FEER(9/4) Advertisers Push West To Woo Chinese Consumers
AS CHINA'S vast interior gets richer, Brenda Lee , Coca-Cola's Shanghai-based director of external affairs, finds herself dreaming about tapping the country's rural market. Chinese peasants account for roughly 70% of China's 1.3 billion people, but on average each drinks only three Coke products a year. That compares with some 60 drinks consumed annually in Shanghai and Beijing, 150 in Hong Kong and 420 in the United States. With so many customers at stake, potential profits take on epic scale.
"Imagine if we have 500 million people in the countryside," Lee says. "If we can get each of them to buy just two more drinks, maybe at festivals, that will be a billion beverages."
Imaginings like these, combined with a proliferation of advertising in China's coastal cities, are making foreign companies push deeper into China's interior, where they hope to establish brand loyalty and rake in profits.
Earlier this year cellphone-maker Nokia opened a western-region headquarters in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and watchmaker Swatch recently launched a marketing campaign in several major cities, including Chengdu, Chongqing and Wuhan. "The west is where the market is moving," says Colin Giles, Nokia's China general manager.
As always, the key question is how to get people to buy, and advertising firms are following the corporate drive west. U.S.-based MindShare, the media planning and buying arm of global communications giant WPP, plans to open offices in Chongqing and Chengdu "within the next few months," and Nielsen Media Research (NMR), the media arm of ACNielsen, announced plans in June to increase its monitoring of Chinese television viewing from 11 cities to more than 100 and to increase measurement of rural viewing.
The push inland is partly a result of China's maturing market. Swatch's vice-president for Hong Kong and China, Susan Chen, says her company decided to market directly in second-tier cities because competition in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou has become intense. But Chen also hopes to gain a first-mover advantage. "If you want to be a leader in China, you have to build a foundation," she says.
According to MindShare's Beijing manager, Quinn Taw, Xian-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of health-care manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, did just that in the 1980s.
"Their stomach medication still has a 90% level of awareness," he says. "Everyone remembers it because they were one of the first brands to advertise on television and the advertising landscape then wasn't very cluttered."
Although China's ad market is still emerging, surging personal consumption has helped spur double-digit growth in the industry. In 1990 the China Commercial and Business Administration Bureau recorded only $300 million of advertising spending. By 2001 it had leapt to $9.5 billion and, according to NMR, spending on television ads alone rose to more than $12 billion last year. At a time when advertising is slumping in the West, NMR says, China's total ad market last year surpassed those of Germany and Britain to become the world's third largest, and the country is on course to usurp Japan's spot behind the U.S. as the second-largest ad market by the end of the decade.
Yet, as companies move west, ad firms face a dizzying array of problems, ranging from a complicated media market and wide regional variety to increasingly sophisticated Chinese firms and state censors.
MindShare's Taw says China is the world's most complex media market. The U.S. has 210 television markets and fewer than 2,000 channels. China has more than 3,000 channels and hundreds of markets, most of them based in small cities with limited audiences. There are also 1,800 radio stations, more than 1,000 newspapers, some 7,000 magazines and numerous Internet portals with, according to the government-run China Internet Information Centre, more than 59 million users, a number that is expected to surge as more Chinese can afford computers and home Internet connections. On top of those outlets are a slew of more direct ways to influence potential buyers, from street shows and short messages for cellphones to signs painted on the sides of houses in rural areas.
So far, most foreign companies have avoided the confusion by buying television airtime only in China's biggest cities and on the country's 13 national China Central Television (CCTV) channels. With televisions in 340 million households and, according to NMR, Chinese watching increasing amounts of TV, that has proved a simple way to reach China's masses. But what works well in one place can just as easily fail in another.
That's especially true in China, where regional variations run the gamut from language and business etiquette to customs and beliefs. While Beijing is trying to get everyone to speak standardized Chinese, non-Han people, such as Tibetans and Uighurs in the far west, speak entirely different languages. Even among the majority Han ethnic group there are distinct dialects, such as Shanghainese and Cantonese, that are unintelligible to outsiders. "Except politically, China is by far not one nation," Taw says.
