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Buzz and Belief: Brand Values of the Digital Age

In 2007 M. Neumeier wrote “The brand gap: How to bridge the distance between business strategy and design”, a meaningful book which gave a definition of the brand, connecting the rational with the emotional. A brand is more than a logo, it is not an identity or a product, but it is “a person’s gut feeling”, because brands are built on people’s emotions and intuitive feelings. Trust, which links to brand reliability, and feelings of brand-associated pleasure, come from meeting and beating customer expectations.

What does trust mean for Chinese users in 2010? According to the Digital Brand Index (DBI), it means Samsung, Sony, Nokia, AMD, Canon, Google, Microsoft, Asus, China Telecom and Intel – incidentally the biggest buzz brands in China. Their names were typed on the net every 15 minutes during the quarter between April and June (in the previous quarter it was every 42 seconds)(August 13^th, 2010 - brandtology.com). In this period Samsung has been name-checked 21,374 times, Sony 18,505 and Nokia 16,760 (warc.com). The DBI tracks netizens’ behavior, monitoring more than 300 brands across five categories in 3,800 websites (internet and software, consumer electronics, mobile and telecommunication, business and consulting, IT and technology). The big buzz, in part related to the marketing campaigns conducted during the Word Cup, is the result of their involvement with popular Chinese portals like sohu.com, tom.com and sina.com. This last encompasses microblogging services similar to Twitter and more than 50 percent of the Sino featured brands boasted a formal profile on it. “The DBI provides further evidence of the surging importance of Chinese social media in defining brands, especially those that sell technology products. As a basic strategy, every consumer-facing brand in China now needs to view social media, PR and advertising - in that order - as the three legs of any effective marketing campaigns (M.Hass, president of Edelman China - 13^th August, DBI 10.3)”.

Chinese social media activities, like the West, consist of uploading audio, video, posting to a wiki, publishing a blog, uploading photos or a podcast, publishing a website, tagging articles or videos, posting to a microblog, posting to a blog or forum, rating or reviewing a product or using social networking sites to publish personal pages (clickz.com). Consumers across Asian regions usually collect recommendations from friends and family as their most trusted, and in China 57 per cent say they trust this source completely, highlighting the major importance SNS is already playing, influencing consumer choices in China (31^st August - Trust in social media channels in China). In other, market, analysis, when asked which forms of marketing they do not trust, the top answers were all online: ads in video games (47 per cent), ads in virtual worlds (47 per cent), SMS ads (46 per cent), email ads (38 per cent), pop-ups (38 per cent) and banner ads (28 per cent) (campaignchina.com). It appears that deciphering trustworthiness is a major key to brand trust in China, therefore it should come as no surprise to note the shift in purchasing habits throughout China: Chinese purchase 85 per cent of electronic devices from Western countries and declare that the main reason for this is their high quality (July 2010 - Think: act study. In depth knowledge for decision makers). This behavior reveals the importance that brand marks and brand trust still have, even in a digital age built on quick buzz and a plethora of highly customizable advertising options. Reputation can be built by recommendation, but time and brand-heritage still plays some part – especially when it comes to high-purchase good.

Nevertheless, the power of digital branding has never been more crucial, with increasing social media traffic showing that both multinational and domestic technology brands are placing more and more importance upon online communications. “Astroturfing”, a form of propaganda whose techniques usually consist of a network of people attempting to give the impression that mass numbers of enthusiasts advocate some specific cause (urbandictionary.com), has been a popular tactic to raise brand profile via “artifical buzz”. On the flipside, the leader of the “organic” buzz, Samsung, has announced its all-new brand slogan “Turn on Tomorrow”, which symbolizes the pursuit of a better future and its commitment to stay ahead of competition through interaction with consumers, enabling them to experience the company’s latest IT products firsthand (July 20^th - Samsung Electronics). Another buzz leader, Nokia has teamed up with a Hong Kong-based online community for artists, alivenotdead (partner of tom.com since 2009), to create an online campaign for one of their latest phones, the Nokia X6. Nokia and alivenotdead collaborated with local artists 24Herbs to produce a spoof video with the band using an X6 and yelling “Hu Ge Clea Va Ge”(the first single of the band). The video received 2.000 views in one day showing the power that a real buzz campaign can have, and the more organic approaches that can be generated when different online options, such as digital partnerships, are leveraged (July 20^th - Nokia Goes Viral With Alivenotdead).

廿四味 24Herbs - Hu Ge Cle Va Ge Sho

Even if the World Wide Web is particularly suitable for globally indistinct strategies, it is important that the characteristics of each market are recognized. Concerning the uniqueness of China’s market, one might be interested in reading the “lecture” published on SapientNitro’s website (1^st September - 8 tips for digital Marketers in China) in which F. Laker, expert of digital strategy, suggests the ways in which to approach the Chinese digital market: go beyond the biggest social players, like Facebook and Twitter, in order to give voice to local competitors like Kaixin, sina Weibo, Youku and QQ; do not expect insights into people’s offline behaviors to reflect their behavior online; remember that the Bulletin board sites (BBS) have bloomed in China and this represents a fertile ground for web marketing practices; make a point of the potential within China’s mobile advertising and ecommerce. “Digital marketing in China is at a very exciting stage in its development. It has huge scale and reach, the budgets are growing, marketers' understanding is maturing, and most importantly creativity is emerging in new and exciting ways. Avoid some of the pitfalls and join the fray (F. Laker)”.

Chinese people love being online and at the same time they are looking for real engagement; on the Internet they share their feeling as well as exchange information – this need to share news and invest emotions creates the fuel for our “buzz generation” (The buzz generation). For example, millions of Sino-netizens access the online forums in order to discuss their favorites brands (CNNIC’s 24^th Statistical Report), with over 96 per cent of these users spending at least one hour every day on these websites (Social Media in China). It’s easy to understand how today’s culture, connected in a digital, social network, can influence the trust in one brand over another. The success of companies like Samsung, Nokia and Google, all of whose success reflects the build of an authentic and transparent digital relationship with their consumer, is in strong opposition with examples of digital marketing failures (as committed by the likes of Starbucks and Carrefour). To be competitive in China, nowadays, it is necessary to go beyond traditional marketing tactics and instead, learn from the blogosphere.