Props to the guys handling the marketing for MG-Roewe, for they know what we’ve said for some time at enovate: the 80’s generation are not a homogenous mass market. A quick overview of the changing marketing content and tactics show how the MG 3SW was introduced as a mass product for an aspirational white collar worker from the 80’s generation, but overtime (and as MG-Roewe expanded it’s range of models) we see how the model has shifted target to a more niche “passion”/”fashion” trend leader market.

Let’s see what they did:

The first advert (linked here) shows us that while the MG 3SW is aimed at young white collar workers it’s a car fit for scientists, scuba divers, adventurous photographers, volunteer teachers and radio DJs. Not quite a clear target profile. Yet what the TV commercials lacked in focus, it made up for in ubiquity. China Car blog comments:

“ MG have started an agressive media campaign for the MG3 SW, if you’re in China right now we can bet at least 100USD per person that you’ve seen this advert at least 50 times before you brushed your teeth this morning.”

The second TV spot (below), whilst less localised, shows a shift to a more edgy branding of the car. The ad is more stylised, harping on the cars city to off-road crossover potential whilst emphasising adventure and fashion. However a real shift in marketing comes with a viral push online.

Further viral content, like the video below, cements this online push. Like any good viral video the title is a major driver in attracting people to watch it. Jason Jia explains the clever title:
“It is titled Post-80s’ Outdoor Intercourse (80后野战). The title is very eye-catching, most of people might guess it is a blue video clip about young people having outdoor sexual intercourse. Actually the video shows a young couple having crazy intercourse/communication (more like quarrelling) outside around a MG 3SW.”

Beyond a viral presence, MG also hosts a site aimed at giving the 3SW a deeper cultural relevance by associating it with Chinese youth culture icons such as artist Popil, musician Wang Hao, and parcoure runner City Monkey. No longer is the 3SW the car for the mundane white collared nine-to-fiver, it’s for those Chinese youth and it’s for those who follow their dreams and passions at any cost.

In a bid to bridge both smaller scale internet marketing techniques and mass coverage MG-Roewe was also one of the key sponsors for popular Chinese drama “一起来看流星雨.” The show featured a showcase of MG-Roewe models including the 3SW. Different MG models were paired with different character profiles and the 3SW was utilized most effectively in a Fast & Furious-esque segment of competitive driving by the young hero of the show.

The sponsorship helped showcase the ideal target consumer for all models featured. The 3SW for the younger rebellious characters, a sport car model for the rich boy-racer, and it’s luxury Roewe town car models for mature successful business types.

These redefining of target consumer and marketing tact has obviously paid off for MG-Roewe who boasted a 160% increase in sales over last year, which earned their parent company, SAIC, the honour of being the best selling Chinese auto company of 2009 and this year is off to a good start with the introduction of the new MG 6 model.

The MG 6, which is “full of English elegance” according to a Youku advert description, is aimed at the mid-range market. As the MG 3SW now has a more clearly defined consumer target seperate from the MG 6’s, SAIC are in a good position to avoid any possible market cannibalization. Additionally, SAIC will look to grow market share for the MG 6 by reopening MG production plants in the UK, and returning to the original brand moniker of “Morris Garages”.

Increasing brand value is of key importance for Chinese auto manufacturers who are struggling with low profit margins, so any perception of added brand value can make a big difference. MG-Roewe will continue to see success if they continue to keep a close eye on the ever-segmenting 80s generation, which will be key when they release their electric powered car, and if they are to tap into the ever flourishing markets in second and third tier Chinese cities.

Enovate director John Solomon is in Kuala Lumpur for Mobile Youth’s Unconference Malaysia. He’ll be alongside Graham Brown (UK), Ian Stewart (Singapore), Muhhamad Faisal (Indonesia), Samyak Chakrabarty (Mumbai), Bernard Hor (Malaysia), and Niki Cheong (Malaysia) discussing all things Asian Youth.

