The Media Plan: Why TEMPUR is spending more on streaming ads than influencers in social media-obsessed China

As China's economy slows after two decades of breakneck growth, Chinese consumers seem to be taking it slower too. They’re trading the status purchases of the boom years, luxury goods, for something you can’t show off but can feel every morning: sleep.

“In China, we’re still learning about how to have quality sleep, especially after the pandemic, which greatly changed where people spend their money,” said Cindy Yung, head of marketing at Tempur China.

“Before, they probably spent it on luxury products, but nowadays they are spending on their own health, wellness and also sleep. China as a sleep market has a lot of potential compared to Western countries, which are more mature in terms of sleep solutions,” Yung added.

This shift has brought opportunities for Tempur, which has deftly adapted its media strategy to reach and influence the increasingly sleep-conscious Chinese consumer.

The Media Plan: Streaming first, then RedNote

For a premium brand like Tempur, one channel is key to reaching affluent shoppers, especially those focused on wellness and lifestyle: the social networking and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

In just over a decade, RedNote has cornered the market for reaching consumers — especially women — in China’s large, affluent cities, though it has been trying to cater more to men as it reportedly prepares to go public.

“Most Chinese consumers nowadays will just search everything on RedNote,” Yung said.

RedNote is a mix of Instagram and Pinterest, plus a slick e-commerce element. It’s also used extensively as a Google Search of sorts, except that it surfaces users’ posts rather than webpages. Recommendations from a post can carry the same weight as a top lifestyle blog or Reddit thread.

But while RedNote may be the platform of influence, it’s not the only one. Tempur is investing most of its ad budget into programmatic over-the-top (OTT) streaming ads on video platforms like iQiyi, YouKu and MangoTV, according to Yung.

The aim, as with TV advertising elsewhere, is brand building, which is something that social media advertising struggles to compete with. RedNote and influencers get the second biggest chunk of the media plan, Yung said.

“Because we are in the premium sector, building brand in the long run would be healthier than jumping into price wars. Everyone nowadays loves to watch videos, and through these platforms, it’s one of the easiest ways that we can reach our target audience,” Yung said.

The targeting precision available via programmatic channels means that Tempur can reach sleep-deprived Chinese shoppers down to the compound or building-cluster level, a common subdivision for neighborhoods in densely populated Chinese cities. That’s in addition to more standard targeting capabilities like age groups, interests and purchase history.

Tempur only started investing in programmatic ads last year. But using NIQ for reporting has helped the brand validate how people feel about the ads — and, for example, if they’re showing interest afterward by expressing the desire to go into the shop for testing.

“I was quite amazed with the targeting that we can do, how precise that is. So, for us as a marketer, we know that the money being spent is really reaching the people that we want,” Yung said.

“With programmatic buying, wastage is being controlled. This is really one of the improvements compared to more traditional media buying.”

The walls have lowered

Real-time bidding (RTB, or auction) programmatic buying is still a relatively nascent slice of the Chinese ad market. But its growth has been helped in recent years by the opening up of China’s walled gardens — controlled by Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent — which have started allowing third-party DSPs to bid on some of their inventory.

That even extends to ads in WeChat, China’s essential super app, which have been available programmatically for some time. So, while Tempur has been finding success in streaming TV, WeChat’s programmatic availability has opened more doors, as well.

Yung said that Tempur advertises in WeChat with Moment Ads (which appear alongside users’ posts) and banner ads, but that it also built social CRM (customer relationship management) system within the app.

“That is really useful because once the customer makes a purchase, then we can reconnect with them, understand their preferences and also use those insights for future research and development.”