A presentation from Imagination's Digital Insight team on online behaviours, interests, web properties and general digital activities and attitudes in China. A high level overview.
7. Broadband Internet users: 346 million Internet users: 384 million , with a penetration rate of 28.9% Mobile internet users: 233 million (60.8% of total internet users) http://www.internetworldstats.com , 2010 Big internet population & growingâŠ
8. 76% of Internet users connect every day Young urban Chinese spend almost three times as much time browsing the Internet as they do watching TV. Forrester, 2009 Going online is an integral part of daily life CN domain names are the most widely used national top level domain Almost half of online Chinese regularly browse the Internet on their mobiles.
14. From region to region, content is restricted News aggregator Sohu as seen in most of China (left) and Xianjiang (right)
15. Over 30,000 Internet police Jingjing and Chacha Critical comments on forums, blogs, and major portals, are erased within minutes. Individualâs internet access is monitored.
16. Actively educating netizens about policies & regulations Users can submit questions through IM service and blog conversations
17. Chinaâs digital companies support these laws Many Twitter copycats have been shut down by the government Sina already has a strict self-censorship policies and methods.
24. Impact of the one child policy The One Child Policy Need for instant gratification Euromonitor
25. China is the country to officially declare Internet addiction a disease on a par with alcoholism and drug abuse. Concerned parents are sending children to Internet Bootcamp. Internet addiction
28. Two out of three watch videos created by other users on sites like YouTube Three in four online urban Chinese regularly download music Almost half play online games Forrester, 2009 50% of Chinese youth regularly play mobile games
30. Chinaâs online video usage is massive. According to CNNIC 240m Chinese Internet users watched online videos at the end of 2009. youku.com Company Spotlight
32. Happy Farm House Buying House Acquarium Ren Ren restaurant Parking Wars Slave Manor Wonder hospital Building One Animal Paradise Small Games The top Chinese SN Games
41. Happy Farm House Buying House Acquarium Ren Ren restaurant Parking Wars Slave Manor Wonder hospital Building One Animal Paradise Small Games 1. Key source of entertainment
42. Parking Wars, popular with white collar workers. Earn virtual cash for parking on friends lots and ticketing them. Earn money to buy more expensive cars
45. 2. A public space Chinese are more likely to add strangers via Internet & generally accept most friend invitations Instead of keeping online conversations within own networks, they tend to use bulletin board services and participate in public discussions One blogger notes that
47. 4. Higher tolerance for intrusiveness QQ Show, developed by Chinaâs SNS giant Tencent, users dress up their avatars and compete in virtual fashion shows. Teens will IM their friends fervently, asking for votes on QQ Show.
48. Social gaming is big business The market in China for virtual goods â digital swords, armor, dresses, etc. used in online games and communities â is larger than the market for online advertising. Â CNN Money, 2008
52. Taobao.com Chinaâs eBay, the largest Internet retail platform with Ÿ market share Will deploy authorized offline stores for consumers who cannot shop online Company Spotlight
57. Online programming: Nescafe â Online programming was a no-brainer,â said Mateo Eaton, â In terms of time, cost, and value, online content-based campaigns easily outperform most TV campaigns, making them the best value-for-media-money in my book.â
58. GPS Outdoor 15% of media spend is OoH (versus intl. average of 6%), with average recall of over 90% Hong Kong based outdoor media company created GPS aware Taxi ads
60. In-store: Nike 100 Nike filled a warehouse space in Beijing's with their most 100 most innovative accomplishments
61. And on a final note⊠The Machismo The Ouidoo AR phone could make proximity marketing pay
62.
63.
64. SN for white collar & students, the Faceboook copy cat SN with strong gaming community SN for the masses Internet brand cheat sheet Chinaâs ebay Taobao.com I.M. & Blogging, Q âcoinâ Search, 3 rd largest in world SN for teens Web portal Web portal Chinese YouTube Chinese YouTube SN for intelligent fans
http://www.wikihow.com/Count-to-Ten-in-Mandarin äž yÄ« (yi1) [eee] äș Ăšr (er4) [arr] äž sÄn (san1) [sahn] ć sĂŹ (si4) [ssuh] - like a snake with 'uh' (say the vowel in the back of your throat) äș wÇ (wu3) [woo] (Not to be confused with wo [woaa] meaning I or me.) ć lĂŹu (liu4) [liou] äž qÄ« (qi1) [chi] (say it in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together and your lips pulled to the sides) ć « bÄ (ba1) [bah] äč jiÇ (jiu3) [jeou] ć shĂ (shi2) [sher (This time, say the vowel in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together)
VOICE OVER: Compare these to UK stats: a. population of 61 million (20 times smaller than China) b. with a country area of 244,000, the UK is 1/40 the size of China ALSO: when China replies to something, a blog post for example, the numbers are enormous!
Almost half of online Chinese regularly browse the Internet on their mobiles.
