insight

For French brand Citroen, Uniplan developed a pop-up concept that travelled to five Chinese cities. The idea was to refresh the fact that Citroen is a French brand and deeply rooted in the French culture and way of life. Looking at this project in depth helps us see how brand experience can strengthen European brands’ position in China. Here’s what we learnt.

This might sound extreme, but it is actually not uncommon for consumers in smaller but fast-growing cities to confuse local and foreign brands, because in China these brands take a Chinese name. We were tasked to come up with a concept to capitalise on brand equity and highlight the Frenchness of the brand. We developed a French city square concept, where we reproduced a typical downtown setting, with café terraces and boutiques, which are very identifiable as French and resonate with Chinese consumers’ idea of Frenchness. We then populated these elements with brand stories, making the pop-up experience both informative and a lot of fun.

It was a very interesting time to deliver such a brand experience to the Chinese public, in the context of the pandemic and its travel restrictions. There is a pent-up desire to experience the feeling of being abroad, and we capitalised on that. We were careful to bring out the authentic essence of Citroen, by showing its heritage in a French boutique format where consumers could explore the brand’s history while shopping for original merchandise. We also recreated a miniature version of a road inside and around the pop-up, where we offered the opportunity to test drive Citroen’s tiny urban electric drive, the Amí. The car is not yet available in China but it is already a fixture of Parisian streets. The Ami’s presence, therefore, created a connection between being in China and having an intrinsic French experience.

Citroen was particularly happy with the attention to detail shown by our team, and we worked with them to handpick all materials down to the cobblestone flooring, in order to ensure that real French downtown look and feel. When we launched in Wuhan last December, some of Citroen’s French staff told us that the set was authentic to the point of making them feel nostalgic. They ended up spending quite a bit of time there.

From the consumer point of view, there were various experiences that were particularly popular. For example, we created an installation featuring an electric bike in an immersive multimedia setting. As visitors pedalled, they generated animated sketches of Paris as if they were cycling through an arty version of its streets. Hospitality, of course, was also very important. The aroma of coffee at our café terrace drew in the crowds easily, as did some typical French snacks, with a Chinese twist to suit the local palate. Ultimately, visitors were very entertained and wandered around the pop-up in the same way they might at a French downtown square during their foreign holidays. I guess you could say …authenticity wins.