The advertisement for the package on the online store of Laoganma.

The world-renowned Chinese chili sauce brand Laoganma unexpectedly launched a clothing range on its official Tmall flagship store last Tuesday, attracting attention for the second time since its recent appearance at New York Fashion Week, China News Service reported on Sept. 20.

Entering the online store of Laoganma, a buy-one, get-one free promotion on the front page has recently caused a stir.

Upon ordering a package costing 1,288 yuan, customers could receive 99 bottles of chili sauce, as well as an item of clothing for free. Within seconds, all 10 packages were sold out.

Before the sensational marketing push, the clothing brand, which uses red as a theme to echo the fiery chili sauce, made a debut at a pop-up store promoting Chinese culture in New York. The design is quite eye catching, with a large-size Laoganma logo and name displayed on the front.

Laoganma is not the first established Chinese brand to revamp its marketing strategy. In early 2018, Luzhou Laojiao, one of the top four liquor companies in China, started selling perfume in a bid to sniff out a new and younger online market on the eve of Valentine’s Day this year.

Additionally, the news that White Rabbit plans to launch a candy-flavored lip balm with domestic cosmetics firm Maxam recently went viral. Fans of the famous candy said that they were excited to soon combine the flavor of their favorite sweet with a cosmetic product.

An increasing number of time-honored brands already boast quality, high recognition and popularity, but are generally labeled as conservative and out-of-date. They are self-motivated to make some changes to reach out to the post-90’s and post-00’s generations, the main consumption bracket in China.

Moreover, such marketing activities did create record sales together with decent profits for the mentioned companies, but to continue an increase in revenue, more efforts are still needed in long-term development strategies.