Six out of 10 urban Chinese have broadband at home. Online Chinese consumers are quite savvy Internet users, with about 76% connecting every day. (Forrester, 2009) CN domain names, whose number surpasses that of Germany's .DE with 12.188 million, has become the most widely used national top-level domain name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudou Tudou states they are one of the world's largest bandwidth users, moving more than 1 Petabyte per day to 7 million users. YouTube does serve a larger number of videos per day, but since the average Tudou video is longer in duration, the total amount of minutes of video being streamed daily from Tudou is significantly larger - about 15 billion minutes vs. 3 billion for YouTube. [1]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8492224.stm Following the ethnic unrest in Xinjiang in July 2009, internet access in the region has been severely restricted - far more than in other parts of China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingjing_and_Chacha Jingjing and Chacha (a pun on the Chinese word for police, Chinese: èŠćŻ ; pinyin: jÇngchĂĄ ) are the cartoon mascots of the Internet Surveillance Division of the Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen, China. Debuting on January 22, 2006, they are used to, amongst other things, inform Chinese Internet users what is and is not legal to consult or write on the Chinese Internet. According to the director of the Shenzhen Internet police, "[we published] the image of Internet Police in the form of a cartoon [...] to let all internet users know that the Internet is not a place beyond of law [and that] the Internet Police will maintain order in all online behavior." [1] The Shenzhen police plan to place images of the two characters on the main page of all Shenzhen websites and bulletin boards, creating an online 'police presence' that works to remind citizens to monitor their own behavior in accordance with the law, much as a visible police presence does in the real world.[2] In August 2007, Beijing police announced a similar campaign using animated officers. The Beijing version of the characters will appear every half hour on 13 of China's top web portals and display messages about Internet laws and conduct.[4] The apparatus of the PRC's Internet repression is considered more extensive and more advanced than in any other country in the world. The regime not only blocks website content but also monitors the internet access of individuals. Amnesty International notes that China âhas the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world.â The offences of which they are accused include communicating with groups abroad, opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong, signing online petitions, and calling for reform and an end to corruption.[4]
Clicking on the images will take a user to either of the characters' own personal webspace,[3] where Chinese Internet users can learn about the laws and regulations related to Internet, keep up-to-date on the newest Internet policies, and submit questions to Jingjing and Chacha live through the instant messaging service Tencent QQ or through their blogs.
http://www.chinawebradar.com/1345/sina-starts-twitter-like-service.html Sina-microblogging (Twitter) Many Twitter copycats have been shut down by the government That might not be a big problem for Sina, since Sina already has a strict self-censorship policies and methods. China shut down Twitter access after it was used to transmit images and messages about riots against the government in western China.
"We cross over the wall ...for example Twitter is blocked in China but we still use proxy, use the VPN, to cross the wall.â â Google is the Internet VPN, by Proxy, we cross over the wall⊠to follow Google Twitter is very popular, even if blocked Chinese people love Google to death Baidu is a censored engineâ Michael Anti, Chinese Blogger on BBC News site
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2010/gb20100216_566561.htm?campaign_id=asia_related http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2010/gb20100125_065225.htm Population demographics make it essential to understand the priorities of Chinese employees born in the 1980s: They make up about 50% of the country's current working-age population. When asked, Gen Ys often mention Apple ( AAPL ) CEO Steve Jobs , who is cool, creative, successful, and has a clear personal image. (Does this relate to digital space?) Our research shows that they predominantly trust their peers. (again the popularity of Social Networks) Despite their popular image as the "Me Generation," we find that they hold up traditional family values. Asked "what is really important to you," 45% said "family," with "friends" following at 17% and "career" at 12%. We also asked young Chinese to choose one wish that would make their life happier. Surprisingly, 82% chose to do something for their parents, most commonly to provide them an easy life Internet share: 78.5% of Internet users often shared knowledge with others. The behavior of mutual help is conductive to promoting knowledge dissemination, increasing production and life efficiency and creating a healthy and positive Internet environment.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8219768.stm As the first country to officially declare Internet addiction a disease on a par with alcoholism and drug abuse, the adjective "viral" before social games in China takes on a whole new meaning. I in 6 are seen has having Internet addictions BBC News, Beijing Patients' dormitory rooms are as tidy as those at a military camp For patients at Beijing's Youth Psychology Development Centre, the day begins with the loud blast of a whistle at about 0600. They roll out of bed and quickly change into military fatigues before lining up in the corridor, ready to start the day's activities. The mostly male youngsters at this centre all have the same problem - they are addicted to the internet. And through a tough programme of physical exercise, medication and counselling, this is where they hope to be cured. There has been a lot of interest in these boot camps over recent weeks after two teenagers were beaten up at two separate camps in China. One died, the other was seriously injured. Internet 'slaves' Tao Ran, the director of