How Tmall took its 2024 back-to-school campaign onto campuses with Xiaohongshu

Built around “同学不仅能同学，还能同玩同乐” (“Classmates Can Not Only Study Together, but Also Play and Have Fun Together”), the campaign placed 天猫开学季 (Tmall Back-to-School Season) inside everyday campus socialising. Tmall and its partners installed treasure-hunt check-ins, shared bookshelves and shared speakers at universities including Tsinghua, Tongji and Hangzhou Normal University, while 流利说 (Liulishuo) added an online English-learning check-in. Across 23 posts, campus creators used vlogs, role-play and meme-led interactions to show students exploring, learning and spending time with their “搭子” (activity buddies). Video accounted for roughly three quarters of the output, with a multi-hashtag matrix connecting the scenes.

The audience was university and postgraduate students, especially those facing back-to-school social anxiety and looking for exercise, study or neighbourhood-exploration companions. Participation in the campus treasure hunt or paired English check-ins offered entry into prize draws for practical items such as insulated container sets and “搭子” (activity buddy) grand-prize cards. There was no discount: the activity was time-limited, with campus visits, check-in verification, stamp collection and treasure scanning forming the offline call to action.