Be sure to keep up with John as he blogs live from the conference right here.

*Check out Mobile Youth’s website for more on this international collaboration.

March 11 — 11:30am

Thanks to Nick for setting this up. We are now heading out to the conference site and will be starting the conference at about 1pm. It has already been a thrilling time learning about different youth insights from some of the major markets around the world. More to come…

March 11 — 1:15pm

Good group rolling in now. about to get started. The first keynote will be Graham Brown, from mobileYouth. Just met one of the keynote speakers, Ian Stewart, who was recently with MTV and Friendster.

March 11 — 1:30pm

The ministers have arrived and we are set to go!

March 11 — 1:35pm

Delegates are representing 45% of the world’s population at this conference, a lot of youth voices and opinions here. Malaysia, although a relatively small country in the Asian region, is doing a lot to help young entrepreneurs incubate their business and entrepreneurial ventures…very impressive. We are in the Technology Park Malaysia which is a newly developed facility to help encourage this growth.

March 11 — 2:00pm

Graham’s keynote is now starting. Sharing examples and findings from 250 client and 60 clients.

- You don’t want to go for the customers that “like” you but “LOVE” you. The “fan factor.” You need to find and support them.

- Stop asking “how do I get on Facebook” and stop talking about your brand. Need to focus on helping youth to tell their story.

- Graham brings youth, Alvin, on stage to talk about brands in his life. He has had a Nokia phone since he was 7 years old and is a stronger supporter of Nike through soccer. Showing the power of word of mouth and passionate users and brand advocates. Youth driven by wanting to be involved and heard, give them that platform.

- Graham shows the awareness test (insert youtube clip), great way to show that 95% of what is going on (advertising!) is being filtered out.

- Focusing on the flip camera case study. flip gained 18% market share without doing any focus groups or advertising. Instead, focused on a grassroots approach. Went out and gave youth the camera to use for a week. The key insight they found–youth do not carry around the correct cables and that was the main impediment to using the device. Therefore, they developed the built-in USB connector and this solidified the future of this product. This could not have been developed from sitting in a focus group and asking questions. Instead, you need to get out into the field and immerse. Only then, will you truely understand user needs and requirements. Note, flip recently sold their company to Cisco for $600 million!

March 11 — 3:00pm

Ian starting his keynote. Previously worked at Coca Cola, MTV, Ogilvy, and Friendster. He also previously created a youth agency, Filter, that was sold to Aegis.

- Opportunity in Asia is huge but starting to fragment as social networking is maturing.

- lots of great information on www.slideshare.net/ianstewartmtv

- 40% of all interent users are in Asia. 76% of asia net users were on social networking sites BUT only 16.5% of Asia is currently online! 25,000 users per hour coming online in Asia!

- More Asians have a mobile phone than an internet connection

- Facebook is the 4th largest “country” in the world

- Youth multi-task and actually have a 36 hour day and 5 minutes of attention span

- People are media. each of us have social currency and have friends that we can get a message out to instantly

- most of Facebook’s growth is over 30 year olds

- myparentsjoinedfacebook.com ha ha!

Predictions for 2010:

- Teens and Tweens don’t have their own site right now.

- Everything heading into mobile

- Everyone wants immediacy

- Virtual currencies a boom

- Gifting and gaming will continue to expand

- Social shopping, ebay model doesn’t work if you have never sold anything before

- Monetization Models

- Cross Platform Aggregation

- Better privacy tools

- Brands Work It Out… 2008 was the year when brands asked about social media. 2009 gave it a try. Nokia has 1 mil fans on their Facebook page but they have no idea who owns it or how it started or WHAT TO DO WITH IT!

March 12 — 3:36pm

Coffee break!

March 12 — 5:50pm

We just finished our break out sessions. Really interesting to hear how similar youth in Malaysia are to Chinese youth BUT it is all about Facebook and Twitter here. Same themes: engage, allow for feedback loops, and add value. That is it for today!

