Burberry Teams Up with Tencent to Strengthen Its Digital Presence

- Leveraging Tencent's extensive social platforms to tap a broader audience in China

BEIJING, Feb. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent, the largest internet company in Asia, and British luxury brand Burberry have announced an innovative partnership to boost Burberry's digital presence in Mainland China. Burberry will be leveraging Tencent's various platforms to engage with a broader mainstream audience in China.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140227/CN73402

The partnership was announced along with the launch of Burberry's Autumn/Winter 2014 Collection at London Fashion Week on 17 February. This has marked the start of a series of creative collaborations to be seen throughout 2014.

Burberry launches an official account on Weixin as the first stage of the partnership. Followers will gain access to exclusive content, which will showcase the inspiration and details behind the key runway looks of the season. Users can also follow VIP guests at the show, including Angelababy, to receive exclusive imagery, audio and text messages. The collaboration will kick-off from China and roll out to other markets globally via the WeChat platform in a phased approach.  

The partnership of Tencent and Burberry will be extended to other Tencent platforms, such as "Tencent Video" and "Tencent News", offering tailored interactive multimedia content. Tencent Video brought a comprehensive collection of British drama to the Chinese audience. It is fast becoming one of the largest video sites in China.

In addition, "Tencent News", China's leading news app, enables users to customize their news updates according to users' preference. Brands have the opportunity to leverage the "Tencent News" model to tailor their offering on Tencent's extensive platform.

Burberry focuses on meaningful engagement with customers by providing a unique brand experience beyond products. "We are constantly looking for creative ways to engage platforms to tell the Burberry story around the world; the Weixin and WeChat platform allows for many creative possibilities to come to life.  The Autumn/Winter 2014 show is an exciting start and we look forward to more in the future." Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Officer at Burberry said.

SY Lau, President of Online Media Group and Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent, said, "We are excited about the opportunity to work with Burberry. We are always exploring ways to introduce innovative content to our users and look forward to bringing them unique experiences through this partnership."

Commenting on the trend of digital marketing in China, SY Lau said, "Chinese consumers born in the 1980's are social media savvy. The Burberry partnership is a showcase of how luxury brands can leverage the Tencent platform to reach their audience in an innovative way. It opens up new ways of digital marketing and brings the unique branding experience to a new level."

"Our partnership with Burberry will give both of us insights about branding and marketing in the digital world. In China, Tencent provides an ideal platform for luxury brands to engage with their customers. We are looking forward to working with these brands to further enhance their branding experiences in this fast-changing digital world," continued SY Lau.