the Beijing centre, denies that camp workers use violence against his patients. He said: "We use love and science to look after and cure our patients, to allow them to go to school and use the internet in a healthy way." But the centre he runs is certainly no holiday camp. It is run by a hospital attached to the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army, and is on a military base. As the young people go through their daily activities, real soldiers clean their rifles outside a dormitory next-door. Locked rooms prevent the youngsters from leaving the boot camp The patients - all teenagers or in their 20s - are sent to the centre because their parents believe they spend too much time on the internet. Mr Tao defines an internet addict as anyone who is on the internet for at least six hours a day and has little interest in school. Slogans posted on the walls of the centre make it clear that spending too much time on the internet is not healthy. "Those who are masters of the internet are heroes," reads one, before adding, "Those who are controlled by the internet are slaves." Youngsters come to the centre from across China and many of them have to endure its tough regime for three months. That regime starts with early morning exercises on the base's parade ground. After that the addicts are brought back to their quarters - which they are locked into - where they have to tidy up. Four people share each of the rooms, which - when put in order - look just like soldiers' dormitories. Duvets are folded neatly on beds, flannels are hung over washbowls and four toothbrushes stand in cups, all pointing in the same direction. According to the parents, few youngsters want to come to the centre to be cured - and it is not hard to see why they object. Patients have to follow orders; one centre worker physically turned a youngster around when he was not paying attention at a roll call. We believed our child should do whatever we told him to do Chen Lin, father of boot camp patient "My father cheated me to get me here. He said we were going out to have fun, but then he brought me here," said one teenager. "At first I felt very unhappy, but later on I understood why my parents wanted me here. They want me to get rid of my internet addiction." But at the centre it is not just the youngsters who have to reform. Part of director Tao's approach is to change the way the whole family behaves; he believes it is not just the internet user who has a problem. Many parents accompany their children to the Beijing boot camp in an attempt to learn how to better bring up their offspring. And some of them admit that they do have something to learn. "When we arrived and started listening to Dr Tao, we realised there were problems with our parenting, particularly with me," said one father, Chen Lin. "We treated our child like an underling. We believed our child should do whatever we told him to do." Last hope Mr Chen said he used to beat, abuse and make fun of his son to encourage him to work harder - now he says that was wrong. "We hurt his feelings and he became less confident," admitted Mr Chen. China's government has become increasingly concerned about how these boot camps are run - and their lack of oversight. At the moment there is no national register of camps, and none of them have been approved and inspected by government officials. The ministry of health issued a notice in July banning the use of "electro-stimulation" that was being used to "cure" internet addicts. But worried parents across China continue to send their children to the camps. As one father at the Beijing centre put it: "There's no other choice - this is our last hope."
http://www.wikihow.com/Count-to-Ten-in-Mandarin äž yÄ« (yi1) [eee] äș Ăšr (er4) [arr] äž sÄn (san1) [sahn] ć sĂŹ (si4) [ssuh] - like a snake with 'uh' (say the vowel in the back of your throat) äș wÇ (wu3) [woo] (Not to be confused with wo [woaa] meaning I or me.) ć lĂŹu (liu4) [liou] äž qÄ« (qi1) [chi] (say it in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together and your lips pulled to the sides) ć « bÄ (ba1) [bah] äč jiÇ (jiu3) [jeou] ć shĂ (shi2) [sher (This time, say the vowel in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together)
Unlike the West, where console games are dominant, Chinese gamers use the PC as their platform. In fact, PS3s, Wiis and Xboxes are technically still illegal, though available in China. Branded web-based games are highly popular. Brands are incorporated into game play through a variety of methods - from straightforward branded gaming environments or game sponsorship to more sophisticated offerings such as in the popular Sale of Slaves game where users are able to reward their âslavesâ by purchasing them a Pizza Hut lunch.
Voice Over: Download free music and watch video from other users is hugely popular in China. Less so is uploading video, music and participating. This suggests that yes, they are interested in entertainment, but are more passive consumers of it than actively engaging / creating content. This could impact on how brands entertain â e.g. watching, quick sharing with friends but not necessarily creative engagement. I.M. is extremely popular, again this may be the instant gratification need Blogs are hugely popular too which suggests a desire for information and opinion.
Youku ( simplified Chinese : äŒ é · ; traditional Chinese : ćȘ é · ; pinyin : yĆu kĂč ; literally "excellent (and) cool"), is a video sharing site based in the People's Republic of China . Youku.com operates as a Chinese Internet video Website. It offers user-generated and professional video content in China and internationally. The company enables Chinese Internet users to watch and share videos. Youku.com ranked #1 in Chinese video sharing sector by China Internet Society, iResearch and Baidu User Index. In 2008, Youku teamed up with Myspace in China. [2] Later that year, Youku became the sole online video provider embedded in the China Edition of popular web browser Mozilla Firefox. [3] Youku has worked with Linkool International, Youku, Baidu, and Sina Music, and has an iPhone application. [3] Most internet watchdog groups criticized the site for intense censorship activities corroborating with the national Propaganda Department as well as the department's Communist Party counterpart.
