Transforming eye health into a high-growth flagship category through portfolio architecture, upstream alignment, and market-led cultural repositioning in China.
Vision Care + Energy · flagship SKU · China 2022
Led China category strategy, portfolio architecture and end-to-end local execution — collaborating with Australian global HQ to align product innovation with global brand guidelines, while fully owning local go-to-market.
Pillar 1Portfolio architecture & category definitionEvaluated a varied collection of existing SKUs and established Blackmores’ first structured eye health architecture in China, positioning the new Vision Care innovation as the high-efficacy, premium flagship anchor.
Pillar 2Global governance & collaborative alignmentManaged stage-gate approvals with Australian global HQ to ensure global brand alignment, while pushing R&D upstream to deliver enhanced formulation credentials and proof points tailored for China’s competitive market.
Pillar 3Cultural repositioning & breakthrough platformExpanded beyond conventional office and study eye-strain narratives by anchoring the flagship launch in digital natives and their high-intensity digital performance, partnering with a professional gamer and a prominent Gen-Z male celebrity to establish a new category entry point.
Pillar 4Regulatory craft & omnichannel GTMNavigated complex cross-border healthcare compliance to craft sharp, lawful product claims, leading agency partners through a unified launch across China’s major e-commerce, livestream and social platforms.
Defending category leadership by turning eye health into a high-performance daily ritual.
Evolve Blackmores’ eye health portfolio in China into a structured, high-growth core category. The goal was to establish strong authority in high-performance eye nutrition and drive penetration among digital natives without compromising the brand’s long-standing natural health equity.
Moving beyond category conventions: compliance, global alignment, and shifting youth behaviours.
While screen time was surging across China, eye health communication remained broadly standardised. Competitors focused on general fatigue among office workers and students, making supplements feel optional rather than essential — a widespread concern without a consistent daily usage habit.
Internally, the eye range required a unified category architecture and benefit hierarchy. Crucially, as a global healthcare brand, all local marketing initiatives had to clear strict cross-border advertising compliance in China while maintaining brand consistency and meeting global stage-gate requirements from the Australian headquarters.
Vision Care + Energy · global key visual · 2022
From upstream portfolio restructuring to cultural repositioning and full-funnel local activation.
I took a category-first approach rather than launching a standalone SKU. I mapped consumer visual needs across distinct segments and established a clear benefit hierarchy for the China market. To anchor the upper tier, I collaborated with Australian global HQ, encouraging stronger formulation credentials and technological proof points to give the new flagship product clear commercial authority upon launch.
Instead of relying solely on familiar office and study eye-strain scenarios, I introduced a sharper, more relevant positioning focused on digital natives and their visual performance. For gamers and young digital natives, visual endurance is directly linked to focus and sharp reaction.
Defy Blue Light, Ignite Your Radiant Vision无惧蓝光，焕能睛彩时刻
Built around that platform, we partnered with a professional gamer and a high-affinity Gen-Z male celebrity, repositioning eye supplements from passive relief into essential digital lifestyle support.
Working closely with legal and regulatory teams, I built a compliant product claim framework that highlighted blue light protection and visual stamina within cross-border VMS legal boundaries. I then led local agency partners to deploy an integrated launch across China’s leading e-commerce marketplaces and its principal social commerce and lifestyle platforms.
Vision Care + Energy · campaign visuals · 2022
From a fragmented range to a core commercial growth driver.
Secured the #1 ranking in the eye health category across major Chinese e-commerce platforms in its debut month.
Eye health grew around 50% year on year across 2021–2022, becoming one of Blackmores China’s core revenue categories.
The launch of Vision Care and the updated category architecture turned a fragmented range into one of Blackmores China’s key revenue drivers. By opening up new usage occasions for younger audiences, the strategy expanded category penetration across the major e-commerce and social commerce channels, acquiring higher-value, digital-native consumers.
Beyond sales performance, the project established a repeatable route for bringing global new product innovation to life in China: how a formulation is strengthened upstream, how a claim is made lawful under cross-border rules, and how a global platform is recut for a local cultural occasion. That sequence, not the campaign itself, is what carried into the eye care rollouts that followed.
We were very lucky to have Nina join the team and lead our Eye segment in China. This category is now our fastest category because of Nina’s leadership.
Wei Ou · Formerly Director of Business Development & Strategic Communications, Blackmores
February 2023 · read in full →
Building a unified global HCP communication framework to elevate Enterol from acute treatment to daily microbiota care
Share where you are, what’s at stake, and what you’re trying to move.
Write to me → or write directly to nina@xuconseil.fr