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Shanghai’s Metro has received a stream of unfavorable publicity over the last months. On December 22, two trains collided. Shanghai’s artery, Line 8, still can’t handle the hordes of passengers. Line 2’s new station, Zhangjiang, proved poorly designed and equally incapable of handling rush-hour crowds. Despite all this, Shanghai’s Metro is proving to be a lucrative advertising space.

Presently, 4.3 million people will use Shanghai’s Metro everyday. Not to mention all the others who utilize a station’s underground passages as an alternative to crossing big streets. That number is predicted to jump to 9 million a day by 2013, trumping all other of the world’s metro systems. That means a lot of potential eyes for ads and in-train TVs.

Compared to other outdoor advertising medias, Metro TV advertising reaches more youth and high-income groups. It is more suitable for running advertising for high-end products and products geared towards Chinese youth. In addition to the value of the ads themselves, they also work well as a corollary to television, magazine, and online advertising. Nearly 50% of passengers who see subway ads will associate them with a brand’s television commercials.

Outdoor advertising giant, JCDecaux, and subway systems media operator Digital Media Group (DMG) have come to dominate Shanghai’s subterranean world of advertising. And their prices are continually on the rise.

For some, the price tag is worth it. Several brands have had successes with subway campaigns. A subway ad campaign by local rice-wine producers, Shanghai’s Home, was met with approval amongst commuters. Many netizens, like Xiong, praised the campaign on their blogs and various BBS.

Other campaigns have met with much less approval. Smack in one of Shanghai’s busiest subway hubs, Nanjing Xi Lu, Volkswagen had an ad for its Polo stating: “Some people wait at the stuffy subway station while some drive Polo Jinqu on whatever roads they want.” Passengers immediately cried foul. A netizen named “Dongbeiren in Shanghai” protested this ad saying, “It is an insult to metro passengers. This advertisement should be banned and Polo must apologize to us.” Many other angered netizens echoed his sentiments.

The sheer volume of people that rely on Shanghai’s metro makes it a prime location to engage consumers. Yet to capture someone’s attention when their mind is on getting from A to B will require creative approaches. Last year Rand Han highlighted one such campaign on his blog, Little Red Book.

We were honored to have Sonnet (十四行詩), Momo, Little Nature (小自然), Pinkberry, Yin (印), DJ Yen and DJ Fish to play for us live, and also Connie, Liz, Nino, Kelvin, Left, Cola, and Chris to show us live illustration. It’s always great when young artists give us a fresh dose of creativity and inspiration. eno has been and always will be standing behind the China’s young creative forces.

Here were some of the highlights:

We would like to thank our like-minded friends at Greennovate, the sustainability consultancy, for their support and dedication throughout the entire project. Look out for future enovate and Greennovate partnerships in the near future!

Recent Survey of Over 400 Chinese Youth Indicates a Desire for Healthier, More Environmentally-Conscious Lifestyle

Greennovate and enovate team up to conduct the first-ever youth-focused environmental study in China

SHANGHAI, March 2010: Two Shanghai-based organizations – the sustainability consultancy Greennovate and the youth-insights group enovate – cooperated to gather insights into the minds of China’s socially aware, progressive youth. This is the first nation-wide survey of youth attitudes towards Chinese environmental issues and awareness.

Through an online survey of over 400 students and young employees from around China (72% of whom live outside Shanghai) and additional in-depth interviews in Shanghai, Greennovate and enovate sought to discover what defines a modern quality of life for Chinese youth in 2010 as well as attitudes and perceptions towards green products and brands.

The survey was conducted as a part of MaGiC (Made GREEN in China – www.joinmagic.org), an open initiative of Greennovate to encourage the development of greener products and lifestyles in China. MaGiC, which is also supported by enovate, includes a Chinese youth green design competition and public green events at major Chinese universities, helping to build public awareness on Chinese sustainability. MaGiC has reached over 700 university students from 3 cities around China so far.

