Watsons Beauty of Japan 2024
Watsons Malaysia
Turning J-Beauty Discovery Into Creator-Led Product Stories
Campaign Overview
Client | Watsons Malaysia |
Campaign | Watsons Beauty of Japan Fair |
Industry | Beauty & Retail |
Campaign Period | July 2024 |
Objective | Build awareness and product discovery for Japanese beauty brands |
Services | KOL Marketing, Creator Strategy & Content Direction |
Platform | |
Total Creators | 13 |
Total Content | 13 Instagram Reels |
The Challenge
Japanese beauty is not one single category.
For the Watsons Beauty of Japan Fair, the campaign brought together a wide range of Japanese products spanning skincare, cosmetics, haircare, personal care and health.
The challenge was therefore bigger than simply creating awareness for a retail promotion. With multiple brands and product benefits to communicate, the campaign needed to help Malaysian consumers discover J-Beauty products without making creator content feel like a long product catalogue.
At the same time, Watsons needed to reach both Malay and Chinese-speaking beauty audiences while maintaining high-quality, platform-native content that could also be repurposed across Watsons’ own social channels.
The challenge was to create one cohesive campaign while giving different products, categories and creator personalities enough room to stand out.
Our Strategy
Noice developed a creator strategy combining beauty-focused creators with different audience profiles, content strengths and creative styles.
Rather than asking every creator to follow exactly the same format, creators were given different product combinations and content directions depending on their strengths.
For three key creators, Noice developed tailored creative briefs designed around their established content identities:
- A men’s grooming makeover concept
- A J-Beauty makeup transformation concept
- A Japanese beauty discovery and recommendation concept
The remaining beauty creators worked within a flexible creative framework that included formats such as GRWM, product reviews, makeup tutorials, beauty trends and Japanese beauty discoveries.
This allowed Watsons to maintain consistent campaign messaging while giving audiences multiple ways to discover the products.
Creator & Content Strategy
Different Creators. Different Entry Points Into J-Beauty.
Rather than treating all 13 creators as interchangeable media placements, the campaign matched products and creative formats to each creator’s strengths.
Men’s Grooming
A male lifestyle creator introduced Japanese grooming products including hair styling, fragrance, facial wipes and haircare through a makeover-led format.
J-Beauty Makeup
A beauty creator used makeup transformation and trend-led content to introduce Japanese cosmetic brands including KATE, CANMAKE, CEZANNE and ZA.
Japanese Beauty Discovery
A Japan-focused creator introduced familiar Japanese skincare, haircare and wellness products through a recommendation-led approach, reinforcing the message that popular Japanese products were conveniently available in Malaysia through Watsons.
Beauty & Lifestyle Content
The wider creator group explored J-Beauty through:
- GRWM content
- Product reviews
- Japanese-inspired makeup tutorials
- Beauty trends
- Product discoveries
- In-store product showcases
This created multiple audience entry points into the same campaign.
Campaign Execution
A total of 13 beauty and lifestyle creators were activated to introduce Watsons’ Beauty of Japan Fair.
Creators represented a mix of Malay and Chinese-speaking audiences, allowing the campaign to connect with different beauty communities across Malaysia.
Each creator received a curated selection of Japanese beauty products based on their content category, including brands such as:
KATE
CANMAKE
CEZANNE
ZA
TSUBAKI
YOLU
Hada Labo
Biore
SENKA
ALLIE
Moist Diane
GATSBY
and more.
Deliverables
13 Creators
Each creator produced:
1× Instagram Reel
with selected content made available for reposting through Watsons’ own social platforms.
Total Campaign Output
13 Instagram Reels
Content Focus
Creators were guided to balance product discovery, education and campaign awareness.
Product Discovery
Content introduced Japanese products across:
💄 Cosmetics
🧴 Skincare
💇 Haircare
🫧 Personal Care
💊 Beauty & Wellness
Product Education
Creators demonstrated:
- Product textures
- Application
- Key product benefits
- Personal favourites
- How products fit into everyday routines
Campaign Messaging
Content also highlighted:
- Watsons Beauty of Japan Fair
- Participating Japanese brands
- Promotional offers
- Spend-and-win rewards
- Availability through Watsons stores and online
Creative Content Direction
One Campaign, Multiple Creative Formats
With numerous brands and products involved, relying on one standard content format would have made the campaign repetitive.
