For SK-II, a luxury skincare brand with over 95% of its business in Asia, winning in China is key. China is driving category growth in the region, fueled by increasing spending power and obsession with luxury skincare among SK-II’s target audience: urban career women in their 20-30s.

To breakthrough and create an emotional connection SK-II launched #ChangeDestiny in 2015 and addressed one of the most controversial topics in China - the stigmatization of “leftover women” and the pressure to marry young. SK-II reaped massive rewards for daring to talk about this sensitive topic and the #ChangeDestiny movement became a game-changer for the brand, both in terms of equity and business growth.

2019 posed a new challenge: how to continue leveraging the #ChangeDestiny platform and growing the business, without losing momentum and relevance in China, where consumers are constantly looking for the next new thing?

In a study we conducted, 90% of women said they have experienced/are experiencing marriage pressure. There was also a huge gap between generations, resulting in clashes between modern and traditional values.

We wanted to stay true to #ChangeDestiny and to the brand’s cause, but make sure the consumers didn’t get tired of our message. We needed a new fresh insight to build from.

Through qualitative and quantitative research, we learned that marriage pressure reaches its peak at Chinese New Year (CNY). When family and relatives gather, the nagging about finding a husband culminates, and for many, becomes unbearable. The pressure is so strong that 8 out of 10 single women hesitate to travel home for CNY. A major issue driving this is the lack of communication between generations.

Society and media tend to focus on how to avoid the topic and annoying questions from relatives. We wanted to tackle the subject in a different way. What if we instead of just talking about the problem could offer a solution and create real change?

We set out to inspire women and parents to talk honestly with each other, and to find common ground.

We created the mini-documentary Meet Me Halfway in which three single women who avoid going home for CNY bravely take the first steps, open up and ask their parents to meet them halfway - figuratively and literally.

The campaign became a massive success - not only did it impact short and long term sales but it also reached more than 100 million women in China in less than 7 days, created a wave of positive responses, recorded the highest volume of earned posts for any SK-ll initiative and over 75 million people watched the film.

SK-ll became part of a solution inspiring millions of women in China to take action and rebuild communication with parents. With over 54,000 people organically posting the film in social media we showed how SK-ll not only understand young women in China, but that we're able to connect with them on a deep emotional level and how staying true to a strong insight can be a very effective approach.