Welcome to the Jing Daily WeChat Edition

Dear WeChaters, 
This week, we explore Gucci and Tencent’s new travel film series, “GUCCI Inspirational Map.” From there, we look into how you can now use AliPay and WeChat to purchase bitcoins in China, and then enjoy an instant VAT refund at Dubai airports via the We Tax Refund on a WeChat Mini Program. Enjoy! 

—What's New—

The latest WeChat news gathered from top sources

 BITCOIN ENTERS CHINA 
Investors on the Binance network, a global cryptocurrency exchange, are now able to purchase cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin using local payment processors like AliPay and WeChat via the Binance platform. This comes from the CEO of the platform, Changpeng Zhao. This comes around a month after the announcement from Yi He, the co-founder of Binance, who revealed the fiat-to-crypto over-the-counter trading platform to release in China.
Read More 

 JUST SAY NO 
Can Alipay be used for bitcoin transactions? Alipay says no.  There has been much confusion lately on whether Alipay can be used for fiat-crypto on-ramp transactions with Binance since Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, affirmed a tweet that they now could. With WeChat and Alipay available as payment methods for buying bitcoin from Binance, one Twitter user asked, "Is #Binance now accepting fiat on-ramp with #Alipay and #Wechat pay? Exciting news... would love for someone to confirm. @cz_binance."
Read More 

 iNSTANT VAT 
Chinese tourists to Dubai can now benefit from instant VAT refund capabilities at Dubai airports via the We Tax Refund on a WeChat Mini Program. With the support of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), the new integrated service launched by Chinese tech giant Tencent and payments service provider Planet, provides a secure way for visitors to instantly claim back their tax on purchases they have made while visiting the emirate.
Read More 

—The Campaign—

Recent noteworthy campaigns & case studies on WeChat Wiki

GUCCI MAPS THE WORLD
Gucci released their newest city guide travel videos 
Facts:
Gucci and Tencent released their new project, "GUCCI Inspirational Map," a short travel film series featuring various celebrities revealing their own sense of taste. 
Features: 
— The series spotlights eight influential contemporary Chinese artists, musicians, and actors that have worked with Gucci.
— In the first video, the musician and actress, Li Yuchun, recorded herself exploring Rome, visiting two Gucci resorts and the Angelica Library and Antica Libreria Cascianelli antique bookstore.
— One highlight of the video is a conversation between Li Yuchun, the video director Fiammetta Terlizzi, and Valentina La Rocca, who is a partner of the bookstore and an expert in antiquities, where they discuss the interesting and unexpected old stories behind the sites they travelled in the video. 
Results: 
Gucci’s Inspirational Map series was a huge success, receiving 40 million clicks and 200,000 thousand discussions on Weibo. 
Our Take: 
Gucci has been strong at advocating brand diversity, self-expression, inclusiveness and community connection in the video series, which expresses their brand core values, and opens up a creative dialogue for Chinese travelers and customers.
Read More in Chinese

 tHE CHALLENGE IS ON 
Facts:
WeChat Mini Programs are not only an innovation in China, but also globally. Expanding from WeChat’s Asia Developer Challenge, WeChat will now be focusing on the booming European and North American markets for Mini Programs to empower Chinese travelers. It’s WeChat’s goal to localize Mini Programs while fostering an atmosphere of creativity and communication.
Features:
— Mini Programs and the WeChat Developer Challenge are a B2B opportunity. 
— Startups, Independent System Vendors (ISV’s), registered entities, and professional development companies in Europe and North America can all participate.
— It will be hosted at Arena Berlin, Berlin Germany.
— You can also go to Udacity for some free courses and tips on how to get started with the challenge.
Read More

—Deep Dive—

Must-read, in-depth guides, tutorials & reports

 BRAND DEVOTION 
5 ways to build loyalty with Chinese millennial consumers

Attracting the attention of Chinese Millennials is the first challenge but keeping them is entirely another. No matter how well-known a brand is or how successful their products are, marketers certainly can’t expect to command unquestioning loyalty from younger Chinese consumers. But they can adopt strategies that seek to inspire brand loyalty and repeat purchases among Millennials. Luckily, a number of homegrown Chinese brands have shown the way, coming from virtually nowhere to build huge and passionate followings online and offline.

Read more to discover the 5 steps to drive repeat purchases and increase the long-term value of the Chinese Millennial consumers.

—System Update—

Stay on top of WeChat's evolution

 BRAND DEVOTION 
WeChat has recently improved the Mini Program notification system. Users can not subscribe to Mini program notification in two ways. 1. One-time message subscription: users can agree to receiving a one-time notification from a Mini Program. 2. Long-term subscription: users can agree to receive multiple notifications from a Mini Program for a longer period of time. Long term subscriptions are currently only available to offline public services such as governmental institutions, transportation, finance, education, etc., and will gradually be deployed to offline services. While long-term subscriptions may not be available for brands just yet, one-time message subscriptions can provide an opportunity to create a better customer journey and provide better services to users.
Read More in Chinese