Marketers adapt to new post-COVID landscape

Seventy-one percent of Chinese marketers said that expected changes in consumer behavior in the post-pandemic era will be a key focus when developing their strategies for this year, according to a new report.

The World Advertising Research Center, known as WARC, a global marketing intelligence service headquartered in London, has released the China edition of its Marketer's Toolkit 2021, a guide for the year ahead that helps brands tackle major challenges, navigate through uncertainty, seek new opportunities and develop effective strategies to drive business growth in the Chinese market.

Jenny Chan, China editor at WARC, said: "There are new challenges facing marketers in China this year-from how to adjust and make the most of new opportunities, to how to better control the ever-changing domestic market.

"With the release of our first China edition of the Marketer's Toolkit 2021, we provide practical advice, guidance and inspiration to help marketers in China recover, renew and rebuild," she said.

The report indicated that the pandemic has accelerated some consumer trends. Chinese consumers are not only paying attention to costs, but also increasingly to the experiences provided by brands, beyond the products themselves.

It also found consumers are pursuing healthier diets and lifestyles. To cater for this change in consumer psychology, brands should consider the health factor when planning product development and promotion, the report said.

Cindy Wang, chief growth officer at electric carmaker WM Motor, said: "In the past, the term 'cost performance' may be more inclined to discounts and promotions, but now it's more about bringing consumers more value-added services, emotional experience, and even whole-life services."

WARC's research showed that 51 percent of the marketers interviewed deemed artificial intelligence the most important emerging technology, followed by live-streaming and 5G.

With consumers spending more time at home, these technologies can power brands to more accurately reach their core target customers and maintain continuous interaction with them, the report indicated.

Although China was least affected by the economic turbulence in 2020, 96 percent of respondents said that the economic impact would be a major consideration for their 2021 strategies.

The study suggested local brands and domestic products are benefiting the most, following the development of China's "dual circulation "strategy-a policy that "takes the domestic market as the mainstay while letting internal and external markets boost each other", and as a result, marketers should tap into this current economic environment and consumer attitude, to contribute to a thriving local market.

In 2020, the government introduced policies to regulate and standardize emerging business platforms within the advertising and marketing industry, such as e-commerce, livestreaming, consumer data protection, and promotional advertising, which are all expected to present challenges in their development processes.

The survey found 71 percent of Chinese marketers expect tighter advertising and marketing regulations in China this year. It found 40 percent said that they already have a comprehensive ethics-based data protection strategy in place, while 51 percent of respondents said they would further reinforce data protection rules within their organization.

While 2021 is likely to be a year full of volatility, uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity, the rapid changes in the macro-environment are forcing brands to strengthen their organizational structure. A total 41 percent of respondents said that their marketing teams now had greater influence versus the previous year.