The changing face of advertising in China

With the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party over, it's time to raise new slogans as encapsulation of contemporary ideas and challenges.

Use of slogans in China, as in the rest of the world, is a long tradition. Emperors, political leaders and corporations have coined slogans to communicate their ideas, enthuse the public into action, motivate them, win their support and, of course, to open up their wallets.

Slogans have been integral to life in China. One of the best known slogans, "let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend" made famous by Mao Zedong, has its origins in the Warring States period of 475-221 BC.

During the early days of communism, the country was wired up through public address systems with broadcast of slogans, exhortations, party doctrine and messages. From time to time, new slogans would be coined but the one that really changed the country and paved the way for rapid economic strides was by Deng Xiaoping: "to get rich is glorious".

The current adage by President Hu Jintao is "harmonious society". Some time ago, when the government abolished the agricultural tax, the move was accompanied by a slogan of "new countryside". Also doing the rounds for quite some time is China's ambition to achieve a "moderately prosperous society" (xiao kang).

In his two-and-a-half-hour address to the delegates, President Hu, while describing several important achievements and challenges facing China today, added a few more in this Congress - scientific outlook on development (implying balanced and sustainable development) and socialism with Chinese characteristics (indicating that China will chart out its own unique path and the rest of the world should stop expecting it to follow them).

Commercial slogans

Many international advertising slogans such as "Just do it" of Nike and "I am loving it" of McDonald's have also found their way into China. However, with a long tradition of sloganeering, it was not surprising that the initial ad lines often resembled the tone and form of old slogans.

Even now a large proportion of ads seen on Chinese TV comprises models holding the product to the camera and ecstatically recounting its virtues.

It was earlier thought that Chinese consumer is a simple soul and can't understand the subtlety of soft and clever advertising. Direct communication of the benefits in unambiguous terms was considered the safest route of communication.

As a result, while advertising in many other markets is as much entertainment as brand communication and attempts to engage the consumer through subtle creative devices, in China it is often a direct onslaught with the core benefit - often repeated several times within the same advertisement.

However, research in China shows this direct approach does not have to be the one that an advertiser needs to embrace to succeed. Emotional advertising works and so does humor, endorsement or any of the other genres of advertising practiced elsewhere.

The success of advertising in China, as elsewhere, depends on the ability of the ad to address the key consumer concerns, to overcome the deterrents for use and offer persuasive motivations for adoption of the brand. It also depends on the extent to which the advertising portrays a social imagery that the target group can identify with and its ability to reflect consumer culture and aspirations.

Sophisticated research techniques are available to help companies in creating effective advertising, pre-testing it and monitoring its continued effectiveness.

With the growth of Web 2.0 and user-generated media, companies are also recognizing the need to include the common consumers as co-creators of communication, not merely as testers in research.

Consumers often unleash their creativity on the Net in parodying commercial advertising or sometimes trying to improve it. Companies and agencies have realized the need to harness this creativity and new solutions are being developed for creation of more effective advertising.

The author heads research methods and analytics for TNS in the Asia-Pacific region

(China Daily 11/08/2007 page15)