CASE STUDY: How KWC used social media campaign to connect with young consumers

Background

KWC, a traditional family-run chain, is one of Hong Kong’s longest serving retailers of mid-priced timepieces. Although KWC is known as an iconic Hong Kong brand, it was struggling to communicate with young audiences effectively, especially Mainland Chinese consumers, who now comprise more than 70 per cent of its customer base.

Aim

KWC wanted to raise and rejuvenate its brand image, and capture the hearts and minds of a modern, social-media-loving audience.

Execution

Waggener Edstrom created an integrated campaign driven by KWC’s official Sina Weibo account. The campaign positioned KWC as a trusted travel and shopping expert for Mainland Chinese tourists. The content for the brand’s Weibo account, including useful information on Hong Kong’s tourist hot spots, was shared with key opinion leaders, rather than being focused solely on products.

During the October Golden Week holiday, KWC's Weibo fans also stood a chance to win prizes from a series of lucky draw contests by commenting on the brand’s invite-only, star-studded 60th anniversary gala dinner, of which the photos were posted in real-time on Weibo Screen and available for live-tweeting.

Results

KWC’s Sina Weibo campaign was rolled out between April and October 2012, attracting more than 75,000 followers. The anniversary gala drew comments from around 5,000 people, who had a chance to participate in the lucky draw series, which garnered over 59,000 re-shares and 53,000 comments. It was one of the top 10 Weibo campaigns of the month and top five of Golden Week in October 2012.

It also drove an average of more than 10 product inquiries via Weibo per month from young consumers across the Greater China region.