Tuning Into Notebook Iwom 2007 Q3

Tuning into Notebook IWOM, 2007 Q3
An overview of Internet Word of Mouth around notebook
computers on Chinese online message boards (BBS)

January 21, 2008

© 2008 CIC

Study Background and
Quick Takeaways

STUDY BACKGROUND

• The purpose of this study is to provide a taste of the Internet Word of Mouth
(IWOM) for the mainland China notebook computer industry.

• The systematic analysis used in this study is based on 1,204,117 BBS (online
message board) messages from mainland China related to notebook
computers written by 160,926 unique user names for the period July 1 to
September 30, 2007.

• The scope of this study covers 739 models of 71 series brands from 27
notebook manufacturers, and the systematic analysis digs deep into 395 sub-
attributes from 10 categorized attributes.

• The messages were collected and mined using CIC’s patent pending data
collection and text mining tools and methodology and analyzed by CIC’s
Notebook IWOM analyst team

* This study was conducted independently and is not sponsored by any manufacturer or any organization.

© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Notebook Practice, 2007 Q3 3

QUICK TAKEAWAYS
• Lenovo is the most discussed manufacturer (33.9% of total brand and product
posts), but ThinkPad fans also present a challenge for Lenovo to maintain
credibility while balancing innovation.

• Dell Inspiron 1420 launch and its color choice made it the most buzzed Dell
model (11.2% of total Dell posts).

• Dell used its Chinese blog to communicate with customers disappointed with
shipment delays.

• Configuration and price are the most buzzed attributes of notebooks (32% and
22% of total brand and product posts). CIC’s “Brand Attribute Landscape” shows
how brands are associated with different sets of attributes.

• Desire for home-use notebooks (67% of top 100 buzzed models) drive the buzz of
independent graphic cards and widescreens.

• Notebook disassembling and DIY discussions reflect an active culture in forums.

• HP (with recruitment of efluencers) and Toshiba (with use of “Grab Floor” tactic)
demonstrate “smart” and appropriate IWOM marketing approaches.
© 2008 CIC 4

An Introduction to Chinese
Notebook IWOM

WHAT IS INTERNET WORD OF MOUTH (IWOM)?

Definition: Content including text and multimedia related to
companies, products or services shared by netizens,
including brands and consumers, via online community
platforms such as BBS (online message boards), blogs and
video sites.

BBS Blog Video-Sharing
Please suggest me a gaming Recommendation of all
notebook which costs famous brands and value-for-
12,000RMB to 14,000RMB. money notebooks which are
below 5,000RMB.

For more on this definition, see our blogs here (EN) and here (CN)


IWOM HAS MASSIVE REACH

• 210 million Internet users Internet User in China (Unit-million) 210
in China*
• 74.6 million regular BBS 137
111
users (35.5%)* 94
80
59
• 49.4 million Chinese 34
23
bloggers (23.5%)* 1 2 9

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Regular BBS User Online (Unit-million) Regular Blog User Online (Unit-million)
74.6

50.6
49.4
46.2
34.7

19.6
15.0 15.8
11.2
3.3

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2005 2006 2007

*Data Source: The 21st Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China by CNNIC, January 2008


IWOM MAKES BRINGS COMPLEXITY TO
COMMUNICATIONS: Consumers are gaining influence
Consumers have their own media in blogs, BBS and other community platforms that can both amplify
and influence traditional media as well as reflect and influence consumers themselves.

BBS Blog
Billboard TVC

IWOM
Shape Influence Reshape
Mainstream Media

Newspaper & Magazines Video Sharing


IMPRESSIVE IWOM NUMBERS: there are over 1.2 million
BBS messages in CIC’s Notebook Practice for Q3 2007.

Notebook Related BBS Messages for Q3, 2007

1,204,117

160,926
Unit: Post Unit: Poster

# of BBS Messages in Q3 # of Unique BBS Posters in Q3


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Notebook Brand and Model IWOM
Findings Implications
• ThinkPad owners and fans helped • Brands should track buzz health as
put Lenovo in top buzz position for part of key performance indicators.
manufacturers (33.9% of total brand
and product posts), followed by HP
(18.9%) and Dell (14.4%).
• Lenovo should track fans feedback
• ThinkPad fan buzz around the
changes of T60 and T61,especially on carefully and develop innovative
widescreen (i.e. not classic interactive programs to enhance
enough) ,shows the challenge for communication and involvement with
Lenovo to maintain credibility with this important and vocal customer
fans while balancing innovation. base.

