Our Managing Partner, Xuan Wang, spoke to Vogue Business in early 2025 to unpack the key cultural moments in the Chinese calendar year ahead and what potential opportunities they present for international brands. 

Xuan highlighted how brands can move beyond surface-level activations to meaningfully engage with festivals, gifting moments and evolving consumer rituals. The piece explored where cultural relevance intersects with commercial opportunity, offering practical guidance on how brands can plan campaigns that feel timely and authentic.

As traditional beauty counters continue to disappear from Chinese department stores, Jing Daily examined what this shift means for the future of beauty retail and brand building. 

TONG shared insight into how beauty brands are adapting by rethinking their offline strategies while utilising social platforms to maintain visibility and credibility. The commentary explored how livestreaming, KOL partnerships and community-driven content are increasingly replacing physical counters as spaces for trust-building and conversion, signalling a fundamental change in how beauty brands connect with Chinese consumers.

In March, TONG released a report examining how British brands can both compete and collaborate as Chinese brands accelerate their global expansion. China-Britain Business Focus spotlighted the report’s key findings, featuring TONG’s commentary alongside real-world case studies. 

The coverage explored how UK brands can leverage heritage, creativity and strategic partnerships while navigating an increasingly complex and competitive landscape shaped by globally minded Chinese players.

Jack Porteous, TONG’s Commercial Director, spoke with Santander Navigator about the often-overlooked opportunity for brands to build long-term loyalty among overseas Chinese students. The piece highlighted the significant influence this group holds, not only through their purchasing power while abroad, but also through their role as connectors between markets.

Jack outlined what drives their brand preferences, how trust is built, and the social and digital channels through which they share recommendations, making the case for why consciously engaging this audience can pay dividends well beyond graduation.

In a piece exploring the power of unexpected fashion collaborations, Business of Fashion examined some of the most audacious brand pairings to date. TONG contributed expert commentary explaining why Balmain’s collaboration with Pop Mart resonated so strongly with Chinese consumers.

The analysis broke down how cultural relevance, playfulness and precise audience alignment turned what could have been a novelty into a strategic success, illustrating how well-executed collaborations can significantly elevate brand visibility and desirability whilst being beneficial, but often in different ways, for both parties.

As China’s economy enters a new phase of development, shifting consumer priorities are reshaping the luxury home and lifestyle sector. TONG’s Luxury Home Lifestyle report explored how these changes are opening up fresh opportunities and challenges for global brands. 

Jing Daily provided an in-depth run-down of the report’s insights, covering emerging interior design trends, evolving definitions of luxury, and what international brands need to understand to remain relevant in a more discerning and design-savvy market.

TONG’s survey of high-net-worth Chinese consumers planning trips to the UK featured in luxury membership body Walpole’s annual State of Luxury Report. 

The findings revealed a strong appetite for experiential purchasing, with travellers seeking immersive, personalised and culturally rich experiences rather than purely transactional shopping. The inclusion of TONG’s research offered UK luxury brands valuable insight into what Chinese visitors expect from a luxury trip to London and how brands can better cater to these expectations both in-store and beyond.

Chinese Gen Z is one of the most powerful luxury consumer cohorts in the world, but their expectations, desires, and life experiences are all markedly different to the generations before them - disrupting social conventions, yearning for self-expression, and exploring new forms of consumption - from expanding and diversifying travel horizons and modes, through to 'emotional' purchases of toys and blind boxes. 

In December, TONG's Jack Porteous contributed some thoughts to Jing Daily's flagship Gen-Z report, decoding style subcultures  and looking in particular at 'kidcore' style, including how even quite traditional brands are incorporating personalisation and more quirky elements to their offer to meet the changing preferences of China's younger consumers.