Talk given by Labbrand digital strategy director Kevin Gentle at the China Connect conference in March 2014. Email us at info@labbrand.com to get your free copy or ask us your questions.

1. “Losers, bromance and chicken & beer: a
journey into Chinese web culture”
Labbrand, China Connect conference – March 6th 2014

2. Question 1: What is web culture?
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3. What is web culture?
Web culture is a collective construction that is the result of millions of online
actions
Dissemination
Discussion
Forwarding and sharing
content, thereby giving
certain items exposure
and legitimacy as topics of
debate worthy of
attention.
Contributing one’s point of
view about different topics
through online
discussions.
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Creation
Creation of original
content by netizens.
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4. What are the different expressions of web
culture?
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5. What is web culture?
Images
“Mom, hit me one more time!”
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6. What is web culture?
Videos
“I just hit a duck!”
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7. What is web culture?
有木有
骚年
何弃疗
Language
土豪
米
欧巴
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PMM
P
男票
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8. What is web culture?
Behaviors
Going out for fried chicken
and beer
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Posting pictures of
statues wearing PM2.0
masks
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9. What is web culture?
Icons
Guo MeiMei
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Adult video star Sola Aoi
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10. What is web culture?
Discussions
Discussions about the 2014 CCTV Chinese
New Year Gala
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11. What is web culture?
Why is web culture unique?
Traditional culture
Web culture
Few sources of content
Infinite number of content sources
Oligarchy
Decentralized democracy
Information travels slowly
Information travels instantly
Audience receives content (purely
passive)
Audience receives and creates
content (active)
Power from above
Reflects grassroots opinion
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12. What is web culture?
Web culture shakes up the status quo! Examples
Female bachelors
女汉子
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Releasing pent-up
frustrations 无聊吐
槽
Bromance culture
腐文化
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13. Question 2: Why is web culture so important
in China?
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14. Why is web culture so important in China?
Breakdown of media time: China vs USA
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Print
Radio
TV
Internet
Mobile
Source: KPCB
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15. Why is web culture so important in China?
Do you live at least part of your life online?
86%
42%
Do you have a parallel life online?
61%
13%
Source: IAC/JWT
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16. Why is web culture so important in China
The social web in China is disproportionately important in
Setting the tone of popular debate
Allowing people to express themselves
Creating new elements of culture
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17. Question 3: How can my brand use web
culture?
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18. Dimension 1: web culture as a source of
market insights
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19. Web culture as a source of market insights
Doing market research in China is hugely challenging
Market size
Market fragmentation (geographical, social, generational)
Cultural barriers
Extremely fast pace of change
Questionable reliability of data
Distance from market (for western brands)
….
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20. Web culture as a source of market insights
To Grok
V. “To understand something so thoroughly that the
observer becomes part of the observed. To understand
intuitively or by empathy”
Notion introduced by Robert Heinlein in “stranger in a strange land”.
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21. xxx
Web culture allows brands to “Grok” China.
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22. Web culture as a source of market insights
Why is web culture a great tool to “Grok” China?
Highly reliable (based on millions of web interactions)
Directly measurable
Spontaneously created by netizens (no bias, reflects what they truly think)
Granular (can easily see who is talking about what and where)
Always up to date
Insights that come to life instead of abstract figures
Cheap
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23. Web culture as a source of market insights
Web culture allows you to decode China
Underlying
macro trends
Society
Ex: key social issues, generational gaps, class
relationships, gender relationships, perception of political
power, relationship with the outside world etc…
Lifestyles and attitudes
Ex: life habits, entertainment habits, vocabulary,
consumption behavior etc...
News and current debate
Circumstantial
elements
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Ex: reaction to hot news items, most
popular pop culture elements (movies, TV
shows, music etc…), hot discussion topics,
hot brands etc…
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24. Web culture as a source of market insights
Web culture allows you to decode China
Underlying
macro trends
What it shows about society
What people do
Circumstantial
elements
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What people talk
about
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25. Web culture as a source of market insights
Example 1: “Love from the stars” 来自星星的你
News and current debate
§ “Love from the stars” took the country by storm, becoming
the most discussed topic online in early 2014
Lifestyle and attitudes
§ Following the popularity of the show, millions of young
Chinese mimic the show’s lead character by going out for
fried chicken and beer
Society
§ The show hits a hot button with its target audience: love
and the search for “Mr. Right”
§ The type of pure, untainted love presented in the show is a
far cry from the experiences of most of the viewers
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26. Web culture as a source of market insights
Example 1: “Love from the stars” 来自星星的你
Eating fried chicken and beer is a perfect
example of how web culture influences
lifestyles. The show helped the Chinese
poultry industry recover from the bird flu
crisis.