More difficult for foreign managers to grasp are the intricacies of culture, such as the advertising staple of humour. "In southern China humour is more slapstick and physical, like you find in Hong Kong movies," Taw says. "In the north, people love clever wordplays," a legacy of traditional Chinese opera and verbal sparring. "For national campaigns, the challenge is to tap into a universal interest."
Lee thinks Coca-Cola achieved that last summer with a national television ad showing a boy giving the Chinese soccer team a Coke bottle full of soil so they could bring home-field advantage to Korea for their first World Cup. But even she admits the commercial might have had less impact on the hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers who have never seen a real soccer pitch.
Western companies also have to deal with competition from Chinese firms, which -- despite buying almost no advertising before the 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping kicked off economic reforms -- have been quick to pick up on the intricacies of marketing and the importance of investing in brand image. According to a 1999 Gallup report, seven of the country's 10 most widely recognized brands were Chinese, and Taw believes Chinese firms will take more ground from their international competitors. "The recognizability and growth of the strength of Chinese brands is increasing," he says. Mickey Chak, a planning director at the Beijing office of WPP Group's Ogilvy and Mather, says that as Chinese companies are becoming more profitable, they are using advertising to consolidate their brand names and protect their market shares.
Every company -- whether Chinese or Western -- has to deal with state censors. All Chinese ads have to be approved by the official China Advertising Association, and commercials have been rejected for things as seemingly innocent as showing parents and children walking and eating at the same time, which, according to Ogilvy's China Chairman T.B. Song, the association described as "unhealthy." A truth-in-advertising clause has been cited to reject ads for everything from a toothpaste claiming to fight senility to a soap promising to wash away wrinkles.
In Chengdu, Han Wen, real-estate advertising director with APEX, one of the city's largest ad firms, says using the words "most," "best," and "number one" are not allowed.
But such regulations vary by location. "Here I can't say 'most beautiful housing development' or 'best value' or 'No. 1 instant noodles,' but in Shanghai, Beijing, or Guangzhou, those words are usually allowed," she says.
Since most international companies have spent primarily in those three cities and on national campaigns, regional differences in how the law is interpreted have not mattered much. But as the advertising battlefield moves west they may begin to play a role.
Getting out among the masses could be the next step for foreign companies looking to build sales. "We might not need very sophisticated messages to get people to buy products," Ogilvy's Chak says, pointing out that many Chinese companies have boosted sales by hiring in-store promotion staff.
Coca-Cola is marketing directly to consumers by taking road shows to small cities and towns, where they promote their beverages with free samples, games and entertainment. "Road shows give people a much stronger impact and connection with our brand," she says.
For its road shows, Coke hires local companies, and provincial experience should help executives understand how best to sell to regional constituencies. According to Chak, market research in China has improved over the past decade but still lags behind that in more developed economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore. "We especially lack cutting-edge stuff like ethnography, semiotics and trend forecasts," he says.
To fill in the information gap, companies might turn to local Chinese firms like Chengdu's Suowei Culture. Mao Neng, the firm's 24-year-old co-owner, recently won a lucrative contract with the government to run a music and advertising system on the city's busiest shopping street. "I know the local market better than the coastal firms do," he says.
MindShare's Taw is upbeat about the future. The company's China billings more than doubled in the past 12 months and he thinks things will keep getting better. "Everyone is shocked at the growth of advertising in China. But we haven't seen the real growth yet. We're still at the beginning of developing a consumer culture in the cities. It's going to be a tidal wave."
