The average consumer in Shanghai is bombarded with 3-4 times more advertising than consumers in most Western countries. With so much noise, it can be difficult for even the most established brands to be noticed.
If the competition and clutter hasn’t made it hard enough already, keeping up with constantly evolving marketing channels and understanding how to best utilise them also adds to the pickle.
WeChat is a good example. Many brands know that it is a powerful marketing tool, but many only use a small portion of its capabilities. WPP’s China CEO Bessie Lee recently summed up some of the challenges foreign brands face. She noted that “when more and more Chinese brands are using WeChat as a distribution platform to sell products, most multinational companies are just using the messaging app as a content-marketing tool.”
In addition to the limited awareness of the marketing opportunities, some foreign brands rigidly stick to marketing mandates and mindsets from their home markets. These directives rarely work and often aren’t even relevant in China’s unique marketing environment.
Some of the most rewarding things about working in China’s market are the exciting, world-leading innovations constantly launching. There are the well known channels, such as WeChat taking social media to a whole new level and China’s o2o leadership. Yet there are also many new marketing channels that are currently underutilised and not optimised to target markets’ needs.
One of the most exciting new marketing platforms we’ve seen at China Skinny is Tmall Live – Alibaba’s innovative take on the popular TV shopping, which is likely to help it wrestle back some social commerce from their WeChat foe. We recently worked with Comvita and their Chinese distributor to deliver an engaging Tmall Live campaign to build brand awareness, engagement and education around the usage and benefits of their products. Here’s more info about it.
Next week marks the long-anticipated October Golden Week holiday, which will see the China Skinny HQ closed for the break. There will be no newsletter next Wednesday, but we’ll be back on 12 October. For our China-based readers, have a great break – we hope you are doing something nice and find somewhere that isn’t too crowded! Go to Page 2 to see this week’s China news and highlights.
If the competition and clutter hasn’t made it hard enough already, keeping up with constantly evolving marketing channels and understanding how to best utilise them also adds to the pickle.
WeChat is a good example. Many brands know that it is a powerful marketing tool, but many only use a small portion of its capabilities. WPP’s China CEO Bessie Lee recently summed up some of the challenges foreign brands face. She noted that “when more and more Chinese brands are using WeChat as a distribution platform to sell products, most multinational companies are just using the messaging app as a content-marketing tool.”
In addition to the limited awareness of the marketing opportunities, some foreign brands rigidly stick to marketing mandates and mindsets from their home markets. These directives rarely work and often aren’t even relevant in China’s unique marketing environment.
Some of the most rewarding things about working in China’s market are the exciting, world-leading innovations constantly launching. There are the well known channels, such as WeChat taking social media to a whole new level and China’s o2o leadership. Yet there are also many new marketing channels that are currently underutilised and not optimised to target markets’ needs.
One of the most exciting new marketing platforms we’ve seen at China Skinny is Tmall Live – Alibaba’s innovative take on the popular TV shopping, which is likely to help it wrestle back some social commerce from their WeChat foe. We recently worked with Comvita and their Chinese distributor to deliver an engaging Tmall Live campaign to build brand awareness, engagement and education around the usage and benefits of their products. Here’s more info about it.
Next week marks the long-anticipated October Golden Week holiday, which will see the China Skinny HQ closed for the break. There will be no newsletter next Wednesday, but we’ll be back on 12 October. For our China-based readers, have a great break – we hope you are doing something nice and find somewhere that isn’t too crowded! Go to Page 2 to see this week’s China news and highlights.
The post Keeping Up With China’s Marketing Evolution appeared first on China Skinny.