Advertising Week New York: Tencent Illustrates a Digital Future

NEW YORK, Sept. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Advertising Week New York, the largest annual conference of global advertising and marketing professionals, held its 14^th opening ceremony on Sep. 25^th. The conference features global advertisers including WPP, Publicis Group, Dentsu, DDB Worldwide, and internet giants from around the world. As the only Chinese internet company invited to this world-class marketing celebration, Tencent has held extensive discussions with industry-leading minds on marketing opportunities and innovations as well as the future of digital commerce.

In three sessions and panel discussions with global experts as well as advertisers and agencies, Tencent introduced its latest digital advertising practice and innovative digital marketing ecosystem in China. The company has exhibited the influence of China's mobile internet and discussed what makes the Chinese market unique and attractive. In addition to introducing the ONE Tencent marketing philosophy, Steven Chang, Corporate Vice President of Tencent, held extensive discussions with partners on key differences between American and Chinese consumers, the need for more standardized data systems between different digital platforms, and major trends impacting the future of digital marketing.

Leading China's Digital Advertising Ecosystem via the Power of Integration

It is estimated that China's digital advertising market will reach 50 billion USD by 2017, making China the world's second largest of its kind. Tencent's complete set of internet products and services is part of the daily life of more than 700 million online Chinese individuals. In his remarks, Steven Chang showcased that Tencent's products now reach 98 percent of Chinese "Netizens" and account for 58 percent of their time spent online. Through its comprehensive product portfolio, Tencent's solutions touch all aspects of daily life including information search access, online shopping, travel, sports and entertainment.

Tencent also boasts an increasingly mature content ecosystem spanning more than seven major segments including gaming, film/TV series, sports, music, news, novels and anime. Capitalizing on its content resource and social media power, Tencent has established an integrated intellectual property-based marketing ecosystem. "In China, Tencent might be the only company that has the ability to create a 'universe' that covers all types of content while with culture at the heart," said Steven Chang. Few companies have the depth of expertise and capabilities to build this type IP-based marketing system. Tencent's endeavor in this respect brings new ideas and inspires new opportunities for digital marketing across the globe.

Data and technology power the Tencent's innovative solutions. At AdWeek, Steven Chang discussed the company's charity initiative that won gold award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which helps identify missing people through Tencent's powerful face recognition technology - a combination of Tencent Cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). Tencent works with advertisers by sharing its huge amount of user data and leveraging Tencent Cloud and latest AI technology to get accurate and the most specific user insight.

Based on connectivity, powered by content and social media, Tencent is pushing boundaries leading marketing innovations. Through new business ecosystem combining product, data, technology, content, media and platform, Tencent covers all daily life scenarios and the entire industry chain, helping brands get in-depth consumer insight, forecast the market and make smart marketing decisions. "Collectively, Tencent's products form a 'connector' which is not just changing the way people live and think, but redefining the way brand communicates with consumers."

Get Ready for the Future by Illustrating Four Pictures of Chinese Digital Commerce

At Advertising Week, Tencent discusses the four major sectors where it has been most impactful. Below are the fastest-growing fields in China that highlight Tencent's view on the future of digital commerce:

The power of content beyond regular advertising. Building out its mix of content products, Tencent's content matrix will approach users in different ways. In addition to enhancing Tencent's platforms' influence, it can create broader yet deeper impact on various groups of consumers, amplifying brand communication via Tencent's influence. The diverse types of content cater to the demands of different levels of consumers, enabling brands to reach out to specific groups of audience. Native ads can help brands influence consumers in a soft manner, making marketing activities more effective.

Social commerce empowered by cashless payments. Today's China is becoming a cashless society - WeChat Pay supports 600 million mobile payment transactions daily. Cashless, O2O, smart recommendation and select products have become new trends of consumption. By taking advantage of its social and media platforms such as WeChat, QQ, Tencent Video and Tencent News where users are highly active, Tencent is connecting social and commerce to meet consumer needs and even further stimulate purchases through social media. Primary experiments of social commerce such as WeChat Moments ads will create more possibilities for brand marketing and sales conversions.

Imagination of interaction simulated by virtual content. Consumers show new demand as more and more people are willing to pay for quality virtual content. For instance, paying users account for 16 percent on Tencent Video, which is close to that of Netflix. However, changing consumer demand has led to a new way of O2O marketing which realizes sales conversions offline (organizing IP-featured brand events to stimulate purchase) through joint work to utilize IP online (IP-based brand placement and cooperation to amplify brand influence). The boundary between virtual and real worlds is being removed as online marketing and offline sales are being aligned, creating more chances for brands to grow their revenues through marketing campaigns.

Commercial model 360 disrupted by technology. Traditional businesses are being disrupted -technology is leading to new business models in customer relationship management and retail. Antifraud management, VR/AR sales counters and innovative retailing models continue to grow in these fields. Going beyond social media, Tencent's ecosystem is evolving towards a business platform.

At Advertising Week New York, Tencent communicated China's advanced digital business philosophy. Tenecent built a high-profile image of Chinese digital commerce to rise on the global stage. "Chinese internet companies will continue to export their innovations and imaginations to the world," concluded Steven Chang.