China digital strategy · Shanghai

A China digital strategist who works both sides of the table.

I plan content to compound. That is what turns a project into a retained account.

Alex Qi

What I believe about building brands in China.

You hire a strategist for judgment, not output. So here is mine, plainly, before any case study.

01

Content should compound, not just campaign.

Campaigns spike and fade, and the client re-briefs from zero each time. I run an always-on engine beneath the campaign moments, so every cycle makes the next one sharper and cheaper.

02

Strategy is judgment. The deck is just the residue.

The value is not the slides. It is the call underneath: which tension to own, which territory to plant, what to say no to. I make that thinking explicit, because it is the part a client is actually buying.

03

I plan from both sides of the table.

Six years as the client setting strategy and signing budget, three as the agency partner delivering it. I plan for what the client has to defend to their own leadership, not just what looks good in a review.

04

AI should scale judgment, not replace it.

I am not an AI engineer. I am a strategist who built a system to lift the grunt work off the thinking, so senior-quality strategy can run across more brands without thinning out.

The method

Content that Compounds

The repeatable system behind belief 01, and the same one I install on day one of an account.

01

Diagnose the brand tension

Find the one strategic truth worth owning: the gap between what the brand is and what its audience actually wants.

02

Set 2 to 3 ownable territories

Durable themes, not one-off topics, so content accumulates into an asset instead of scattering. This is the decision that makes content compound.

03

Plan two layers, not one

An always-on engine that recruits audiences between campaigns, and campaign moments that convert. The calendar makes them feed each other.

04

Atomise and repurpose up front

One insight becomes a RedNote note, a Douyin script, a WeChat long-form. Plan the repurposing before production, not after. That is where the efficiency is won.

05

Measure, then feed it back

Read what worked, fold the winning angle into the next cycle. The plan learns: output quality climbs while cost-per-asset falls.

The result is retention. A predictable pipeline and compounding ROI. You stop pitching to keep the account, because the system shows its own value.

AI does the legwork, so judgment scales.

Belief 04, made concrete. A system does the legwork at every step of the method and gets sharper each cycle, but every judgment call stays human. What the AI buys me is reach: the same quality of strategy, running across more brands at once.

MineAI

Scan RedNote, Douyin and Weibo for live trends, mentions and sentiment.

Anglehuman call

Generate territories bridging brand truth and what is trending. The strategist picks.

Drafthuman call

Platform-native copy in brand voice across RedNote, WeChat and Douyin. Edited for taste.

RepurposeAI

Atomise one insight into the full asset set, then brief the designer.

Checkhuman call

Flag overclaims, trademark and platform-rule risk. Strategist signs off.

Learnhuman call

Read performance, feed the winning angle back into step one. The next bet is human.

Live example · Montagut

I pointed the system at Montagut's China footprint and diagnosed the content tension in an afternoon. 145 years of heritage was reading as a "dad brand" just as the 老钱风 old-money trend started rewarding exactly that kind of authenticity. From there I designed an always-on workflow to recruit younger audiences on top of the existing campaign work, with sample RedNote and Douyin content to show the voice.

On-going build. Figures illustrative. Sample content AI-drafted then strategist-edited. No confidential client data.
AI & workflow · the system in full

One strategist, senior-quality content across more brands.

The build: a workflow that does the legwork at every step of the method and sharpens each cycle, with every judgment call kept human. The Montagut build shows it running live, from tension to sample content.

View the AI & Workflow case
6
method steps the system accelerates
100%
of judgment calls stay human
1
live build (Montagut), diagnosed in an afternoon
Selected work

The thinking, applied.

Each led by the decision, not the deliverable. Reconstructed with rounded numbers and no confidential material.

01
Virbac China · client-side program lead

Turning a global pharma brand into a D2C business in China.

The decision: own the roadmap from the client seat and direct the agencies to it, instead of briefing and hoping. When an e-commerce regulation shift threatened the plan, I caught it early and drove the targeting and creative rework, carrying a December roadmap through to a signed pilot.

View case study
~¥1.07M
signed pilot · roadmap to contract in 11 months
4+
agencies and vendors directed end to end
1
regulatory catch that reshaped the campaign
02
Virbac China · digital lead

Everyday Care: a global platform, localised for China.

The decision: keep the global brand truth, rebuild the go-to-market for how China actually buys. A WeChat plus interactive-H5 core as the engagement hub, amplified through a tiered KOL matrix and e-retail. Global-to-local as strategy, not translation.

View case study
#1
in category on Tmall
+25%
GMV
3.13M
social impressions · 77 notes, 2.08M reads
03
Virbac China · social & performance owner

A WeChat 公众号 growth engine, run on the numbers.

The decision: treat the channel as a performance system, not a publishing calendar. CPM-ranked paid-KOL buys, a content-scoring matrix on engagement times conversion, and an H5 that replaced a cancelled trade fair. Each quarter's read sharpened the next.

View case study
122%
of follower target · #3 category, ahead of BI & Elanco
+115%
daily acquisition · 10,666 users in 52 days
15-18%
QoQ ROI lift from the scoring matrix
04
APR Creative · senior account manager

Running B2B foreign brands' WeChat: translation as strategy.

The decision: treat dense technical propositions, industrial chemicals and medical devices, as a content-strategy problem rather than a copy problem. A modular content library, with R&D and legal aligned on GB-standard compliance, so the same engine retains and grows the account.

View case study
+30%
engagement vs standard product material
+20%
account retention / organic growth
B2B+B2C
Kemira, IKEA, medical-device, premium lifestyle

Comfortable pivoting between complex B2B and premium B2C.

Foreign brands in China, brand-side and agency-side.

Brand-side Virbac · 2016-2022

  • End-to-end China digital strategy, roadmap to KPI
  • D2C transformation program, client lead
  • WeChat OA, Mini Program and sCRM, built and ran
  • 280+ KOL / KOC network, 11.2M reach

Agency-side APR · 2022-present

  • Kemira, industrial chemicals (B2B)
  • Medical-device manufacturers (B2B)
  • IKEA China, circular economy (B2C)
  • Premium lifestyle and wine (HNW B2C)

Six years brand-side at Virbac, a French animal-health multinational scaling in China, then agency-side at APR across foreign B2B and B2C brands. The combination is the point: I have been the client setting the strategy and signing the budget, and the agency partner delivering it.

Native Mandarin, Canada-educated, fluent English. I move between a global stakeholder call and a RedNote creator brief. The instinct I bring to a brand is the same one behind this page: own the system, not just the post.

祁熠(Alex Qi)是常驻上海的数字营销策略专家,拥有九年为外资品牌在中国市场制定并落地社交与品牌策略的经验,横跨品牌方(Virbac)与代理方(APR)。精通微信公众号、小红书、抖音等全域生态运营,B2B 与 B2C 兼通,并将自创的「内容复利 / Content that Compounds」方法与 AI 工作流结合,涵盖 SEO 与 GEO 内容可见性优化。

Let's talk strategy for your China brands.

Email
qiyi.alex@gmail.com
Phone / WeChat
+86 156 9216 2128
RedNote
大福爱豆沙
Location
Shanghai