.C brand values focus more on the artistic side
and the brand often tries to appear fashionable (MAC Cosmetics n.d). It also sharing the
same value of celebrating diversity and individuality with Urban Decay, 

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 Figure 4: Urban Decay’s Competitors (Cannata 2018)

4. Market analysis 

a. Product category

The make-up market in China is constituted by face make-up, eye make-up, lip make-
up and nail make-up (Make-up in China 2020).
 
Based on the report of Cosmetic & Personal Products Manufacturing in China, there are
several major components to address the current issue and challenge for brands
(Zhang 2020). Firstly, the market has steadily high competition. According to the report,
many big brands around the world have been trying to reach in Chinese market
recently. Secondly, medium barriers to entry are shown. Product differentiation,
distribution networks and regulation are the key words. The industry report shows that
existing brands already demonstrated a positive and stronger brand image, positioning
and loyalty. Meanwhile, new entrants need to follow the existing regulation and keep the
standard level of product quality. Thirdly, globalization is increasing at a medium rate.

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Due to the increasing awareness of foreign brands among local consumers, the
domestic demand for imported goods is growing fast (Zhang 2020).

b. Market segmentation

The Chinese make-up market has been developing sustainability since 2011 (Make-up
in China 2020). Face make-up, eye make-up and lip make-up are playing a major role in
the cosmetic category in China. Face make-up accounting for 17%, which includes
foundation, primer and setting spray, eye make-up accounting for 15% including
eyeshadows, eyeliner and mascara, while lip make-up accounting for 13% that includes
lipstick, lip liner, lip gloss and so on (Taosj 2019) (Figure 5). With that said, Urban
Decay should prioritize their key products within these product groups, namely the Vice
lipstick range, the Naked Eye-shadow palettes and the All Nighter setting spray.

Figure 5: China market segmentation (Taosj 2019)

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 c. Product distribution/advertising

Integrated ecommerce platform plays a major role in the market, accounting for around
47.4% of the total consumer’s choices. In China, the most popular and solid integrated
ecommerce platforms are Taobao, T-mall and JD.com (Buchholz 2021) (Figure 6).
Besides, out of home distribution platforms such as cosmetic specialty stores and
department stores also play key roles in the market (iiMedia Research 2019). 

Figure 6: China integrated ecommerce platform (Buchholz 2021)

 
In terms of marketing communication, Wechat, Weibo, Douyin, Little red book and Live
streaming platforms are the most effective channels to engage with Chinese consumers
(GMA 2020). Creative advertising is one of the most effective ways to increase
impressions from consumers and gain more connections with them (Reinartz W, Saffert,
P 2013) (refer to Appendix section 1 for details and case studies).

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 5. Customer analysis

a. Demographic

Based on several consumer demographic analyses in China, we found out consumers

who are between 18-24, female and living in Shanghai are the main force of cosmetics
consumption. According to the age distribution analysis about color cosmetics
consumers in China, the 18-24 years group of people took 63% of total followed by the
25-29 years group which took 26% of total (Statista 2020). The consumers are mainly
female, however, male consumers are also increasing (Daxue Consulting 2020).
According to Chinadaily’s report, Shanghai has the highest consumption in Chinese
market, followed by Guangzhou, Beijing and Shenzhen (Zhao 2020).

b. Culture and behaviors

Hofstede model
Based on Hofstede's 6-dimension cultural comparisons between China and the United
State (Figure 10), China has higher power distance, higher masculinity, lower
uncertainty avoidance, as well as having collectivism culture and long-term orientation
and restraint (Hofstede Insights n.d).

Consumers who live in a country with a high-power distance culture such as China, are
likely to listen to people who have authority and expertise in a specific area or people
who take charge in a higher status (Wyer & Hong 2012). Markus and Kitayama (1991)
states that under the collectivistic cultural conditions, consumers might find themselves
as a member in the group by connecting with other members. Additionally, they tend to
have the same positions achieved by grouping with others (Jiao, Ertz, Jo & Sarigollu
2018). Within the masculinity cultural environments, brands most like to use the
traditional masculinity images or gender stereotype roles to present their ideas.

