© 2008 CIC 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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

An Introduction to Chinese Notebook 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. WHAT IS INTERNET WORD OF MOUTH (IWOM)? BBS Blog Video-Sharing Please suggest me a gaming notebook which costs 12,000RMB to 14,000RMB. Recommendation of all famous brands and value-for-money notebooks which are below 5,000RMB. For more on this definition, see our blogs here (EN) and here (CN)

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.

IWOM HAS MASSIVE REACH *Data Source: The 21st Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China by CNNIC, January 2008 210 million Internet users in China* 74.6 million regular BBS users (35.5%)* 49.4 million Chinese bloggers (23.5%)* Internet User in China (Unit-million) Regular BBS User Online (Unit-million) Regular Blog User Online (Unit-million)

210 million Internet users in China*

74.6 million regular BBS users (35.5%)*

49.4 million Chinese bloggers (23.5%)*

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. Video Sharing BBS Influence Shape Reshape IWOM Mainstream Media Newspaper & Magazines Billboard TVC Blog

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 Unit: Post Unit: Poster

Notebook Brand and Model IWOM

ThinkPad owners and fans helped put Lenovo in top buzz position for manufacturers (33.9% of total brand and product posts), followed by HP (18.9%) and Dell (14.4%). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Notebook Brand and Model IWOM Brands should track buzz health as part of key performance indicators. Findings Implications ThinkPad fan buzz around the changes of T60 and T61,especially on widescreen (i.e. not classic enough) ,shows the challenge for Lenovo to maintain credibility with fans while balancing innovation. Buzz for Dell’s Q3 launch of Inspiron 1420 was driven by it’s multiple color choices, putting Inspiron in top buzz spot among all Dell notebooks with 6,631 posts. The color choice drove the 1420 buzz, but unfortunately, so did complaints and concerns around the colors being out of stock. Dell utilized its Chinese blog (Direct2Dell Chinese) to communicate with consumers. Lenovo should track fans feedback carefully and develop innovative interactive programs to enhance communication and involvement with this important and vocal customer base. Dell could further enhance buzz around its popular colors by following the lead of consumers who shared more colorful pics online. Dell could better utilize its blog as a voice for issue/crisis communications channel by systematically tracking buzz and developing benchmarks to guide if and how to respond.

ThinkPad owners and fans helped put Lenovo in top buzz position for manufacturers (33.9% of total brand and product posts), followed by HP (18.9%) and Dell (14.4%).

Brands should track buzz health as part of key performance indicators.

ThinkPad fan buzz around the changes of T60 and T61,especially on widescreen (i.e. not classic enough) ,shows the challenge for Lenovo to maintain credibility with fans while balancing innovation.

Buzz for Dell’s Q3 launch of Inspiron 1420 was driven by it’s multiple color choices, putting Inspiron in top buzz spot among all Dell notebooks with 6,631 posts.

The color choice drove the 1420 buzz, but unfortunately, so did complaints and concerns around the colors being out of stock. Dell utilized its Chinese blog (Direct2Dell Chinese) to communicate with consumers.

Lenovo should track fans feedback carefully and develop innovative interactive programs to enhance communication and involvement with this important and vocal customer base.

Dell could further enhance buzz around its popular colors by following the lead of consumers who shared more colorful pics online.

Dell could better utilize its blog as a voice for issue/crisis communications channel by systematically tracking buzz and developing benchmarks to guide if and how to respond.

MANUFACTURER BUZZ VOLUME: Lenovo led the buzz, followed by HP and Dell * Buzz Incidence of Top 10 Discussed Notebook Manufacturer in Q3, 2007 *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. Base: Total number of brand and product posts is 411,445

LAPTOP SERIES BRAND BUZZ VOLUME: Thinkpad dominated all other series * Buzz Incidence of Top 15 Discussed Notebook Series Brand in Q3, 2007 *Note: Buzz incidence of series brand is the percentage of series brand posts (posts mentioning series brand only, not including its model posts) among total brand and product posts. Base: Total number of brand and product posts is 411,445

STAR MODEL* OF TOP 10 SERIES BRANDS: unique positioning or features triggered consumers’ hot discussion ThinkPad T60 # of posts in Q3: 12,657 Dell Inspiron 1420 # of posts in Q3: 6,631 Sony VAIO FZ15 # of posts in Q3: 2,616 Lenovo 旭日 410 # of posts in Q3: 5,556 HP Presario V3400 # of posts in Q3: 3,901 Acer Aspire 4710 # of posts in Q3: 941 HP Pavilion DV2500 # of posts in Q3: 2,977 Lenovo 天逸 F41 # of posts in Q3: 2,496 Hasee 天运 F206s # of posts in Q3: 757 Hasee 承运 L730T # of posts in Q3: 1,140 BUZZED ANGLE: the first Lenovo made ThinkPad notebook. BUZZED ANGLE: 8 colors for consumer to choose from. BUZZED ANGLE: multimedia, extreme entertainment function. BUZZED ANGLE: new “Gemstone Concept” and Dolby Home Theater sound system. BUZZED ANGLE: excellent multimedia and entertainment. Integrated fingerprint reader and webcam. BUZZED ANGLE: mainstream middle-end home/family notebook. BUZZED ANGLE: new Compaq logo, high performance price ratio. BUZZED ANGLE: 3999RMB, popular low-end notebook. BUZZED ANGLE: 9999RMB, high configuration “Santa Rosa”. Integrated Intel Turbo Memory. BUZZED ANGLE: 3999RMB, new Intel Pentium Dual Core processor powered, value for money. *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 ThinkPad T60 # of posts in Q3: 12,657 Weekly Post Trend of ThinkPad T60 and T61 in Q3, 2007 ThinkPad T61 # of posts in Q3: 11,670 Unit: Post Loyal ThinkPad fans think T60 is more classic than T61, because the changes (e.g. the widescreen) on T61 make it unconventional. How to maintain the classic while develop innovation is a challenge of Lenovo. 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.” A special “normal” screen T61 was launched which triggered comparison between widescreen and regular screen for T60 and T61. <adjust based on eight days data>

