CReATION: Netease TVC takes China to the Internet

<p>With relevant content embraced by a community spirit, Netease has </p><p>grown at a spectacular rate since its launch five years to easily being </p><p>one of the more popular websites in China today. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What is surprising though is that much of that growth was due to word of </p><p>mouth advertising rather than from any formal promotional campaigns. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, despite its successes, Netease recently launched a nationwide </p><p>television and print campaign to ensure that it would continue to </p><p>command top of mind awareness and interest among the majority of Chinese </p><p>Internet users. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>According to Mr Craig Davis, regional executive creative director of </p><p>Saatchi & Saatchi - Netease's advertising agency - the website has the </p><p>largest number of people chatting online at any one time, about 14,000, </p><p>compared with around 4,000 for Yahoo. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But the advertising campaign was made necessary because China's Internet </p><p>market was quadrupling in size every year, he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"They want to make absolutely sure that they have a fair share of that </p><p>growth. They might have the largest number of people chatting at any one </p><p>time, but really 14,000 is not a really big number in China's scale of </p><p>things," Mr Davis told MEDIA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The 30 and 60-second TVCs aimed to portray Netease as being steeped in </p><p>Chinese culture and having a strong sense of community spirit. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Davis said that Netease was a made in China, for China website. "It's </p><p>about the community spirit, cooperation, the sharing of ideas, wisdom </p><p>and knowledge and ultimately empowering the individual. It's not about </p><p>exploiting people or information. It's much more humanitarian in </p><p>outlook," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Under the tagline, "Power to the People", the commercials highlight </p><p>scenes that are synonymous with China - the Great Wall, gunpowder, table </p><p>tennis and the Dragon Boat Festival. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, a series of questions punctuates the TVCs: "What if the Great </p><p>Wall of China had been left to just one person? What if gunpowder had </p><p>been kept a secret? What if ping had no pong?" </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>These questions are answered at the end of the commercial with the </p><p>statement: "Only by helping each other can we be 1.2 billion times </p><p>stronger. That's the power of the Internet. Netease. Power to the </p><p>people." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Davis said, "We set out to make a very powerful leadership statement </p><p>on behalf of the brand; something relevant, emotional and </p><p>entertaining. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Netease is about bringing China to the Internet rather than taking the </p><p>Internet to China." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>