Research & reports
Totem's reference research on brand growth in Asia — annual China reviews, China's global brands, influencer and commerce studies. Filter by region, or read them all.
2026 China Marketing & Media Trends: an era of endurance, and a K-shaped recovery
Totem's 11th annual China marketing report: muted sentiment, a K-shaped market, and brand awareness overtaking sales. Based on a survey of 91 marketing leaders.
Get the report →China's Top 100 Global Brands 2026: from price arbitrage to brand conviction
Totem's 5th annual ranking of China's top 100 global brands: 447 brands tracked, a 3,500-consumer survey across 7 markets, and why prices are still too low.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in Asia 2025: the region leads social commerce, but under-invests in influencers
Totem's 2025 study of 3,813 consumers and 54 brand leaders across seven Asian markets: influencer spend is just 0.75% of Asia's $800B social commerce GMV.
Get the report →China's Post-Digital Pivot: China's next marketing mode
Totem's 14-slide snapshot on China's post-digital pivot: activations are the new advertising, digital is the new retail — and cultural marketing, measured through SOCV, is how brands win the middle funnel.
Get the report →Social Commerce on the Rise: a new mode for brand growth, led by GenZ, TikTok and China's playbook
Totem's social commerce report: global sales projected at US$1.2 trillion by 2025, GenZ raising social spend 43%, and China running 10x US sales.
Get the report →China's Pricing Gap: why Chinese brands are leaving billions on the table
Totem's 2026 pricing snapshot: Chinese brands discount an average 14.8% below global rivals in the US & UK — and up to 30% in Japan and Korea — even though 17–20% of consumers say they'd pay full price. A self-imposed ceiling, not market demand. From a 3,500-consumer Rakuten Insight × Totem survey.
Get the report →China's Social Engagement Leaders: the Chinese brands winning on social
Totem's 2026 social analysis of 100 Chinese global brands across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok: the engagement-rate leaders on each platform, and why ZTE RedMagic — the only brand top-five everywhere — leads the composite ranking on community, not follower count.
Get the report →China's Culture Class: ten Chinese consumer brands earning genuine cool
Totem's 2026 shortlist of ten Chinese consumer brands earning genuine cultural cool by design, not discount — POP MART, Miniso, VIVAIA, ANTA, Florasis, Chagee and more — drawn from a ranking of 447 Chinese brands going global.
Get the report →China's Global Category Champions: ten Chinese tech brands defining their categories
Totem's 2026 profile of ten Chinese tech brands leading their global categories — DJI, Bambu Lab, Insta360, BYD, Anker, Roborock, Unitree and Xreal — best-in-class, made in China, and sold to the world.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in China 2025: the region's most advanced social commerce market
Totem's 2025 China influencer mini-report: 86% of consumers buy from livestreams and China tops Asia's social commerce enthusiasm index, scoring 38 vs a 28 average.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in Japan 2025: Asia's most cautious social commerce market
Totem's 2025 Japan influencer mini-report: Japan ranks last in Asia's enthusiasm index (score 9 vs 28) and just 60% of consumers have tried livestream shopping.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in South Korea 2025: high digital maturity, muted influencer enthusiasm
Totem's 2025 South Korea influencer mini-report: 82% have bought from livestreams, yet Korea ranks sixth in Asia's enthusiasm index, scoring 24 vs a 28 average.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in Asia — Fashion: the flywheel, not the destination
Totem's 2025 fashion influencer mini-report, surveying 3,813 Asian consumers: $6.50 ROI per $1, 86% have watched a livestream, and influencer spend just 0.75% of GMV.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in India 2025: a large, developing market shaped by TikTok's absence
Totem's 2025 India influencer mini-report: 692M internet users but sub-50% penetration, and India ranks fifth in Asia's enthusiasm index, scoring 26 vs a 28 average.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in Indonesia 2025: Asia's number-two social commerce market
Totem's 2025 Indonesia influencer mini-report: Indonesia ranks second in Asia's enthusiasm index (score 33 vs 28) and leads the region for high-impact influence.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in the Philippines 2025: a socially driven, Facebook-led market
Totem's 2025 Philippines influencer mini-report: 85% buy from livestreams and the market ranks third in Asia's enthusiasm index, scoring 31 vs a 28 average.
Get the report →Influencer Marketing in Thailand 2025: heavy livestreaming and strong affiliate selling
Totem's 2025 Thailand influencer mini-report: 86% of consumers buy from livestreams and Thailand ranks fourth in Asia's enthusiasm index, scoring 30 vs a 28 average.
Get the report →The CMO View on AI for Marketing: adoption without maturity
Totem's event brief on AI for marketing: 70-90% of global CMOs already run GenAI programs, Accenture sees AI transformation 90% complete by 2030, yet it's early days.
Get the report →Geographic Analysis of China's Global Brands: where they're winning, and where sentiment still resists
Totem × Meltwater map China's top 100 brands across 7 regions and 170+ countries: regional presence, consumer sentiment, and the markets where growth is fastest.
Get the report →2024 China Marketing & Media Trends: marketing an inflection point into deflation
Totem's 9th annual China report: a deflationary recession, value above all, and budgets on pause — only 26% of brands planned to raise marketing spend. From 90 leaders.
Get the report →China's Top 100 Global Brands 2024: quantity over quality, and the branding shortfall
Totem's 2nd annual ranking of China's top 100 global brands: 251 brands audited, why 56% were built for global markets, and the brand-equity gap behind the numbers.
Get the report →China Trend Report for Athleisure Brands 2023: Douyin, community and the omni-channel playbook
Salesforce and Totem's 2023 China Trend Report for athleisure brands: why Douyin is the focus channel, how local brands hold the majority of sales, and where CRM lags. Based on a survey of 82 China brands.
