China’s “Quiet Recalibration” and Move Toward “Surgical Segmentation”

China’s advertising industry underwent a quiet recalibration in the post-covid years. A shift toward fast-moving formats that speak to tighter audience tranches reflects a more fragmented platform ecosystem and the rise of formidable domestic players, driving brands toward more surgical segmentation.

Brands are creating more key campaigns designed ‘just for China’, rather than using global assets and strategies that ‘also works for China’. For international brands, it’s raised the bar for contemporary cultural literacy. For domestic brands, it’s opened a path to scale and efficiently capture market share.

As well as the rise of micro series that I spoke about in my last LBB interview, for 2026, I see five key cultural trends that will shape the consumer landscape.


1. Leisurecore / Fashion

Leisurecore feels less like a blip and more like a reset of what ‘getting dressed properly’ means. The shift toward functional, relaxed, everyday fashion continues to hold momentum, with the baseline uniform taking the form of relaxed, sport-adjacent silhouettes that still photograph well.

adidas has set the benchmark across both product and storytelling, while collections and collaborations from brands like Miu Miu, Loewe, H&M x Miu Miu, New Balance, and Marithé François Girbaud tap into the space. Today it's more about light luxury vs. quiet luxury.




2. Kidult

Labubu’s hype has cooled, yet the underlying appetite remains strong – Pop Mart continues to sustain growth through IP renewal, the current emphasis on Twinkle Twinkle (星星人) from a Thai creator. The trend remains driven by novelty cycles rather than enduring heritage IP.

For brands, keychain charms have popped up everywhere but consumer appetite remains cult and difficult to predict/direct. It’s appealing but resource-intensive: real participation here demands ongoing asset building and long-term hype cultivation, not short-term licensing stunts.



3. Domestic Travel Boom

Domestic tourism is still structurally strong – a legacy of the covid years, but now supported by real upgrades. Rail and regional airports make ‘three-day micro-holidays’ across provinces feel accessible, aided by the government's continued push to expand the official holiday calendar.

The maturation of domestic hospitality offerings in a lot of second and third-tier locations also compounds the momentum. International hotel groups (Alila, Hilton, Marriott, Kimpton) alongside domestic players with operational expertise and an ecosystem mindset like Aranya. Smaller BNBs and a spectrum of home-grown brands, are rapidly investing in various destination models across the country.



4. 养生 / Wellness Living

Wellness is growing, but not in a Western ‘green juice and Pilates’ way. Wellness through a cultural-heritage lens continues to gain momentum, paralleling the "国朝 guochao" movement.

During recent public holidays, visitation temples and shrines have exploded, with wait times sometimes reaching 7-11 hours. This is showing up through TCM herbal gelato shops, the revival of jade in jewellery, TCM-inspired boutique hotels and B&B concepts, and broader narratives around reboot, balance and slow living the east-Asian way, rooted in Chinese tradition.

Demand is concentrated in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shenzhen, and Guangdong.



5. Coffee Culture

China’s coffee market has quietly become a 300-billion-yuan industry, with imports growing more than six-fold from 2020–2024 and consumption still posting double-digit annual growth.

The scene – especially in Shanghai and Beijing – is now among the most sophisticated globally. The movement centers around specialty beverages beyond espresso and flat white, in-house roasting, and cult independent cafés that function as design and lifestyle destinations as much as beverage stops. Interiors span everything from brutalist to art-deco to meditative Chinese minimalism.

Beverage innovation far exceeds Western norms – dirty variations (including -40°C versions), coconut or brown-sugar red-tea lattes, yuzu americanos, and non-alcoholic coffee mixology with subtle herbal infusions are now mainstream.



Looking ahead, I’m most eager to see how homegrown brands continue to innovate this year – moving beyond the classic advertising playbook to experiment with new formats, collaborations and platforms across their content, retail and integrated marketing strategies.