Influencer marketing is the leading advertising trend in Asia-Pacific, embraced by a range of businesses from startups like GoJek to established corporations like Samsung. If you're looking to expand your business in Asia, incorporating influencer marketing into your strategy is a must. To get the most out of your campaign, it's wise to study successful examples from the past. We've done the research for you and compiled the best case studies to help guide your approach.
With its growing popularity, it's easy to see why influencer marketing has become a favored strategy for marketers and brand owners. Social media platforms like TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are the reigning realms of influencers and content creators, and in Asia, the general population relies on these figures for product recommendations, reviews, and opinions.
While understanding influencer marketing may seem straightforward, executing a successful campaign can be challenging. To ensure that your strategies are well-suited to the Asian market, it's important to learn from past successes.
Here, we've put together a collection of highly effective examples of influencer marketing in Asia. Let's dive in!
10 Examples of Influencer Marketing in Asia ⬇️
1. Kaikatsu Club: NETCafe VR
Country: Japan 🇯🇵
Influencer: Enakorin
Japanese cafe chain, Kaikatsu Club, introduced a virtual reality service in Japan where customers can play various VR video games while dining or drinking. For this launch, Kaikatsu Club partnered with well-known influencer, TV personality, and cosplayer Enakorin.
Enakorin, who is a huge name in the anime world and known for her love of video games, was the perfect fit to represent Kaikatsu's new VR entertainment offering. Together with TimeLine Japan on YouTube, Kaikatsu Club and Enakorin spread the brand message, attracting 17,000 views since its release.
2. American Express
Country: Singapore 🇸🇬 Influencer: Yik Keat
American Express joined forces with Millennium Hotel Asia and Singaporean influencer Yik Keat to create a social media campaign to highlight their offerings. Using hashtags #AmexSG, #StaycationSG, and #millenniumhotelsasia, Yik Keat encouraged his followers to experience the best of Millennium Hotels & Resorts with special deals from Amex card, which can be easily accessed via the Amex mobile app.
Yik Keat created a video showcasing his staycation experience at Millennium Hotel and how effortless it is to use American Express. The video was well-received, generating 28,400 views and 4,400 likes on Instagram.
Influencers with a premium Instagram presence are an excellent fit for luxury and hospitality brands.
3. Mobile Legend
Country: Malaysia 🇲🇾
Influencers: Alyssa Dezek, Jake Hays & Gail Lazaroo
Mobile Legends, a popular mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game in Southeast Asia, is looking to expand its reach. To help spread the word, they teamed up with Alyssa Dezek, a talented young YouTuber known for her stunning song covers and guitar skills.
Alyssa encouraged her followers to download the game and join her for the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang 515 e-party in a promotional video. The campaign was a hit, reaching a staggering 175,000 views.
Music creators can be a powerful tool for brands, as they have the ability to reach a massive, organic audience through their covers of game, anime, or movie theme songs.
4. YSL x PONY
Country: South Korea 🇰🇷
Influencer: Pony
Yves Saint Laurent Beauty, also known as YSL Beauty, recently launched their newest product, the Vernia Levre Water Stain. To promote the product, they partnered with PONY, a popular Korean beauty YouTuber who has helped popularize Korean beauty trends worldwide.
PONY created a 6-minute review video showing off the product's features, and her huge popularity in Korea and around the world helped the video reach an impressive 1,000,000 views.
For brands looking for top-quality content, starting power, and a broad audience reach, partnering with well-selected mega creators is an excellent choice.
5. SK-II
Country: Japan 🇯🇵
Influencers: AMIAYA, Mademoiselle Yulia, Rinco, and Saki.
SK-II's Wonderland was a landmark event in the beauty world, a store unlike any other that combined technology, art, and skincare. In an effort to reach their target audience, SK-II joined forces with Brave Bison and sought out influencers who shared their values.
This long-term collaboration involved the influencers in the creative process, from direction to production, and resulted in captivating videos showcasing the unique and innovative aspects of the Wonderland store.
