Tencent Social Ads charge up global markets with China innovations

A new generation of entrepreneurs in China has injected fresh energy and vigour into the world. Tapping into and boosting China’s potential as a global innovation leader, Tencent Social Ads (TSA) is on a mission to empower these China innovations to take its place on the international stage.

“Apart from being the world’s second-largest economy, China has the world’s second-largest advertising market,” said Davis Lin, vice president of Tencent. “In spite of this, China does not yet command the attention and recognition from the world as an innovator.”

With 700 million mobile internet users domestically, China is boosting its creative and digital capabilities to meet the herald of the country’s ‘mobile social era’. TSA believes that advertisers and marketers must integrate innovation with mobile social in brand marketing to increase brand awareness and values.

Lin said TSA holds a crucial position in the development of the new age as it fosters innovations at a grassroots level. At the same time, it pushes messages to consumers on a global scale. TSA can also serve larger community goals, he added, as it promotes social innovation and to connect the community.

Window to creativity

One way TSA is powering China’s global reputation for innovation is through its partnership with The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the iconic creativity festival held in the south of France. Top of the agenda is to debunk the widely held impression of China as an isolated and disconnected social media innovation centre where Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube and other internet juggernauts are banned.

The first initiative of the collaboration with Cannes 2017 is a dedicated official account in Chinese on WeChat—one of China’s most-used mobile applications where the latest count is 938 million active users and 12 million official accounts. Cannes is a prime venue for East to meet West.

The Cannes WeChat account

The WeChat official account will post daily updates, taking the form of a blog post, video, infographic or photos. It will also tap into WeChat Pay to allow customers to pay for goods and services directly through the app.

East-West cultural differences continue to pose challenges to Western companies trying to market themselves in China. Non-Chinese advertisers and marketers find it difficult to integrate their creative ideas into workable marketing solutions if they fail to understand cultural variations. Chairman of Cannes Lions, Terry Savage, believes the collaboration with Tencent Social Ads at Cannes 2017 will address many of the challenges that Western enterprises encounter.

Mobile social and ecommerce are where China is leading the way. Many Western businesses find China a huge potential market from which they can’t afford to be absent. “The Cannes Lions delegates will be given a valuable opportunity to gain a better understanding of the Chinese advertising market and how they could engage and influence the Chinese community,” said Savage, “We value the opportunity with TSA to ensure we can engage and support our Chinese attendees.”