Taiwan's top 10 digital brands report

More than ever, Taiwanese firms are showing that they are successfully engaging with a digitally active population.

While three Taiwanese companies fell from the top 20, five new players have joined from the food and beverage, technology, real estate and financial sectors, forming a broad spectrum of companies using digital as a core part of their marketing.

In terms of digital platforms, the dedicated website is more prominent in Taiwan than anywhere. Nonetheless, marketers need to ensure their messages are sound, because despite interest in digital, Taiwanese people can also be sceptical. A higher than Asian average number say they do not trust such websites. And, when respondents were asked about the overall persuasiveness of digital, they appeared less confident than their peers and more likely to distrust the medium completely.

The Taiwanese still set great store by the opinions of family and friends, with nearly 60 per cent saying they trust them above all else. This could explain why they also have the least trust in sources such as email newsletters, and consumer opinion in chat rooms and on message boards. Use of sponsored content, banners, pop-up ads and SMS is on the rise. But marketers have a way to go before they can persuade the Taiwanese to trust them - particularly SMS ads. Of those who responded, 52 per cent said they have a lack of confidence in them, second only to China’s level of distrust.

There are other areas in which the Taiwanese and Chinese think alike. Both record the highest levels of distrust in in-game ads. While they are the most sceptical, it should be noted that the platform elicits a wary response across Asia, suggesting that consumers find it difficult to differentiate between what is entertainment and what is a genuinely worthwhile source of information.

Top 10 brands

1. 7-Eleven
2. McDonald's
3. Chunghwa Telecom
4. Uni-President
5. Taiwan Mobile
6. Momoshop
7. HTC
8. Far Eastone Telecommunications
9. Chinatrust Financial
10. Citibank

Top 10 motivating advertisers

1. HTC
2. 7-Eleven
3. Uni-President
4. Sony Ericsson
5. McDonald's
6. ASUS
7. Momoshop
8. Whisper
9. Nokia
10. Taiwan Beer

Top 10 spenders

1. Citigroup
2. China Motor Corporation (CMC)
3. Mercedes-Benz
4. Sony
5. Chunghwa Telecom
6. Chinatrust
7. Hyundai
8. Ford
9. Kimberly-Clark
10. Samsung

Methodology

Research company TNS interviewed a total of 3,000 consumers, aged 15 to 39, across six Asian markets: China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore,Taiwan and Thailand.

Interviews were conducted online using an access panel provided by Lightspeed, a Kantar company.

The research had four main objectives:

• To understand consumer awareness of a brand’s digital presence in each market
• To examine the use of digital media by different brands in the region
• To assess the effect a brand’s digital presence has on influencing consumer choice
• To explore levels of consumer trust towards different media channels

Accurate representation of consumers was achieved via stratified sampling with quotas on age, gender and city in line with population distribution. The brands included in the survey comprise the top spending online advertisers in each market across all media, according to Nielsen’s advertising expenditure data.

This study therefore focuses on the digital presence of the top advertisers only. Those advertisers and brands not included in the list of top spenders are by default excluded from the study.