The Objective
dermalogica is a professional American skincare brand that’s globally loved and trusted for its dermatologist-approved, professional products that focus on efficacy.
Boasting the title of America’s No.1 professional spa brand, dermalogica has unlocked great success on Douyin by strengthening their positioning around professionalism and efficacy, as well as promoting star products like their bestselling multivitamin power recovery masque.
The brand has created content on Douyin since 2019, with their impactful videos achieving rapid growth and paving the path for their flagship store on Douyin E-Commerce, which launched in 2021. They saw Douyin E-Commerce as the key channel and platform for communicating the effectiveness of their products and for driving sales – which would allow them to achieve full-channel success, all in one place. Douyin E-Commerce was also the ideal place for them to reach their target audiences, namely stylish mothers and office ladies.
With Double 11 Festival coming up in China on November 11th, the largest online shopping festival in the world, they wanted to launch a campaign that would help boost their brand recognition, image, and influence in China. Double 11 presents the most important shopping moment and a massive opportunity to reach millions of consumers ready to spend in China. They knew they couldn’t miss out!
The key objectives for dermalogica’s Double 11 campaign was to acquire new customers and reach broader audiences, improve their Return on Investment (ROI), and maximize sales during promotions.
The Solution
They planned their Double 11 strategy carefully, with a plan that spanned various stages from warm-up to post-event. To ensure that they could successfully reach their goals, they cleverly coordinated content and product strategies to drive explosive sales. In terms of content and advertising, they kicked off their efforts on September 25th, and continued through November 12th:
Content & ad strategy:
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Warm-Up Period to Build an Early Buzz (9/25-10/20): from late September 2023, they began building up excitement around the 2024 Spring and Summer Shanghai Fashion Week partnership with the help of a diverse array of creators. These creators helped promote the brand, build an early buzz, and engage new audiences.
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Global Brand Acceleration Plan ahead of Double 11 (9/25-11/11): dermalogica kicked off the Douyin Global Brand Acceleration Plan in September, taking them through the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. They strategically built up momentum to be top of mind ahead of the Double 11 peak. By running Ocean Engine Shopping Ads to amplify seeding videos and direct traffic to Livestreams, they established a comprehensive engagement and conversion loop. They also strengthened consumer trust in cross-border product sourcing by ensuring that logistics would be smooth and reassuring potential customers. They combined brand ads with high-quality product seeding content to amplify their voice, leveraging tools such as magnets and text to shorten the conversion path.
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Boost Brand Visibility through Blockbusters Sales (10/20-11/11): dermalogica promoted their blockbuster products in Livestreams to build credibility and drive purchases. By using ad boosts, they were able to drive significant traffic. Their Shopping Center Promotion worked in parallel, offering discounts and contributing to the festive shopping ambiance, which led to an explosive sales surge. This allowed them to capitalize on the momentum and swiftly convert interest to purchase. The Shopping Center’s ‘Value-Product Promotion’ collaboration also helped boost product visibility.
- Effective Post-Event Follow-Up (11/12 onwards): Made the most of post-sale traffic by offering exclusive member coupons, encouraging user sharing for repeat purchases, and teasing their Black Friday promotion. This also helped them accumulate followers and encourage loyalty.
Product strategy:
On the product side of things, they first specified a list of products that they would promote – the ones that their audiences would resonate with the most. This included the daily microfoliant, active moist moisturizer, multivitamin thermafoliant, sound sleep cocoon night gel-cream, and more.
The multivitamin power recovery masque was the brand’s star product, accounting for over 90% of sales during the Double 11 period. This multivitamin power recovery masque was a central focal point of their advertising and product seeding, spotlighted in Livestreams in the form of standard dual packs.
They used effective mechanisms during the event period, like offering a free gift of samples for those who purchase two standard packs, and adding exclusive gift boxes to boost excitement and emphasize a special “limited-time” and “limited quantity” atmosphere that creates a sense of urgency. Different sizes and combinations catered to consumers with different price preferences
Last but not least, dermalogica pays great attention to the consumer experience of brand members, having built up an attractive membership program and strategy. Members can collect points that they can redeem for certain items. They offer interesting combinations of different tiers of products to be purchased with points and money. This is a great way to bring in new members, while also re-activating existing customers.
Ad Products
The Results
dermalogica had a remarkable Double 11 period, and it was clearly worth their efforts. Let’s take a look into the numbers which skyrocketed their brand and presence in China :
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Warm-Up phase (9/25-10/20):
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GMV increased by 172% MoM
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Orders increased by 295% MoM
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New customers increased by 217% MoM
2. Double 11 Period (10/21-11/11):
- 54% surge in GMV
- 44% higher than their results during 618 Shopping Festival
3. Ranked Top 10 of all Douyin E-commerce Global brands
4. No. 2 in Douyin Shopping Center for their Best-selling Brightening Masks
dermalogica’s impressive story highlights the importance of doubling down on Double 11 in China, and seizing this massive opportunity to win over the hearts of Chinese consumers. In order to achieve your desired objectives for Double 11, it’s key to come up with a clear product and content strategy roadmap.
The efforts should start in September, with enough time until the event itself, to build up adequate excitement and to drive traffic and attention towards the brand. Brands should follow dermalogica’s glowing example, and consider warm-up and acceleration phases leading up to the event, with quick follow-up initiatives post-event that focus on accumulating followers, members, and boosting loyalty. dermalogica has built up a buzz in China that will surely give their consumers glowing, radiant skin in 2024!