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However, due to the increasing consumption among Chinese male consumers, the
concept of masculinity is starting to change (Achim 2020). Consumers who live in the
low uncertainty avoidance cultural conditions, are comfortable to accept the different
ideas and opinions from others (Latif et al. 2019). They are more thoughtful, able to take
risks and being rational compared to countries which have high uncertainty avoidance.
In addition, consumers who live under a restricted cultural background which have too
many regulations to follow, will have a lower sense of leisure importance and lower
levels of positive emotions (Jie, C & Jing L 2015). Therefore, emotional appeals strategy
could have significant impacts on their behaviors and assist the brands in building
stronger connections with them.

Figure 10: 6-dimension cultural comparisons between China and the United State
(Hofstede Insights n.d).

Behaviors
Different cultures have various consumer perceptions towards behavior, attitudes, and
decisions. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is the biggest factor influencing Chinese consumers’
behavior, with 57.3% of them will be influenced by WOM when purchasing cosmetics

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(iiMedia Research 2019). However, as the digital era arrived, the electronic word-of-
mouth started to have effects on consumer purchase behavior. Customer’s feedback
and recommendation from KOLs on social media are now having notable impacts on
changing consumer purchase behavior effectively (Lui 2020). 
 
Emotional appeal is another way to connect with consumers and have influences on
their behaviors. Trending topics related to social issues has the potential to generate
emotions among the audience. Topics about appearance and body boosts the cosmetic
market as people care about themselves but also raise the issue of appearance anxiety
(Daxue Consulting 2021) and body shame (Zhuang, J 2020). In history, the stereotyped
traditional Chinese beauty should be ‘pale’, ‘young’ and ‘thin’ (Zhuang, J 2020). There
was a thread about appearance anxiety on Weibo at the end of 2020, reaching a total of
730 million views with around 150,000 discussions (Daxue Consulting 2021). The
impact of appearance anxiety on Chinese customers cannot be neglected. Today,
consumers expect more from the brand. They want brands to hold a positive stance on
social issues. Two-thirds of consumers value brands who have a point of view on issues
in society (Ford 2019), they prefer to hear from brands across sectors which have
become the voice of hope and positivity (Advertising & Media Insider, 2020).

After gathering all the insights within the market, two personas have been created for
Urban Decay target customers (refer to Appendix section 2 for details).

6. Brand Challenge

Whenever a company decides to expand its business to another destination, stumbling

upon challenge and hardship is unavoidable. As Urban Decay decided to spread its
wings to China, it is necessary to accurately identify the potential challenge the brand
might face. After conducting research within the destination market and analyzing all the
data gathered, three major challenges have been identified for Urban Decay.

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Firstly, how to make the brand become visible toward its target customers in a market
where so many brands have already found their solid place. For the brand to be
recognized in a fragmented market, brand awareness needs to be prioritized (Jallad
2019). 

Secondly, how to fit the rebellious culture of the brand into the Chinese market. There is
a vast difference between Chinese and US cultures, and a set of values being accepted
in the US might not be welcome in China. 

Lastly, the cruelty free side of the brand has yet to receive attention from Chinese
consumers, even though many brands have put efforts into educating and changing the
market’s attitude about this matter (refer to Hourglass case study in the Appendix
Section 1).
 
7. Goal and Objectives

For the launching campaign of Urban Decay, the brand is recommended to tackle the
first two challenges and leave the third one for the future campaign. The reason behind
this is that to influence people's attitude about a brand's product value, it is necessary to
achieve brand awareness and brand perception first. According to the theoretical model
of relationships among awareness, perception, attitude, behavior intention, and actual
behavior, people's awareness and perception are the antecedents to people’s attitude
(Jin et al. 2011). In other words, this campaign will serve as the steppingstone for the
future campaign to solve the third challenge.

a. Goal

For the launching campaign of Urban Decay in the China market, several goals have
been set out according to the challenges. These includes:

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  Goal #1: Helping the brand achieve awareness in Chinese Market.