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

SHOW OFF THE COLORFUL BACKS: consumer posted photos are more “real and natural” than those on Dell website 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.” Photos from Dell website Consumer Posted Photos from BBS

INSPIRON 1420 OUT OF STOCK ISSUE: Consumers frustration causes a spike in buzz <adjust based on eight days data> June reference (pre-launch) Q3 (post-launch) Weekly Post Trend of Dell Inspiron 1420 in Q3, 2007 Unit: Post Colorful Inspiron 1420 out of stock issue. 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!!!!” Negative: colorful backs were out of stock in August , consumers were so upset and the buzz reached a peak

DELL’S CHINESE BLOG IS ITS IWOM VOICE: during out of stock issue, Dell utilized Direct2Dell Chinese blog to communicate with consumers link “ 关于戴尔部分产品的订单情况 Status of orders of several Dell products” Inspiron 1420 Inspiron 640m LCD Screen XPS 1330 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 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 customers who have already ordered. According to our estimation, another 1-5 weeks is needed to deliver the these products from now.” Consumer Comment from Blog: 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 stock issue, I feel a bit more comfortable.” 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.” Dell Chinese Blog

Notebook Attribute IWOM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Notebook Attribute IWOM Home-use notebooks (67% of top 100 buzzed models) are more talked than business notebooks (33%). The buzz suggests that independent graphic cards and widescreens are a must because of its benefit to gaming and entertainment. Brands should utilize IWOM analysis to distill issues or needs of greatest concern in order to better target marketing communication programs for this savvy, influential group of users. Findings Implications Configuration and price are the most buzzed attributes of notebooks (32.4% and 22.3% of total brand and product posts). CIC’s “Brand Attribute Landscape” shows that consumers buzz more about performance and design / appearance around HP, Acer and Sony; buzz more about price and marketing/promotion around Lenovo and Hasee; and buzz more about service and channel towards Dell. Brands should utilize IWOM analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses of their own products and those of competitors for better positioning and communications. Systematic online buzz tracking could assist brands to recognize customer needs which can assist R&D on product design.

Home-use notebooks (67% of top 100 buzzed models) are more talked than business notebooks (33%). The buzz suggests that independent graphic cards and widescreens are a must because of its benefit to gaming and entertainment.

Brands should utilize IWOM analysis to distill issues or needs of greatest concern in order to better target marketing communication programs for this savvy, influential group of users.

Configuration and price are the most buzzed attributes of notebooks (32.4% and 22.3% of total brand and product posts).

CIC’s “Brand Attribute Landscape” shows that consumers buzz more about performance and design / appearance around HP, Acer and Sony; buzz more about price and marketing/promotion around Lenovo and Hasee; and buzz more about service and channel towards Dell.

Brands should utilize IWOM analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses of their own products and those of competitors for better positioning and communications.

Systematic online buzz tracking could assist brands to recognize customer needs which can assist R&D on product design.

HOT BUZZED NOTEBOOK ATTRIBUTES: configuration and price are the most discussed attributes * Buzz Incidence of Overall Notebook Attribute in Q3, 2007 *Note: Buzz incidence of attribute is the percentage of attribute posts among total brand and product posts. 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，也是一个中端价位高端配置的选择。” Quote: “4th Centrino Platform, nVIDIA 8400 independent graphic card, all these are standard configurations for middle-high end notebook…… For family entertainment user, this notebook is a good choice for middle-end price with high-end configuration.” Base: Total number of brand and product posts is 411,445

BRAND ATTRIBUTE LANDSCAPE*: different brands have their unique hot buzz angles in relation to notebook attributes discussion *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. 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 brand, “Lenovo” and “Hasee”. On the topic of Service and Channel, Dell is the most discussed brand.

