SK-II: Marriage Market Takeover [video] 1 [alternative version]

Credits & Description:

Brand: Sk-Ii Luxury Skincare
Client: SK-II
Product: Skincare
Media: Ambient
Advertisers Supervisor: Kylene Campos
Advertisers Supervisor Titel: Brand Director, Global SK-II
Title: Marriage Market Takeover
Launch Day: 6th April 2016
Account Supervisor: Susanna Fagring
Account Manager: Linda Tiderman
Art Director: Sophia Lindholm, Karina Ullensvang
Copywriter: Tove Eriksen Hillblom
Designer: Christian Sundén
Planner: My Troedsson
PR Strategist: Amat Levin
Agency Producer, Film/Digital: Alexander Blidner (film), Peter Gaudiano (digital)
Production company: Tool
Postproduction: Cut n Run
Media/PR agency: AOL/Be On
Director: Floyd Russ
Producer: Mary Church
Music: Victor Magro / Future Perfect Music
Exec producer: Robert Helphand
D.O.P: Jacob Moller
Editor: Robert Ryang
Sound: Cut n Run
To put a spotlight on Chinese women being labelled as a ‘Sheng Nu’ - translated to ‘leftover women’ used to stigmatize unmarried women over 27 - international skincare brand SK-ll premieres the film “Marriage Market Takeover”.
The campaign aims to emphasize that everyone should have the freedom to marry for love and not because of the pressure from family and society.
Watch how the marriage market in Shanghai's People's Park became a platform for the women to voice their thoughts
Strategy:
We wanted to elevate SK-II’s #changedestiny campaign to not only include “skin destiny” but “life destiny”. We conducted interviews in China with the target audience and discovered that many viewed the pressure to marry as one of the biggest problems in their lives. We also realized that single shaming is a global issue. By putting a spotlight on a Chinese issue that people around the world could relate too, we created the potential for a global campaign. But we wanted to avoid a demonization of Chinese culture, instead raising an important topic and using it to kick-start discussions on every continent. We decided to feature real women in the film, to counter the overexposure of celebrities in Chinese advertising and make the film feel honest. To further support this we took a documentary approach to the film and shot Behind the Scenes interviews with the women.
Campaign Description:
We wanted to give a voice to woman under pressure to marry and find a symbolic way for them to make a statement. The marriage market is a place where the pressure materializes in physical form. It seemed fitting that the women would stand their ground there. We built an installation and replaced the dating ads with personalized messages from single women, proclaiming that they’re happy being independent, contrary to the image being portrayed by media. To create a story we shot a documentary with four single women and their parents. We used real women and not actors, making it easier for the target audience to relate. Many women feel alone in facing this pressure and by using real women we could combat that notion.The film was created as a tool that people could use to raise awareness.
Execution:
We created an installation at the marriage market in Shanghai’s People’s Park, where we replaced dating ads with statements from single women, proclaiming that they’re happy being independent and won’t marry just to please someone else. We then shot a documentary style film with four of the women and their parents. The film was created to be a tool that people could use to raise awareness. After all, it’s easier sharing a film than to start a debate on your own, especially with this taboo subject matter The film was premiered on Chinese video hosting sites Youku, Tencent as well as YouTube. Supporting the launch was Chinese and international influencers who shared the film and helped spread the word on blogs, Twitter and Chinese microblogging site Weibo. We then launched Behind the Scenes interviews with the women, providing an even greater insight into the nuances of China’s views on marriage.
Synopsis:
SK-II is an international prestige skincare brand looking to grab a larger share of the Chinese market. But in China advertising for cosmetics is often rational and celebrity focused. “Use this cream and get flawless skin, just like this movie star.” In order to stand out, SK-II was looking to do something with emotional quality.They had already established #changedestiny – a campaign designed to inspire women to shape their skin destiny. Our idea was to elevate the campaign to include “life destiny”. To achieve this we traveled to China to conduct interviews with women in the target group. The Sheng Nu label, meaning “leftover woman”, and the pressure to marry, sometimes at the expense of their careers and independence, emerged as a big issue in their lives. The objective was to change the perception of Sheng Nus and challenge the way we view single women all over the world.
Outcome:
So far, the film has garnered over 25 million views around the globe, showing the universal appeal of the message.We’ve seen over 2000 editorial pieces and been featured in everything from Forbes, BBC and CNN to Buzzfeed, Mashable, Huffington Post and Elle generating a total reach of over 2 billion. The story has spread to 54 countries on all continents and proved to be a huge success in China, where it became the first ever to make the top ten trend list on the 650 million users strong Weibo. It has also been featured on news channels, with over 6,5 million social actions as a result.Most importantly, we’ve thousands of social media posts from women talking about how the campaign has had a real effect. We created so much buzz that the state-owned media promoting the Sheng Nu term couldn’t ignore addressing the campaign.

Synopsis (cannes lions 2017):
This paper tells the story about how SK-II, a Japanese prestige skin care owned by P&G, did something unique in the category by not talking about its product, prioritizing instead the emotional connection with Chinese women – and by that, outperforming the category leaders in China and regaining #1 position globally.To create this connection we embraced a powerful conversation starter: The Sheng Nu phenomenon. Sheng Nu, meaning “leftover woman”, had since 2007 been used by Chinese state media to stigmatize unmarried women over the age of 27. The pressure to marry, sometimes at the expense of their careers and independence, emerged as the biggest issue in our target audience’s lives. And they never talked about it openly.The idea was to give a voice to the ”leftover women” and find a symbolic way for them to make a statement. So we created a take over at the marriage market in Shanghai’s People’s Park and in an emotional documentary style film, we followed four women replacing the dating ads with their own personalized messages.Packaging the complex topic of Sheng Nu in a beautiful, though provoking and easy to share campaign gave Chinese woman the speaker they needed to talk about the stigma they were suffering. And the results have been massive, both instantly and over time, in a wide range set of metrics.First, sales totally exploded. The campaign dramatically contributed to make 2016 the most successful year in the history of the brand in China, almost doubling its sales and raising brand strength to unprecedented levels.The campaign also created a massive breakthrough, generating in total 44 million views around the globe and 7,1 million social actions (of which 6,5 million came from China), with a social reach of 4 billion globally. SK-II achieved #1 eSOV (online share of voice) in digital key platforms and 2000 editorial across 54 countries. In fact, we created so much buzz in China that the state-owned media promoting the Sheng Nu term couldn’t ignore addressing the campaign.SK-II didn't only stir up the debate, it also got strong consumer engagement. The campaign was the first ad ever to make it to top ten trend list on the 650 million users social network Weibo.SK-II demonstrated the power that can be released from a true emotional connection between a brand and its consumers, bringing to light that in a mature category, brands are way beyond the product they sell.