广告商挺进中国西部
目睹中国幅员辽阔的内陆地区一天天富裕起来，可口可乐(Coca-Cola)上海外务部门主管Brenda Lee开始对进军中国农村市场浮想联翩。在中国浩浩13亿人口中，大约70%是农民，但他们每年人均消费的可口可乐只有区区3瓶。相比之下，北京和上海的人均消费数量为60瓶，香港为150瓶，美国则高达420瓶。面对如此庞大的顾客储备，其潜在利润实不可估量。
"假设农村人口为5亿，"Brenda Lee说，"如果我们能让他们每个人每年再多买两瓶可口可乐－－比如逢年过节的时候，那么一年就能增加10亿瓶的销量。"类似的想像，再加上沿海城市随处可见的宣传广告，促使外国企业逐渐向中国内陆推进，以求在这些相对落后的地区培养自己的品牌追随者，并收获丰厚利润。 今年年初，移动电话生产商诺基亚公司(Nokia)在中国四川省省会成都建立了西部地区总部。全球著名手表生产商斯沃淇(Swatch)最近也在中国主要城市展开大型营销活动，成都、重庆和武汉等中西部城市也名列其中。诺基亚中国区总经理赵科林(Colin Giles)说："西部市场正成为商家的开发目标。"
无论地域如何变换，关键问题还是一个：如何让人们掏腰包。为此，跟随企业西行的还有另一类公司－－广告公司。全球通讯业巨头WPP旗下的媒体策划及收购公司MindShare计划未来几个月在重庆和成都开设办事处。而市场咨询公司AC尼尔森(ACNielsen)的媒体分公司Nielsen Media Research(NMR)6月份宣布，将把对中国电视收视情况的监测范围从原来的11座城市扩大到100座，并加大了对农村地区收视情况的调查力度。
挺进内地的热潮是中国市场不断成熟的一个结果。斯沃淇香港和大陆地区副总裁Susan Chen说，斯沃淇决定直接在中国的二级城市开展营销活动，因为上海、北京和广州等一级城市的竞争已经相当激烈。但Susan Chen也希望能先声夺人。"如果想成为中国市场的翘楚，就必须打下一个坚实的基础。"
据MindShare北京地区经理Quinn Taw透露，保健产品生产商强生公司(Johnson & Johnson)旗下分公司西安杨森制药有限公司(Xian-Janssen Pharmaceuticals)在20世纪80年代采取的正是这样的策略。
"直到现在，西安杨森治疗胃病的药物仍然享有很高的知名度，"Quinn Taw说，"这种药物广为人知，因该药物是最早在电视上做广告的品牌之一，而当时的电视广告还为数不多。"
虽然中国的广告市场仍相对稚嫩，但由于个人消费迅速增加，该行业仍然实现了两位数的增长。1990年，中国工商管理局(China Commercial and Business Administration Bureau)的纪录显示，企业的广告支出仅为3亿美元。到2001年，支出即跃升至95亿美元。据NMR统计，2002年，仅电视广告支出一项就增加至120多亿美元。NMR称，在西方国家广告业低迷的情况下，去年中国整体广告市场规模已经超过德国和英国，在全球名列第三。预计到2010年，中国可望胜过日本，成为仅次于美国的第二大广告市场。
但随著各企业一路西进，广告公司也遇到越来越多棘手的问题：媒体市场结构复杂，地域差异显著，中国企业日趋成熟，政府审查更为严格等等不一而足。
MindShare北京地区经理Quinn Taw说，中国是全世界最复杂的媒体市场。美国拥有210个电视台和不到2,000个频道。中国的电视频道超过3,000个，而电视台则有好几百个，它们大多位于小城市，只面向有限的观众群。除了电视台，中国还有1,800多家大大小小的广播电台、1,000多份报纸、7,000多份杂志以及数不胜数的互联网门户网站。据中国互联网信息中心(China Internet Information Centre)统计，中国目前的互联网用户超过5,900万。随著有能力购买电脑和家用网络接口的人越来越多，中国的互联网用户数量还将进一步攀升。除此之外，还有一些更直接吸引潜在顾客的广告方式，比如街边的露天展示、发到手机上的促销短信，农村房子外墙上用油漆涂抹的广告等。
迄今为止，大多数外资企业采取了大而化之的方式，只在中国最主要的城市购买中央电视台(China Central Television)13个频道的广告播段。中国有3.4亿个家庭拥有电视机，而据NMR称，中国人看电视的时间越来越长。这些都使电视成为接触中国大众的捷径。但南橘北枳的情况也的确存在。
