Lancôme Travel Retail Asia Pacific is ushering in the Year of the Rabbit by joining forces with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) to launch the Lancôme Blooming Rose pop-up at CDF Haikou International Duty Free City Shopping Complex in Hainan, China.

Under the theme ‘Together, we bloom into happiness’, the pop-up celebrates the much-loved Lancôme rose with a series of visually striking, hi-tech activations in and around the mall, which opened in October 2022 and is billed as ‘the largest single duty free store on the planet’.

To celebrate, Lancôme hosted a celebrity-studded launch event, utilising an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) activation to orchestrate a show-stopping display.

In place for the Spring Festival, the pop-up has been designed to inspired ‘hope, optimism and happiness’ in the new year.

“Lancôme is a leading brand of beauty and innovation, always seeking to delight its consumers by constantly re-inventing retail experiences,” said Yeon Ah Choi, General Manager at L’Oréal Luxe Travel Retail Asia Pacific.

“We are pleased to partner with China Duty Free Group to bloom in the city of Hainan through the multiple experiential Blooming Rose activations and touchpoints to celebrate happiness and hope in this new year.”

The immersive Lancôme Blooming Rose pop-up experience marks several firsts for the brand.

The 360-degree activation features ‘the largest (172-square-metre) outdoor pop-up space in Hainan’, according to Lancôme, which invites shoppers to immerse themselves in the world of the brand and discover its bestsellers.

Visitors can enter the Génifique Rose Garden, where they are welcomed by a super-sized recreation of the brand’s star product – a two-metre-tall Advanced Génifique Serum.

Next, shoppers can make their way to the virtual garden and design their own AI rose with personal messages.

They can also receive a bespoke greeting to ring in the new year, and strike a pose at the augmented reality photo booth for a keepsake to take home.

Demonstrating Lancôme’s beauty tech prowess, the pop-up features the first Skin Screen Room in Hainan – a private and luxurious space where consumers can receive a complimentary consultation from Lancôme’s beauty advisors who leverage the Skin Screen’s expertise to recommend a skincare routine that is tailor-made to suit each individual customer’s skin concerns.

Within the mall’s indoor atrium, a dedicated space has been transformed into a vast ‘digital rose wonderland’, incorporating the mall’s existing art and light installations.

The large flower garden is adorned with illuminated digital blooms and enhanced by the brand’s first takeover of the 324-square-metre LED screen.

As part of the campaign, Lancôme has also taken over one of Haikou’s top tourist attractions – the oriental Feng Xiaogang Movie Town – and transformed it into the Lancôme Blooming Town, complete with streets illuminated by festive digital roses.

To mark the Lunar New Year, tourists and locals were transported through the town in a Lancôme tram, with the experience culminating in a dazzling light and projection show.

The Lancôme Enchanting Blooming Town tour marked its first-ever simultaneous livestream across seven CDFG social channels, achieving 32 million views solely on CDFG Haikou’s livestream platforms.

Hosted by top beauty influencer 一枝南南 and four other CDFG hosts, it featured a star-studded line up with celebrities Song Yi (宋轶) and Li Wen Han (李汶翰), as well as actress & KOL 洪潇 Hanna.

During the livestream, viewers were taken on a dynamic virtual journey, and were invited to explore the highlights of the Lancôme Blooming rose garden, which was filled with over 10 million digital roses.

Next, the stream transported viewers to a digital replica of the Lancôme pop-up store.

At the same time, viewers could also shop Lancôme’s high-performance formulations throughout the livestream.

Finally, the livestream’s grand finale featured Lancôme’s first-ever digital drone show and an array of digital fireworks, illuminating the sky with animated celebratory greetings from the brand.

“We are honoured to be blooming into the new year with China Duty Free Group once again for our first-ever disruptive Lancôme Travel Retail Asia Pacific takeover of the new CDFG Haikou International Duty Free City, solidifying our leadership in Spring Festival animations and the omni-retail space, and constantly innovating new experiences for Hainan travellers,” said Linda Wang, General Manager of Lancôme Travel Retail Asia Pacific.

“China Duty Free Group would like to thank our strong partners at Lancôme Travel Retail Asia Pacific for yet another blockbuster Spring Festival event to celebrate the beauty of togetherness,” added Grace Wang, General Manager of Perfume and Cosmetics department, Central Merchandising Division at China Duty Free Group.

“The inauguration of the first celebrity event here at CDF Haikou International Duty Free City sets the bar to bring unique and exciting retail experiences to new heights in this blooming new year.”