Lazada Drills Down From Pan-Asian Endorsements To Hyper-local

As e-commerce platform Lazada continues to grow, and thereby localise its presence in Southeast Asia, the brand has hired Singaporean comedian Michelle Chong as its first market-specific ambassador in the region.

Having already gone down the pan-regional endorsement route – with Korean actor and idol Lee Min Ho – Lazada is clearly now drilling down to more local activation.

Chong is well-known for portraying several satirical online alter egos, and the partnership will tap into this versatility in order to engage a broad set of audience groups. Her characters (“Ah Lian”, “Chiang Ying Wen” and “Sonia”) will be featured in upcoming campaigns in Singapore, starting with Lazada’s 9th birthday celebration on 27 March. The collaboration will span across seven months, culminating in Lazada’s 9.9 Big Sale in September.

The engagement activities will cover various touchpoints, including radio and television broadcast, outdoor media, social media outlets (on Lazada Singapore and Chong’s own platforms) as well as the e-commerce player’s own livestreaming channel, LazLive.

According to media reports, Chong will also collaborate with fellow ambassador Lee Min Ho, to create tongue-in-cheek, compelling content for Gen Z and millennial audiences in Singapore.  

Apart from Michelle Chong, Lazada’s current roster of local ambassadors include Agnez Monika and Verrel Bramasta in Indonesia, Ayda Jebat in Malaysia, Kathryn Bernardo in the Philippines, Bella Ranee Campen in Thailand and Chi Pu in Vietnam. They have also worked with Lee Min Ho in campaigns for their home markets.

Lazada has been leveraging local branded content partnerships heavily in the past year: In January, they tied up with online comedy content producer SGAG to provide weekly “shoppertainment” experiences for consumers in Singapore across 12 weeks.

The brand also worked with local matchmaking company Lunch Actually to launch a four-part matchmaking series leading up to Valentine’s Day. The campaign, titled “Match me if you can”, allowed audiences to purchase various Lunch Actually products while interacting with dating experts via LazLive.

Last August, Lazada also collaborated with Singapore’s free-to-air broadcaster Mediacorp for a branded content campaign to sell in their major sales push around Singapore’s annual National Day. This partnership later extended to cover Lazada’s 11.11 mega sale.

Lazada is not the first etailer to appoint a local ambassador in the region: last August, competitor Shopee collaborated with iconic Singaporean comedic character Phua Chu Kang, as its first celebrity endorser in a similar vein.