{"id":49330,"date":"2026-02-02T14:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/?p=49330"},"modified":"2026-02-04T09:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:40:20","slug":"the-sword-in-her-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign is a solid cementing of brand strategy\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Chinese pop culture, ideas about femininity \u2013 and, to be fair, fitness \u2013 have long been boxable, tidy pigeon-holes for marketers. Keep\u2019s latest brand film suggests those boxes are starting to feel a little tired. The Sword in Her Hand<\/em>, the third entry in the platform\u2019s Intangible Cultural Heritage sports series, centres on Zhao Shi (\u8d75\u8bd7), a martial arts world champ and founder of New-Style Swordsmanship (\u65b0\u6d3e\u5251\u6cd5). Her story uses the sword to push back against assumptions about gender, strength and tradition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"the<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Zhao\u2019s career has unfolded under constant scrutiny.<\/strong> Her short hair, sharp movements, and refusal to perform softness on cue drew all the expected criticism online: unfeminine, excessive, all for show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, that pressure drove her to lean harder into toughness \u2013 until injury forced her to stop. The pause led to a reframing. Strength, she realised, doesn\u2019t have to be rigid. A sword can hold softness without losing its edge. Out of that thinking came New-Style Swordsmanship, a hybrid form of blending traditional Chinese martial sword techniques with the fluidity of classical sword dance.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"the<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"the<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That idea can be mapped onto Keep\u2019s own evolution<\/a>. Founded in 2015, Keep began life as a utilitarian home-workout app, designed for young urban users who wanted structure without gyms or coaches<\/a>. As China\u2019s fitness market matured, so did Keep \u2013 into hardware, apparel, nutrition, and, increasingly, content. What\u2019s shifted lately is tone. Exercise is no longer framed purely as discipline or optimisation, but as lifestyle. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"the<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Intangible Cultural Heritage series reflects that repositioning. Rather than treating tradition as static or ceremonial, Keep reframes it as something lived and adaptable<\/strong>. Zhao\u2019s story becomes a way to ask bigger questions: does sport have gender boundaries? Who decides what strength looks like? And how can heritage evolve without losing meaning?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep doesn\u2019t leave the story onscreen. Alongside The Sword in Her Hand<\/em>, it has launched follow-along New-Style Swordsmanship courses. The result is a campaign that says as much about the brand as it does the subject. Keep is gunning for a position as a lifestyle brand to rival the best of them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Chinese pop culture, ideas about femininity \u2013 and, to be fair, fitness \u2013 have long been boxable, tidy pigeon-holes for marketers. Keep\u2019s latest brand film suggests those boxes are starting to feel a little tired. The Sword in Her Hand, the third entry in the platform\u2019s Intangible Cultural Heritage sports series, centres on Zhao […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[68,62,63],"class_list":["post-49330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-industries-society-culture","tag-news-marketing-branding","tag-news-platforms","has-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKeep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign cements brand strategy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Sword in Her Hand is Keep's latest campaign. It marks a cementing of shift from workout app to lifestyle brand.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign cements brand strategy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Sword in Her Hand is Keep's latest campaign. It marks a cementing of shift from workout app to lifestyle brand.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dao Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-02T14:41:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T09:40:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"982\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dao Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dao Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dao Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978\"},\"headline\":\"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign is a solid cementing of brand strategy\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-02T14:41:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-04T09:40:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Industries - Society & Culture\",\"News - Marketing & Branding\",\"News - Platforms\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2026\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/\",\"name\":\"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign cements brand strategy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-02T14:41:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-04T09:40:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Sword in Her Hand is Keep's latest campaign. It marks a cementing of shift from workout app to lifestyle brand.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":982},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/news\\\/the-sword-in-her-hand\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign is a solid cementing of brand strategy\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dao Insights\",\"description\":\"News, trends, and case studies from China\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Dao Insights\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Dao-red-high-res.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Dao-red-high-res.png\",\"width\":2400,\"height\":2400,\"caption\":\"Dao Insights\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daoinsights.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978\",\"name\":\"Dao Team\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign cements brand strategy","description":"The Sword in Her Hand is Keep's latest campaign. It marks a cementing of shift from workout app to lifestyle brand.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign cements brand strategy","og_description":"The Sword in Her Hand is Keep's latest campaign. It marks a cementing of shift from workout app to lifestyle brand.","og_url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/","og_site_name":"Dao Insights","article_published_time":"2026-02-02T14:41:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-04T09:40:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":982,"url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dao Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dao Team","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/"},"author":{"name":"Dao Team","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978"},"headline":"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign is a solid cementing of brand strategy\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-02-02T14:41:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-04T09:40:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/"},"wordCount":366,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Industries - Society & Culture","News - Marketing & Branding","News - Platforms"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2026","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/","name":"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign cements brand strategy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-02T14:41:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-04T09:40:20+00:00","description":"The Sword in Her Hand is Keep's latest campaign. It marks a cementing of shift from workout app to lifestyle brand.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-02-at-21.28.57-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":982},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/news\/the-sword-in-her-hand\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Keep\u2019s The Sword in Her Hand campaign is a solid cementing of brand strategy\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/","name":"Dao Insights","description":"News, trends, and case studies from China","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#organization","name":"Dao Insights","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Dao-red-high-res.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Dao-red-high-res.png","width":2400,"height":2400,"caption":"Dao Insights"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1af4f94d9761a5f0102a4d4150edf978","name":"Dao Team"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daoinsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}