When asked to select the quality of life factors that are most important in their lives, personal health and education were most often chosen by Chinese youth. This represents a shift in the values of Chinese youth to a more idealistic, attainable, and personally beneficial lifestyle, rather than one that is fast-paced and spendthrift with the goal of improving material wealth. Owning a personal automobile and living a big city – though common goals of China’s mass youth population – were ranked the least important among China’s leading progressive and socially aware youth.

Enovate founder and director John Solomon commented, “This shift in values amongst Chinese youth was one of our top Chinese youth trends in 2009 based on this survey and other client related projects. Brands will continue to be under pressure to align with relevant youth causes, especially those that address China’s ongoing environmental issues.

The survey also revealed a demand from Chinese youth for “green” brands to prove their “greenism” through products, not just marketing – with 58% of participants verifying green product claims online and expressing a lack of easy indicators for consumers of which products are truly “green.”

Building trust through transparency is essential for brands. Greennovate director Mihela Hladin explains, “The survey supports our efforts and positive approach towards green momentum in China. It has revealed a market share potential for businesses and products with a lower environmental impact. Consumer expectations and perceptions will raise the bar on brand transparency and honesty, with social media playing a crucial role in building consumer understanding of sustainability and providing resources for additional information.”

The survey indicated that Chinese youth reward green brands through word-of-mouth (both online and in person), involvement in community initiatives, and increased sales. Brands and companies can look to these results as leading indicators for more popular social trends in years to come.

To download a full PDF version of the report, please click here.

Six of China’s biggest names in rock will be playing Texas’ South by Southwest music festival (aka SXSW). SXSW is easily one of the United States’ biggest festivals. It’s a four day event with over 1,400 performers playing roughly 80 venues.

On March 20, Carsick Cars, P.K. 14, Xiao He, Snapline, AV Okubo, and White will be playing Speakeasy until the early morning. SXSW has also arranged for a special “China Day” event for all six artists/bands as well as arranging that each plays a minimum of three shows during the festival, opening for some of the bigger acts. According to the bands’ label, Maybe Mars, they will follow-up their SXSW performances with a one-month twelve-city tour of the West Coast.

For many of these bands, playing the U.S. is nothing new. Carsick Cars, P.K. 14 and Xiao He have already played sold-out shows in American music capitals like Brooklyn. AV Okubo has also received international exposure for playing with acts like Battles and Ratatat.

Are these cultural ambassadors in the making? We certainly hope so. It’s time for the deluge of articles fueling international anxiety about China’s economic dominance to be accompanied by those articles highlighting China’s forward-thinking and creative cultures. Having already seen the above bands play Shanghai and Beijing, I’m sure those in attendance at SXSW and the following shows will have something interesting to report.

For more on China’s music scene, check out Dan Shapiro’s November article in Timeout New York.

*On another note, here’s an interesting tidbit of information: The tipping point for Twitter’s popularity was the 2007 SXSW. They cleverly installed 60-inch plasma screens in conference hallways that exclusively streamed twitter messages. During the festival, usage went from 20,000 tweets a day to 60,000. Concert goers and bloggers came home from the festival raving about twitter. The rest is history…

To inaugurate this week’s theme, we offer you a fresh video from December’s Cool Bike Shanghai ride. Cool Bike is a Shanghai-based initiative that seeks to promote cycling culture, and its benefits for urban centers as a whole. Check out the video for more:

Cell phone novels (手机小说, Shou Ji Xiao Shuo) have increased in popularity over the years owing to the rise of smart phones, mp3/4 players, PSPs, etc. Their cultural roots lay in Japan, where the phenomenon has already led to popular cell phone novels being turned into major films and tv dramas.

Although establishing itself as a heavyweight in the realm of online gaming, Shanda entertainment also holds claim to 80% of China’s burgeoning e-literature market. The combined daily page views for its sites, Jinjiang, Hongxiu, and Qidian are estimated to be around 500million; plus authors are uploading thousands of books worth of content every day.

