MindShare China consumer insights director, Peter Tan, said history accounted for some of the differences. Shenzhen only came into being as a major city after Deng Xiao-ping designated it a special economic zone in the '80s as part of China's open door policy. Shanghai, on the other hand, has a history dating back thousands of years.
"The significant point here is that Shenzhen has a population made up of migrants. People from many parts of China relocated there over only the past few decades because of economic opportunities.
"Shanghai, however, is made up of a mainly indigenous population, with roots going back many generations. So the make-up of the two places is very different."
Fortune seekers descended on Shenzhen in the hopes of finding lucrative work to provide money for their families living elsewhere in the mainland.
Given the pressure to earn, the populace of the southern Chinese city are bigger risk-takers compared with the other cities in the study. But their appetite for risks is accompanied by a high fear of failure because of the pressure to provide for families. Hence the strong feelings of pessimism, isolation, pressure and frustration exhibited among Shenzhen respondents.
Which probably explains why people actively searched for freedom and ways to escape the everyday pressures of life, says Tan. "They are more likely to opt for out-of-home entertainment and spend a significant sum of money to upgrade their lifestyle, especially through the purchase of home electronics, computers and internet access."
However, Shanghai's residents, in particular the indigenous population, are more optimistic and family and friendship-oriented.
The hugely different attitudes to life has far-reaching implications on media strategies. Television, for instance, trails in Shenzhen because it lacks escapist programmes. Respondents who participated in focus groups made a number of similar comments including "the programmes are of a lower quality than before", "they have repeats and re-runs
and "the programmes from Hong Kong have already been modified by the Chinese Government".
Magazines, as a source of entertainment information, are also preferred to newspapers. "Another piece of evidence which highlights the fact that people in Shenzhen shy away from general news because they find them depressing.
Magazines have value to them because they contain 'escape' entertainment,
says MindShare Asia-Pacific research director, Annette Nazaroff.
At the opposite end, Shanghai respondents rated television highly because it provided family entertainment. Newspapers are also perceived as being sharp, indepth and a source of knowledge. The two cities are also poles apart when it comes to outdoor advertising. Shenzhen gives it the thumbs up because the medium adds colour to the city and the advertising message is simple and easy to understand. In sharp contrast, Shanghainese turned their noses up at outdoor. Telling responses from focus groups included such comments as: "It is rather ugly, and makes the city look unattractive", "I find them boring and uninteresting", and "we need more greenery, not more boards".
Nazaroff says the results of the survey underlines the fact that China should be treated as a network of different markets. "It's clear from the research that an outdoor and magazine campaign would be more effective in Shenzhen. Television and newspapers are the way to go in Shanghai.
Another important point is that brands, which provide escapism, fun and excitement will do well in Shenzhen. "The research also shows that media and brand strategies could be very different from province to province," says Nazaroff.
The study involved about 70,000 people at the quantitative phase and six groups of eight people in the qualitative stage.