• Buzz for Dell’s Q3 launch of Inspiron • Dell could further enhance buzz
1420 was driven by it’s multiple color around its popular colors by following
choices, putting Inspiron in top buzz the lead of consumers who shared
spot among all Dell notebooks with more colorful pics online.
6,631 posts.

• Dell could better utilize its blog as a
• The color choice drove the 1420
buzz, but unfortunately, so did voice for issue/crisis communications
complaints and concerns around the channel by systematically tracking
colors being out of stock. Dell utilized buzz and developing benchmarks to
its Chinese blog (Direct2Dell Chinese) guide if and how to respond.
to communicate with consumers.


MANUFACTURER BUZZ VOLUME: Lenovo led the buzz,
followed by HP and Dell

* Buzz Incidence of Top 10 Discussed Notebook Manufacturer in Q3, 2007

Lenovo 33.9%

HP 18.9%

Dell 14.4%

Asus 11.8%

Hasee 8.3%

Toshiba 7.5%

Acer 7.2%

Sony 6.7%

Samsung 2.9%

Apple 2.8%
Base: Total number of brand and product posts is 411,445

*Note: Buzz incidence of manufacturer is the percentage of manufacturer posts (posts mentioning notebook
manufacturer brand, series brand, and models) among total brand and product posts.


LAPTOP SERIES BRAND BUZZ VOLUME: Thinkpad
dominated all other series
* Buzz Incidence of Top 15 Discussed Notebook Series Brand in Q3, 2007

ThinkPad 17.2%

Inspiron 3.4%

VAIO 3.0%

Xu Ri 旭日 2.8%

Presario 2.3%

Aspire 2.1%

Pavilion 1.7%

Tian Yi 天逸 1.7%

Tian Yun 天运 1.3%

Cheng Yun 承运 1.3%

Latitude 1.1%

Satellite 0.7%

Versa 0.7%
Vostro 0.7%
*Note: Buzz incidence of series brand is the percentage of series brand
XPS 0.6%
posts (posts mentioning series brand only, not including its model
posts) among total brand and product posts.


STAR MODEL* OF TOP 10 SERIES BRANDS: unique
positioning or features triggered consumers’ hot
discussion

ThinkPad T60 Dell Inspiron 1420 Sony VAIO FZ15 Lenovo 旭日 410 HP Presario V3400
# of posts in Q3: 12,657 # of posts in Q3: 6,631 # of posts in Q3: 2,616 # of posts in Q3: 5,556 # of posts in Q3: 3,901

BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE:
the first Lenovo 8 colors for multimedia, extreme 3999RMB, new Compaq logo,
made ThinkPad consumer to entertainment popular low-end high performance
notebook. choose from. function. notebook. price ratio.

Acer Aspire 4710 HP Pavilion DV2500 Lenovo 天逸 F41 Hasee 天运 F206s Hasee 承运 L730T
# of posts in Q3: 941 # of posts in Q3: 2,977 # of posts in Q3: 2,496 # of posts in Q3: 757 # of posts in Q3: 1,140

BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE: BUZZED ANGLE:
new “Gemstone excellent multimedia mainstream middle- 3999RMB, new Intel 9999RMB, high
Concept” and Dolby and entertainment. end home/family Pentium Dual Core configuration “Santa
Home Theater Integrated fingerprint notebook. processor powered, Rosa”. Integrated
sound system. reader and webcam. value for money. Intel Turbo Memory.

*Note: Star Model is the most buzzed model of each series brand.


