How luxury brands like YSL and Chloe are targeting Chinese women with virtual boyfriend experience

This article was originally written by Jiaqi Luo and was published on Jing Daily

Imagine that you are snoozing in bed. You awaken and click a video on your phone. You immediately see your celebrity crush, a handsome young man with an angelic voice, whispering “Good morning, beautiful” while making intense eye contact with you through the screen. You know it’s an ad, but it’s also an incredibly intimate moment.

In China, this type of virtual intimacy in advertising has become increasingly common, as a genre of POV (point of view) marketing – a camera and script style that immerses the viewer into a digital pseudo-relationship – has been taking off. Ads shot in POV style are not only letting viewers feel closer to their idols, but they also make these brands’ message more pleasant and digestible to consumers.

This “little fresh meat” concept, which leverages women’s admiration for young male pop stars, is becoming a global trend, but in China, these fans are much more emotionally invested (not to mention financially committed) to their idols. They are so focused, in fact, that they have started to divide into subgroups. On social media, fans have different motives: “girlfriend fans” (女友粉) who fantasise about their idols as an ideal boyfriend, “truelove fans” (真爱粉) who act irrationally to every word that comes out of their idol’s mouth, and “mom fans” (妈妈粉) who adore their idols’ youthful appearance and see support for their idol as a form of child-rearing.

Within this intense and growing idol culture, top male idols could easily turn their appeal into highly valuable commercial influence, and luxury brands see this potential. By transforming an ad into a “virtual” love experience, many luxury brands are gaining even deeper access to these fans than ever before. Here are some recent examples:

1. YSL Beauté’s 520 Paris Specials

On May 20 (“I love you” Day in China), YSL Beauté launched a series of romantic Paris adventures starring the Chinese rap idol Z.Tao. Named “Mon Paris” to promote the perfume of the same name, the series took fans on an intimate journey with Z. Tao by immersing them in romantic visual details: eye contact under bedsheets, hand holding in the streets of Paris, and views of a woman’s hand lingering around their idol’s neck while he looks

back passionately.

Shot in a POV style, the video gives fans an exclusive view of their idol’s daily lives wrapped within a lavish story about touring Paris with him. Hashtagged #LoveZ. TaoLoveIt# (#黄子韬爱就粉TA#), the promotion racked up 53,594 shares on Weibo.