Shanda’s business model has encouraged a legion of support from budding authors and readers alike. Their system offers the reader free access to the first half of the novel. Then, to read the rest, the reader pays 3 cents per thousand words. The sum is then split between both, the author and Shanda. This platform, thus far, has been working well. Nevertheless, readers are finding ways to access books freely.

Authors such as Blood Red (Xie Hong) are already estimated to make annual earnings of over RMB1million, and popular titles such as Ghost blow out light are being commissioned for the screen by big name HK directors such as Jonnie To. The Shanda umbrella also hosts a wide range of media cross-over oppurtunities for authors. Some  have been able to get into TV and online games, while others have been able to get their digital books published on paper.

As 3G devices become more commonplace, we expect to see even more people glued to their iphone/psp/etc.

CHINA CONSUMER INSIGHTS AND STRATEGY FIRM, ENOVATE, RELEASES TOP 2010 CHINA EMERGING CONSUMER TRENDS IN THE YEAR OF THE TIGER

Over 60% of Emerging Consumers Prefer International Brands that Localize their Products to the China Market

enovate, a China focused consumer insights and strategy firm, released its 2010 China Emerging Consumer Trends report today, which includes over 30 trends.

80% of rich Chinese consumers are under the age of 45, compared with 30% in the US and 19% in Japan. The sheer size and spending power of this consumer group in China, combined with the relatively mild impact of the global recession on the country, is causing foreign brands to salivate over the potential upsides of this market.

enovate’s report reveals specific China youth trend insights that were gained through enovate’s close interactions (direct market research, social media participation, trend analyses) in China. with China’s emerging consumer (15-30 years old) segment.

As many brands and businesses already know, China’s youth consumer group is different than any other in the world. In order to win over this groups’ hearts and command attention, brands need a deep understanding of this groups’ hopes, habits, dreams and desires.

enovate’s 2010 trend report highlight key trends affecting China’s emerging consumer class in areas related to China technology, China society, China’s regions, China media, China marketing and branding preferences and habits that provide guidance for any brand or business targeting this growing market.

The report includes three key emerging Chinese consumer trends:

Youth Still Crave International Brands but Want It Their Way — Will This Be Exported Back Out of China?

The emerging consumer is still hungry for foreign brands, but this consumer is becoming deferential to global brands that develop products to local tastes and preferences. In a recent enovate survey, a majority of Chinese emerging consumer respondents (over 60%) indicated that they preferred foreign brands with localized designs over local brands or foreign brands with no localization. This is driving an interesting phenomenon–brand innovation within the China market.

Brands like Pizza Hut, New Balance, and Buick are all taking measures to differentiate their brands in the China market. New Balance, as a late entrant into the game, needed to make a quick impact with its target consumer and so invested in product and retail innovations specifically for the China market. These developments are now being rolled out globally by New Balance headquarters back in Boston. Could the strength of the emerging Chinese market in China affect global trends?

Online and Offline Interactions Amongst Chinese Youth Expanding While Also Fragmenting.

For 2010’s Chinese youth, there is a proliferation of technology that continues to bridge the gap between China’s online and offline social networks. China Social networks such as Douban establish online pages that promote offline social gatherings. These are categorized by cities and are a popular way for young Chinese to make new friends and expand their social network. Offline groups are also gathering in China to participate in group shopping, or in Chinese “Tuan Gou”. It is also important to keep an eye on up and coming players such as P1.cn and moko.cc.

Multi-versatile and Integrated Companies, Technology and Media.