Itâs all about entertainment â Chinese users rely on online social networking sites as their primary source of cheap, quick, and accessible entertainment throughout the week. As a result, online social networks are used less for practical communication and more for killing time and amusementâwhether itâs playing a quick game at work or chatting with other users after school. 1. Happy Farm The first social network farming game worldwide, Happy Farm, was developed by Five Minutes, a Chinese developer. Its simple âplow, plant, water, pick, and repeatâ formula has since conquered the world. Moreover, the addictive, log-in-every-hour mechanics have spawned countless copycats and variants . Chinese versions are more competitive than their Western counterparts: they allow users to steal and add worms and weeds to friendsâ farms. 2. House Buying House Buying is the most popular game on Kaixin001, Chinaâs hottest social network. House Buying innovatively combines a real estate section, No. 1 Happy Farm, a pasture section, and No. 4 Parking Wars into a single game with a common currency. For example, bamboo grown on the farm feeds pandas in the pasture, which can in turn be sold for cash to pimp-your-house. Because Kaixin001 develops all games in-house, it offers unparalleled integration. 3. Happy Aquarium Happy Aquarium = pet game + Happy Farm underwater. Fish games are rapidly growing both in China (Happy Aquarium, Bubble Fish) and on Facebook (FishVille, Fish Isle). In fact, Hong Kong developer 6waves transferred Happy Aquarium to Facebook in Chinese, where it is has enjoyed remarkable success (1.9m DAU, No. 21 game overall). Game themes and mechanics translate across China and Facebook. 4. Parking Wars Parking Wars is an adaptation of the Facebook title of the same name. It sparked the social game craze in China and remains popular to this day on Kaixin001 and Qzone. Parking Wars is a pioneer of product placement in SNS games: BMW, Toyota, Cadillac, and Ford are all included in the Kaixin001 edition. One of the first popular social games to emerge in the Chinese net space was Parking Wars. The game allows players to maintain a parking lot and make money in order to buy progressively better cars for themselves. While the game was fundamentally a Chinese take on a popular Western game of the same name, its use of innovations such as product placement encouraged players desperate to move up the automotive hierarchy online to be just as desperate to do so in real life. 5. Renren Restaurant Renren Restaurant is acopy of Restaurant City by Playfish on Facebook. The social network Renren, despite having a mostly open API, had its in-house game developers copy the game almost screen-for-screen. The gameâs relative sophistication (3D graphics, high social interaction) indicates the future of China social games. As Chinese developers become more accustomed to such features, titles will undoubtedly become more original. 6. Slave Manor Slave Manor copies the original Facebook game Friends for Sale! While in decline, this highly socially interactive game remains fairly popular on Kaixin001 and Qzone. White-collar workers flock to Kaixin001 to hire their boss as their virtual slaveâupon which they can make him shovel shit or marry an extremely ugly girl. Female slaves can be assigned to different hardships: serving as a âspecial hostessâ or marrying an old black slave. The punishments on the original Facebook game were likely far tamer. 7. Building One In Building One, users virtually live, work (e.g., by opening a hairdresser or spa), and socialize together in a single tall tower. Visually, this creates an appealing skyscraper to explore. Stealing customers and coins from other shops is a key part of the game. You can see from the picture you can develop different parts of the building, such as a restaurant with a dining area where you can serve cakes and whatever else you want to cook for your guests. Itâs like a bunch of different simulations in one game. 8. Wonder Hospital In Wonder Hospital, users heal patients to acquire money and fame. The game includes innovative and controversial ads: a zeppelin flies overhead promoting the Yu Ting brand of contraceptives. Moveover, in-game actions are especially nasty. When visiting a friendâs hospital, players can enforce fines, steal patients, throw rubbish, let a dog loose, park a truck to block access, and âmystery mischiefâ indicated by a bomb icon. This could change as the government âintegratesâ social games into its harmonious society . 9. Animal Paradise In Animal Paradise, users raise and collect products from animals, a combination of the popular farm and pet game formulas. Users are behooved to log-in-often lest an animalâs loyalty score drops to zero, in which case it can be stolen away. Here, you can see a flock of ducks nesting on eggs. There are all sorts of breeds that you can create and manage. If you take care of your animals properly, they will multiply. Rekoo , the gameâs Beijing-based developer, recently scored $1.5 million from a Japanese VC and already has games on an impressive list of social networks worldwide: Facebook, Myspace, Cyworld (Korea), and Mixi (Japan). The game is similar to a lot of Western games, so it will be interesting to see if Western social game developers take it back and clone it for their own markets. 10. Small Games Small Games is a collection of classic games ranging from Tetris to Air Hockey, similar to MindJolt Games on Facebook. The games are quick, simple, and mildly socially interactive. Such casual, single-player games are quickly being eclipsed by richer social games, both in China and on Facebook.
http://www.thomascrampton.com/china/china-social-media-facebook-twitter-china/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=china-social-media-facebook-twitter-china http://www.slideshare.net/ianstewartmtv/asia-youth-2009-2029534 One of the most striking cases, however, is China: The only country in Asia where people have more online friends than offline friends. This is yet another example of China tremendous engagement in Social Media and the Internet.