 Goal #2: Fitting the ‘Beauty without standard’ concept and the rebellious
nature of Urban Decay into the Chinese market.

b. Objectives 

To achieve these goals, several objectives have been identified for the launching
campaign. The campaign will be carried out for two months, and after this period of time
the campaign needs to achieve the following objectives:

 Communication Objectives
o Increase brand awareness by 40% in Chinese Market.  
o 40% of the target audience feel more positive about themselves and their
appearance. 
o 30% of the target audience link the brand to Unique Beauties.
 Marketing Objectives
o Encouraging product trials among 20% of the target audience. 

8. Strategy 

a. Big Idea

The idea
Based on all the cultural and social insights that we found, for the launching campaign,
Urban Decay is recommended to localize the previous successful campaign Pretty
Different. The Pretty Different campaign of Chinese version will introduce the concepts
of Urban Decay to Chinese consumers: Unsubscribe from beauty telling you to be
pretty. Four Local celebrities with unique beauties will become brand ambassadors to
speak for the brand, encouraging them to embrace their uniqueness with help of Urban
Decay.

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Reason for choosing Pretty Different Campaign
This Pretty Different campaign has received great success in the US market, and there
is an important value that is the key to its success: unstandardized beauty. It is a
universal value that can be placed well in Chinese market. Not only in China, more
people all over the world are suffering from appearance anxiety, which is mainly caused
by the pressure from the media. According to the Dove Global Beauty and Confidence
Report (n.d), almost 70% of women across 13 countries feel the advertising and media
which advocate unrealistic standards of beauty drives their appearance anxiety. The
value “unstandardized beauty” in the Pretty Different campaign can help the brand to
take a positive stance on the issue of appearance anxiety, which is what exactly
Chinese consumers look forward to from beauty brands. The Pretty Different campaign
leverages this universal value to encourage the Chinese audience to be confident with
their uniqueness and pursue their unique idea of beauty with the help of Urban Decay.
 
Reason of localizing the campaign.
Pretty Different Campaign was first launched as a national campaign, in which the
cultural value of the US is underlined. Due to the cultural, social, and economic
difference between China and the US, Pretty Different campaign will be localized so as
to cater to the demand of Chinese Market.
 
The original campaign featured celebrities including Lizzo, Ezra Miller, CL, Karo G and
Joey King, all of them are well-known in the US but have low recognition among the
Chinese audience. In the Chinese campaign, using local celebrities is a crucial step to
enter the Chinese market since they have high fame in China. Furthermore,
international social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram are banned in
China, the brand needs to use local mainstream social media to connect with its
audience.
 
The New Pretty Different Campaign

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Based on all these differences between two markets, the brand is recommended to
recruit local celebrities to be brand ambassadors. Their unique beauties against
traditional aesthetics and have a certain influence among the young generation. In the
Pretty Different Campaign, Urban Decay expects to break the stereotype about
traditional beauty in China with the help of its unique brand ambassadors. With the
increasing pressure from social media, there is a popular aesthetic about beauty
trending in social media: White skin, big eyes with double eyelids, slim figure and so on.
Besides, beauty is also considered as a female-only business in the perception of most
people. Men are required to be strong and masculine, they are not allowed to be pretty
and use makeup since it is against social convention. However, the UD ambassadors
are so confident and feel powerful with their individuality. They can be men and women,
they might be plus-size, tanned skin, and mono-lids, but they are still beautiful in their
way. 
 