Online Chinese youth consumers are extremely turned off to advertising that is “e-su”, instead preferring advertisements that are fully integrated engaging, creative, and displayed across both traditional and online channels. Technologies such as cell-phones and PSP’s are becoming increasingly versatile and multi-functional for youth users as well, due to an “always online and in touch” virtual generation. Chinese youth must be able to communicate, play games, read books, shop, etc. all from the convenience of their cell phones or PSP’s. The key to success in 2010 and onwards will be how well brands use an integrated approach to their campaigns and brand touch points.

enovate Director John Solomon commented,

“We are actively following brand innovation in China. We believe the outcomes of brand differentiation in China will lead to China exporting innovation. I predict in the near future a China trend could become your markets’ next trend.”

Solomon continued,

“On the online front, we predict that we will see a proliferation of niche social networks in 2010, with networks and Chinese youth cultures becoming more fragmented and specialized. Websites like P1 and 360Quan cater to sects of niche cultures, yet are highly influential online communities to target.”

enovate collaborated with global trend agencies as a founding member of the recently launched global Youth Research Partners to undertake this report. This report, while China focused, is also applicable to emerging consumers worldwide.

For a sample of our report, feel free to view the following teaser slideshare. The full report contains over 30 Chinese emerging consumer trends and insights.

Enter your information here to receive a copy of the full enovate 2010 China Emerging Consumer Trends Report! For any additional questions or business inquiries please contact info@enovatechina.com

LA denim brand ‘7 For All Mankind’ recently launched a new Beijing boutique and with plans for another 3 stores to open within the year, Seven is set to make waves amongst China’s socialites and fashion-forward alike.

7FAM, part of the VF brand family, recently held a party to preview their Spring/Summer 2010 collection which attracted the attention of over 300 pop stars, models, business elite and socialites. The event was capped with famous Taiwanese actress Lin Zhiling (the face of China Airlines) posing a pair of custom designed jeans, which were not only handmade but emblazoned with over 8000 Swarovski crystals!

As the brand is famed for its limited edition jeans, the one off creation of the ‘Zhiling special edition’ not only still caters to the brand image but gives it a localized prestige. Chinese consumers in Tier One cities are ridiculously brand savvy. A wide knowledge of Western and Japanese brands, plus a rising desire to set oneself apart from the (fake) LV/Gucci set means that new prestige brands have an opportunity to do well in this fashion focused market. However, these brands should be wary not to carry any sense of entitlement into the Chinese market.

In America and Europe the 7FAM has often relied heavily on its official and unofficial celebrity endorsements. Our boy Jermaine explains why he thinks 7FAM will do well in China, “7 for all mankind gives people an impression of luxury. This is quite different from the image of other jeans brands, which are causal and popular. Thus, the product distinctiveness can be a competitive power. Furthermore, Chinese youth are quite keen on pursuing western celebrities as their idols.”

However, 7 FAM have done well not to simply rely on their endorsement from US celebrities and their partnership with Lin Zhiling certainly seems the perfect fit. Her looks and figure emphasis the fitting nature of the jeans but also her star power is strong enough to be judged on the level of the American celebrities.

Levi’s have long since pushed their ‘Traditional American’ denim but offset it with endorsements from a whole host of Asian superstars, from HK bad boy Edison Chen to Korean J-pop sensation BOA.

A quick poll of popular denim brands on Kaixin conducted by enovate busy bee, Yuki, shows that the traditional American brands Levi’s & Lee remain pervasive and popular with young Chinese for “not only being as a classic denim brand, but also stand[ing] for American spirit, that of independence, freedom, adventure and sexiness”.

However, dissimilar to Levi’s and similar to American Apparel 7FAM has forgone cheaper production costs in using Chinese factories to uphold a luxury brand image of being a true American (see LA) export.

Furthermore while we may expect Levi’s to be the staple for younger groups who frequent fashion sites such as 1626 or MCC, one can expect 7FAM to be snapped on the profiles for those who use more exclusive fashion networking sites like P1.cn or Moko.cc.

7FAM will have to work hard to keep their name on people’s lips and not fall victim to the fickle fashionistas changing tastes but as of right now they are red hot.