Get the report →China Trend Report for Beauty Brands 2023: RED, private traffic and the fight for share of voice
Salesforce and Totem's 2023 China Trend Report for beauty brands: why RED is the focus channel, how local brands are closing the gap on global players, and where beauty is investing in private traffic and CRM. Based on a survey of 82 China brands.
Get the report →China Trend Report for Luxury Brands 2023: graduating from private traffic to CRM
Salesforce and Totem's 2023 China Trend Report for luxury brands: why WeChat is the CRM hub, how the top 30 luxury brands are deployed across platforms, and why luxury leads the market on customer-data maturity. Based on a survey of 82 China brands.
Get the report →Marketing Through a Recession: positioning, share of voice and the winning formula by brand type
Totem's recession playbook: three downturn stages, four brand-profile growth models, and the ESOV rule — 10% excess share of voice yields ~0.6% market-share gain a year.
Get the report →Asia ecommerce country snapshots: a $1.8 trillion, social-first, fragmented market
Totem's 2023 country snapshots: Asian ecommerce hits $1.8 trillion, holds 49% of global online retail, and runs social-first with Amazon top-5 only in Japan.
Get the report →2023 China Marketing & Media Trends: re-opening, and a pivot the market must navigate
Totem's 8th annual China report: re-opening after zero-Covid, CRM and DTC over reach, and a pivot to Asia. Neutral-to-optimistic sentiment fell to 63%. From 82 leaders.
Get the report →NeiWai vs Ubras: two digital-native lingerie brands, two very different growth playbooks
Totem compares China lingerie DNVBs NeiWai (2012, ~80 shops) and Ubras (2016, ~10 shops): Ubras' RMB300M Double 11 and livestream lead versus NeiWai's brand bravery.
Get the report →The future of DTC marketing: why the digital-only playbook hit its ceiling
Totem's 2022 report on why the DTC playbook stalls near $10M, as Facebook CPMs climb 5,000%+ since 2012 and incumbents take 30%+ of revenue direct.
Get the report →2022 China Marketing & Media Trends: regulation, walled gardens, and a surge in local brands
Totem's annual China report: "common prosperity" regulation, the breakdown of BATB walled gardens, and a DTC shift. Most brands still planned ~10% budget rises. From 89 leaders.
Get the report →Chinese Brands Going Global 2022: quantity over quality, and the long road to brand equity
Totem ranks the Top 100 outbound Chinese brands from a 615-brand set. Shein leads, but average social engagement trails global DTC brands by 2.4x.
Get the report →DTC Beauty in China: Perfect Diary, Florasis and Fenty Beauty compared
Totem compares three digital-native beauty brands in a RMB862bn market: Perfect Diary's 48m fanbase, Florasis's 644% growth, and Fenty's outside-in China entry.
Get the report →2021 China Marketing & Media Trends: the Covid blip, and the content-commerce meld
Totem's 2021 survey of 71 China marketing leaders: sentiment rebounds past pre-Covid levels, ~60% raise budgets, livestream GMV hits RMB1 trillion, video turns table stakes.
Get the report →How DTC brands responded to Covid: only 22% saw sales fall while incumbents scrambled
Totem's survey of 89 DTC brands found only 22% saw sales declines during Covid, versus 80%+ of mainstream brands — and twice as likely to play offense.
Get the report →China Springs Back From Covid-19: what a re-surveyed set of brands reveals about recovery
Totem re-surveyed 37 brands mid-Covid: 43% saw sales fall more than 50%, yet 24.3% held or grew online sales — and digitally-capable brands fared best in the rebound.
Get the report →2020 China Marketing Trends: the year category leaders pull away from the pack
Totem's 5th annual China report: 70+ brands per category, Tmall's 53% share, a 60:40 branding rebalance, and the coronavirus arriving mid-launch. Based on 42-brand survey.
Get the report →Data-driven insights on social: why formula beats frequency across 80,000 posts
Totem's analysis of 80,000 social posts: Instagram drives 68% of engagement, video outperforms by up to 20x, and paid-first posts lift organic reach 50%.
Get the report →Luxury hotels on social: 4,000 posts show the city beats the property
Totem analysed 4,000 luxury-hotel posts across five cities: Instagram drove 68% of engagement and city scenes beat property and F&B content by up to 9x.
Get the report →Digital China 2019: rising costs, a global marketing challenge, and the social-commerce inflection
Totem's 2019 China digital review: 800m netizens, 79% of brands raising digital budgets, and social commerce plays led by Pinduoduo's 2,155% growth.
Get the report →Lessons from WeChat: what a mobile-first, conversational ecosystem reveals about the future of marketing
Totem reads the future of marketing through WeChat: 1bn MAU, 34% of China's mobile traffic, and article open rates that fell from 15% to below 5%.
Get the report →WeChat: The Future of Social CRM — one app, a unified view of the customer
Totem on WeChat as social CRM: 900M users at 34% of mobile time, 800M WeChat Pay users, and the first-48-hours window — with sales-conversion uplifts of ~39% in case studies.
Get the report →China Outbound Marketing 2018: 154 million travellers, a mobile-first journey, and shopping as the main event
Totem's 2018 outbound guide: 154m Chinese travellers, only 6% hold a passport, and China drives 21% of global tourism spend — how brands market to them.
Get the report →2018 Social Marketing in China: the end of easy gains, and the shift to paid
Totem's 2018 outlook on social marketing in China: official accounts up 250% to 20m, reading rates below 5%, and paid replacing organic across WeChat and Weibo.
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