With the focus on blogging in Europe and North America, it’s good to have an opportunity to broaden one’s horizon and gain some insight into contrasting uses of this medium in Asia from a business and marketing perspective.
Niall Cook reports on what two consumer product companies are doing with blogs as integral elements of advertising and marketing campaigns – Unilever with their Sunsilk shampoo brand in Malaysia, and Mars with their Cesar dogfood brand in Singapore.
In the case of Sunsilk, they have a character blog. What a pity. Such lame things are a waste of time, a view I’ve clearly stated before. But read the detail in Niall’s post to make your own judgment.
Mars have done it right, as Niall reports:
[…] Mars, on the other hand, is doing some great things with the Cesar brand in Singapore, having launched My Cesar, “Your companion to online blogging”. This blogging community encourages Singaporean dog owners to “create your own personal doggie blog where you can impart your thoughts about your favourite pooch.”
Cesar could have done the same thing as Sunsilk. They could have set up a blog for the dog in the adverts, turning him (or her) into a canine character blog. But they didn’t. They understand that consumers no longer want brands to talk at them, but give them the tools to talk to others.
Unlike a character blog, this approach creates genuine engagement. And that, surely, is what any company looks for.