Peep Insights: Beauty and the Web in China

Marketers often tout the potential of the Chinese Internet based on sheer numbers — the country has more people online than in any other, an estimated 298 million users. But analysts add that the Chinese, especially youth, use the Internet in a fundamentally different than their Western counterparts. Recent advertising efforts in cosmetics have taken advantage of that difference – with surprising results.

Earlier this year, young Chinese viewers obsessed over “Sufei’s Diary,” a web series about a college girl in Shanghai. In China, episodes chronicled Sufei’s teasing classmates, tough boss, snooty coworker, and older crush. Most of the five-minute videos conclude with a dilemma scrawled across the screen: Should Sufei study or go out with friends? Call the guy or ignore him? Viewers then log onto the show’s blog or text message to vote. The tally determines the plot of the next episode.

Originally launched in Portugal in 2003, the interactive soap enjoyed relative success there and in the UK in 2008. China proved the most rapt audience, however, attracting over 15.3 million viewers. The diary’s success in China may not be a result of simple numbers but of Chinese youth’s greater emotional need for connection and interaction online. Advertising guru Tom Doctoroff, author of Billions: Selling to the New Chinese Consumer, argues that while Americans have a functional relationship with the web, the Chinese approach is more confessional in nature, with a need to express your “true” self.

The show’s format invites such connections and confessions – encouraging viewers to log on to the website, talk with each other, comment on the series and shape future episodes with their votes. The main character, Sufei, exhibits the same relationship with the online world – complaining to her web cam every morning, IMing with her friends, obsessively checking her email on her phone and taking her laptop to school to stay “connected” in class. While she may write in a hardcover diary at night, the real confessional is the show itself – public and online.

And it’s Sufei’s actions that ultimately make the online show so potent for advertisers. The global cosmetics brand Clinique, among others, sponsors the web series. The cosmetic company sprinkles the plot with product-heavy scenes: Sufei has skin problems, Sufei sits before her Clinique-laden vanity mirror, Sufei goes to the Clinique counter. Midway through the series, she looks happily in the mirror, her skin problems gone. The camera then swivels to rest on her Clinique cleanser, clearly identifying the secret to clear skin. The show’s blog likewise showcases Clinique products, chances to win Clinique gifts and additional videos of Sufei talking about cosmetics and skin care.

Cosmetic companies learned the power of the Internet long ago. Beauty blogs, homemade how-tos and cosmetic trend sites exert a higher influence on shoppers than the “expert” opinions behind the department store make-up counter. Likewise, China’s well-to-do young women look to the web for guidance in China’s ever-expanding cosmetic brand landscape. Chinese young women are pre-disposed to listen to cute urban Sufei. The bond audiences feel with Sufei, sponsors hope, they will also forge with Clinique.

- Contributed by Bridget Lee