In this campaign, UD brand ambassadors will speak for the brand, illustrate their unique
definition to beauty and show their true self with Urban Decay makeup on social
channels. With the voice of brand ambassadors, the campaign could resonate with
Chinese audience who are suffering from stereotype about beauty, encouraging them to
believe in themselves and embrace their personal uniqueness.

b. Communication strategy

To convey the campaign message and further boosting its effectiveness, several
communication strategies could be applied.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

International brands that want to compete for share of life in Chinese market must use
the most appropriate channels and media to build connections and create experiences
for consumers at the right time (Wang 2018). To help Urban Decay launch in China,
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), which is defined as an approach to
delivering a brand message by using multiple media that work together and reinforce

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each other (Lake 2019), is recommended. According to Ahmed (2019), this approach
provides multiple benefits for brands, allowing them to build brand awareness and boost
visibility within the market as well as helping the brand keeping the consistency and
relevancy of communication.

Building Customer Engagement

Customer Engagement is another marketing strategy to be considered for Pretty
Different Campaign. It is about attracting customers to interact with the brand and
participate in the experience created for them to develop an emotional connection
between the brand and the customer (Fertik 2020). Customer engagement has become
more crucial in today’s beauty market, when an increasing number of beauty brands are
competing for consumer’s attention. Brands can grow better brand loyalty and gain
more revenue in the long run with great customer engagement. According to Gallup
(2014), a fully engaged consumer constitutes 23% more revenue than the average. 

Celebrity Endorsement
Once a celebrity endorses a product, people will naturally think of the brand even when
they hear the celebrity's name after the campaign. According to De Houwer (2009, p.8),
“once a relation between two events has been discovered in the past, it is likely that this
knowledge is used to generate propositions about similar events in the present”. We are
going to link the image of Urban Decay with the personality and image of celebrities so
that the brand's value can better interact with the customers.

It is also a universal strategy for brands with big business to recruit celebrities as its
brand ambassadors. Celebrities have high attention, high exposure, and high
conversion power, which can boost brand growth in all aspects in a long-term way. To
establish the long-term partnership with celebrities, most of the time brands will carefully
select them to make sure that they are in accordance with brand image and can help to
humanize the brand, which is because consumers prefer to buy products from people
rather than an impersonal brand (Sideqik, n.d).

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 c. Media strategy

Short-term Media Strategy

 Social media
Social media has become a very influential and inevitable part of people’s daily life,
most international marketers reach their target audience with the help of social media.
By January 2021, about 64.6% of Chinese population were social media users, and
19.9% percent of them were aged 20 to 29 (Kemp 2021). With so many potential
consumers using social media on the daily basis, Urban Decay can easily reach its
Chinese audience on a small budget and meet its goals in a short-term campaign.

 Out-of-home advertising (OOH) 

As a traditional format of advertising, OOH still thrives for its high effectiveness in
marketing. It can reach consumers during 70% of the day when they spend away from
home (Doitoutdoors 2019), which highly exposes the brand message to people in ways
that in-home and online advertising cannot. Furthermore, OOH is more acceptable than
other ads, while also being highly targeted. It means that if the placement of each OOH
is well selected, precise audience on a local level can be targeted (Intrigue TV, 2019).

Long-term Media Strategy

 Official social media accounts

When it comes to long-term strategy, running official accounts on multiple social media
would be an inevitable step in the digital era. The brand usually puts efforts to post
engaging posts and get more followers. The finding from Lyfe Marketing (2019) shows
that about 95% of online adults aged 18-35 tend to follow brands on social media.
Additionally, about 21% of consumers say they follow brands to communicate with the
brand (Marketing Charts 2020). Consumers can easily access the brand via social
media and communicate with the brand without in-person meeting.

 Official Website
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Official website can showcase all the products and services of the brand. It is also an
online platform where consumers can buy products from, so an optimized brand website
with search engine optimization (SEO) can have more chances to convert visitors why
may be interested in the brand into buyers. Statistics show that online shoppers will
raise close to 57% in China by 2021 (Ma, 2021), making the official website an
inevitable distribution channel for international brands to do business in the country.

