Really pleased!

This image, taken from the video, shows me asking the gods of creativity to bring on more great ideas from our team.

Facebook also made a written case study in PDF form.

Posted on Sina Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like platform, he had 400 forwards and 50 resumes in his inbox within 10 hours.

Here’s a translation:
Would you be as kind to co-workers, as smart, as willing to debate and challenge as we try to be?

Are you passionate about social media to the point that Weibo is the first thing you look at in the morning?

Can you make a ppt pretty? Can you photoshop? Could you make this picture look even better?

Could occasionally work every minute you are awake, as I sometimes do?

We are a company of marketers, not linguists. If your English is not perfect, please do not let this stop you applying.

You know my Weibo name (Angry Editor)… Do you have impeccable attention to detail?

Send us your resume!

By Andrea Fenn

When in the mid-2000s automobile brands like Volkswagen or Honda started leveraging Chinese online forums to talk about their nameplates, the world of Chinese social media was muddy ground for doing business. Rules were unclear, governmental control was tight and the Chinese Internet audience seemed more interested in online games than in brand and product information.

Five years later, social media have become a core platform for brands to spread messages to their audience and to build supporters’ communities. This is because of the unrestrained growth of Internet usage in China, and because Chinese Netizens have evolved to a more mature, informed and consumption-prone audience.

China’s Netizens: Many and Active
According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the official voice about Internet usage in China, the Chinese Internet population has today reached around 404 million. With a 5.2% growth from 2009, China’s Internet population is the world’s biggest, bigger than the entire population of the Middle East.
But what is even more pronounced is the level of participation of Chinese Internet users in social media. The latest China Social Network Report indicates that roughly 54.7% of Netizens in China users today own or visit blogs, and 47.3% have a page on one or more social networking site (SNS). More than 25% write 10 or more posts on forums, blogs or SNS every day, and 92.3% of Netizens visit social media pages at least three times a week, while 27.1% have pages on five or even more different social networks.
Social media is progressively becoming a crucial element in the lives of Chinese people, as it allows them to gain entry to social circles and information that would not be otherwise accessible because of distance, governmental control or other constrictions.

Farflung Relations, Dull Media
Firstly, the sheer size of the Chinese territory is a limit to keeping long-distance relationships, getting in touch with old friends and meeting new people outside one’s work nucleus. Thanks to social media, Netizens can keep the threads of their lives together and expand them without resorting to overnight train journeys or expensive long-distance calls. As a consequence, China is the only country in the world where people say they have more friends online than offline, stated an MTV Research in late 2008.

Secondly, because of the restricted availability of information on traditional media, social media have become an invaluable resource for Chinese to access the “other side of the story”, and information they would not be able to find anywhere else.

This is true for political discussion and social issues, but it is also true for brands. As many foreign products are often unavailable outside tier-one cities and official information about them is often limited or only available in foreign languages, social networks have become the privileged forum for Chinese consumers to find news about brands and products and share experiences about their shopping habits.

Trust “Strangers With Experience”
According to the 2010 TNS Digital Life Report, China is the first country in the world for number of Netizens who join social networks to find information about brands. And the Internet is a trusted source, as 2010 Global Web Index indicates that Netizens trust reviews and insights on social media three times more than a recommendation from an acquaintance in a bar.

International Brands Join the Conversation
Facing the thirst for information and consumption of Chinese Netizens, international brands are entering full force the Chinese social media space. Not long ago it was not unusual for even internationally reputed brands not to have a Chinese-language version of their website. Today, most brands have a branded page in SNS like Kaixin or Renren, from which they broadcast tailored messages for their Chinese audiences.

This is true for multinational corporations with a huge retail footprint in China like KFC or Coca-Cola, which have been active on social media since early times and now have communities of hundreds of thousand fans on Chinese SNS.
However, it is also true for brands that have been slow in penetrating the Chinese market or that have lagged behind in terms of brand definition in China. Sportswear brand Reebok has suffered from unclear brand positioning and poor sales in the past few years, and is now straightening its status in the Chinese market by aggressively building communities and buzz on social media.