The home of gaming A latecomer to the Chinese SNS scene, Kaixin jumped from obscurity to one of the big players shortly after its launch in the spring of 2008. The website is popular with urban white-collars who spend their office down time chatting with friends and playing games on the site. Contributing to Kaixinâs success is its web-based games. Taking advantage of this, Kaixin provided gamers with branded virtual props. Parking Wars, one of Kaixinâs first breakout games, now allows users to choose branded themes: a Dell theme, for example, will put up Dell laptop posters in the game environment. Other casual games incorporate brands into the gameplay itself. For example, in the game âSales of Slavesâ, users can reward their âslaveâ by buying him a Pizza Hut business set lunch, giving him a new set of branded clothing, or pouring him a cup of branded Chinese tea. Using a different tactic, Lenovo is sponsoring an online game offered whereby Kaixin users are invited to design their ideal virtual house, sponsored by Lenovo. Meanwhile, in a link-up with offline marketing, Kaixin users are able to redeem codes found on Magnum ice-cream bars for in-game credits.
Appealing to the masses While Kaixin and Renren battle it out for the share of urban students and young white-collars, 51.com has its eye on the rest of the country. Out of its 160 million registered users, 38.5 million access the site monthly. 51 has been seeking to expand its business beyond simple social networking and it seems poised to leverage its massive user base for the online gaming market. It is also involved in the market research business, using a survey system to gauge the popularity of brands and products by soliciting user opinions. Brands have large presence on 51. For example, Nike, Lady Care and MSI all have specialty pages/mini-sites within 51 that host a variety of online brand activity. Other brands are hosting actual campaigns on the site. In one example, customers who spend in KFC restaurants are given a card with a code. If they type in the code on KFCâs 51 page they will have the opportunity to win prizes including Nokia mobile phones. Other activities are more interactive: Coca-Cola offered an application that digitally inserted users into a Coke ad. The application was hosted through iCoke.cn, but was fully integrated into 51âs pages, with head shots taken from usersâ photo albums.
Have a look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ESv6F42Lbs The new generation 360quan.com positions itself as the platform for those born in the 1990s: hip, trendy, and new. It has strong branding on this by promoting the pages of âcoolâ kids on the website - for instance those who play parkour, graffiti artists and punks. Its overall alternative aesthetic and the tagline âyoung, stylish SNSâ in the title bar shows this. PK, or users going up head-to-head against each other, is a big activity on 360Quan and online âclansâ, ad-hoc groups of users linked by common interest or mutual acquaintance, define sub-communities within the giant user base. There is a brand channel on 360quan, where fashion labels are displayed, such as the latest Jimmy Choo collection from H&M. The channel also advises girls how to put different outfits together and is sponsored by the fashion website 27.com. 360quan runs campaigns such as the Opel car campaign, which they displayed on the front page. On the PK page there is also a brand collaboration with Nike ID, which links to the Nike ID page and their fashionable summer shoes and other accessories.
A more educated SNS Douban.com was developed initially for people to share their interest in books, music and movies and is now used to form online groups centered around being âfansâ of people, publications and music events. Each user has their own page where they can share books they read, CDs they have listened to or films they have watched. Douban claims that the site registers 30 million unique visitors a month, with users aged 20 to 35 and usually single. Users are better educated than the average Chinese internet user, with many in college or attending professional schools. As a website that supports independent musicians as well as grassroots, home-grown cultural events, Douban has a host of commercial and brand partners. The nature of these (mostly mini-site) partnerships vary widely, from a nation-branding campaign to promote UK tourism, which was recently completed, to product promotions such as Swatch, 42Below vodka and Ford. Converse has a huge presence on Douban and 14,618 fans. Its mini-site displays brand products as well as indie music in video and audio form. Converse has a long history with Douban: in 2007, it sponsored a photography competition on the site.
QQ.Com is owned by Tencent Tencent owns 400 patents. more than 50% of Tencent employees are engaged in research and development. http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=154150_0_5_0_M
Itâs all about entertainment â Chinese users rely on online social networking sites as their primary source of cheap, quick, and accessible entertainment throughout the week. As a result, online social networks are used less for practical communication and more for killing time and amusementâwhether itâs playing a quick game at work or chatting with other users after school. 1. Happy Farm The first social network farming game worldwide, Happy Farm, was developed by Five Minutes, a Chinese developer. Its simple âplow, plant, water, pick, and repeatâ formula has since conquered the world. Moreover, the addictive, log-in-every-hour mechanics have spawned countless copycats and variants . Chinese versions are more competitive than their Western counterparts: they allow users to steal and add worms and weeds to friendsâ farms. 