9. Execution

a. Tactics

Video Ads
The primary tactic used for our localized campaign will remain unchanged, which is to
utilize video spots to deliver the campaign's message. 

While global expenditure on digital advertising was forecast to be five times bigger in
2020 than it was in 2010 (Aegis 2020), by 2022, online videos on digital platforms will
make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic (Chris Evans et al. 2020). In
advertising, video advertising is one of the most effective marketing tactics, having
higher engagement and click-through rate. Media Mind analyzed over three billion ad
impressions globally for six months and found that they are 27.4 times more likely to
click-through online video ads than standard banners (Dana 2021). Video ads tell a
better story than typical banner ads, the click-through rate of video ads in mobile apps
are 7.5 times higher than for display ads (Robot 2019).

In a 60 second video ad, four Urban Decay’s ambassadors will showcase their unique
personality by using Urban Decay key products and illustrate their own definition to
beauty, both their unique appearances and verbal message speak for Urban Decay that
beauties should not be standardized.

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Still Ads
Following the video spot, we recommend using still (image/print) ads for amplifying the
effectiveness of the campaign's message as well as further influencing the product trials
rates among target consumers.
 
Online marketing needs the complementary power of print advertising to achieve good
marketing results. Print advertising continues to be a trusted source of marketing
information for consumers, with 80% of consumers choosing print advertising in a
survey of consumer trust in advertising channels (Figure 12). In our campaign, the OOH
version and the online version will be combined to amplify the campaign's
communication and promote the brand.

Figure 12: A survey of advertising channels that influence purchasing decisions

(Daniel 2016)

Hashtag Challenge
For customer engagement strategy, Urban Decay can utilize the "#Challenge" video
feature on Douyin platforms. For official platform-run hashtag challenges, users make
content based on the guidelines on the prompt and use the hashtag to be featured on
the Challenge page (Hallana 2017). A successful example called #ColorInOneSec from

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Marie Dalgar, which is a Chinese beauty brand to promote their eyeshadow, reached
200 million exposure (Digitaling 2018). Another challenge from Carslan called
#LipstickWithPrinceCharming also reached 3.13 billion views (Ocean Engine 2018)
(Figure 13).

The brand could combine the use of interactive stickers (Urban Decay stickers and
background sound effects) with Celebrities/KOLs endorsement for this challenge to
maximize the awareness as well as boosting user engagement. The invited Celebrities
and KOLs will participate in the challenge by creating their #PrettyDifferentChallenge
videos sharing their unique life and unique beauties. After that, the KOLs will encourage
their fans to upload follow up videos with the same format (with the interactive stickers
and #PrettyDifferentChallenge). 

Figure 13: Marie Dalgar and Carslan 2018 Hashtag Challenge on Douyin

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Product Review
According to the customer insights section of the report, the target customers of Urban
Decay are likely to seek guidance and information from people with authority and
expertise, as well as being influenced by word-of-mouth and electronic word-of-mouth.
With that said, to boost product trials and purchase behavior alongside with building
consumer trust and loyalty, Urban Decay could utilize product review tactics (Pamela
2016). We will invite Urban Decay’s Ambassadors as well as suitable beauty KOLs and
KOCs to post Urban Decay's Product Review on their social media platforms.

Figure 14: Chinese KOLs share product reviews on social media

Brand Ambassadors

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For the campaign, we choose 4 Chinese celebrities who have unique beauties that fits
the Urban Decay brand image and have lifestyles that fit the campaign's message
(Figure 15). Summer, who is a singer with 15.7 million followers on Weibo, Shangguan
Xiai, a singer with 4.62 million followers on Weibo, Han Peiquan, a short video creator
popular on social media and Lamu Yangzi, a famous actress. They would also serve as
Urban Decay’s ambassador for long-term cooperation. The four celebrities would
participate in Urban Decay video ad, publishing product review posts and campaign’s
ad posts on their social media platforms, interact with Urban Decay official accounts,
and take part in the hashtag challenge on Douyin.