Chinese Brands: Slow Start, But Now Innovating
While Chinese brands have been somewhat slow in understanding the potential of social networks, now they have developed their own approach to social media, and are quickly moving to leading the way in the field.
The reason is mostly cultural: as western social networks like Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China, the Chinese counterparts developed in China are not just replicas, but rather new original creations that incorporate elements of the local culture and Internet customs.
The Sina Microblog, the Chinese alternative to Twitter, try to appeal to multimedia-loving Chinese Netizens and thus has extremely well developed video and photo sharing functions, better even than Twitter itself. At the same time, because 140 Chinese characters can say much more than 140 alphabetical characters, Sina Microblog is being used for more complete communications than mere short messages, which made it more suitable for a wider range of audiences and purposes.

Local brands have been better interpreting the peculiarities of “Made in China” social media, and in the past few months they have crafted extremely successful digital campaigns that will set the tone of advertising trends in China for the years to come.

Strong Case Study: Vancl
Most notable is the case of ready-to-wear brand Vancl: in April 2010, Vancl created parody versions of its own commercial, substituting official sponsor celebrity writer Han Han with new figures and modifying the slogan, and distributed it online without disclosing the official provenience.
The strategy aimed at leveraging the growing popularity of “online mockery”: the tendency of Chinese Netizens of ridicule, distort and customize online content as a means to express themselves.

The mocking campaign generated immediate reactions online: Netizens posted thousands of user-generated mock-versions of the Vancl commercial, and the phenomenon of online mockery became subject of wide attention in the Chinese public opinion. Few months later, the term fan ke ti (Vancl-ization) has already become a new popular idiom in the Chinese Internet vocabulary.

While it is hard to predict what changes will take place on Chinese social networks in the close future, lessons such as Vancl’s suggest that the social media space is bound to become more crowded with local companies.
“Made in China” campaigns are soon bound to become trendsetters for the direction of online marketing in China. To be successful, online marketing efforts of western brands will have to pay more and more attention to the peculiarities of the Chinese Internet culture and structure.

Andrea Fenn is Regional Digital Strategist at Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence Shanghai, the social media strategy team of Ogilvy. Andrea helps foreign brands or organizations understand and plan communication strategies on Chinese social media. He also writes on Chinese and foreign media about communication, social issues and lifestyle in China.

Created by members of the Ogilvy’s APAC Social Media team, this video shows what clients will want from an advertising or marketing agency in 2040. It was part of a global competition that won a Professional Achievement Award for the team producing it.

 
My colleagues in OgilvyOne China recently released OgilvyOne Connected, a report that may surprise those not aware of the incredible levels of engagement within China’s Social Media.

The intention was to look at how Chinese consumers use Social Media to interact, both with each other and with brands.

The report assigns percentages to the different ways in which consumers in China interact online.

OgilvyOne’s research found a large number of Chinese social media users are Initiators, with 26% of all Chinese social media users regularly starting conversations, creating content and publishing their opinions online. These users are also a common starting point for new ideas, services and products.

A further 29% of Chinese social media users are “Commenters” — people who may not initiate, but who do react and comment on other people’s views. They are also the “accelerators” of new ideas, giving them momentum and wider acceptance.

The largest group, comprising 45% of social media users, are “Gawkers” — those who quietly browse, observe and look for entertaining ideas and brands that are already popular.

These findings of high engagement in China mirror Forrester Research’s Social Media Technographics from several years ago that found 13% Creators and 19% Critics within Social Media in the US, compared with 40% Creators and 44% Critics in China. (Forrester’s Creators and Critics map roughly to OgilvyOne’s Initiators and Commenters).

OgilvyOne’s Research methodology: From February to April 2010, China Polling administered online, self-completed questionnaires to Chinese social media website across 71 sites in different categories. Over 5,000 people completed the survey, of which, 1,519 were qualified samples (anyone who used social media sites the day before and those who completed the questionnaire in its entirety). Panelists were also drawn from random samplings on 12 major social media websites such as Kaixin, RenRen and others via advertising and from China Polling‟s national panel of 400,000+ participants.

h/t to my colleague at Ogilvy, Jeremy Webb who wrote about this first on our Ogilvy team blog, Asia Digital Map.

OgilvyOne Connected (Original Report)

Here are the slides from the latest presentation by our team at Ogilvy, presented as part of the series done with The Wall Street Journal and GoToWebinar on Social Media for Business.

Andrea is a trained journalist and a China expert: as a freelance journalist, he has written for CNN and China Daily in Hong Kong, been a photojournalist during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and published a research about the Chinese immigrant community in Italy.

