I just returned from ad:tech Shanghai.
It was a good trip and a good conference. An eye-opener in many ways. I liked how the conference had invited many local entrepreneurs to share their point of view and discuss the current online space in China now.
There are 253 million internet users in China now and the numbers are increasingly rapidly. A significant percentage of the population are the post 80s generation. These people, like myself, are those who grew up in the age of technology. Technology is “comfort food”! According to some study, 85% of youths today thinks that their mobile phones are even more important their boyfriend/girlfriend.
The “One Child Policy” that has been on on-going for the past 30 years, is now starting to show it’s after effects in society. The policy has resulted in the “loneliest generation” ever. A child usually lives withe their parents and their grandparents. To them the family nucleus becomes very important. The pressure on them to perform academically, emotionally and in society also becomes very great, especially when the hopes and dreams of 6 people rests of their shoulders.
It is this generation of consumers that brands and marketers are now being challenged to attract and win over. The most connected generation of all time. The internet is their playground. It gives them power to be “seen” and “heard” when in reality they might not have been able to obtain. It is about identifying themselves through the community they build up around themselves.
Points above were taken from keynote speech by Tencent VP, S Y Lau and Pepsi Co CMO, Harry Hui. Both were very impressive speakers with many years of experience in the media industry in China.
While you are glued to this post, let me list a couple of very popular Chinese Sites that you might like to check out:
- xiaonei.com – Social network similar to Facebook
- kaixin001.com – NBT Social network
- fanfou.com – Twitter equivalent
- youku.com – Video Sharing Site (The founder insists that the workings and revenue model is very different from Youtube)