Obstacles of Opinion Research in China
The expense of brand promotion in China is extremely high because all actions are more or less shots in the dark. The brand managers don’t know the target groups well enough to be able to focus the efforts. The major problem is that there is no social polling whatsoever to monitor the attitudes and opinions of consumers.
This Jimei University Web 2.0 research offers for the first time a solution to this problem.
Can they trust the Authorities?
The study gives hundreds of valuable findings. For example, the state is above all criticism in China. It is e.g. forbidden to make use of national emblems, the national anathem, government entities or names of government employees in advertising or in movies. The motives for the decisions are not public and the private life of politicians and officials is veiled with strict secrecy. Has all this strenghtened or weakened the authority of the officials? Do students trust the authorities? Are they reliable? What say 82 per cent of the voters?
Is it Glorious to be Rich?
Since the 1980’s the well-known slogan in China has been: it’s glorious to be rich. Affluent people are introduced as examples for the rest of the citizens. With hard work everything is possible in today’s China. Daily papers report the success stories of millionaires and billionaires. Thus, what do full 89 per cent of the readers say? Can you get rich by honest means in contemporary China? Is it really glorious to be rich?
All Work and no Play?
High work ethics is a basic Confucian virtue in the Empire of the Middle. What about the young generation? When asked can the employee leave for a holiday and risk that an urgent project might be late, what do the readers say? Which one is more important, the private or the public domain? Has the older generation succeeded in passing its virtues to the younger generation? Thousands of students gave a thundering answer to this dilemma.
Give Peace a Chance
China likes to demonstrate herself as an exceptional peace-loving nation. On the other hand, martial arts and civil war movies run day and night on TV and in the movies. The police and military is everywhere. What has been the result of these contradictionary signals? When polled several times should the heroes fight or run, what did the readers decide? How peace-loving are tomorrow’s decision-makers in China, really? The study revealed the plain truth.
Thousand Pieces of Gold
Equality between genders was a cornerstone of the modern Chinese society right away from the beginning. Has the massive campaigning been successful? What do students really think of the roles of men and women? We know of course that the most popular names of girls are Pretty, Quiet and Sweet. The most popular boys’ names are Strong, Clever and Wise. But what did the study find out? Is equality only lip service? Can TingTing ever become an equal partner for Krem Trekker or is she only destined to make coffee for the fighter? The answer is crucial knowledge for every brand manager and advertiser in China and will be found in this study.
Does Sex sell?
Sex sells in the West. What about in China? Where is the line between romance and obscenity drawn? With a vast majority, thousands of students have now drawn the line for the first time and given a precious piece of information to the advertiser.
Who benefits from this study?
The Krem Trekker Diaries is an irreplaceable treasury for every brand manager for China, for every decision maker, politician, movie producer or citizen who is interested in the inner world of the rising middle class of this economic giant.
How we made the Reseach?
This was a Web 2.0 initiative of the South China Jimei University students. The task force created imaginative figures and published short stories about their adventures on the Internet. At the end of each mini chapter the readers could vote how the narrative continues.
The revolutionary innovation was that as the number of the readers increased to tens of thousands, the weekly results of the voting begun to disclose the inner thoughts and attitudes of the students, the future decision-makers of China. Thus, it was possible to draw a complete profile of this crucial target group.
The book is an irreplaceable treasury for every brand manager responsible for China and every decision maker who is interested in the inner world of the rising middle class of this economic giant.
