Prada Paradox in China, a 4-step version and… the start of “glocal” campaigns?


While Paradoxe – Prada’s latest fragrance launch – was taken by Emma Watson to Western markets, in China the campaign was rolled out more locally, with 4 celebrities and 4 specific angles. However, and interestingly, these local variations were also then relayed internationally, in particular on the brand’s Instagram account. A new way of considering brand communication beyond local borders and specifications?

In China, a four-step campaign

Prada collaborated with respectively:

Zhou Yu Tong 周雨彤27-year-old actress with 13.8 million Weibo fans, was awarded last year for her first role in the drama “Remembrance of things past”.

Liu Lian, 刘恋32, 1.1 million fans on Weibo, singer who recently participated in season 3 of the show sisters who make wavesa reality show allowing artists aged 30 to 50 to form a group at the end of the competition.

Zhi Liao, 廖智734.3K fans on Weibo is a disabled dancer, who lost her legs in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, but never gave up dancing.

Guo Xiao Jing 果小菁a 30-year-old artist specializing in the interpretation of Peking opera, but also an influencer on Douyin (the Chinese TikTok).

Zhi Liao Prada
Zhi Liao ©Prada
Liu Lian Prada
Liu Lian ©Prada

Each of them illustrates a particular angle of Paradoxe, each time with a particularly relevant hook given their background, but also the Chinese context:

To change or not to change 变还是不变 ? Zhou Yu Tong talks about the versatility of the actors… who do not change despite the many role changes. She is also known for having a personality that seems to mix contradictions. Thus, in her interviews, she confesses to liking calm while liking company… A
incarnation all found for Paradoxe, and a way of initiating a reflection on the diversity of temperaments and identities that the younger generations claim ever more strongly.

Busy or free 忙还是闲 ? Liu Lian’s video mentions that we can be busy relaxing (!), a work situation that Liu Lian embodies singularly. She is leading a career as a singer today,
while being creative director at Ogilvy & Mather! So the generations born in the 2000s now dream of being able to build a career as slashers, Liu Lian sets himself up as an interesting model!

Flexible or inflexible 柔还是刚 ?Soft on the outside, firm on the inside, that’s what Zhi Liao, a dancer with her prosthetic legs, embodies. The only survivor of the building she occupied, she lost the use of her legs during the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan. After intensive rehabilitation, she took part in numerous dance shows where her performances were highly praised, for her talent and her courage. Exemplary of resilience, this young woman who lost her child during the tragedy, has since remarried and had 2 other children. With her husband, she now devotes herself to the reintegration of disabled people.

New or old 新还是旧 ? Loving novelty while being attached to the past, this is what Guo Xiao Jing embodies by performing Peking opera, an art combining song and rhyme, storytelling, martial arts and dance (registered with Unesco as an intangible heritage intangible of humanity), via his livestreams on Douyin. With more than 2 million fans, it popularizes among the youngest what many consider to be the epitome of Chinese opera. Moreover, the recent proliferation of Peking Opera livestreams on Bilibili and Douyin by professionals and students alike has helped to popularize this art and fuel the ever-growing enthusiasm of GenZ.

In China the name of the perfume “Paradoxe” has been translated as 我本莫测 “I am unpredictable”. A name like a statement that can in fact resonate as much in China as in the West. At a time when the field of possibilities and cross-identities is opening up, it seems quite interesting to relay these Chinese campaigns on international platforms.
Will we soon see other local campaigns, which will be global? While luxury houses no longer hesitate from the outset to name their Chinese muses as global muses, the bets are off…

Dao Nguyen is the founder of Essenzia, an agency dedicated to perfume and beauty brands, the anthropology of taste and creative strategy to win the hearts of young Chinese.


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