Figure 15: Potential Urban Decay’s Ambassadors (from left to right: Summer,
Shangguan Xiai, Han Peiquan, Lamu Yangzi)

b. Channel

Social Media Channels

For the launching campaign, social media platforms supporting video ads should be
prioritized. Four of the most used social media channels according to the customer
analysis section of the report are recommended, which include Wechat, Weibo, Douyin
and Little Red Book. All of them are also supporting video ads and still ads, as well as
allowing brands to pay for advertising spaces. These channels will serve as Urban

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Decay's main platforms for campaign’s media distribution. Due to the high level of
exposure, these channels are also suitable for the brand’s long-term media strategy.
Figure 16 illustrate the content distribution plan of the campaign.

Figure 16: Campaign’s content distribution plan

Out of home Channels

 Point of purchase/Product Trial

For boosting initial product trials accessibility, we will focus on pop-up store and free
trial machines. It will be open in Shanghai for five days and located in New World of
Shanghai, which is a fusion of Chinese and Western urban tourist attractions. The pop-
up store could bring Urban Decay culture not only to the citizens of Shanghai, but also
to visitors from other cities in China. The pop-up store will be outfitted with photo booths
and interactive opportunities. To create a viral factor for these pop-up stores, beauty
KOLs could be invited to show up at the place. 

Meanwhile, free trial machines will be in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen,1
per city for 2 weeks, and will be set up in the most popular shopping mall of each city.
For maximizing cost-effectiveness, customers will need to follow the official account first

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so they can get the Free Trial, which will help increase followers of the brand's official
social media account.

Figures 17 and 18 show the example of these channels.

Figure 17: YSL Christmas-themed pop-up store (Sohu 2020)

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 Fig
ure 18: Dior Free Trial Machine

 Public Transport spaces

Another potential channel for OOH still ads is via public transport spaces. Urban Decay
can put ads on both at the public transport stations as well as on the vehicles.
According to the "White Paper on Generation Z Spending Power" released by QQ
Advertising and Kantar at the end of 2018, 48.6 % of young people represented by
Generation Z said that public transportation is the way they are most accustomed to
travel at present (Figure 19). Figures 20, 21 and 22 show the potential spaces for Urban
Decay’s communication.

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Figure 19: Transportation rank of Generation Z (YICAI 2019)

Figure 20: Subway light box advertisement in Chengdu

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Figure 21: Themed subway carriage in Xiamen (VCG 2017)

Figur
e 22: Bus stop ad in Guangzhou

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 10. Budget & timeline

Our campaign will last for 2 months, running from Feb 8th to Apr 8th. Since March 7th is
Girls' Day and March 8th is Women's Day, it is suitable for brands to promote beauty
related campaigns. Video Ad will be launched from February 8th to March 6th for initial
publicity on WeChat, Weibo, Douyin and Little Red Book. Still Ads on WeChat, Weibo
and Little Red Book will continue to be promoted in the 2-month campaign for amplifying
the effect of communication. Douyin Hashtag Challenge will be carried out during the
period between March 7th and March 14th to generate customer engagement with the
brand and the campaign. The Pop-up Store in Shanghai will be open from March 7th to
12th, while Free Trial Machines in four cities will be available from March 7th to 21st to
promote product trials. For the whole campaign, we estimate the price will be around
1.5 million dollars which includes all the production price and distribution price. Figure
23 shows the detail timeline and budget for the launching campaign.