“LENOVO MADE THINKPAD”: ThinkPad fans’ comparison
of the design of T60 and T61 brought sustained buzz about
old model T60
Weekly Post Trend of ThinkPad T60 and T61 in Q3, 2007

Unit: Post A special “normal” screen T61
1800 was launched which triggered
1600
comparison between T6 0
widescreen and regular screen T6 1
ThinkPad T60 ThinkPad T61 1400
for T60 and T61.
# of posts in Q3: 12,657 # of posts in Q3: 11,670 1200

1000

800

600
Loyal ThinkPad fans think T60 is more
400
classic than T61, because the changes
200
(e.g. the widescreen) on T61 make it
unconventional. 0
7.1-7.7 7.8- 7.15- 7.22- 7.29- 8.5- 8.12- 8.19- 8.26- 9.2-9.8 9.9- 9.16- 9.23-
7.14 7.21 7.28 8.4 8.11 8.18 8.25 9.1 9.15 9.22 9.30
How to maintain the classic while develop <adjust based on
innovation is a challenge of Lenovo. eight days data>

帖子示例: “当t61出现的时候，我觉得是不是设计师真的换过了，因为ThinkPad一直以来在t系
列坚持的设计美感，荡然无存。”
Quote: “I doubted whether the designer had been changed when I saw the T61. The eternal
aesthetic feeling of ThinkPad frame has disappeared.”
帖子示例: “确实T60是经典的设计。”
Quote: “The design of T60 is definitely classic.”
帖子示例: “宽屏是趋势没错，但是T61的宽屏看着太恶心了，还是普屏好一点。”
Quote: “Widescreen is certainly the future trend, but the widescreen of T61 looks too ugly,
so I still prefer normal screen.”


COLORFUL DELL INSPIRON INSPIRES BUZZ: the eight
colorful backs of Inspiron 1420 generated much buzz
*Keyword Frequency Rank For Inspiron 1420Keyword - Frequency
Rank - Keyword - Frequency Rank - Keyword - Frequency Rank -
1 Vista 2,113 11 Price 997 21 Battery 710
2 XP 1,696 12 Screen 982 22 Software 699
Dell Inspiron 1420 3 System 1,638 13 Test 971 23 Buy 630
# of posts in Q3: 6,631 4 Graphic card 1,552 14 Arrive 904 24 Colorful back 613
11.2% of total Dell buzz 5 Hard disk 1,500 15 Color 883 25 Order form 590
Multiple Color Option 6 Configuration 1,489 16 Purchase 852 26 CPU 580
7 Diver 1,439 17 Performance 835 27 Blue 534
Positive: the fancy design 8 Sales 1,203 18 Order 833 28 6999 515
and colorful appearance
burst 1420 buzz soon after 9 Use 1,177 19 Game 811 29 Discount 500
its launch in July. 10 Memory 1,092 20 Black 785 30 Shell 484
Compare to Latitude D630
(the second hot Dell model), *Keyword Frequency Rank For LatitudeRank - Keyword - Frequency
Rank - Keyword - Frequency Rank - Keyword - Frequency D630
“COLOUR” is a real 1 Price 1,260 11 Purchase 700 21 Processor 499
spotlight of Inspiron 1420.
2 Configuration 1,128 12 Screen 689 22 Design 444
3 Graphic card 1,082 13 NVS 652 23 Shell 427
4 Latitude 1,070 14 Battery 645 24 Intel 422
5 Hard disk 1,064 15 Business 589 25 Centrino 415
6 Memory 1,038 16 Quadro 589 26 Game 412
Dell Latitude D630
7 Vista 972 17 802.11abg 566 27 Recommend 410
# of posts in Q3: 3,073
8 Seeder 711 18 Price performance 529 28 T7100 409
5.2% of total Dell buzz
9 Socket 710 19 Experience 507 29 Service 396
No Color Option 10 Performance 707 20 Business laptop 505 30 Test 358

*Note: the rank is according to CIC Keyword Frequency
Analysis around “Inspiron 1420” and “Latitude D630”.

SHOW OFF THE COLORFUL BACKS: consumer posted
photos are more “real and natural” than those on Dell
website

Photos from Dell website Consumer Posted Photos from BBS

帖子示例: “因为dell官方网站没有每个颜色的实物图大家都怕买完了跟自己想象或者看到的图片不相符所以发出来
大家参考下底下这些图片都是我搜集来的.”
Quote: “Since the official Dell website doesn’t provide real product photo of each color, and everyone doesn’t want
a laptop that is different from what you expect, I share the below collected photos with you.”


