Tencent launches We Chat in Taiwan, wwwins Isobar chosen for digital push

Freda Shao, managing director of wwwins Isobar Taiwan, has confirmed this new business win for the agency.

WeChat is a free mobile communication tool offered by Tencent, which works on iOS, Android and Symbian devices.It supports the sending of voice, video, photos and text messages. Smartphone users can also enjoy group chatting and find friends nearby through its location-based service.

Popular teenage celebrities Show Lo (羅志祥 aka 小豬) and Rainie Yang (楊丞琳) have been chosen as We Chat's brand ambassadors for Taiwan market.

Korean-based Line is currently the leading mobile messenger app in Taiwan, with 6 million users since its launch there a year and a half ago. Globally, Line has 51 million users, with 20 million in the Japan market alone.

As reported in February, Leo Burnett has won the creative campaign project of Line in Taiwan.

"Whatsapp and Line are already popular in taiwan," said a 4A agency boss in Taiwan. "Unless We Chat is offering something really innovative or valuable, I don't see why people would want to switch to it, as they could do group chat with Line too. It looks a bit like the same old thing to me."

Reported in early October, the WeChat application hit the 200 million user mark in China in September. Rival Sina Weibo needed 22 months to gain the same number of microblog users after its August 2009 launch, while WeChat took 20 months since its January 2011 launch. Both platforms have been catering to brands with their social-media marketing solutions.

Nike and Starbucks were among the first to tap WeChat. In March, Maxus Hong Kong and local creative agency MK2 helped Tencent to launch the same mobile voice messaging service, locally known as Tencent Weixin (騰訊微信). It is using Cantop pop stars Big Four as brand ambassadors in Hong Kong ad campaigns.