Creating the Perfect Marriage Between Brand & Performance

Client: Clinique

55Haitao is a unique publisher on the Rakuten Advertising Affiliate Network that offers content, cash back and coupons all on one site. The publisher is able to use content combined with cash back or coupons to simultaneously drive awareness and revenue for retailers, which perfectly marries brand and performance.

Over the years, Rakuten Advertising has helped 55Haitao build a strong partnership with Clinique by encouraging the brand to run compelling content and coupon campaigns in the Chinese market. In 2020, Clinique had its eyes set on a 50% increase in revenue year-over-year (YoY), with a focus on raising awareness and acquiring new customers through new and innovative platforms. The Rakuten Advertising and 55Haitao teams were able to add two new content strategies along with enticing coupons to Clinique’s affiliate program in China.

 The content campaigns included trendy livestreaming and content seeding initiatives, executed through top Chinese influencers and content creators. The livestream on Douyin (TikTok), which has more than 600 million active users in China, attracted 45,000 popularity index in the first 30 minutes. The content seeding strategy on Little Red Book garnered over 70,000 views in the first week.

Through this integrated brand and performance approach, Clinique was able to exceed its goal and grew its revenue by 88% and increased new customers by 135% YoY. The brand also saw phenomenal results on key Chinese retail dates such as 6.18 Shopping Day and Singles’ Day, with sales soaring as high as 258% and 2,101% YoY respectively.