This season’s fashion weeks may be a turning point for brands’ China-focused marketing strategists, leaving them with a larger, diverse and perhaps more complex network of influencers around the globe.
With ongoing travel restrictions keeping the mainland’s key opinion leaders (KOLs) stuck at home, many brands are filling the marketing void with KOLs living outside China. Not only can overseas KOLs be an attractive alternative for brands readjusting strategies in response to Covid-19′s knock-on effects in the short-term, but they also allow them to diversify their marketing budgets in the wake of Beijing’s recent crackdown on certain celebrity ambassadors and other ostentation in the entertainment industry.
And what the overseas influencers may lack in terms of the high profiles of top China-based KOLs, they want to make up for it in other ways, including a loyal fan base. It’s no surprise then that overseas KOLs are already part and parcel