MetersBonwe moves US$29 million media account from MediaCom to UM

According to Cary Huang, managing director of UM China, the monitored media adspend of MetersBonwe was US$29 million (RMB180 million) in 2011. The brand has 4,000 stores nationwide.

UM, which holds Burberry’s global media account, will help MetersBonwe to further expand its business in China, especially in middle-tier and lower-tier markets. Huang said that his agency’s task is to help MetersBonwe transform from a mass apparel brand into a fashion brand in order to appeal to young Chinese consumers at a time when more fashionable international apparel brands, such as Zara, H&M and Uniqlo, are expanding in China.

According to branding agency Millward Brown Optimer's 2011 Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report, MetersBonwe is the only Chinese brand among the top 10 apparel brands, with global apparel giants Nike, H&M and Zara holding the top three places.

MetersBonwe targets 18- to 25-year-old male and female consumers with its slogan, "Be Different" (不走寻常路). Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou has served as the company's brand ambassador since 2003. Zhou Chengjian (周成建), the company’s president and founder, borrowed US$24,691 (RMB200,000) to start the first MetersBonwe shop in Wenzhou in the early 1990s.

Reported in January 2011, ADChina, an integrated digital platform that runs its own ad network, has launched a campaign promoting iBang-go, the eCommerce website of Chinese apparel retailer MetersBonwe Group.