Digital Marketing In Chinese

Below I lay out some of the biggest findings from a Razorfish report I love entitled "Digital Dopamine: 2015 Global Digital Marketing Report".

According to Razorfish, "Ideas that were once dominant now face irrelevance, as new digital developments displace them. This transformation occurs rapidly, and marketers are constantly struggling to keep up. Therefore, in preparation for tomorrow, Razorfish took a deep dive into the qualitative and quantitative data of four international markets (the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Brazil) to examine the ways in which digital technology is shifting traditional brand-consumer relationships. From uncovering global commerce expectations to identifying the effect of digital on our subconscious, this research set out to expose the key trends shaping marketing."

What did Razorfish find in terms of how digital marketing was used in 2015? Here are a few of their key findings.

1. GENERATIONAL CHASM

Mobile dominates the Millennial shopping experience. A Millennial's smartphone is their key to the world. As mobile payment technology grows, mobile is going to become an even more important part of the overall brand and retail experience. Millennials draw no practical distinction between online and offline.

Millennials' constantly connected smartphones mean they no longer see a difference between "online" and "offline." Technology has become an integral part of their lives, and it is how they interact with and experience brands, even when in traditionally "offline" environments. They don't use media in silos. Rather, they use all of the tools at their fingertips at any given time, regardless of the device or platform.

Millennials are redefining privacy expectations. When compared to Gen X, Millennials are more likely to trust brands to protect their privacy-and less likely to think that mobile targeting is an invasion of privacy.

Plan for the Gen X / Gen Y digital divide. Millennials lead the pack when it comes to the adoption of technology, outpacing their Gen X counterparts in nearly every digital activity on a daily basis. Gen X-led organizations need to ensure that their brand experiences align with Millennials' tech-led lives and that digital isn't simply an afterthought in the brand planning process. Target carefully and with purpose.

2. THE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE ECONOMY:

Consumers are actively avoiding advertising. Consumers in all four markets (United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, China) report doing anything they can to avoid seeing advertising, and many are utilizing tools like DVRs to help them succeed.

Advertising is most effective when it is part of a value exchange. Consumers are now aware of how much their attention is worth to marketers, and they expect to be rewarded for it. They look to be compensated with loyalty programs, free content or useful tools that solve problems.

Brazil still has a cultural affinity to traditional advertising. Interestingly, Brazil remains more receptive to advertising than any of the other markets. Fifty-seven percent of Brazilian consumers endorse TV, radio and print ads as the most influential source of advertising. Therefore, it is important to understand that adding value means different things to different cultures.

Make yourself useful. Brands need to offer their customers services beyond core products and add some real value to peoples' lives, if they are not already. Although consumers no longer view a distinction between online and chinese digital marketing professional offline brand channels, brands are not yet structured to support this outlook.