By Emma Paterson
Feb 16, 2021
Last August, Adidas rolled out its “Two Worlds Collide” Super Brand Day on LazMall, Lazada’s premium B2C channel, featuring exclusive “Star Wars” shoes to coincide with the 40th anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back”. The limited-edition sneakers were inspired by key characters from the “Star Wars” franchise, including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Yoda, the Stormtroopers and C3PO.
Lazada engaged key opinion leaders to showcase exclusive product launches across various local markets and also created a range of marketing activities that were aligned with the brand’s campaign concept. These included a “shoefie” photograph contest and mini games on Facebook and Instagram to drive engagement, such as one that asked users to help Lazzie, Lazada’s mascot, to find a pair of exclusive “Star Wars” sneakers hidden in a maze in the shape of the eCommerce platform’s logo.
Adidas’ Super Brand Day generated sales that were doubled that of the brand’s 2019 figures for 11.11 and helped drive lasting impact even post campaign, with business-as-usual sales growing by more than 50% after the August event. Over 60% of the consumers that day were also new to the fashion category, demonstrating the ability of such campaigns to increase customer acquisition while boosting traffic and brand awareness.
“We saw fantastic results that stemmed from two hugely committed teams – Adidas and Lazada – working together with an entrepreneurial mindset,” said Amit Dasgupta, Adidas’ vice president of brand and eCommerce in Southeast Asia.
Inspired by Alibaba’s Tmall campaign of the same name, LazMall’s Super Brand Day is a 24-hour shopping event akin to a brand’s exclusive 11.11 event and showcases the best deals and co-branded experience for existing fans as well as new customers. Through creative storytelling and social activations that include games, contests and KOLs, businesses can drive sales and elevate brand awareness at the same time.
Since its first Super Brand Day in July 2018 with M.A.C Cosmetics, Lazada has partnered with more than 50 brands and activated more than 100 selective campaigns. Participating brands have recorded more than 40 times uplift in sales compared to their daily averages, more than eight times in sales compared to mega campaigns like 11.11 and up to six times follower growth in their stores.
Super Brand Day was the first of Lazada’s “Super Series” of campaigns provided to brand partners to elevate their online presence and utilise the best of the eCommerce platform’s ecosystem solutions and resources to drive followers, buyers and sales growth. Also part of the series is Super Brand Parade, a multiday initiative that empowers brands to design engaging, thematic shopping experiences for their consumers.
Super Brand Parade was inspired by a regional campaign collaboration between Lazada and L’Oréal in June 2020 when L’Oréal wanted to create a special campaign to “bring beauty back” to shoppers in Southeast Asian countries that were starting to emerge from lockdowns.
Karan Kansal, L’Oréal’s eCommerce APAC director of consumer products division, explained that the brand didn’t want to create just a sales event but a celebration. That’s why it partnered with Lazada to host a three-day marathon affair, anchored on a “Back to Beauty” theme, that included everything from livestreamed content featuring celebrities to games, special promotions and even augmented reality technology.
“We were thrilled to partner with Lazada, leveraging their technology like LazLive to connect with our consumers online,” Kansal said. “During this Back to Beauty campaign, we showcased livestream tutorials and creative look inspirations to help everyone express themselves, whether they’re staying indoors or heading out. It was a high-impact, integrated marketing event.”
By creating an integrated, customer-focused experience powered by Lazada’s technology and other resources, Super Series events have helped strengthen LazMall’s partnerships with key brands, especially in areas of logistics infrastructure and fulfillment capabilities, said Jessica Liu, Group President and Head of LazMall at Lazada.
Lazada also recently added to the series Super Brand Openings, which aim to help consumers experience the largest online brand launches on LazMall, and Super New Arrivals, which are designed for savvy shoppers to be the first to get the latest products.
“LazMall campaigns deliver benefits far beyond campaign day, by step changing the brand’s daily baseline performance on Lazada,” Liu said. “A key objective for Lazada is to propel the growth of all our brands and sellers. Campaigns, including those in our Super Series, are a proven avenue to drive longer-term buyer and sales growth.”
Emma Paterson is a senior vice president and the head of top brand solutions within the regional LazMall operations team at Lazada.