Four of Japan's top influencers, AMIAYA, Mademoiselle Yulia, Rinco, and Saki, were featured in the videos, bringing their own unique flair to the campaign. These videos not only raised brand awareness, but also highlighted the artistic, technology-driven personality of the SK-II Wonderland experience.
6. Disney+ Singapore
Country: Singapore 🇸🇬
Influencers: Jianhao Tan, Kevin, Vincent, Ridhwan, Debbie, Tasha, Denise, Jasmine
Jianhao Tan, a renowned Singaporean YouTuber with 4.8 million subscribers, teamed up with Disney+ Singapore and other influencers, including Kevin, Vincent, Ridhwan, Debbie, Tasha, Denise, and Jasmine, for a highly entertaining video campaign.
Jianhao's contribution was a short, comical video showcasing 16 types of people watching Disney+. The video quickly went viral, racking up 3 million views and cementing the success of the campaign.
The partnership highlights the significance of video content in the digital age. As a fully digital product, Disney+ has the opportunity to not only increase brand awareness but also reach and engage with consumers directly, thanks to its collaboration with YouTube creators like Jianhao Tan.
7. Pantene Malaysia
Country: Malaysia 🇲🇾
Influencer: Yuna
Pantene's #WanitaBesi campaign is a bold and empowering message to women everywhere. By reinterpreting the traditionally negative term "Iron Lady" into a celebration of strength, the short video showcases a series of female characters overcoming adversity. The brand's collaboration with Malaysian influencer and singer Yuna was a stroke of genius, as she embodies the essence of the modern #WanitaBesi.
This campaign is a powerful statement to all strong women who rise above societal expectations and prove that strength truly is beautiful.
8. Sunsilk Indonesia
Country: Indonesia 🇮🇩
Influencer: Satya Winnie
For its Indonesian customers, Sunsilk created a campaign titled “Dare to Dream with Sunsilk,” collaborating with Satya Winnie, a travel influencer and journalist who has big dreams of traveling the world and has succeeded in realizing her dream. In this campaign, Sunsilk encouraged the audience to make their dream come true, do it bravely and unstoppably, and continue to shine.
The campaign was unique because it combined documentary video and animation forms. The campaign was a big hit, gaining 7.8 million views on YouTube.
9. Dove Philippines
Country: Philippines 🇵🇭
Influencers: KZ, FANA, Leanne & Nara, and Maysh
Dove Philippines launched a YouTube campaign "My Hair, My Say" to inspire women to embrace their unique hair. The anthemic movement started as a song and encourages women to break free from stereotypes and embrace their version of beautiful hair.
The "My Hair, My Say" remix music video features a lineup of real Dove women flaunting their beautiful hair, along with the hair transformations of empowering female Filipina artists such as KZ Tandingan, FANA, Leanne, Naara, Reese Lansangan, and Maysh Baay. The video is a celebration of women owning their hair and embracing their own beauty.
10. Tokopedia
Country: Indonesia 🇮🇩
Influencer: BTS
Indonesian technology company Tokopedia has been working with leading K-pop group BTS as its brand ambassador since 2019. The partnership has resulted in the "Tokopedia #1 Everyday" campaign, encouraging users to visit and shop on the platform daily. BTS has also released exclusive content only available on Tokopedia.
Tokopedia is using the brand activation strategy to inspire the public to strive for their best every day, with the platform supporting them every step of the way. The partnership has resulted in a 15-second video, which has received 68 million views since its release on YouTube.
Tokopedia is using the branded hashtags #TokopediaxBTS and #TokopediaSaja to increase visibility and brand awareness. This is just the beginning of a series of content collaborations between the two brands.
Conclusion
Advertisers in Asia face the daunting task of identifying influencers who are culturally relatable, connect with their target audience, and communicate effectively across various social media platforms. To help tackle this challenge, this blog post delved into influencer marketing in Asia, showcasing 10 compelling examples from 6 Asian nations including Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, South Korea, and Indonesia.
If you need help in launching your campaign in Asia, working with local marketing agencies can be your best bet. We hope you learned something from these killer examples, and we hope you can take the best attributes of these campaigns and apply them to your own marketing launch.
Contact Us
AJ Marketing | Unlock the Power of Influence