INSPIRON 1420 OUT OF STOCK ISSUE: Consumers
frustration causes a spike in buzz

Weekly Post Trend of Dell Inspiron 1420 in Q3, 2007
Unit: Post
800

700

600

500

400

300 Colorful Inspiron 1420
out of stock issue.
200

100

0
6.24-6.30 7.1-7.7 7.8-7.14 7.15-7.21 7.22-7.28 7.29-8.4 8.5-8.11 8.12-8.18 8.19-8.25 8.26-9.1 9.2-9.8 9.9-9.15 9.16-9.22 9.23-9.30

June reference (pre-launch) Q3 (post-launch) <adjust based on
eight days data>

Negative: colorful backs were out of stock in August,
consumers were so upset and the buzz reached a peak

帖子示例: “1420只有黑得能出厂，其他的颜色都缺货，今天
给客服打电话说最少要五天来货，白色的还要
晚！！！！！！”
Quote: “Only black back 1420 is available; other colors are
all out of stock. I called service clerk today and was told that I
need to wait for at least five days, and it needs more time for
the white back edition!!!!”


DELL’S CHINESE BLOG IS ITS IWOM VOICE: during out
of stock issue, Dell utilized Direct2Dell Chinese blog to
communicate with consumers
Dell Chinese Blog
Direct2Dell Chinese Blog:
帖子示例: “客户对于我们的Inspiron新产品需求踊跃，加
之部分物料紧张，和某几种彩壳热销，目前出现了供货延
迟的现象。已经下单的客户，我们正在按照先来先得的原
则加紧处理您的订单。据保守估计，这些订单的发货时
“关于戴尔部分产品的订单情况间，从目前起计算，还需从1周到5个星期不等。”
Quote: “The new Inspiron products are in great demand
Status of orders of several Dell products” by our customers, but the material is very limited and
several color shells have sold well, so they are out of
stock right now. We are speeding up the process for the
Inspiron 1420
customers who have already ordered. According to our
estimation, another 1-5 weeks is needed to deliver the
these products from now.”

XPS 1330 Response from Dell Blog Administrator, Jacqui Zhou:
帖子示例: “Caterpillar，我们会在确保质量的情况下加快
生产的.”
Quote: “Caterpillar, we will speed up the production while
ensuring the quality.”
Inspiron 640m
Consumer Comment from Blog:
LCD Screen 帖子示例: “终于有一篇出自官方对近期缺货原因的解释，
心里略微平静点。”
Quote: “Finally, an official response to explain the out of
link stock issue, I feel a bit more comfortable.”


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Notebook Attribute IWOM

• Configuration and price are the • Brands should utilize IWOM
most buzzed attributes of notebooks analysis to distill issues or needs
(32.4% and 22.3% of total brand and of greatest concern in order to
product posts). better target marketing
communication programs for this
savvy, influential group of users.

• CIC’s “Brand Attribute Landscape”
shows that consumers buzz more • Brands should utilize IWOM
about performance and design / analysis to identify strengths and
appearance around HP, Acer and weaknesses of their own products
Sony; buzz more about price and and those of competitors for
marketing/promotion around Lenovo better positioning and
and Hasee; and buzz more about communications.
service and channel towards Dell.

• Home-use notebooks (67% of top • Systematic online buzz tracking
100 buzzed models) are more talked could assist brands to recognize
than business notebooks (33%). The customer needs which can assist
buzz suggests that independent R&D on product design.
graphic cards and widescreens are a
must because of its benefit to
gaming and entertainment.


HOT BUZZED NOTEBOOK ATTRIBUTES: configuration
and price are the most discussed attributes
* Buzz Incidence of Overall Notebook Attribute in Q3, 2007

32.4%
帖子示例: : “迅四平台、8400独立显卡，这都是目前中高端
帖子示例 “迅四平台、8400独立显卡，这都是目前中高端
机型的标准配置…… 对于家庭娱乐用户而言，也是一个中
机型的标准配置…… 对于家庭娱乐用户而言，也是一个中
端价位高端配置的选择。” ”
端价位高端配置的选择。
Quote: “4th Centrino Platform, nVIDIA 8400 independent
Quote: “4th Centrino Platform, nVIDIA 8400 independent
graphic card, all these are standard configurations for
graphic card, all these are standard configurations for
22.3% middle-high end notebook…… For family entertainment
middle-high end notebook…… For family entertainment
user, this notebook is aagood choice for middle-end price
user, this notebook is good choice for middle-end price
with high-end configuration.”
with high-end configuration.”

