Ads of China // 中国广告 has to moved to greener pastures. All future blogpost will now be hosted at chinaSMACK (please take a look via the links below):
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This is not the end, just the beginning of hopefully something bigger and better…
Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.
(Confucius)
Last month brand consultancy firm Brand Finance produced a report of the Top 100 most valuable brands in China today.
The full list can be viewed by clicking HERE.
China’s most valuable brand of 2010 is China Mobile, which is worth a whopping $22.62billion.
You may also be surprised to know that the Top 10 Chinese brands come to a total value of $117.995billion, and this is worth more than half of all the other Chinese brands in the Top 100 combined.
The only shame is that the majority of Chinese organisations’ logos (as pictured above) are so uninspiring, but as many of the brands seek to go global soon – the logos will no doubt be developed to compete with those of international markets.
Japan, Korea and other countries in Asia have been using foreign celebrities to promote their products for a number of years. Yet, a recent press release from the Associated Press stated that foreign celebrity endorsement will now become an integral part of Chinese brand strategies as they try to establish themselves in their domestic and international markets.
This turn of strategy is likely to have come about as Chinese consumers now find themselves bombarded with, much like their Western counterparts, advertising everyday. It is quite incredible considering that 20 years ago the Chinese advertising industry barely existed.
The country is developing rapidly in certain regions and this has been reflected in the nation’s advertising spend on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines which grew 14 percent last year to 597 billion RMB (around £5.4billion) – a truly colossal sum.
On my first visit to China I spent much of my time in Anhui Province (central China) and it was not until after a few months later that I visited Shanghai. I found the difference between Chinese people outside Shanghai and those living within the city was quite striking. The citizens of Shanghai are like ‘Westerners’; the way they walk, the clothes they wear, the food they eat, and the technology they use is so different to the majority of Chinese people living elsewhere.
A recent survey of 15,000 Chinese consumers by McKinsey & Co. found that Chinese consumers are now “extremely brand conscious.” They demand the same things that any other consumer living in a developed country would.
These demands have arisen quickly, but advertising in China is still catching up – many people forget that China is still a developing country. In the US and UK brands have to be extremely innovative now to break through the advertising smog, but in China advertising is still relatively new and celebrity (particularly foreign) endorsement strategies currently have much greater effectiveness than they would in the western hemisphere.
To that end here are some examples of celebrity endorsements in China to date:
David Beckham – Motorola Razr V8 (2007)
Kevin Garnett – Anta Sports
Orlando Bloom – Me & City (2010)
Wentworth Miller – Me & City (2009)
Lionel Messi – Cherry Automobiles (2010)
Thierry Henry and Kaka – Pepsi (2009)
Cristiano Ronaldo – Clear Shampoo (2009)
This week it was announced that China’s State Council Information Office have hired Lowe & Partners advertising agency – Shanghai Branch – to produce a 30 second advert that will boost the nation’s image abroard.
The ad (in production below) will feature 50 famous Chinese citizens from all walks of life. This includes:
China’s leaders will also make a brief appearance. As well as the ad, a 15-minute film to be shown at a number of international events, is also in production.
Why are they making this ad now?
According to a BBC survey, that was carried out in 28 foreign countries including the UK, many foreigners or Lǎowài (as the Chinese love to say) have negative views of China – the majority stem from Beijing’s handling of Tibet. To that end Chinese leaders want to show the world that China is now developing into a “prosperous, democratic and progressive nation”.
The ad will first broadcast on October 1st, 2010 – 国庆节 (guóqìng jié) which in English is the National Day of the People’s Republic of China.
Further developments about the campaign and the ad itself will be posted on this blog as soon as the information becomes available.
Ads of China // 中国广告 