SINGAPORE, May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- President of
Tencent Online Media Group and Senior
Executive Vice President of Tencent
Holdings, SY Lau, delivered the Mobile China keynote speech last
week at the sixth Mobile Marketing Association Forum Singapore (MMA
Forum) - an annual meeting of senior marketing executives from
brands, mobile specific and digital agencies, operators, technology
enablers and other stakeholders of the mobile marketing
industry.
"100 years ago, the automobile became a symbol of the American
industrial revolution. Today, mobile internet is transforming how
and where people work, live, interact and consume in China," said Mr. Lau.
"With the largest internet user base and the largest number of
mobile netizens in the world, China is now pushing boundaries and leading
change at the front lines of the global mobile internet adoption.
China has overtaken the US across
multiple mobile growth metrics, in terms of the number of mobile
internet users, mobile penetration and access to social media.
Driven by government policies that ensure fast development towards
4G infrastructure, a growing ecosystem of new software applications
and innovation advancements that drive down technology cost, the
Mobile market in China is set to
boom."
Not just a Business Extension but a Disruptive
Technology
"Mobile has overtaken PC Internet, TV, Print and Radio as the
most important media, with consumers in China spending over 40 percent of their time
on the platform. Businesses need to realize that Mobile is not
just an extension of business as usual, but is disrupting
how and where people work, live, interact and consume. We
need to break away from traditional approaches to business and
marketing and adopt a fresh perspective when developing new
products and services," Mr. Lau said.
Mobile has also taken on an integral role in the consumer's
purchase process as a decision-making tool, with nearly 50 percent
of Chinese mobile internet users using the platform to search for
dining and entertainment information to support their purchase
decisions. This demand has in turn driven the development of mobile
lifestyle applications, such as DidiDache - a leading taxi
service app in China, which meet
consumers' lifestyle needs.
The pervasiveness of mobile technologies has also changed
consumers' payment notions. Mr. Lau said that Chinese consumers are
now increasingly adopting mobile payment due to the convenience of
technologies such as QR-codes, and in the process, changing their
traditionally conservative attitudes towards payment methods.
Three Emerging Key Trends in Mobile Marketing
A senior business leader at Tencent, Asia's
biggest internet company, Mr. Lau oversees the company's business
related to news portal, video site and Tencent microblog. In his speech, Mr. Lau also
discussed how marketing needs to evolve amidst these changes
to focus on being an enabler, with a focus on creating new cash
points, to stay relevant and agile in responding to consumers
throughout the buying cycle as distribution becomes increasingly
decentralized.
Mobile technologies have altered the way people connect with
information, people and businesses. It is disrupting the way they
live and changing the role of marketing. With growing demand for
utility-based mobile services, brands need to go beyond simply
persuading consumers to purchase a product and instead take on the
role as supporters and enablers by providing purchase
recommendations and offering a range of services. With advancements
in data analytics, marketers can gain deeper insights over consumer
behavior and tailor their content according to the consumer's age,
gender and even environment.
Mr. Lau highlighted that mobile has also altered the buying
cycle, opening new opportunities for closed-loop marketing. As
mobile continues its growth, the role of media in marketing is
shifting from being simply a channel for consumer touch-points to
creating new cash points across the buying cycle. In China, Tencent
launched a campaign with Mercedes-Benz to offer automobile sales
through Weixin (the Chinese brand of the WeChat mobile app). In 3
minutes, 388 Smart cars were sold, 1,751 down payments were made
and 6,677 sales queries were received. With consumers using mobile
internet as a dominant source of information in their purchase
decisions, Mobile technologies enable marketers to gather real-time
information and intervene content distribution channels to drive
faster purchase cycles.
At the same time, consumers are expecting tailored marketing
content that cater to their personal preferences without intruding
into their personal privacy. With the rise of omni-channel
retailing, customers are looking for access to personal, consistent
and convenient shopping experiences across multiple platforms. As a
result, content distribution is becoming increasingly
decentralized. Companies need to build their infrastructure and
capabilities for greater agility to respond to real-time,
mass-customization demands.
Mr. Lau commented, "Business leaders and marketers need to
embrace the changes and tap into new opportunities that are
emerging in the mobile revolution. The road ahead is not without
challenges, but the opportunity for business growth is greater than
the risks of ignoring the rising generation of digital natives that
are living in a new Mobile age."
Tencent was recently ranked by
BrandZ as the world's fastest growing brand in the world,
represented by a 97 percent improvement in brand value.
Tencent also tops the charts as the
most valuable brand within Asia.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140527/91177
SOURCE Tencent