11.0%
9.9%
8.7%
7.9%
6.4%

Configuration Price Design & Service & Performance Function Marketing &
Appearance Channel Promotion

*Note: Buzz incidence of attribute is the percentage of attribute posts among total brand and product posts.


BRAND ATTRIBUTE LANDSCAPE*: different brands have
their unique hot buzz angles in relation to notebook
attributes discussion

Performance and Design / Appearance are
most frequently buzzed by consumers
around Acer, HP, and Sony notebooks.

Consumers talk about Price
and Marketing / Promotion
mostly regarding two local
On the topic of Service and Channel, brand, “Lenovo” and “Hasee”.
Dell is the most discussed brand.

*Note: “Brand attribute landscape” uses the distance to visualizes the relationship between the manufacturer brands and the attributes,
the nearer distance represent the closer association.

BRAND ATTRIBUTE LANDSCAPE* BREAKDOWN:
Analysis of sub-attributes of DESIGN & APPEARANCE
and PERFORAMNCE attributes

*Note: “Brand attribute landscape” uses the distance to visualizes the relationship between the manufacturer brands and the attributes,
the nearer distance represent the closer association.

HOME-USE NOTEBOOKS ARE THE MOST BUZZED
MODELS: more consumers choose notebook for family
use over of desktop

Notebook Category (according to the use) 帖子示例: “想买个笔记本，主要用途就是打类似于热血
Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models 江湖和魔兽的网络游戏，因为家里空间有限，实在没有
地方能安置另一台（台式机）了。”
Quote: “I’d like to buy a laptop mainly for playing some
online games like Hot Blood and WOW. As the space
Business
of my home is so limited, and it is impossible to put
33%
another desktop computer.”

帖子示例: “现在笔记本价格这么便宜，低端配置的价格
和台式机持平，中等的配置比台式机也贵不到哪里，尤
其在高校很多地方还方便无线局域网，所以我估计笔记
本应该会成为主流的了。”
Family
67% Quote: “Nowadays laptops have become much
cheaper for us. The price of a low-level configuration
laptop is just similar to that of a common desktop, and
the price of a mid-level configuration laptop is not
Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models much higher either. Furthermore, more places like
*Note: Total post number of top 100 models is 147,202
universities support wireless LAN, thus as far as I’m
which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC concerned, laptop should become the mainstream
tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers. among the computer market.”


INDEPENDENT GRAPHIC CARD ARE MORE POPULAR:
Due to increasing need for family-use notebook, the
independent graphic card is going to be a must because
of its benefit to gaming and entertainment
帖子示例: “学生，基本上没不玩游戏的，独显好些....”
Notebook Category (according to the graphic Quote: “Almost all students play games, so independent
card) Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models graphic card seems to be the better choice.”
帖子示例: “本人想买台华硕本子，主要作用是上班之余娱
乐玩玩魔兽世界，极品飞车，实况之类的游戏，比较追求
Intergrated 游戏效果。显卡性能>=x1600或go7600”
Card Quote: “I want to buy a Asus laptop. Besides daily work,
39% I can use it to play some games like WOW, NFS and
WE. In addition, I care about the effects of gaming a lot,
thus the graphic card should at least reach the level of
X1600 or Go 7600.”

Number Of
*Rank Keyword (CN) Keyword (EN)
Independent Mentions
Graphic Card
1 游戏 Gaming 695
61%
2 性能 Performance 630
Graphic Card
3 显存 524
Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models Memory
*Note: Total post number of top 100 models is 147,202 4 内存 Memory 474
which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC
tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers. 5 处理器 Processor 403
*Note: the rank is according to CIC Keyword Frequency Analysis
around “Independent Graphic Card”.


14’ and 15’ WIDESCREEN IS MAINSTREAM: consumers
discuss widescreen as good for watching movies

帖子示例: “宽屏看电影很爽”
Notebook Category (according to the type of screen) Quote: “It is really cool to use widescreen to watch
Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models movies.”