2. House Buying House Buying is the most popular game on Kaixin001, Chinaâs hottest social network. House Buying innovatively combines a real estate section, No. 1 Happy Farm, a pasture section, and No. 4 Parking Wars into a single game with a common currency. For example, bamboo grown on the farm feeds pandas in the pasture, which can in turn be sold for cash to pimp-your-house. Because Kaixin001 develops all games in-house, it offers unparalleled integration. 3. Happy Aquarium Happy Aquarium = pet game + Happy Farm underwater. Fish games are rapidly growing both in China (Happy Aquarium, Bubble Fish) and on Facebook (FishVille, Fish Isle). In fact, Hong Kong developer 6waves transferred Happy Aquarium to Facebook in Chinese, where it is has enjoyed remarkable success (1.9m DAU, No. 21 game overall). Game themes and mechanics translate across China and Facebook. 4. Parking Wars Parking Wars is an adaptation of the Facebook title of the same name. It sparked the social game craze in China and remains popular to this day on Kaixin001 and Qzone. Parking Wars is a pioneer of product placement in SNS games: BMW, Toyota, Cadillac, and Ford are all included in the Kaixin001 edition. One of the first popular social games to emerge in the Chinese net space was Parking Wars. The game allows players to maintain a parking lot and make money in order to buy progressively better cars for themselves. While the game was fundamentally a Chinese take on a popular Western game of the same name, its use of innovations such as product placement encouraged players desperate to move up the automotive hierarchy online to be just as desperate to do so in real life. 5. Renren Restaurant Renren Restaurant is acopy of Restaurant City by Playfish on Facebook. The social network Renren, despite having a mostly open API, had its in-house game developers copy the game almost screen-for-screen. The gameâs relative sophistication (3D graphics, high social interaction) indicates the future of China social games. As Chinese developers become more accustomed to such features, titles will undoubtedly become more original. 6. Slave Manor Slave Manor copies the original Facebook game Friends for Sale! While in decline, this highly socially interactive game remains fairly popular on Kaixin001 and Qzone. White-collar workers flock to Kaixin001 to hire their boss as their virtual slaveâupon which they can make him shovel shit or marry an extremely ugly girl. Female slaves can be assigned to different hardships: serving as a âspecial hostessâ or marrying an old black slave. The punishments on the original Facebook game were likely far tamer. 7. Building One In Building One, users virtually live, work (e.g., by opening a hairdresser or spa), and socialize together in a single tall tower. Visually, this creates an appealing skyscraper to explore. Stealing customers and coins from other shops is a key part of the game. You can see from the picture you can develop different parts of the building, such as a restaurant with a dining area where you can serve cakes and whatever else you want to cook for your guests. Itâs like a bunch of different simulations in one game. 8. Wonder Hospital In Wonder Hospital, users heal patients to acquire money and fame. The game includes innovative and controversial ads: a zeppelin flies overhead promoting the Yu Ting brand of contraceptives. Moveover, in-game actions are especially nasty. When visiting a friendâs hospital, players can enforce fines, steal patients, throw rubbish, let a dog loose, park a truck to block access, and âmystery mischiefâ indicated by a bomb icon. This could change as the government âintegratesâ social games into its harmonious society . 9. Animal Paradise In Animal Paradise, users raise and collect products from animals, a combination of the popular farm and pet game formulas. Users are behooved to log-in-often lest an animalâs loyalty score drops to zero, in which case it can be stolen away. Here, you can see a flock of ducks nesting on eggs. There are all sorts of breeds that you can create and manage. If you take care of your animals properly, they will multiply. Rekoo , the gameâs Beijing-based developer, recently scored $1.5 million from a Japanese VC and already has games on an impressive list of social networks worldwide: Facebook, Myspace, Cyworld (Korea), and Mixi (Japan). The game is similar to a lot of Western games, so it will be interesting to see if Western social game developers take it back and clone it for their own markets. 10. Small Games Small Games is a collection of classic games ranging from Tetris to Air Hockey, similar to MindJolt Games on Facebook. The games are quick, simple, and mildly socially interactive. Such casual, single-player games are quickly being eclipsed by richer social games, both in China and on Facebook.
One of todayâs hottest games on Chinese social networking sites, especially among white-collar workers. Users earn virtual cash for parking on their friendâs lots and for ticketing their friends when they park âillegallyâ. After earning enough money, users can buy more expensive cars. Millions of white collar professionals are hooked; many check their Xiaonei or 51.com profiles several times each day to update their parking status. And why? For fun, of course. After all, that is the primary motivation of Chinese netizens when logging onto a SNS.
http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/16/chinese-government-police-social-games/ In Wonder Hospital, the game actions are especially nasty. When visiting a friendâs hospital, players can enforce fines, steal patients, throw rubbish, let a dog loose, park a truck to block access, and create âmystery mischiefââ indicated by a bomb icon. The one cooperative option is to send medical experts to assist. That balance could change as the government âintegratesâ social games into its harmonious society. In Happy Farms, players now âpickâ rather than âstealâ their neighbourâs plants.
