When I worked in a marketing agency, I spent a lot of time working on youth brands in China and across Asia-Pacific. I remember standing in Shanghai and being amazed at what was slapping me in the face – that China was not a communist country in the way that my education had led me to believe. It was a massive market economy – with controlled borders. And inside these borders entrepreneurialsm was rampant, individualised and driven by a restless desire for growth and economic wellbeing.
But what is this really like? How does it play out in the youth market?
One key thing to remember is that mobile phones are the most affordable and widespread of all technologies. Rather than being the “third screen” that they are in the West, for many young Chinese, the mobile, connected device is the first and most important screen.
In this presentation, Graham Brown and John Solomon talk through the three key trends impacting Chinese youth in the mobile space:
- Slowing markets
- Market saturation
- SMS is replaced by messenger products
I have a feeling that we can look to China as a trend-setter in this regard. In Australia and the US, I expect we’ll see similar patterns. This will impact the approach we take to engaging and marketing to consumers through mobile devices. The only difference perhaps is that the messenger products already have names like Twitter and Facebook.
Interesting times ahead!
Thanks for sharing, Gav.
I completely agree with you about the environment inside China’s controlled borders. My experience so far in Shanghai has been very similar to yours.