Sweet, Bubbly, and Everywhere: How BC Helped Brown Brothers Win Valentine's Day on RED
The Challenge: Standing Out When Everyone’s Selling Love
This Valentines, Brown Brothers came to BC wanting to make noise during one of the year’s most competitive retail moments: Valentine’s Day. The challenge we faced was standing out on Xiaohongshu (RED) when every brand is pushing romance, flowers, and limited-time offers.
The product was Lush Lychee Moscato, a sweet, refreshing sparkling wine with delicate bubbles. The audience was young, affluent Chinese consumers in Australia who use RED to discover lifestyle products and brands. Our goal was simple: increase brand awareness, drive engagement, and position the wine as the perfect Valentine’s celebration drink.
Our Angle: Love Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All
Instead of going the traditional couple-focused route, we built the campaign around “Share the Love with Lush Lychee,” celebrating diverse expressions of love. That meant romantic partners, yes, but also friendships, self-love, and celebrations with the people who matter most.
We partnered with Australia-based RED influencers across different content styles and follower sizes. Each creator was given creative freedom within the theme, which meant the content felt authentic rather than templated. Our brief was straightforward: show how you’re celebrating love this Valentine’s Day and make Lush Lychee Moscato part of that story.
Visually, we encouraged creators to lean into Valentine’s aesthetics without being cliché. Think flowers, candles, beautifully plated desserts, and intimate table settings that felt elevated but approachable. The wine needed to look like it belonged in the moment, not like it was just dropped in for a sponsorship.
Making It Happen
Timing was tight. We had one week from product delivery to content live on the platform. That’s not a lot of time, but our influencers came through. Content was created, reviewed, and published within the deadline, which is genuinely impressive given the quality that came out of it.
Beyond the standard post-and-share approach, we added an engagement layer: giveaways. Influencers offered followers a chance to win a bottle by participating in the comments. Some creators added their own spin, asking followers to tag friends or share their own Valentine’s Day plans, which pushed the content beyond just their immediate audience and into their followers’ networks.
The giveaway mechanic worked because it wasn’t just “like and comment.” It created real interaction. People were tagging friends, sharing stories, and genuinely engaging with the content rather than just scrolling past.
The Numbers (And They’re Good!)
The numbers told the story clearly.
Total post exposure hit over 130,000. Total engagement reached more than 3,200 interactions (likes, comments, shares, saves). Both figures comfortably exceeded our KPI targets, meaning we reached more people and drove more action than initially projected.
More importantly, the content quality landed. The brand loved what the influencers produced. Several posts stood out not just for performance but for how naturally they integrated the product into Valentine’s storytelling. That authenticity is what made the campaign feel less like advertising and more like genuine recommendations.
The client was so happy with the results that they’ve already started discussing the next seeding campaign with us. That’s the best outcome we can ask for – a client who wants to do it again.
Why It Actually Worked
Looking back, a few things made this campaign successful for us and for Brown Brothers.
The theme was inclusive. By framing it as “diverse love” rather than just romantic love, we opened the creative possibilities and made the content relatable to a wider audience. Not everyone has a Valentine, but everyone has people they care about.
The campaign gave influencers creative freedom instead of a rigid script. We gave them a theme, a product, and trust. That freedom meant the content felt real, which is what performs on RED.
The giveaway drove real engagement. It wasn’t just vanity metrics. People participated because they genuinely wanted the product, and the mechanic encouraged them to bring friends into the conversation.
We moved fast without cutting corners. One week is tight, but our team and the influencers executed without compromising quality. Speed matters during seasonal moments like Valentine’s Day, but only if the work still looks good.
What This Means for Your Next Campaign
Valentine’s Day on RED is crowded. Every wine brand, every lifestyle product, every gift idea is competing for attention. The campaigns that break through are the ones that feel different, not just louder.
Brown Brothers succeeded because this campaign gave people something they could participate in, not just something to buy. The content looked beautiful, the engagement was genuine, and the results proved it worked.
If you’re thinking about seasonal campaigns on RED or other Chinese social commerce platforms, the lesson is clear: know your audience, trust your creators, and make participation easy. That combination is what turns a campaign into a conversation.
Elevating Brands, One Campaign at a Time
At Brand Catalyser, this is the core of what we do. We work with brands to plan, execute, and optimise campaigns on RED and other Chinese platforms, bringing local expertiseand proven strategies to every project.
Want to run a campaign like this? Get in touch and let’s talk about what works for your brand!