As a researcher of Chinese Studies at Leiden University, he has researched Chinese politics and economics, politics in Taiwan and Chinese social media. His graduate paper focused on Chinese social media and their impact on political change in China.

Andrea is fluent in Italian, English and Mandarin Chinese, and writes in any of these languages on online media about China, Chinese media and lifestyle in China and Hong Kong. His articles can be found on chinadaily.com.cn and on andreafenn.com

He holds a cum laude Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Vienna University, a cum laude Master’s degree in Chinese Studies from Leiden University, and a first-class Master of Journalism at the University of Hong Kong.

Realising that print media buying was not where his passion lay, the call of digital became too overpowering and he pounced on an opportunity to interview for the digital analyst position within 360 DI.

Since his successful placement in the team, Koby has worked across the FMCG, technology and consumer sectors on clients such as IBM, The Department of Climate Change, VB, Tourism Australia and Ford.

Koby currently maintains his own blog and recently was selected as a contributor to the Australian music website FasterLouder.com.au as a feature writer, reviewer and interviewer.

When not engaged online he can be spotted air drumming at his desk to metal bands and heard in most locations speaking too loudly over his headphones.

Lucie joined the Ogilvy team in May 2010 from Euro RSCG. With a Communications and Public Relations Degree she has extensive experience across publishers and agencies as well as in – house.

Lucie has always been interested in Digital Media and worked for a number of years with Fairfax Media to grow market share for their digital properties.

As social media hype gained momentum so too did her passion for collaboration between people, brand and social media marketing.

Lucie strongly believes that social networks have been in existence since time began but the emergence of technology has made them much more accessible, powerful and tangible for both individuals and brands.

Lucie has a particular interest in organic growth of online communities – identifying brand advocates, uncovering emerging trends and insights and then using these as the basis of a robust and integrated social media strategy.

Since starting at Ogilvy Lucie has worked across the Technology, Consumer, B2B and B2C sectors for clients including Jetstar, Ford, Finsia, IBM and Telstra.

She is committed to delivering the best possible results through integrated and engaging social strategies as part of the overall communications goal.

Since joining Ogilvy PR/Shanghai in 2006 the company has twice been awarded Best Use of Digital at the PR Week Asia Awards for SCMP.com (2007) and Pond’s (2009) and was recently nominated for an Asian Marketing Effectiveness award, also for Pond’s . In 2008 he was awarded a Highly Commended for Public Relations in WPP’s coveted Atticus Awards.

At Ogilvy PR/Shanghai his team has worked with adidas, the Australian Government, Goodyear, Intel, Johnnie Walker, Louis Vuitton, Pfizer, Presence Switzerland, ProChile, State Grid, Unilever and Vans.

She primarily works with consumer brands that want to engage the digital market using various online platforms such as social media. Her expertise lies in execution, engaging influencers and managing online communities.

Her consumer clients include Chevron, Listerine, PSB Academy, and the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. She has also contributed to various Digital Influence projects with Dove, Abbott, Lux, Kotex, Fox Mobile, and WWF-Singapore.

Before Ogilvy, she worked in publishing for Asian Geographic and as a contributing writer for Entrepreneur (Philippines). She also served an internship with McCann as a copywriter, working with various brands that include Johnson & Johnson, Global Brands, Jollibee, Unilever, and Coca-Cola.

Niki graduated with a BA in Communications from the Ateneo de Manila University, focusing on public relations and advertising. Her research thesis showing the domestication of technology by Filipino youth received recognition.

Prior to joining Ogilvy, Allanjit was Account Manager at LEWIS Global Public Relations where he represented a wide array of technology companies in various fields. He conceptualized and executed communications and PR strategies as well as developed domain content on behalf of key executives. Allanjit also played a pivotal role in getting clients to launch tactical social media programs in lieu of a full blown strategy.

Having worked as a research analyst in the UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, Allanjit developed a keen understanding of cross-cultural competitive environments across several industries. He began his career working for innovative start-ups such as INSEAD InnovAsia and Strategic Intelligence Research, writing on new technologies, protocols and adoption challenges as well as growth potentials across developing Asian markets. Articles he penned on the above topics have been distributed at conferences and published on the Tornado Insider and Red Herring websites amongst others. Allanjit holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies with a major in Marketing from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Marketing campaigns conceptualized and executed by him grew into wide-spread social phenomena attracting participation by Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, several union ministers and chief ministers apart from corporate heads, celebrities and millions of people from different walks of life, generating unparalleled publicity for the company.
Shalu also ran successful joint promotional campaigns with some of the biggest brands in the world including Microsoft, Coca Cola, Reebok, Intel and Samsung. One of the sales promotion campaigns also won the best promotion award at the India Promo Power Awards(2002-2003), competing against 450 other entries.

