As a leading global brand, Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL) never hesitates to adapt to its consumers' calls. It used to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on celebrities worldwide and now such branding strategies have become even more flexible and creative in the world's largest cosmetic market: China.
In China, it used to be female celebrities who were the faces of international beauty brands, but now men are stepping up to the center stage more than ever. The consumption of men's cosmetics has been increasingly significantly over the past three years.
According to a report by China Daily, over 20 beauty brands have signed close to 30 male celebrities in 2019. Such endorsements are continue growing, with celebrities such as Kris Wu recently named as the first Asia-wide brand ambassador for Lancome.
Last week, Estee Lauder's official Weibo post announced its collaboration with Li Xian, the male lead in the romantic TV series Go, Go Squid!. The post was shared over 430,000 times and drew more than 30,000 comments, including numerous calls from fans to "buy, buy, buy!"
Li Xian, meanwhile, became Estee Lauder's cosmetics and skincare spokesperson for the Asia-Pacific region.
Many beauty brands now realize male celebrities can support massive sales by launching special limited edition of products or gift boxes within a limited time frame.
Male celebrities are known in China as "little fresh meat", which is a term used to describe the younger generation of Chinese male idols with a softer masculinity. This term has been largely controversial but hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of fans for those idols. The origin term stems from manga, anime, J-pop and K-pop from Japan and South Korea.
Popular names include Lay Zhang for M.A.C; Kris Wu for Lancome; Yang Yang for Guerlain (OTCMKTS: LVMUY); Lu Han for L'Occitaine (OTCMKTS: LCCTF); Deng Lu for Biotherm; Wang Yuan for L'Oreal (OTCMKTS: LRLCY); and many others.
By far, many of them have been endorsed by famous western fashion/beauty brands and assigned a special category of products. The name list includes but is not limited to: Xiao for Olay and Estee Lauder Asia Pacific (cosmetics and fragrances); Wang, already the China brand ambassador for shu uemura, took on Origins; and Li Xian for Estee Lauder Asia Pacific (skincare and makeup).