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27. Web culture as a source of market insights
Example 2: Diaosi (losers) 屌丝
News and current debate
§ Many young Chinese men discussing how hard it is for
them to conform to social expectations of success (car,
house, wife…)
Lifestyle and attitudes
§ The term “diaosi” enters popular vocabulary
§ The “diaosi” attitude emerges based on self-depreciation,
irony and mild nihilism
Society
§ The “Diaosi” phenomenon represents a major cultural shift:
the first sign of broad scale rebellion against social norms
and conventional definitions of success
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28. Web culture as a source of market insights
Example 2: Diaosi (losers) 屌丝
90% of Chinese students define themselves as
Diaosis. These people represent your customers
of tomorrow.
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29. Web culture as a source of market insights
Example 3: Tuhao 土豪
News and current debate
§ Conspicuous behavior from Chinese millionaires gets major online
exposure
§ Release of golden iPhone 5s further fuels debate about tasteless,
conspicuous consumption
Lifestyle and attitudes
§ The word “Tuhao” is brought back to the front scene and becomes a
commonly used word to qualify nouveau riche type behavior
§ Luxury consumers move towards lower-key brands to avoid Tuhao
associations
§ Young consumers ironically mimic Tuhao attitudes (the hipster
Tuhao)
Society
§ “Tuhao” expresses the deepening gap between China’s first
generation of super rich and the new upper-middle class
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30. Web culture as a source of market insights
Example 3: Tuhao 土豪
The gold iPhone was quickly dubbed the
“Tuhao gold iPhone”, an association the
brand would probably have liked to avoid.
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31. xxx
Web culture is your window onto what’s going
on in China.
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32. Dimension 2: web culture a driver of brand
actions
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33. Web culture as a driver of brand action
Web culture elements can be integrated into any type of brand action
Brand repositioning
Campaign design
New product launch
Product innovation
Online content production
…
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34. Web culture as a driver of brand action
Example: the Diaosi guide to hotel booking by Ctrip
How can Diaosis impress their
bosses when helping them book a
hotel abroad?
Ctrip has the solution with its Diaosi
guide to hotel booking. Thanks to
Ctrip, Diaosis can navigate the
obstacles and get on the boss’ right
side!
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35. Web culture as a driver of brand action
Example: Diaosis stand up for their computer games
What is one of the key
characteristics of Diaosis? They play
computer games.
Game producer ZT Games positioned
its game “World of immortal heros”
as the game of choice for a
generation of proud Diaosis with this
hard hitting ad in which gamers
proudly claim “I’m a Diaosi!”.
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36. Web culture as a driver of brand action
Example: KFC riding the chicken and beer craze
It’s a dream situation when the
country’s hottest TV show heavily
features your star product.
Hours ahead of the series finale, KFC
heavily promoted its super fast home
delivery service on Sina Weibo and
encouraged its fans to post pictures
of themselves enjoying beer and KFC
chicken.
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37. Web culture as a driver of brand action
Example: Android and DELL defeat the Tuhao
The concept of Tuhao was from the
very start strongly associated with
Apple’s gold iPhone 5s.
In a recent ad for Dell tablets, the
cute Android alien mascot defeats
the arrogant golden Tuhao alien and
his army of minions!
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38. Web culture as a driver of brand action
Example: Canon’s capitalizing on the “virtual girlfriend” buzz
In recent weeks pictures of a
netizen’s “virtual girlfriend” have
gone viral on social media,
symbolizing the loneliness of many
Chinese men desperate to find love.
Canon reacted by asking its fans
what they would do if they too had
such a virtual girlfriend.
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39. Web culture as a driver of brand action
Example: Buick seducing the post 80s generation
Online is where individuals assert
their status as members of a
generation.
Buick has used these codes in its
latest “encore” campaign that
features one video for each year of
the 80s decade. The campaign
positions Buick as the brand of
choice for the new generation.
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40. Question 4: How do I make my brand and
business receptive to web culture?
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41. How to do it
How can your brand make the best out of web culture?
Spot
Share
Take action
§ Have strong listening
tools
§ Identify the elements of
web culture that are
most relevant to your
brand
§ Share knowledge about
relevant web culture
elements across the
company
§ Be able to quickly take
action based on
elements of web culture
(requires organizational
agility and decentralized decision
making processes)
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42. Time for some questions!
Twitter
Linkedin
Wechat
@Kevingentle
@labbrand
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