AFTER 50 years of Australian Merino wool being promoted to China's textile and fashion industries, The Woolmark Company has launched its first brand campaign aimed directly at Chinese consumers.
The marketing arm of Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), The Woolmark Company plans to capitalise on China's apparent early recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the partly pandemic-promoted rapid rise in e-commerce to promote Australian Merino wool direct to the consumer.
The aim is to turn prestigious Merino wool into the most coveted fibre for the approaching 2020 northern hemisphere winter via a brand advertising campaign targeting trendy, online fashion shopping sites.
The campaign has seen the debut of the 'The Merino Sisters', Woolmark's first branded intellectual property.
The sisters extol the unparalleled virtues of "Merino: the Treasure Wool" in three short, humorous online interviews.
According to AWI, with a population of more than 1.4 billion, China represents the world's most lucrative fashion market.
Chinese consumers are also increasingly sophisticated and constantly demanding a quality upgrade thanks to the rise of e-commerce and the proliferation of brand choices, it said.
To seize this opportunity, The Woolmark Company has teamed with Wieden+ Kennedy Shanghai to launch its first brand campaign in China targeting sophisticated Chinese consumers directly, AWI chief executive officer Stuart McCullough said last Thursday.
"At AWI we predicted China's economy would be first to bounce back from the disruption caused by COVID-19," Mr McCullough said.
"They are Australian wool's biggest and most important customer.
"The time is right to promote our wool to a market that is both willing and able to buy wool in large amounts.
"Sadly, that is not the case in other key northern hemisphere markets.
"AWI is monitoring economic conditions in Europe and North America and will not be marketing in those markets until there is sustained evidence of economic improvement.
"The China campaign is about communicating Australian wool's natural benefits to a digitally-savvy, highly sophisticated Chinese audience.
"Our marketing strategy is built around a content-commerce model which allows us to focus on driving purchasing intent at a time when this season's sell-through has never been more critically important for the future of the industry," Mr McCullough said.
Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai creative director Tree Chan said: "For beef there's Kobe beef, for roses there are Damask roses, for sparkling wine there's Champagne, we want to make Merino wool the most prestigious and respected family of wool for people in China - that's our ambition."
The campaign has begun on China's top e-commerce site Tmall, a preferred destination for renowned brands, according to AWI.
It generated more than 230 million impressions and 9.9 million video views, with the teaser post by notable celebrity Loura Lou achieving two million views in less than 24 hours on Weibo.
The Merino sisters also appeared in Tmall's live-streaming sales rooms for surprise visits and endorsements generating more than 750,000 engagements.
Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) data shows that while the volume of Australian Merino wool sold so far this season is down about 1 per cent on last year, to 45.6 million kilograms since July 1, the percentage of it going to China has increased.
In July and August China took 83pc of Merino wool sold in Australia which compares with 76pc for all of last season, according to AWEX.
It is estimated about half of the Merino wool exported to China and processed into fashion garments, uniforms or technical fabric products, was sold to the Chinese domestic market.
COVID-19 decimation of Indian and European markets saw the volume of Australian Merino wool going to India drop from 5pc last season to 3pc in July and August and going to Italy drop from 5pc last season to 2pc so far this season.