帖子示例: “屏幕，最好是宽屏的——这样看电影比较爽”
Normal Quote: “I prefer to widescreen, it is more comfortable for
Screen watching movies.”
15%

帖子示例: “6320是XGA的哦，以后笔记本宽屏是趋势。”
Quote: “HP 6320 uses XGA screen, and widescreen
seems to be a trend in the future.”

1% 7%
Wide
8%
Screen
85% 32% 12 inch
13 inch
Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models 14 inch
15 inch
20 inch
which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC
tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers.
52%


INTEL DOMINATES: Intel mobile processors are
considered better performers with higher stability, while
AMD is considered the economical choice
帖子示例: “在同等条件下，优先选择intel平台，笔记本最重
Notebook Category (according to the processor) 要的特性是稳定”
Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models Quote: “Under the same condition, you should consider
laptop with Intel platform first, because the stability is the
most important factor for laptop.”
AMD
Processor 帖子示例: “移动领域我还是更喜欢I,毕竟是带头老大,现在购
13% 买64位的处理器并无什么实际意义,64位真正普及还远着呢!
现在已经不能只看主频了,毕竟构架都有很大差距的!”
Quote: “I still prefer Intel within mobile processor field.
After all, Intel is the industry leader, and nowadays it is
meaningless to buy 64bit processor since it still needs
much time to get popularized. In addition, these days
frequency is no more the dominant factor, after all there's a
far distance between Intel and AMD's architecture.”
Intel
Processor 帖子示例: “另外，我个人觉得AMD和Intel cpu差距还是挺大
87% 的。不过，如果你只是个人使用，没有移动办公之类的需
求，也可以不考虑这种差别。毕竟AMD的cpu便宜不少。”
Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models Quote: “In addition, in my opinion, the distance between
AMD and Intel mobile processor is still quite far. However,
which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC if you only buy the laptop for personal use and do not apply
tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers. it for mobile business use, you can still ignore such
distance. After all, AMD platform laptops are much
cheaper.”


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Notebook IWOM Culture

• Notebook Disassembling and “Do It • Brands can leverage interest from
Yourself” (DIY) represent an active chatty “disassembling” and “DIY”
culture on notebook forums. culture by officially displaying the
inside structure of notebooks and
releasing more customizable models.

• HP productively recruited passionate • Like HP, brands can identify brand
and loyal fans to establish HP-Fans- fans and notebook fans to develop
Regiment through notebook BBS relationships by offering more and
communities. desirable opportunities to interact
directly.

• Toshiba used the “Grab Floor (占楼)” • Brands should understand IWOM
tactic used by many forum administrators culture and integrate it into
to encourage and incentivize campaigns to naturally and effectively
participation in campaign conversations. “participate” in conversations.


DISASSEMBLE THE NOTEBOOK: inside structure is
open to every consumer

Usually, general consumers don’t have the chance
Passionate and skillful notebook savvies
to look inside the notebook. They make a purchase
are able to disassemble the notebook so as
to look into the internal structure.
decision based on the outside appearance, write-
down configuration, and so on.
帖子示例: “准备了几天，终于在昨天完成了这次的拆
解工作. 我看了有不少的本友都对IBM的X60有着相当 But through the BBS, consumers are able to see the
的好感，也许有的本友已经入手了此款小黑了，还有 interior design and materials now. This is an
的正在痛苦的选择与观望中，那就让我们一起看看 important factor for some for purchase reference
吧” check.
Quote: “I prepared several days and finish
disassembling it yesterday. I have seen that many Brands can also leverage this net culture through
notebook fans favor IBM ThinkPad X60. Some have providing such kind of pictures. If the notebook is
already bought it, the others are still choosing and really well-designed, brand can attract consumers
observing. So let’s have a look at it (from inside).” “from outside to inside” now.


DO IT YOURSELF: more and more consumers upgrade
their notebook by themselves

Upgrading the processor implies the aspiration of
Notebook can also be DIYed. This is the extreme performance; upgrading the screen indicates
representative of DIY spirit. the pursuit of wider vision.
Through DIY (instead of buying an official higher
帖子示例: “第一次尝试换u ，还是用了很大勇气，
configuration model), besides saving money, those
阿财鼓励了我，真的不是那么的难~”
consumers not only personalize their notebook but
Quote: ”This is my first time to upgrade the laptop
processor. It need a lot of courage. “阿财” (a forum also show off their technical ability.
administrator) encouraged me and made me feel A special notebook represents the unique personality
easy to DIY it.”
of the owner. Although it is not the mainstream for
notebook yet, brands could still consider to take
advantage of this as an unique sales point in terms of
making the notebooks more configurable.