Figure 23: Timeline & Budget

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 11. Conclusion

According to background analysis in Chinese market, face make-up, lip make-up and
eyes make-up products take the the three largest parts in the market, which
demonstrate our suggestions for Urban Decay to launch three key products in Chinese
market: Vice lipstick, Naked eyeshadow palette and Setting spray. To launch the
business in the competitive Chinese Market, Urban Decay is recommended to localize
the previous successful campaign “Pretty Different”. It shares a universal value that is
feasible to Chinese audience, who is suffering from appearance anxiety and popular
aesthetics on beauty. We combined this information with Chinese cultural values and
local elements to cater to the demand of Chinese Market. With the voice of its local
brand ambassadors who have unique beauties, the brand would boost its awareness
and reach its audience more effectively. To deliver the message to the Chinese
audience, integrated marketing communication, consumer engagement and celebrity
endorsement strategy would be feasible for Urban Decay to applied in the Chinese
market. In the media strategy, social media is aligned with out of home approaches to
reach more audiences. Video ads, still ads, Douyin hashtag challenges and product
review would be the suggested communication tactics to reach the Chinese audience.
Furthermore, local social media channels include Douyin, Wechat, Weibo, Little Red
Book would be suitable in both long-term and short-term media strategies. Brand
ambassadors and official websites/accounts also can contribute to brand growth in a
long run.

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12. References:
13. Appendix:

Appendix 1: Chinese market cosmetics case studies

Perfect Diary is a young Chinese makeup brand established in 2016 and targeting
women aged 20-35 (Daxue Consulting 2021). Perfect Diary made successful
advertising online, especially their creative cultural collaborations: Perfect Diary X
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Perfect Diary X National Geographic (Whiddington,
R 2020) (Figure 7). To deliver their creative ideas better, Perfect Diary uses different
communication strategies such as collaborating with KOLs and KOCs (Chen, TY
2019), connecting with trending topics (FOCUS 2020) and posting product
information regularly on their official social media platforms (Achim, AL 2020).

Figure 7: Perfect Diary X The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Perfect Diary X

National Geographic

In terms of cruelty free product advertising attempts within the market, Hourglass, a
luxury cosmetic brand originating in California, launched the cruelty-free lipstick ‘Red
0’ advertising in Chinese market in March 2021 (Hourglass Cosmetics n.d.) (Figure
8). The main idea is to replace the original pigments from insects with non-animal
related ingredients and be less harmful to the environment (Hourglass n.d.).
However, the feedback did not go as expected: there are no more than 10 comments
related to this product in Hourglass Cosmetics official Weibo content page, and only 7
KOLs post the review contents on Weibo with no comments under, less than 50
consumer created contents in Little Red Books. The reason why this attempt is not

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effective is likely due to the low awareness and perception of cruelty-free among
Chinese consumers (Arafa 2020). They re-published the video ads on Weibo to
increase awareness and collaborated with KOCs on Little Red Book to deliver
cruelty-free messages, however, the result remains unchanged (Figure 9). 

Figure 8: Hourglass - the Red 0 lipstick launching details on Weibo.

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 Figure 9: Hourglass video ads on Weibo & collaborate with KOCs on Little Red
Book

Appendix 2: Customer’s Personas

Persona #1: 
Lily Wang, a 20-year-old girl, university student in Shanghai. She meets a lot of people
as she just joined the music community in the university. She is a cosmetics lover,
reads a lot of reviews on social media platforms and follows some KOLs from beauty
channels. She loves online shopping but also shops in-store frequently to compare the
best prices. However, she has appearance anxiety because she always hears from

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others saying she is not pretty enough. She lost her confidence and needed to find a
way to solve it.

Persona #2:
Ming Li, a 24-year-old boy living in Beijing, he is an overseas student but currently doing
an online course. He is an outgoing boy and loves to try so many different untraditional
stuffs. His personality is more like girlishness, sometimes he will wear makeup on. He
learns how to do makeup through online tutorials by many KOLs and gets knowledge
about the beauty trends through social media. However, he still cannot get enough
confidence to go out with makeup on, because people will be looking at him strangely.
He needs to have positive feelings about himself and realize that his beauty is unique.

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