π In China right now, the biggest celebrities are trying hard to look like normal people, and the best normal people are becoming celebrities. That flip is one of the clearest marketing shifts I have seen this year, and it changes a real decision every foreign brand has to make: do you book a famous face, or do you book a creator?
The trend: celebrities go casual, creators go star
This comes from a piece I read on Huxiu (θε η½), one of China’s sharpest business and marketing outlets. The article rounds up 11 marketing trends set to shape Chinese brands in 2026, written by the team at Adquan (εΉΏει¨). Trend number nine is the one that stopped me: ζζη΄ δΊΊεοΌKOLζζε, which translates roughly to “celebrities go civilian, KOLs go celebrity.”
The idea is simple once you see it. For years, Chinese celebrities protected their image. Perfect skin, perfect script, a wall of publicists between them and the public. That distance used to be the whole point of fame. Today it works against them. Chinese audiences, especially younger ones, trust people who feel reachable, not people who feel manufactured. So the smartest celebrities are dropping the polish on purpose.
The Huxiu piece gives two strong examples. Actor and singer Wang Yibo (ηδΈε) appeared in a show called “ζ’η2” (Exploration New Horizons 2), where he plays an outdoor explorer instead of an idol. No stylist-perfect outfits, just gear, sweat and terrain. The show pushed “Wang Yibo same style” searches and chatter across Chinese social platforms, because fans were reacting to a person, not a poster. Actor Li Xian (ζη°) did something similar: he hiked Kula Kangri with outdoor blogger Links, filmed like any other travel creator rather than a movie star on a press tour.
The other half of the trend runs the opposite direction. Tim, founder of the popular tech and gear channel ε½±θ§ι£ι£, has become a brand ambassador for hardware companies HOLLYLAND and Rokid, the kind of endorsement deal that used to go to actors or singers. He also produces formats like “Creator King Competition” and a 100-person hide and seek show, content built entirely around creators as the stars of the story. A few years ago, a camera-review channel getting brand ambassador contracts would have been unusual. Now it is a pattern, not an exception.
Put the two halves together and the old hierarchy breaks down. Celebrity status used to come from being unreachable. Creator status used to come from being relatable. Now both groups are chasing the same thing: a real, specific, trusted relationship with an audience, whichever direction gets them there faster. If you have read our guide on how to promote a celebrity in China, this is the update to it. The playbook that worked five years ago, book a big name and let the fame do the work, needs a second column now: which creator already has the trust your celebrity is trying to fake.
This is not only a Douyin story, though Douyin is where it shows up loudest. The same logic drives a lot of what we cover in our Douyin advertising guide for foreign brands: the platform rewards accounts, celebrity or creator, that feel like a person talking to you, not a brand talking at you. It also lines up with a shift we have tracked at our sister agency, where celebrity-backed alcohol brands in China are leaning harder on the personal story of the celebrity involved, not just their face on the label.
Philip Chen’s take: which one should your brand pick?
I get asked this question almost every month by a Western brand entering China: celebrity or KOL? After running campaigns with both for over a decade, my answer is that it is rarely about fame. It is about three things: budget, believability and control.
Budget first, because it is the most honest filter. A recognizable Chinese celebrity can cost anywhere from high six figures to seven figures USD for a real campaign, and that price buys reach, not trust. A strong mid-tier KOL in your product category might cost a tenth of that and deliver an audience that already believes what the creator says. If your China budget is under six figures, skip the celebrity conversation entirely and put the money into three or four well-matched creators instead.
Believability is the second filter, and it is where the trend above matters most. Ask yourself honestly: would this celebrity actually use my product, or are we renting their face for an hour of filming? Chinese consumers, especially on Xiaohongshu and Douyin, can tell the difference, and they punish the fake version with silence, not comments. A creator who already reviews products in your category, even a small one, usually beats a celebrity with no real connection to what you sell.
Control is the trade-off nobody mentions upfront. A celebrity deal comes with contracts, approval rounds and a polished but rigid message. A creator deal is faster and cheaper, but you give up some control over exactly what gets said, because their voice is the reason the audience listens in the first place. If your brand needs tight message control for legal or safety reasons, lean celebrity. If you need speed and trust, lean creator.
My concrete advice: for a first campaign in China, do not choose one or the other. Run a small creator batch first, three to five people in your category, and let the data tell you which face your audience actually responds to. Only bring in a celebrity once you know what “believable” looks like for your product in the Chinese market. That order saves budget and it saves you from paying for fame that does not convert.
Source (Chinese): θε η½ (Huxiu), “2026ε½±εεηη11δΈͺθ₯ιθΆεΏ” by Adquan (εΉΏει¨), trend 9: ζζη΄ δΊΊεοΌKOLζζε. The article documents how Chinese celebrities are adopting more relatable, “civilian” personas while top content creators gain celebrity-level brand deals and status.
About the author. Philip Chen is CEO of GMA (Gentlemen Marketing Agency), a digital marketing agency focused on the Chinese market. GMA has helped more than 1,000 brands grow in China across Baidu, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu and cross border e-commerce. Connect with Philip on LinkedIn.
