Xiaohongshu is the perfect partner for Blossoms Shanghai

Dragon TV’s Blossoms Shanghai is a television drama set in the prosperous development of 1990s Shanghai, and it has gained immense popularity due to its authentic portrayal of the city’s history and culture. Following the city of Shanghai’s reopening after COVID-19, and thanks to this TV series, Xiaohongshu has been a hot platform for tourism and user-generated content (UGC) alike.

Perfectly tapping into organic forms of media, Blossoms Shanghai is positively provoking the growing trend of local city tourism in Shanghai as its own plot unfolds. The popularity of the series has sparked curiosity among viewers, who may be unfamiliar with the locations featured and are unsure of how to plan their visits.

Enter Xiaohongshu. Similar to Instagram, the site not only serves as a platform for UGC, but also acts as a lifestyle and travek guide for users. Since 2023, there has been a significant surge in travel-related content on Xiaohongshu, with a remarkable 250% increase in travel-related posts and an astounding 672% increase in the number of travel bloggers year-on-year.

Dragon TV and Xiaohongshu have collaborated and launched the ‘Shanghai Style City Map’ activity, centred around Blossoms Shanghai. This activity gathers high-quality UGC content based on popular trends on Xiaohongshu. This has resulted in increased popularity for both the television drama and Shanghai itself.

The dedicated webpage for the activity includes several sections:

• Photo filters and Shanghai dialect challenges: stimulating UGC content and fostering enhanced user interaction
• Retro makeup and dressing styles in line with the drama: the interactivity boosts audience connection with the series
• Plot discussions: this continuously generates discourse to capture viewers’ attention
• Local cuisine, city walks, and travel guides: this capitalises on the drama’s filming locations and historically significant locations, igniting users’ passion for travel

By translating the key aspects of the series into innovative urban travel experiences in real life, the promotion on Xiaohongshu creates a mutually beneficial scenario for both the city and the television drama. As of January 2024, there have been over 1.41M related notes (engagements), including 51,400 notes being posted during the airing period.