Hot China Marketing Trend: CP or Couple Marketing

CP or couple marketing has been a very popular tactic lately in China. CP marketing refers to two different scenarios. The first is a brand hiring a celebrity couple as their ambassadors. Celebrity couples could be real couples, husband and wife, or they could be screen couples, for example, Yang Zi(杨紫) and Li Xian(李现) from the super popular TV show Go Go Squid (亲爱的热爱的). By doing do, they can leverage both celebrity’s individual fan bases, as well as the strong feeling fans have for the couple. 

The second form of CP marketing is when a brand collaborates with another brand and the two brands become a couple. Just like any cross collaboration, this will help amplify the exposure of the campaign, and the couple aspect usually adds a fun, buzzworthy storyline. Oftentimes netizens are encouraged to add to the storyline or create memes increasing the amount of brand related UGC content on the Internet. 

For example, in late March, Hey Tea(喜茶) held a lucky draw and selected a winner who was actually a fan of another new beverage brand Chayan Yuese (茶颜悦色) (the user’s Weibo ID included the tea brand’s name in it @等一杯茶颜悦色). This drew a lot of buzz because Hey Tea’s mascot is a boy drinking tea, and Chayan Yuese’s mascot is a young woman, so netizens were trying to ship them, joking that Hey Tea was pursuing Chayan Yuese. 

Other examples include Alibaba’s Dingding(钉钉) x Alipay, BMW x Benz, and snack brands Langweixian (浪味仙) x Wangzai (旺仔). 

More about CP or Coupling

The concept of CP originated from Japan’s anime culture and spread from the ACG community and became mainstream (I find it very similar to people in the US “shipping” a couple). Everything is allowed to be coupled. Whether they really have a relationship, it doesn’t matter, its more that the idea of it makes people happy. 

Coupling is becoming a slang term among young people. A Chinese phrase called “Ke CP”(磕cp is very trendy, meaning following couples on social media and hoping them get married in reality or maintain a good relationship forever). Ke CP has become many people’s source of happiness. This reflects people’s fear of being lonely and their pursuit of a good relationship. 

CP marketing helps brands align themselves with young consumers, by hiring couples brands can generate common topics with consumers and get closer to them and by personifying the brand, they make it more relatable. 

Some things to consider: 

• No matter which type of coupling, brands need to make sure that the ambassadors or the brand they are coupling with matches the brand identity.
• Brands also need to consider how to handle ambassadors suddenly breaking up, or other brands ending the coupling relationship.
• Timing is crucial.
• Be aware of over coupling. Appropriate coupling will help brands grab attention in a short time, but overwhelming coupling leads to consumers’ disgust

Read more: 喜茶要追茶颜悦色大小姐？品牌CP你磕了吗？｜品牌前沿