BRAND DIRECTLY ENGAGE FANS: HP recruited five
loyal fans to establish HP-Fans-Regiment through
notebook BBS community
“Fan club” is an essential component of community net culture in China. Usually, pop star fans will get
together on the e-community like Baidu Postbar to cheer for their idols. Actually notebook fans are
passionate as well. They are the “army” of brands.
HP recruited five passionate and loyal fans to establish HP-Fans-Regiment through notebook BBS
community. The five regiment members got an HP Bluetooth wireless mouse, the opportunity to attend
HP new product launch event and to experience new HP notebook.
Besides what HP has done, every notebook manufacturer can leverage the “resource” and popularity of
brand specific forums on those notebook communities to officially get fans together and provide more
opportunity for them to interact with the brand.

帖子示例: “这是我拥有的第一款本本，也是我拥有的第一款惠普笔记本，我
想，要是下一次换机，我还是会选择惠普！”
Quote: “This is my first notebook, and this is also my first HP notebook. I think
I will still choose HP next time.”

帖子示例: “顶了，好活动！！！”
Quote: “Great campaign, I support it !!!”

帖子示例: “好活动啊，支持，其他品牌的有没有可能有类似的活动呢”
Quote: “This is a great campaign, I support it. Is it possibly for other brand to
hold such kind of activity?


“GRAB FLOOR (占楼)”: Toshiba leveraged the popular
netizen-initiated campaign model which involved high
participation
“Grab Floor” (占楼) is another essential component of community net culture in China. It refers to
“occupying” a specific “floor” in a BBS conversation with a comment. The person originating the thread
may incentivize commenters with gifts or privileges to occupy a specific floor number (i.e. whoever writes
the 100th or 1000th comment will get a gift) which can lead to massive participation.
This innovative netizen campaign model provides actionable implication for brands to plan their interactive
event. Such tactic is not only very net style to help grab netizens’ attention but also could be very buzz
worthy since the conversation could be actively participated. Using this netizen-familiar concept, Toshiba
successfully held two campaigns on notebook BBS community.

Campaign: Toshiba is love, Love on the Chinese Campaign: Toshiba alarm clock give-away. Guess
valentine‘s day (七夕) --- grab floor use your love the price of this clock.
announcement. Rule: people who guess the correct price of clock
Rule: people who grab the 7th, 77th, 700th and can get one and people who grab the 500th or a
777th floor will get prize accordingly. floor of a 500 multiple can also get one.
Replies: 7,835 Page view: 33,876 Replies: 5,048 Page view: 11,342

帖子示例: “世界上最浪漫的事,就是和你慢慢变老.”
Quote: ”The most romantic thing in the world is to
stay with you and become older and older.”
帖子示例: “我爱你的心是直到世界末日也不变.”
Quote: ”My love of you will never be changed until
the Doomsday.”


ABOUT CIC

CIC is the leading Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) research and consulting firm
in China. CIC helps its clients make sense of the buzz found on Chinese blogs,
BBS, and other IWOM platforms using proprietary data collection and text
mining technology developed specifically for the Chinese language.

CIC was founded in 2003 by a team of local and international professionals with
rich experience in the Chinese marketing communications, public relations,
brand consulting, data collection and text mining. With sensitivity toward
marketing, market research, media planning, public relations, and product
development, CIC’s team of IWOM analysts provide actionable insights for a
stable of Fortune 500 retainer clients in China and around the world.

For more information, please visit www.cicdata.com (CIC website),
www.seeisee.com (CIC Company blog in Chinese) and www.seeisee.com/sam
(CEO’s blog in English).


Thank You
OUR BLOGS:
www.seeisee.com (Chinese)
www.seeisee.com/sam (English)

OUR WEBSITE:
www.cicdata.com

CONTACT US:
info@cicdata.com

© CIC 2008

Tuning Into Notebook Iwom 2007 Q3

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