SNS as a public space â Many Western users see social networking sites as an extension of their real-life relationships, and their online social circles often reflect this perspective. Chinese users, on the other hand, are more likely to add strangers via the Internet and generally accept most friend invitations. And instead of keeping online conversations within their own networks, Chinese netizens gravitate toward bulletin board systems (BBS) to express themselves and participate in completely public discussions. As one of our bloggers notes, âprivacy is not as important as interesting conversation.â
While Western users are often sensitive to âclutterâ around their social networking profiles (remember the initial backlash against Facebookâs flurry of new applications?), Chinese users dig the extras that come with social networking platforms. Viral games, contests, forum discussions, and other add-ons drive traffic because young Chinese netizens donât hesitate to send message after message to friends, inviting them to get involved on social networking platforms. For instance, on a site called QQ Show, developed by Chinaâs SNS giant Tencent , users dress up their avatars and compete in virtual fashion shows. Teens will IM their friends fervently, asking for votes on QQ Show. And while some of us are tempted to label this as âspam,â itâs just another way for Chinese SNS users to engage and interact with each other. As you can imagine, these SNS applications are huge in creating user stickiness and encouraging users to repeatedly visit the site.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/24/internet-retail-sales-oped-cx_sr_0625china.html Traditionally thought to be because Chinese are cautious savers who do not buy on credit, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) 24th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China Page 5 of 61 Transaction trust: Internet users have low trust in online transactions, with only 29.2% recognizing the security of online transactions. Taobao.com, the Internet shopping subsidiary of the Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba, has announced that it has started to deploy authorized offline stores to provide convenience to consumers who cannot shop online in China. The first batch of 150 offline authorized stores of Taobao.com has been put into operation in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The Internet retail platform plans to deploy over 30,000 such stores in communities and schools across China before the end of 2010. By paying a small service fee, consumers can ask these authorized stores to help them buy various products on Taobao.com and they can then pay for these products in cash. In addition, consumers will be free from fraud problems that are common for Internet shopping, because each of these authorized stores has paid a certain amount of margin to Taobao.com. If these stores violate the rights and interests of consumers, Taobao.com will compensate the consumers.
Taobao is a one-stop online platform for shopping, socializing and information sharing for consumers in China . Founded by parent Alibaba Group , it facilitates transactions between individual consumers and a wide range of sellers such as retailers, wholesalers, and other individuals. Sellers are able to post new and used goods for sale on the Taobao marketplace either through a fixed price or negotiated sale or by auction. 1 Taobao.com has announced that it has started to deploy authorized offline stores to provide convenience to consumers who cannot shop online in China. The first batch of 150 offline authorized stores of Taobao.com has been put into operation in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The Internet retail platform plans to deploy over 30,000 such stores in communities and schools across China before the end of 2010. By paying a small service fee, consumers can ask these authorized stores to help them buy various products on Taobao.com and they can then pay for these products in cash. In addition, consumers will be free from fraud problems that are common for Internet shopping, because each of these authorized stores has paid a certain amount of margin to Taobao.com. If these stores violate the rights and interests of consumers, Taobao.com will compensate the consumers.
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SEE OTHER EXAMPLES BELOW: WWF in China (BBH China) http://www.campaignbrief.com/asia/2009/04/bbh-china-launches-mobile-push.html Video http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODY4ODc3MzY=.html Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) China. A mobile application that literally puts the fate of wildlife in your hands. Central to the mobile game is a virtual bear that represents wildlife whose survival and natural habitat is constantly threatened. The bear struggles to adapt to an unfamiliar habitat - the surroundings of your office, home, or city seen through the eyes of your camera phone. Once the application is downloaded from the WWF China homepage and the game selected, point your camera phone anywhere and you will see the virtual bear - that bumps into walls, trips down stairs, and runs away from moving cars.The technology simply tracks the real environment the bear is in and translates this into a three-dimensional computer model that allows the bear to calculate its position on the phone screen. The mobile game ends with the message 'Wildlife's fate is in your hands' - and gives users the opportunity to get involved or spread the campaign immediately.The sign up button links you to the WWF China action webpage and the share button immediately opens your SMS address book, for easy viral sharing. Haier F campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg_KL5ZpfcA Lenevo Thinkpad promotion http://augmented-reality-news.com/2009/10/07/digital-marketing-lenovo-thinkpad-promotion-for-students-in-china-powered-by-total-immersion/ McDonalds in Hong Kong http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/12947 AR for marketing purposes makes the news: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTI4MzM1NTA4.html QR code releases a gift
http://www.slashgear.com/qderopateo-ouidoo-platform-blends-augmented-reality-china-mobile-and-a-us-carrier-2971987/ Augmented Reality (AR) is making gradual inroads into smartphones , but a collaborative US/Chinese startup reckons the process needs to be accelerated.  QderoPateo are looking to bring âArticulated Naturalityâ â which would include AR as part of âAmbient Intelligenceâ  - to market, and have designed not only an OS but their own custom chipset and a hardware device that uses it, the QderoPateo Ouidoo.  While weâve seen enough cellular startups launch and then wither, the company have apparently secured âseveral millionâ in funding, a manufacturing partner, and deals with China Mobile and an unnamed US carrier. Rather than use QR codes, 2D barcodes or other staples of current AR systems, QderoPateo are aiming for nothing less than full image recognition.  The Ouidoo will have two dual-core parallel processors paired with 2GB of RAM and an 8GB chipset, used for rendering and manipulating interactive 3D images, while accelerometers, gyrometers and GPS are combined to apparently pinpoint user-location with ten-times more accuracy than GPS alone. While the Ouidoo is expected to make its debut at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo this spring, QderoPateo will also be launching an iPhone app â WorldLenns â which gives a partial insight into their software plans.  As for the business model, they reckon they can finally make proximity-based marketing pay its way. http://www.qderopateo.com/
With a proportion of 15 per cent (international average is six per cent) of the advertising budget outdoor advertising (out of home media - OoH) is a highly attractive media form in China. Together with TV, out of home advertising is the type of media with the highest coverage in China. The recalled media usage is around 90 per cent. (stats from http://www.businessmediachina.com/the-company/corporate-profile/business-segments/out-of-home-media.html)
http://hi.baidu.com/adidas Baidu Brand Club by Staff Writer   29-May-08, 18:04 Chinese search engine Baidu's efforts to attract more investment from overseas brands recently led to the launch of a service called Baidu Brand Club.This allows brands to develop a broader presence on Baidu than a simple sponsored link. The first brand to take advantage of the service is adidas ( http:// hi.baidu.com/adidas ).The page is similar to a branded profile on a social network, and features the latest TV ads and other branding work. According to Antony Yiu, who heads up search for Isobar agencies wwwins Consulting and iProspect Hong Kong, the service âprovides a platform to integrate all web 2.0 technology on one single interface: blogs, fan sign-ups, forums, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baidu Search, Baidu MP3 and other products.âAdidas can post TV ads on the site and send marketing messages to its fan group.