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) Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models *Note: Total post number of top 100 models is 147,202 which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers. 帖子示例 : “ 想买个笔记本，主要用途就是打类似于热血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 of my home is so limited, and it is impossible to put 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。” 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 much higher either. Furthermore, more places like universities support wireless LAN, thus as far as I’m concerned, laptop should become the mainstream 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 Notebook Category (according to the graphic card) Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models *Note: Total post number of top 100 models is 147,202 which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers. 帖子示例 : “ 学生，基本上没不玩游戏的，独显好些 ....” Quote: “Almost all students play games, so independent 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，比较追求游戏效果。显卡性能 >=x1600 或 go7600” Quote: “I want to buy a Asus laptop. Besides daily work, 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.” *Note: the rank is according to CIC Keyword Frequency Analysis around “Independent Graphic Card”. 474 Memory 内存 4 403 Processor 处理器 5 695 Gaming 游戏 1 630 Performance 性能 2 524 Graphic Card Memory 显存 3 Keyword (EN) *Rank Number Of Mentions Keyword (CN)

14’ and 15’ WIDESCREEN IS MAINSTREAM: consumers discuss widescreen as good for watching movies Notebook Category (according to the type of screen) Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models *Note: Total post number of top 100 models is 147,202 which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers. 帖子示例 : “ 宽屏看电影很爽” Quote: “It is really cool to use widescreen to watch movies.” 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.” 帖子示例 : “ 屏幕，最好是宽屏的——这样看电影比较爽” Quote: “I prefer to widescreen, it is more comfortable for watching movies.”

INTEL DOMINATES: Intel mobile processors are considered better performers with higher stability, while AMD is considered the economical choice Notebook Category (according to the processor) Distribution Among Top 100 Buzzed Models Data Base: *Top 100 buzzed models *Note: Total post number of top 100 models is 147,202 which contribute 86% of total models posts. CIC tracked 739 models from 27 manufacturers. 帖子示例 : “ 在同等条件下，优先选择 intel 平台，笔记本最重要的特性是稳定” Quote: “Under the same condition, you should consider laptop with Intel platform first, because the stability is the most important factor for laptop.” 帖子示例 : “ 另外，我个人觉得 AMD 和 Intel cpu 差距还是挺大的。 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。” Quote: “In addition, in my opinion, the distance between AMD and Intel mobile processor is still quite far. However, if you only buy the laptop for personal use and do not apply it for mobile business use, you can still ignore such distance. After all, AMD platform laptops are much cheaper.” 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.”

Notebook IWOM Culture

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Notebook IWOM Culture HP productively recruited passionate and loyal fans to establish HP-Fans-Regiment through notebook BBS communities. Findings Implications Like HP, brands can identify brand fans and notebook fans to develop relationships by offering more and desirable opportunities to interact directly. Brands can leverage interest from chatty “disassembling” and “DIY” culture by officially displaying the inside structure of notebooks and releasing more customizable models. Brands should understand IWOM culture and integrate it into campaigns to naturally and effectively “participate” in conversations. Notebook Disassembling and “Do It Yourself” (DIY) represent an active culture on notebook forums. Toshiba used the “Grab Floor ( 占楼 )” tactic used by many forum administrators to encourage and incentivize participation in campaign conversations.

HP productively recruited passionate and loyal fans to establish HP-Fans-Regiment through notebook BBS communities.

Like HP, brands can identify brand fans and notebook fans to develop relationships by offering more and desirable opportunities to interact directly.

Brands can leverage interest from chatty “disassembling” and “DIY” culture by officially displaying the inside structure of notebooks and releasing more customizable models.

Brands should understand IWOM culture and integrate it into campaigns to naturally and effectively “participate” in conversations.

Notebook Disassembling and “Do It Yourself” (DIY) represent an active culture on notebook forums.

Toshiba used the “Grab Floor ( 占楼 )” tactic used by many forum administrators to encourage and incentivize participation in campaign conversations.

DISASSEMBLE THE NOTEBOOK: Inside structure is open to every consumer Passionate and skillful notebook savvies are able to disassemble the notebook so as to look into the internal structure. 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 有着相当的好感，也许有的本友已经入手了此款小黑了，还有的正在痛苦的选择与观望中，那就让我们一起看看吧 ” Quote: “I prepared several days and finish disassembling it yesterday. I have seen that many notebook fans favor IBM ThinkPad X60. Some have already bought it, the others are still choosing and observing. So let’s have a look at it (from inside).” Usually, general consumers don’t have the chance to look inside the notebook. They make a purchase decision based on the outside appearance, write-down configuration, and so on. But through the BBS, consumers are able to see the interior design and materials now. This is an important factor for some for purchase reference check. Brands can also leverage this net culture through providing such kind of pictures. If the notebook is really well-designed, brand can attract consumers “from outside to inside” now.

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

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 : “ 顶了，好活动！！！” Quote: “Great campaign, I support it !!!” 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 : “ 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 Campaign: Toshiba is love, Love on the Chinese valentine‘s day ( 七夕 ) --- grab floor use your love announcement. Rule: people who grab the 7th, 77th, 700th and 777th floor will get prize accordingly. Replies: 7,835 Page view: 33,876 Campaign: Toshiba alarm clock give-away. Guess the price of this clock. Rule: people who guess the correct price of clock can get one and people who grab the 500th or a floor of a 500 multiple can also get one. Replies: 5,048 Page view: 11,342 “ 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 100 th or 1000 th 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. 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

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).

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: [email_address] © CIC 2008