3 Critical Areas to Consider When Marketing to Chinese Youth

enoVate Director John Solomon is in Beijing attending the ad:tech Beijing Conference. The following are notes from a youth panel on Chinese Youth Marketing in the Social Space.

After sitting in on the a youth panel discussion related to the topic of Chinese Youth Marketing in the Social Space, I have broken the talk down into three critical sections to discuss. These are:

1. Social information transfer is online and mobile
2. Youth advertising in China : MUST be creative and conceptual
3. Further segmentation of the Chinese youth market is needed.

1. Social information transfer is online and mobile

• Microblogging will not catch on amongst youth in China. Chinese youth would rather use established sites such as Renren.com and QQZone
• Traditional information services such as newspapers and television are being replaced by online BBS’, QQ News, and mobile phones as the main source of information transfer.
• Status updates are very important in a Chinese youth’s life. On the fly info and updates are utilized in classrooms and elsewhere. Exclusive paid services such as one’s being offered on QQ are effective because a young Chinese person can further define himself.
• Online games that incorporate both online chatting and real-world chatting are the most fun to play. Young Chinese people would also rather play online games with friends than strangers.

2. Youth advertising in China : MUST be creative and conceptual

• Creativity in Chinese youth advertising goes a long way. Creativity and uniqueness is necessary to attract bored Chinese youth.
• Forcing products or messages are not effective.
• Pop-up advertising is very annoying and Chinese youth will even go to certain lengths to tell people not to buy products that have annoying advertising.
• Advertising should be conceptually unique, inviting Chinese youth to dig more and find out more about the product.
• We prefer brands that have a strong brand culture embedded in the ad.

3. Further segmentation of the Chinese youth market is needed.

• Almost every Chinese Youth is heavily influenced by the Internet. Thus, marketers and advertisers cannot continue to generalize the 80′s and 90′s Generations. WE ARE DIFFERENT, SEGMENTATION IS NEEDED!
• Tailored advertising to niche, further segmentated markets would be more effective.
• Advertisers should make sure they are using the right avenues to advertise. For example, if you’re publicizing a game, do it on gaming websites, not on the real estate websites!

We hope these takeaways are helpful in gaining a further understanding of the mysterious youth Chinese market. Our eyes and ears are open and we hope to gather more insights from ad:tech Beijing.