AliExpress x Maffashion
Aka how to position a brand with a WOW! effect
According to the Gemius survey conducted in Autumn 2019, as many as 62% of Poles declare that they shop online. AliExpress – global e-commerce platform, which belongs to the Alibaba Group – has decided to benefit from this popular trend and commissioned H+K Strategies Poland to design a campaign that will bring the global brand closer to Poles and allow them to build a stronger, emotional bond with them.
While creating the strategy, we wanted to emphasize how many positive emotions are related to AliExpress, such as dynamics, mobility, creativity, or versatility. Our goal was also to show AliExpress as a brand active on the Polish market, strongly oriented towards fashion and trends. For this purpose, we established cooperation with one of the hottest fashion events in Poland – Flesz Fashion Night. However, we were faced with a challenge – how to introduce the global e-commerce player into the local character of a fashion event, which has promoting Polish fashion and Polish designers in its DNA?
To meet this challenge, we decided to engage a fashion icon who could represent the brand at the event and mark its presence by designing an original collection of clothes inspired by style and trends straight from AliExpress. We were looking for a reliable, liked person. The one who not only follows the trends but also creates them herself. The special person had to have the knowledge to design her own collection, but also… had to like shopping on AliExpress herself.
We have chosen Maffashion as the project ambassador. It was the first collaboration of this kind when a fashion influencer was about to design and present her collection on the catwalk of a famous fashion event.
During the opening of Flesz Fashion Night 2019, Maffashion presented her own collection of clothes inspired by AliExpress. For the first time, she appeared on the wall not as a guest of the event, but as its co-creator. The AliExpress x Maffashion collection included bandages, short tops, or bicycle shorts, which additionally reflected her style and strongly referred to the 80’s fashion – the leitmotif of this edition of the event. Maffashion’s collection was strongly inspired by the brand values and colors characteristic for AliExpress. Her collection caused both surprise and enthusiasm among stars, fans, and journalists. The collection also received a wide response from the guests of the show – it was promoted on Instagram by such celebrities as Lara Gessler, Magda Steczkowska, or Barbara Pasek.
Maffashion informed the fans about the new project on her social media channels, which aroused the expected emotions in the world of fashion and media – for a few days the information about the cooperation with AliExpress was the main news in lifestyle media. The blogger also started a contest on her Instagram profile. The prize was the three double tickets to the Flesz Fashion Night – thanks to that, Maffashion fans could not only see her collection live, but also meet her in person. AliExpress also prepared a special discount code for fashion fans. The contest post on Maffashion’s Instagram has been seen over 600,000 times, with almost 700 comments below it! Thanks to the wide communication of the press office, articles about the AliExpress x Maffashion collection were published in leading lifestyle media in Poland, generating 150 publications in just a few days. The news also appeared in the foreign media and the total reach of all publications exceeded 5 million recipients!
The main goal of the campaign was to emphasize that AliExpress is a great source of trends and inspirations. We also wanted to tighten the ties with the local fashion world. Looking at the reception of the project and the results… we do not want to brag, but it went great!