China IWOM Blog

iTV Asia interview with T.R. Harrington: Where Search and IWOM Overlaps

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:59:15 +0800

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/08/05/p589

I recently interviewed T.R. Harrington, Co-Founder and CEO, Darwin Marketing, for my Interactive China series on iTV Asia. Darwin has been doing search in China longer than just about anyone, and TR has unmatched experience and perspective on the topic. TR and I cover a number of topics related to search, IWOM and where the two overlap in China.

To watch the full interview, please see here.

For more on my iTV Asia and my Interactive China series, see our earlier article here.

For more reading, see below:

Almost 150,000 Chinese BBS messages mentioned Focus in Q2 and why Ford should care

IWOM Watch Jul 1 - 15: Marketers screw up net language, look foolish

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:24:01 +0800

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/07/31/p587

We have written many a time about the power of net language as a symbol of net culture and as a way to connect to netizens (see here for one example). The fact that there is a unique net language underscores the power of online community.

In this issue, we see examples of well intentioned marketers who use net language in their communications, but end up hurting themselves by misusing it. They end up looking like the kids in school who are trying too hard to be cool, but end up proving they are not really cool at all.

For example, this real estate ad uses the "very...very" phrasing of "很黄, 很暴力" made famous by the CCTV interview of Zhang Shufan condemning the Internet as violent and pornographic. The phrase used says "It’s very expensive and a very good value upstairs, while very big and very fun downstairs" (楼上很贵很超值，楼下很大很好玩). This phrasing just doesn't ring true for the netizens it is trying to impress.

As we have said before, it is important to really understand online culture so marketers can truly and meaningfully connect with netizens by creatively recognizing their culture (see here).
Moto working with the net cartoon Tuzki (see here) is just one example of brands who appropriately leveraged net culture.

Case Study

Netizens criticize the misuse of net language in brands advertisements
网民对于品牌活动滥用网络语言表示反感

Summary

Recently some brands have been integrating net language into their banner ads offline. Pictures of these ads have become a popular topic of conversation among netizens online. Though some netizens thought these ads were creative, most found the use of net language in offline ads strange, especially as some of the words were often used out of context. Additionally, some of the “net terms” used had negative connotations.

CIC View

Net language has become a core element of online culture and is widely spread and used by the majority of netizens.
Some brands have begun to get their feet wet by using net language as a marketing promotion tool in offline campaigns to connect with netizens. However, the misuse of key net language terms, especially those with negative connotations, has led many netizens to become confused about the brands’ intentions and has done little to raise brand awareness.
If brands want to integrate net language into offline campaigns, it would be better to use neutral/positive words which are familiar to their core fan base. Brands should fully understand the meaning and use of each net term, in order to avoid criticisms from netizens.

Below is a screen shot of the index for the full IWOM watch report:

See below for other related posts that may be of interest:

IWOM Watch half year review: January - June, 2008

3 pathways to net culture

Hey DX, hope you like this post on net language for auto industry

IWOM Watch Jan 16-31: A New Kind of Net Star

Speaking at China Economic Review branding conference

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:42:16 +0800

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/07/28/p585

China Economic Review (CER) has invited me to speak at a conference this Thursday, July 31st titled "Branding in China: Creating passionate brands for 1 billion people." The event will be hosted at the JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai at Tomorrow Square. I will be giving a talk on (surprise) "Internet Word of Mouth and Branding in China" as well as joining a panel discussion on "E-branding challenges in China." Tencent, Kel Hook from Wieden+Kennedy, and Ogilvy One will also be speaking at the event.

If any reader is interested, I can get you a 10% discount off the regular rate so you can get in for 1800RMB. Send me an email at info at cicdata dot com if you would like more info.

For more on the event, see here.

CIC featured on The China Business Show with Christine Lu

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:17:14 +0800

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/07/25/p583

I was recently interviewed by Christine Lu for The China Business Show. Christine Lu is Chairman of The China Business Network, an open platform for organizations and individuals to share their profiles, locate partners and customers, contribute to conversations, and reach a targeted community of international business professionals active in China. Christine is also Executive Producer and Host of The China Business Show and has interviewed a wide range of professionals such as Kaiser Kuo, Group Director of Digital Strategy for Ogilvy China, David Wolf, President and CEO of Wolf Group Asia, Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures & Co-Founder, Alltop.com, and many more.

In this discussion, I give a basic introduction to the background of CIC and also discuss some industry highlights including ways IWOM can positively influence brand's reputation even during crisis situations. I also discuss my thoughts on microblogging in China and why I do not think it is as popular in China as in the US. I refer to our white papers and our recently released IWOM Watch 1st Half Year Review 2008, all of which can be found here.

You can listen to the full podcast here.

IWOM Watch half year review: January - June, 2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:01:27 +0800

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/07/16/p578

CIC's IWOM Watch is our bi-weekly net culture and "marketing 2.0" trend watch which provides a qualitative overview of the latest trends from the web that would be of interest to marketers. Every half year, we offer a free review report which outlines the highlights from the previous 12 bi-weekly reports.

I am proud to present some key highlights from our IWOM watch reports from the first half of 2008. We organized the highlights according to several themes that emerged.

First we see “The Power of Connection.” The first several months, especially with issues around the Olympic torch and the Sichuan earthquake, demonstrated the impact of an increasingly networked society.

Next, in “Icons of Net Culture,” we see that in addition to a unique language, netizens have their own symbols and artifacts such as 囧 (Jiong) that can impact fashion and art.

Finally, net culture and platforms continue to provide creative venues and outlets for brands to connect with consumers, including offline meetups.

The full report is available for download on our website here or on slideshare below.

You can get a sense of the development of IWOM over time by downloading previous IWOM watch 6 month review reports here.

"Interactive China" Videos on ITV-Asia

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:26:05 +0800

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/07/16/p580

ITV Asia is an Internet television network which invites "thought leaders" from different industries to have chats with other thought leaders. I am flattered that they have chosen me to host a show on China's digital marketing market. You can find the show here. Below are my interviews with Jan Van den Bergh, Chairman, i-merge China and Yann Lombard-Platet, Managing Director, Nurun China.

Jan and I discussed the "recommendation phenomena" on Chinese BBS as well as his perspective on the Chinese digital market compared to his experience in the European market which dates to the mid 90's.

click here to see my interview with Jan Van den Bergh.

Yann and I discuss his perspective on IWOM marketing. Yann started China Interactive (now Nurun China) in 1998 and was one of the first firms to be building corporate websites in China. Yann has seen it all.

click here to see my interview with Yann Lombard-Platet.

In the next month or so, look for my discussion with T.R. Harrington, Co-Founder and CEO, Darwin Marketing (one of the first to be doing search marketing in China) and Adam Schokora, head of social media, digital, and interactive strategy for Edelman Digital China.

If any of this interests you, you may also want to check out JWT Tom Doctoroff's channel on advertising here. You can find his discussion with me from last year here.

CIC translates its IWOM white paper archive

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:08:37 +0800

http://www.seeisee.com/index.php/sam/2008/07/11/p574

Since 2007, CIC has been releasing IWOM white papers with a focus in a particular industry, which offer both brands and consumers insight into the online buzz surrounding each specific industry. CIC has previously released white papers on the sports, notebook computers, auto, mobile phone and healthcare sectors. Up until now, the reports have only been available in English. However, due to popular demand, our white papers on sports, notebook computers and automobiles are now available in Chinese.

To download the full reports in Chinese, please visit our website here or find our complete CIC IWOM white paper series on Slideshare here.