Instead, Noice developed a creative framework that allowed different creators to approach J-Beauty through different storytelling styles.
Concepts ranged from:
Japanese Beauty Discovery
“I didn’t know these viral Japanese products were available in Malaysia.”
Makeup Transformations
Using Japanese cosmetic brands to create trend-led or J-inspired looks.
GRWM: J-Beauty Edition
Integrating multiple Japanese beauty products naturally into an everyday routine.
Men’s Grooming Makeover
Introducing Japanese grooming products through a relatable transformation format.
Product Reviews & Recommendations
Helping audiences understand which products might fit their beauty needs.
The result was a campaign that maintained consistent retail messaging without forcing every creator to tell the exact same story.
Overall Campaign Performance
Metric | Result |
Total Creators | 13 |
Combined Followers | 1,382,409 |
Total Content | 13 Instagram Reels |
Total Reach | 342,734 |
Total Actions | 21,880 |
Engagement Rate | 1.58% |
Reach Rate | 24.79% |
Impressions | 526,425 |
Campaign Highlights
342K+
Total Reach
526K+
Video Plays
21.8K+
Audience Actions
24.79%
Reach Rate
The campaign successfully introduced a wide range of Japanese beauty products through creator-led content while maintaining a cohesive Watsons Beauty of Japan campaign identity.
Standout Creator Performance
A few creator posts delivered particularly strong results.
These results show how different creator styles contributed differently to the campaign, some delivered scale, while others drove stronger audience interaction.
IG @deadpudds
📍 Cosplayer & Cultural Content Creator
👥 Followers: 323,241
👀 Views: 176,264
❤️ Total Interaction: 7,467
Creator Credit: IG @deadpudds
Campaign: Watsons Beauty of Japan 2024
A cosplayer known for creative character content and her Mystical Malaysia series, where she shares educational stories about Malaysian culture and folklore. Her strong interest in Japanese pop culture made her a natural fit for the J-Beauty campaign.
IG @lesgopreston
📍 Photographer, Filmmaker & Cosplayer
👥 Followers: 148,775
👀 Views: 105,000
❤️ Total Interaction: 5,572
Creator Credit: IG @lesgopreston
Campaign: Watsons Beauty of Japan 2024
A professional photographer and cosplayer with a strong visual storytelling style and a genuine interest in Japanese culture, making him well suited to showcase J-Beauty products in a polished and creative way.
IG @arisa.yamanaka_official
Japanese Cross-Cultural Creator
Followers: 88,102
Views: 36,337
Total Interaction: 730
Creator Credit: IG @arisa.yamanaka_official
Campaign: Watsons Beauty of Japan 2024
A Japanese content creator living in Malaysia who shares her experience of building a new life in the country with her Malaysian husband, including content for MalaypanTV. Her Japanese background brought an especially authentic cultural connection to the campaign.
Our Role
- KOL Marketing
- Creator Strategy & Sourcing
- Product-to-Creator Matching
- Creative Content Direction
- Campaign Briefing
- Content Review & Approval
- Campaign Management
- Reporting & Performance Analysis
Why This Campaign Worked
J-Beauty covers a wide spectrum of consumer needs, from makeup and skincare to haircare, grooming and wellness.
Rather than treating the Watsons Beauty of Japan Fair as one generic beauty promotion, the campaign gave audiences different ways to discover the Japanese brands available at Watsons.
Creator selection was paired with product relevance and creative direction. A men’s grooming creator introduced Japanese grooming products differently from how a makeup creator showcased cosmetics, while beauty and lifestyle creators translated skincare and haircare benefits into everyday routines and recommendations.
This allowed the campaign to maintain a consistent Watsons message while keeping individual creator content relevant to their own audiences.
Across 13 creators, the campaign generated more than 526,000 plays, 342,000 reach and 21,000 audience actions, helping turn a multi-brand retail promotion into creator-led product discovery.
Ready to Turn Product Variety Into Content People Want to Discover?
Multi-brand campaigns come with a unique challenge: there is a lot to communicate, but audiences still need a simple reason to pay attention.
At Noice, we combine creator selection, product matching and creative direction to help brands turn large product portfolios into creator content that feels relevant, useful and worth watching.
Whether you’re launching one product or bringing an entire category to life, we’ll help you find the right creator story for it.
Let’s make some Noice.