Category: China Ad Campaign of the Year
Cert. of Excellence:
NetEase (www.163.com)
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Even though it had been in the marketplace for a few years, Internet
portal NetEase (www.163.com) had little brand character or value in the
eyes of the consumer when it appointed Saatchi & Saatchi as its
advertising agency in China last May.
Today, however, Saatchis has made NetEase one of the best-known portals
in China, and at the same time win a Certificate of Excellence in the
China Ad Campaign of the Year category.
Saatchis developed a carefully thought-out strategy, which has become
the foundation of the entire branding campaign, and which will guide the
evolution and development of the brand and its associated values through
the foreseeable future.
This strategy identified the importance of giving consumers respect.
Respect for appreciating the value of NetEase, respect for its heritage,
respect for being part of a powerful nation built on the strength of
participation.
National pride and patriotism were also seen to be powerful motivators
which had to be taken into account strategically, especially when
considering the fact that NetEase is essentially a local Chinese company
which has developed world class, cutting edge technology, such as the
development of the first Chinese search engine.
As a company, NetEase was also committed to providing access to the
Internet as a means of developing and enriching the lives of the Chinese
people.
This raised NetEase above the usual commercial aspirations of other
portals.
Consequently, the strategy takes into account this aspect of 'national
betterment' instead of purely retail commercialism.
The slogan "Power to the People" was therefore developed. Since it is a
motivational slogan, it goes beyond pure rhetoric, promising the
consumer 'power' through 'participation'.
It has the feeling of self-gain and encourages individual usage of
NetEase, yet also taps into the national pride of "people power" and the
fact that by concentrating the effort of so many people, anything is
possible.
From this slogan, a range of different Chinese situations was considered
to demonstrate this "people power".
These included the building of the Great Wall, the Dragon dance, even
the national sport of table tennis.
The idea behind each scene was the fact that to be successful, they all
require a team effort.
One person alone could not have accomplished much on his own.
It was this thought which became the core creative concept behind the
"What if ..." branding campaign for NetEase.
To date, television has been the main media used in the campaign, but
the creative concept, through both text and visual association has been
used in press and outdoor advertising.
The campaign was launched last August and in the short time period to
October, the campaign achieved very high levels of consumer brand
awareness, according to independent research released in October.
Specifically, NetEase had achieved the highest level of unaided
advertising awareness with all participants in the research as well as
the highest level of awareness among existing Internet users in
China.
To underline the success of the branding campaign, NetEase is now seen
as the No.1 portal in China and among the top 50 of the world's most
visited websites.
Contrast that to its position in May before the campaign: it was the
third largest portal in China behind Sina and Sohu.