对地域差异极大的中国来说尤其如此。在不同的地区，人们的语言、商业礼节、风俗习惯和信仰都大相径庭。虽然北京政府在全国大力推广普通话，但藏族、维吾尔族等西部少数民族都使用本民族的语言。即使在占中国人口大多数的汉族人口中，也存在上海话、粤语等外人很难听懂的方言。
但外国经理们更难把握的是中国文化的差异性，例如对广告幽默感的不同定义。"在南方，人们喜欢香港电影那种粗浅的闹剧式的风格，"Taw说，"而在北方，人们更欣赏俏皮机智的对白。"这也是中国传统戏曲和文字论战的遗风。"在制作全国性的推广方案时，主要的挑战就是能否找到一个老少咸宜、南北通用的切入点。"
Brenda Lee认为，可口可乐去年夏季的全国性电视广告就满足了上述要求。在该广告中，一名男孩将装满泥土的可乐瓶献给了赴汉城首次参加世界杯赛的中国国家足球队，以祝愿他们在故乡泥土的保佑下马到成功。但Lee也承认，这个广告片对从未见过真正的足球场的几亿中国农民来说，可能没有那么大的影响力。
外国公司还要对付来自中国企业的竞争。在中国于20世纪80年代实行改革开放政策之前，当地企业几乎没有任何广告支出。但随著市场经济的发展，它们很快意识到投资于企业品牌形象的重要性，并迅速掌握了其中的窍门。根据研究咨询公司盖洛普(Gallup)1999年的一份报告，中国最知名的十大品牌中，有七个是本土品牌。而MindShare北京地区经理Quinn Taw预计，中国企业在品牌推广方面将进一步超越其国际竞争对手。他说："中国企业品牌的认知度和影响力都在不断提高。"WPP Group旗下奥美广告(Ogilvy and Mather)北京办事处企划主管Mickey Chak说，随著中国企业不断提高盈利，它们正利用广告来巩固品牌，保持市场占有率。
当然，无论是本地企业还是外资企业，每一家公司都必须面对政府的审查。所有的中文广告都必须接受中国广告协会(China Advertising Association)的审查。据奥美广告中国区董事长T.B. Song称，一些电视广告包含诸如父母与孩子边走边吃等看似非常正常的画面，但却遭到否决，原因是该协会认为边走边吃"不利于健康"。而有关广告必须真实的条款也常常被用来"枪毙"那些言过其实的广告－－比如号称可防止老化的牙膏，或能洗掉皱纹的香皂等等。 成都当地大型广告公司APEX的房地产广告部主管韩文(Han Wen,音译)说，不能在广告中使用诸如"最大"、"最好"、"首屈一指"等词汇。
但有关广告审查的规定因地而异。韩文说，"在这儿，我们不能说'最美的地产开发项目'或'最佳价值'或'最好的方便面'，但在上海、北京或广州，类似的字眼通常允许在广告中使用。"
由于大多数国际公司的广告投入主要针对上海、北京和广州三大城市或全国性的营销活动，各地对广告法规的不同诠释基本上影响不大。但随著广告目的地的西移，这种差异的影响可能就会显现出来。
融入大众可能是外资企业提高销售的下一步策略。奥美广告的Mickey Chak说，"我们并不一定要传递非常复杂的信息，才能让人们购买我们推销的产品。"他说，许多中国企业通过店内推销员来刺激销售。可口可乐则乾脆在小型城镇举行路演，通过免费品尝、游戏和娱乐的形式，直接将饮料推销给消费者。"路演能给人们留下更强的印象，并对我们的品牌产生亲切感。"
可口可乐在路演中聘请了当地的公司，而这种地区性的体验将有助于企业高层了解如何赢得地区消费者的最高"选票"。据Mickey Chak说，中国的市场研究在过去十年间进步很快，但仍然落后于香港和新加坡等发达地区的市场研究水平。他说，"我们尤其缺乏人种学、符号学和趋势预测等前沿领域的资料。"
为了弥补这一信息缺口，企业可能会转向本地公司寻求帮助。成都的Suowei Culture就是这样一家公司。该公司年仅24岁的所有人之一毛能(Mao Neng,音译)最近赢得了当地政府一份利润可观的合同，将在成都最繁华的商业街上建设一个音乐广告系统。他说，"我比沿海公司更了解本地市场。"
MindShare的Quinn Taw认为广告业的前景相当乐观。过去12个月，该公司在中国的收入增长了一倍多。他认为情况还会越来越好。"中国广告业的迅猛增长令人震惊，但我们还没有看到它真正的增长。目前我们还处于城市消费文化发展的初始阶段，更激动人心的景象还在后面。"
