It’s no secret that China is a leader in industrial companies, factories, and basically runs American business. What people aren’t aware of, though, is that China is killing it in the category of media and advertising. Just the way that the Chinese market works, requires them to utilize media in a way that other Asian countries cannot compete with.
Owned media is something that China soars at. Since China is so large, and has such a large population, using traditional paid media tactics aren’t realistic in covering the whole platform of the country. Nico Guiridlian of ZenithOptimedia explained that owned media, and other platforms of owned content, have became so important in the country. They create brand experiences by drawing consumers into stores by using this owned media in smaller cities surrounding the big ones. People are more likely to give into international brands, bringing them into the physical stores. In China’s case, they are seeing a vast majority of people being drawn in to Hong Kong to shop for these brands. “It’s to access a store which they don’t have at home,” he said. It was “a whole element of brand discovery vitally important to China”.
While their tactic holds true to the “owned first” model that they are using, their pushes of earned media is becoming very problematic. An example he used was beauty brands in the Asian country. They started to buy exposure on blogs, and gave an incentive to their higher end clients to try products that have yet to be launched in their stores to the rest of the public. This not only creates an experience on its own, but also encourages consumers to put in positive reviews and spread a positive message across social platforms.
Elliot Janssen
oepediadotcom 