China's top 10 digital brands report

This was the year that Chinese companies came into their own, with 12 making it onto the list of their country’s top 20 digital media advertisers. So successful were national brands that China Mobile pushed 2010’s top-rated KFC off the list completely, climbing three places to claim the top position.

Alibaba, Li Ning, Haier and Lenovo also moved up, and the breadth of Chinese business sectors represented in the top 20 means they are now joined by the likes of the Mengniu Group, online clothing retailer Vancl and online bookseller Dangdang.

However, high awareness does not necessarily equal motivation - China Mobile was nowhere to be seen among the top motivating brands. Indeed, the persuasiveness of digital has still to be embraced by many, and despite the increased recognition of national companies, most people are even more likely than last year to trust recommendations from family and friends above all else.

Still, digital marketers can take cheer from the fact that the second most trusted source of information is online media, particularly consumer reviews on websites. As is the case in many other markets, consumers show a preference for following the recommendations of their peers over more official sources of information, such as banner ads and email newsletters.

In order to grow the world of digital marketing, advertisers need to examine the reasons why the six least trusted advertising methods in China are all digital. Of all nationalities surveyed, the Chinese are the least trusting - in an already sceptical region - of ads sent by email and on those that appear on search engines. Mobile SMS also lacks credibility, and banner ads find little favour, with 35 per cent saying outright that they do not trust them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, pop-up ads fare even worse, with 49 per cent of those canvassed saying their have no faith in them at all.

Top 10 brands

1. China Mobile
2. Dangdang
3. Coca-Cola
4= Nokia
4= Alibaba
6. Li Ning
7. Haier
8. Nike
9. Samsung
10. Pepsi

Top 10 motivating advertisers

1. Nokia
2. Haier
3. Nike
4. Xtep
5. Canon
6. China Construction Bank
7. Alibaba
8. Olay
9. Wong Lo Kat Herbal Tea
10. Mengniu Group

Top 10 spenders

1. Vancl
2. 361 Degrees
3. Toyota
4. Lenovo
5. Li Ning
6. Hyundai
7. Great Wall Motor
8. Volkswagen
9. China Mobile
10. Nike

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.