Since receiving the blessing of the Australian Department of Immigration & Citizenship to enter the country, Brian has developed and lead the 360° Digital Influence team at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide/Sydney.

Brian’s team of Digital Influence Strategists use the power of personal media, technology, and public relations to create comprehensive digital and word of mouth strategies for clients – including IBM, Fosters, Microsoft, Tourism Australia, Engineers Australia, TED Prize, Lance Armstrong Foundation , Sanofi-Aventis, and more. Brian speaks regularly on the state of social media in Australia and Asia Pacific, and has appeared at AdTech 2010, AdKnowledge, Frocomm, Web 3.0 Summit, the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), Future of Influence, andothers. In addition, Brian has conducted Webinars as part of an “Executive’s Guide to Social Media” partnership with the Wall Street Journal Asia which routinely receive more than 2,000 attendees each.

Brian’s previous roles at Ogilvy PR give him unusually strong perspective of the total digital landscape. As interactive marketing manager, Brian developed a deep expertise and passion in search marketing, interactive advertising, email marketing and digital PR programmes.

Prior to joining Ogilvy PR, Brian was a legislative aide for U.S. Representative Jay W. Johnson where he advised on issues of technology, education and telecommunications.

Brian holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Dan specialises in running enterprise software and hardware PR accounts, which in the past have included companies of the likes of Sage, Fujitsu, Oracle, Siebel Systems, Symantec and Samsung Corporate Division. However he has crossed the dark side on quite a few occasions and worked on consumer brands such as Toshiba and Xbox to name a few. Dan’s aims to drive industry-leading campaigns that go above and beyond the realms of pure print media coverage, and address the growing online media space.

As an account handler, Dan aims to convince his clients that online media is playing a much bigger role in the audiences they wish to target. To date he has successfully convinced the likes of Premier Global Services and Toshiba to start investing in Listening Programmes in Australia, Asia and Europe, and look beyond pure print media.

Dan graduated with an upper second class BA joint honours degree in management and media from the University of Leeds in England.

Annabel is one of the first Australians to be recruited via Twitter. Annabel joined the Ogilvy team in August, 2009, while completing her Bachelor degree in Public Relations and Organisational Communication at Charles Sturt University. It was during the end of her studies that her tweet was spotted by an Ogilvy employee and she was hired to join the DI team.

Since starting at Ogilvy, Annabel has worked across the Technology, Consumer, B2B, Health , Public Affairs and B2C sectors for clients including IBM, Microsoft, the Department of Climate Change, Tourism NSW, KFC and VB. Annabel first became interested in social media marketing when learning the skills of public relations at university. She believes that social networks are a space that cannot be ignored when an organisation is seeking to communicate with their publics and has a particular interest in monitoring this space for issues and crisis management.

Annabel is a fully qualified travel agent with previous experience working as a wholesale travel specialist for The Travel Corporation.

Annabel is also an Account Co-ordinator for Howorth , an Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide company.

Managing both regional and local clients, his role is to build Ogilvy’s Social Media practice across the region by bringing the world of digital and social to brands.

Prior to joining the Asia-Pacific 360° Digital Influence team, Scott was General Manager for OgilvyOne Malaysia working on through-the-line and digital accounts such as Guinness, Heineken, IBM and Maxis.

Before moving to Asia, Scott founded, managed and latterly sold a successful integrated and digital agency.

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, the agency won awards across the UK and Europe with a client footprint that stretched from the United States to Asia.

Scott studied marketing at The University of Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow, and Business Management at the University of Calgary, Alberta Canada.

Danny commenced his PR career in late 2007 at Burson-Marsteller, working within the technology team on accounts such as HP, Accenture and SAP.

Making the jump to join Pulse Communications in early 2009, Danny has had the opportunity to work with a number of exciting and innovative clients including Xbox 360, LG, Hitachi and JVC. Through executing a number of digital marketing plans, Danny has extensive experience in both implementing and advising clients as to the best practice in the online space.

Danny holds a double degree in Business (Marketing) and Arts (International Relations).