Michael Kors Runs Singles’ Day WeChat Campaign

The world’s largest online sale got more attention than ever this year, with roughly $18 billion in total sales.

Michael Kors ran a Singles’ Day campaign within China’s WeChat app that could inspire more similar promotions back in the U.S.

This is the second year that Michael Kors has taken part in Singles’ Day savings. This year, Kors posted a combination of GIFs and interactive games to the company’s WeChat account. The games were casino-themed and unlocked discount codes to use either on Michael Kors’ Chinese website or at its physical stores.

The campaign is a prime example of the future of marketing in messaging platforms. Various U.S. brands — notably, Shopify — are currently expanding their marketing, branding and payments efforts into Facebook Messenger, Apple’s iMessage and Kik.

WeChat is one of the largest standalone multi-function messaging apps in the world, with about 700 million monthly active users. It’s tougher for U.S. brands to infiltrate given Chinese government regulation. But it’s happening.

WeChat users can message each other, as well as access news sources, read, shop and pay bills — all in-app. The app’s revenues come mainly from advertising efforts. It’s a massive user audience primed for purchasing, and Alibaba reported that 85 percent of Singles’ Day purchases this year were made on mobile devices.