Asian Digital Campaigns Making Waves

Hi everyone

Last week we met with the Contagious team here in Asia and the topic was, how is Asian Digital Marketing Different?

How are diverse places like Japan, China, Asia or Malaysia creating their own voice and starting to win a bigger share of global work and recognition.

And can we say ‘Asia’ has a style at all?

Japan and Korea have their own way, very technology driven and not afraid to be unusual in terms of content. Australian work is very realistic, direct and gritty. Chinese is simpler and more engaging on an emotional level, while work from places like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand tends to be a bit lighter, well-crafted and integrated fully with a still dominant mass media.

Below I have listed my favorite Asian digital campaigns for the last 6 months.

What is clear from these examples, and discussions with my Asian colleagues, is that this Asian work is breaking away and creating a voice of its own. That voice is one that embraces the old and new in popular culture, is not afraid to show positive emotion and a brighter side of life, sees heroes in its own culture rather than elsewhere now, and embraces social sharability as a natural extension of group culture & is therefore is an important core of new digital campaigns.

Okay here are my favorite campaigns, feel free to share your own:

Some you may know already:

1. Sagami Origianl - Love Distance: (Condoms - Japan) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwSvV78yDB8&feature=related

2. Best Job in the World (Tourism - Australia) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI-rsong4xs

3. Uniqlo Tokyo Fashion Map (Clothes Retail – Japan) http://www.uniqlo.com/uniqlo1000/

4. Nike ID Generator (Footwear – Japan) http://www.wonderactive.jp/award/2009/nike/nikeiD_generator/

And some you may have not seen before:

1. Nike Trackball: (Footwear – Singapore) http://www.vimeo.com/7046594

2. Visit the Other Britain (Tourism – Singapore) http://www.vimeo.com/7656988

3. Take the Wheel - Nissan (Auto – Australia) http://www.awardlook.com/nissan/370z/takethewheel/

4. One Day – Vodafone (Telecommunications – Australia) http://awardsubmissions.com.au/makethemostofnow/award_interactive.html

5. Hug a Day – Lipton (Tea – China) http://www.littlehairycrabs.com/awards_2010/lipton_milktea/

6. FogBar TV - Shiseido (Deodorant – Japan) http://birdman.ne.jp/awards/fogbar/index_en.html

Cheers

Thais now embracing online shopping

Hi everyone

Fantastic to see this recent bit of research from MasterCard showing Asians, and Thais especially, really changing their attitudes to online shopping.

“India, Thailand and New Zealand are leading the curve with more than 90% of the online shoppers feeling satisfied. Secure payment facilities, convenient payment methods and price and value of the items are the top three most important factors influencing respondents’ online shopping experience.”

This is a far cry from what some marketing perceptions are out there. It used to be common to hear, even 12 months ago, that 'Thais don’t like to shop online'. The concern was primarily about safety - for example the fear of using credit cards online – but it was also because many brands rarely provided a customer solution that was simple or convenient enough, outside the usual purchases of airline tickets/cosmetics and online music.

All that has changed dramatically in the last 12-18 months. Here are some reasons why:

1. Feeling Safer & Try Something New: The fear has gone away. For one reason most brands, and card companies, have added the extra security measures (such as Verified by Visa System) that gives more comfort to users. Another reason is that as people become familiar with taking control of online purchasing in more traditional areas of air tickets and cosmetics, they feel comfortable moving beyond just the usual to try new product areas.

The research notes: “As online shoppers become more savvy and are increasingly satisfied with their online shopping experience, they are purchasing beyond lifestyle items such as airline tickets, online games and music downloads and have evolved to buying basic necessities including home appliances and groceries.”

Interesting to see local online purchasing in areas such as online shopping for groceries increasing from 20% to 27% of respondents. And interesting to see grocery store Big C in Thailand embracing this, albeit in a small way.

2. More Convenience & Ease of Use: Undoubtedly the big change has also been with the brands recognizing they need to provide a better site experience. And they research backs this up, noting that “more online shoppers in general agreed that it is more convenient and easier to shop online as compared to last year…78% of respondents stated that it is convenient to shop online in 2009 versus 50% in 2008”.

This change really has been driven by a Web 2.0 mentality that Thai brands have embraced, asking how they can make online purchasing better, simpler and faster for users – not just for the companies ? The result means that it’s much, much simpler (and more enjoyable) than ever to buy an air ticket ( http://www.thaiairways.com/ ), pay a bill (http://www.scb.co.th/) or even order a pizza!! ( http://www.pizza.co.th/ ).

3. More Value: The increasing attractiveness of purchasing online is the ability to reward the online user with a better experience, and even better rewards. The next phase of growth will see brand areas such as fashion, FMCG, food & beverage and home appliances/furnishings where people have the tools that make browsing and choosing a better experience than in the store.

This is backed by the research showing that "the incidence of people browsing and then purchasing online has risen especially in China, Thailand & India." A better online browsing experience – seeing the range of clothes or furniture or even everyday household products from the convenience of your laptop or mobile – is leading to better sales.

Driving this further this year will be 2 trends – mobile and social media. Already we can see from overseas experience things like sales focused WAPS and mobile retail applications, as well as the increasing trends of sales sites from within Facebook, will catch on here. Sooner that you think!

Now more than ever, is the time to start planning your online sales strategy.

Cheers