Massive consumer marketing campaign in China

Building on its successful marketing campaigns of previous years in China, Woolmark’s new campaign was aimed at making Merino wool the most desirable apparel fibre for consumers in China during the recent autumn/winter season.

“The marketing campaign involved a key celebrity endorsement alongside a major digital, social and e-commerce component with the largest e-commerce platform in China, TMALL,” said AWI Country Manager China, Jeff Ma.

“The theme of this season’s campaign was wool’s natural eco-benefits, which aligned with the sustainability themes of Woolmark’s other recent campaigns in China. Natural and eco-friendly materials have become an important consideration for Chinese consumers when buying clothes, with sustainable fashion messaging becoming increasingly resonant within the China market.

“By providing a direct link between consumers’ growing sustainability values and the point of purchase, our marketing campaigns are successfully driving increased demand for Merino wool products, which ultimately will benefit Australian woolgrowers.”

Celebrity endorsement

Well-known Chinese actress Charmaine Sheh was an ambassador for Woolmark’s campaign, pictured here in a campaign photo wearing Merino wool in a natural, green setting.

In the lead up to and during the major retail component of the autumn/winter campaign, Woolmark launched a celebrity endorsement of the fibre by well-known Chinese actress Charmaine Sheh. With 25 million followers on social media, she is admired as a role model and trendsetter in fashion and lifestyle.

For the campaign, Charmaine Sheh highlighted Merino wool looks from Woolmark licensees, and featured in key visuals, behind-the-scenes footage, and video content. These assets were prominently featured throughout the campaign by TMALL, brand partners, Woolmark and the celebrity herself.

“Securing tier-one celebrity Charmaine Sheh as the Woolmark Sustainability Fashion Ambassador for the Wool Week campaign proved to be a highly successful strategy, attracting substantial consumer attention and boosting Merino wool sales on TMALL,” Jeff said.

Driving wool purchases at retail

The home page of TMALL’s Wool Pavilion (featuring popular celebrity Charmaine Sheh at the top), which received more than 267 million views.

For the retail aspect of the campaign, The Woolmark Company partnered with TMALL for the sixth consecutive year for Wool Week, during which the e-commerce platform had a dedicated ‘Wool Pavilion’ page which highlighted thousands of wool products for consumers to buy.

Widely known by industry insiders and highly recognised by consumers, Wool Week has become an annual campaign that brands and consumers look forward to. This year, a total of 4,800+ brands participated in the shopping festival. Taking place in September, it is the best time for new wool product launches.

Designed by TMALL, the Wool Pavilion featured celebrity imagery and showcased the TMALL stores of flagship brands, offering a diverse selection of wool collections categorised into four key trends: premium materials, comfort, easy care, and versatile styles. It also included algorithm-generated product recommendations tailored to customer preferences.

During the campaign, the Wool Pavilion received more than 267 million page views. Key visuals of celebrity Charmaine Sheh featured in the Wool Pavilion and digital advertisements. This year, TMALL also introduced an expanded wool sales channel, TMALL Pro Go, to guide consumers in selecting high-value products.

Woolmark brand licensees and key partners actively engaged in the Wool Week campaign through product and content promotions on TMALL, external advertising, social media, live streaming, and more. This year, TMALL also recruited 28 key ‘captain brands’ to co-invest in the campaign to boost their exposure and drive sales.

The autumn/winter campaign also involved brand partnerships in the run up to China’s Double 11 online shopping extravaganza. Double 11 (also known as Singles Day) is an online shopping festival held on 11 November in China that is similar, in some ways, to Black Friday in western nations. During the Double 11 shopping festival, 11 of Woolmark’s brand partners promoted their Merino wool products, amplifying their reach through e-commerce platforms and multiple social media channels. There is also a Double 12 shopping festival (also known as Couples Day) on 12 December, which involved further brand partnerships.

This year’s campaign received a massive 1.65 billion impressions (the number of times the campaign was seen).

“Our campaigns in China have been successful in building and reinforcing consumers’ awareness of the all-round benefits and natural credentials of Merino wool. Our research shows that, in the past two years, consumer awareness of Merino wool has increased by 27%. Importantly, the campaigns have also increased consumers’ purchase intent of Merino wool, by 14%,” Jeff said.

This article appeared in the Autumn 2025 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine that was published in March 2025. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.