http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2008/05/nike_706_space.php Eighty-eight days before the opening ceremony of the Olympics XXIV (on 8 August 2008) Nike filled a warehouse space in Beijing's up and coming 798 Arts District with their 100 most innovative accomplishments and I was fortunate enough to be one of the first to see it. A gallery-like exhibit providing insight into the inspiration behind some of the game-changing footwear and apparel, it's a clear reminder why Nike is truly one of the best at harnessing design to improve athlete performance. The space itself is built to look like stacks of iconic orange Nike shoe boxes, some holding original prototypes and signature models. Highlights include Michael Johnson's original gold track shoes, a prototype of Ronaldo's Mercurial Vapor and various Tinker Hatfield prototypes that rarely see the light of day. Upon entering the space, visitors are greeted with an iPod Touch preloaded with 100 tracks highlighting a short explanation for each innovation. Interactive displays, rotating and shifting images on the ceilings and a menagerie of hard to find gems had people salivating. See more images after the jump . While there are those who might think Nike is only about air-cushioned soles, the visual timeline proving their tireless energy and consistent improvements and inventions all in one place is an impressive sight to see. For those who jock Nike for the more fashionable limited-editions, the brand, its reps and the exhibit are all invariably on message, touting the mantra that form follows function with sport very much still at the core of the brand. Nike 706 will be left up for a month and will host similar exhibitions during the Olympics. If you're lucky enough to attend the Olympic Games this fall, take a minute and visit this Nike shrine.
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/02/04/cell-phone-has-built-in-cigarette-lighter-in-other-news-i-have-officially-seen-it-all/ Straight out of China comes âThe Machismo!â â billed as âthe worldâs hottest cigarette lighter mobile phone.â Does that mean thereâs more than one? Like, are there other, lesser, not-as-hot cell phones with built-in cigarette lighters? Nothing would surprise me after seeing this. According to the product description on Chinavasion.com: â The problem with modern life is you have to carry around too many things in your pockets. Wallet, keys, iPod, cellphone, and if youâre a smoker â a cigarette lighter too. Well hereâs the perfect solution â The Machismo . Instead of carrying a phone AND a lighter, just turn this amazing phone around, slide open the safety latch, and the underlying heating element heats up in under 2 seconds. Place your cigarette on the glowing element and puff. Your cigarette is lit and you can enjoy your smoke. Super huh? Yes, Machismo!â As a communications device, itâs a triband GSM phone with dual SIM slots, a 2.5-inch touchscreen, 1.3-megapixel camera, and multimedia playback. And if you thought you had to spend a fortune for a phone that can light your cigarettes, buckle up. Itâs only $68.51, unlocked. Thatâs less than two cartons of decent smokes here in the States.
http://www.wikihow.com/Count-to-Ten-in-Mandarin äž yÄ« (yi1) [eee] äș Ăšr (er4) [arr] äž sÄn (san1) [sahn] ć sĂŹ (si4) [ssuh] - like a snake with 'uh' (say the vowel in the back of your throat) äș wÇ (wu3) [woo] (Not to be confused with wo [woaa] meaning I or me.) ć lĂŹu (liu4) [liou] äž qÄ« (qi1) [chi] (say it in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together and your lips pulled to the sides) ć « bÄ (ba1) [bah] äč jiÇ (jiu3) [jeou] ć shĂ (shi2) [sher (This time, say the vowel in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together)
http://www.wikihow.com/Count-to-Ten-in-Mandarin äž yÄ« (yi1) [eee] äș Ăšr (er4) [arr] äž sÄn (san1) [sahn] ć sĂŹ (si4) [ssuh] - like a snake with 'uh' (say the vowel in the back of your throat) äș wÇ (wu3) [woo] (Not to be confused with wo [woaa] meaning I or me.) ć lĂŹu (liu4) [liou] äž qÄ« (qi1) [chi] (say it in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together and your lips pulled to the sides) ć « bÄ (ba1) [bah] äč jiÇ (jiu3) [jeou] ć shĂ (shi2) [sher (This time, say the vowel in the front of your mouth, with your teeth together)
