This document discusses WeChat and its importance for global companies. It summarizes WeChat as a mobile portal, operating platform, and integrated payment system. It notes that WeChat has over 1 billion monthly users who spend 1/3 of their mobile time on it. The document advises that WeChat is a valuable marketing tool for companies and provides different account types (subscription and service) that companies can use to engage with users. It emphasizes the importance of WeChat for reaching Chinese consumers both in China and when traveling abroad.

1. Part One: Introduction to WeChat
Normandy Madden
Global Director, Media & Brand Innovation
The Digit Group

2. Many western companies view WeChat as China’s answer to
WhatsApp or Facebook.
They also assume that only companies active in China need to
worry about WeChat.
These are potentially costly misperceptions.

3. WeChat may look like a basic
messaging app on the surface,
but it’s much more:
• It’s a mobile portal, an Internet gateway connecting
consumers in a “one-stop shop” to services and content
including messaging, social media, news, search,
directories and m-commerce. WeChat, known as Weixin in
China, has around 1 billion monthly active users who spend
1/3 of their mobile online time on WeChat.

4. WeChat may look like a basic
messaging app on the surface,
but it’s much more:
• It’s an operating platform with functionality such as GPS
navigation, video, speech recognition, voice recorder, a
music player and more. WeChat now offers over one million
apps on its platform that help consumers do everything
from shopping to games to dating.

5. WeChat may look like a basic
messaging app on the surface,
but it’s much more:
• It’s an integrated payment system offering a one-click
checkout process called WeChat Pay with four settings -
Quick Pay, QR Code Payments, In-App Web-Based
Payments, and Native In-App Payments, all of which will
fulfill the full range of payment scenarios that your
customers will need to buy your product or service.

7. WeChat is a valuable marketing tool to bolster sales. Its
apps offer just about any product or service they ever
need. Users can buy movie and airline tickets, reserve hotel
rooms, pay restaurant bills and utility invoices, order
groceries, books, and cosmetics, book taxis and doctor
appointments, make peer-to-peer payments, & play games.

9. Companies can set up different types of verified accounts —
primarily subscription accounts and service accounts — to
communicate with WeChat users, sell products, operate CRM
activities, offer promotions and discounts, and more. A dedicated
WeChat shopping platform could be the answer for new brands
trying to capture more of the Chinese market.

10. Subscription Accounts
Subscription accounts sit on a WeChat user’s subscription list
and allow them to consume content and download branded
apps. It is a fairly basic service that doesn’t offer unique
experiences or support mobile payments or customized menus
and is less visible than service accounts, but it does let brands
conduct daily outreach - limited to one message per day.

11. Service Accounts
Service accounts are displayed alongside a user’s personal
contacts in the chat list and offer a broader range of
features and access to WePay-based mobile payments,
making them a good customer service and sales channel.
When users engage with brands, service account holders
have 48 hours to reply, then users then receive a push
notification to alert them that they have a message waiting.

13. Mini Programs
These more or less do what Service Accounts do, as “sub-applications”
within the WeChat ecosystem that provide advanced features to users
such as e-commerce, task management, coupons etc.
But they can’t send out push notifications, they can’t be shared on
WeChat Moments, they have to be developed with Tencent’s specific
language, instead of html and css, updates have to be submitted to
Tencent, and they only work within WeChat not other browsers.

14. To get started on WeChat, you need to get followers.
There are many ways to do this, such as advertising on
the Moments newsfeed, placing QR codes on product
packaging and outdoor ads, and offering promotions,
discounts and special activities to attract users to follow
your branded WeChat account.

15. 1) Produce intriguing short copy and strong visuals.
2) Create short videos that pique curiosity without giving away the punchline.
3) Produce long-form videos that tell a real story.
4) Devise a simple user journey that maintains interest.
5) Always try to make an impression rather than getting one through stale,
static brochure materials and make sure QR codes are integrated through all
communication materials.
Then, focus on engagement & story-telling:

16. Chinese tourists are the most powerful single source of change in the
tourism industry. Chinese made a record 4.53 billion domestic and
overseas trips in 2016. Not only is it the biggest domestic market in the
world, where 4.4 billion trips are made each year, but it’s also the
leading global outbound market, with over 135 million international
departures in 2016, and it’s merely the tip of the iceberg. Why?
This isn’t just for marketing in China but also to
reach Chinese when they’re in your country.

17. Chinese tourists are the most powerful single source of change in the
tourism industry. Chinese made a record 4.53 billion domestic and
overseas trips in 2016. Not only is it the biggest domestic market in the
world, where 4.4 billion trips are made each year, but it’s also the
leading global outbound market, with over 135 million international
departures in 2016, and it’s merely the tip of the iceberg. Why?
Only 6 per cent of Chinese people own a passport.

18. With increasing numbers of Chinese traveling and spending overseas, brand
owners, retailers, and travel and tourism companies should be using WeChat
to engage with them before they leave home and especially while they are
abroad. In addition to brand awareness, global companies with a WeChat
account inside China can offer content, store locations in cities like New York,
London and Paris, localized customer service and even conduct transactions
through WePay, which supports cross-border transactions and more than 20
different currencies, including the US dollar & the EURO.

19. All of this is important because Chinese consumers are
coming to your country in ever-increasing numbers and
they will always demand to use WeChat.

20. 1.Choose the right type of WeChat account for your brand.
2.Create local content for local consumption. Don’t re-publish global content
into Mandarin as part of a checklist in your digital strategy. This is a unique
ecosystem to create real conversations with consumers and empower
advocates both to build your brand and to drive sales.
3.Don’t advertise. Offer real experiences and interactive engagement.
4.Don’t overlook international usage by Chinese travelers.
5.Keep an eye on the future. WeChat is constantly evolving.
Final Tips for Using WeChat to Build Your Business:

23. Part Two: Future Media in Smart Cities
Normandy Madden
Global Director, Media & Brand Innovation
The Digit Group

24. Who are we?
The Digit Group (TDG) designs, builds and
manages holistic smart cities, providing
greater security, increased safety, lower
energy use and a better urban experience
through the real world implementation of
IoT innovations. With projects underway
in China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East
and the U.S., TDG is committed to
building smart, safe, connected cities.

25. What is a smart city?

26. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
What is a smart city?

27. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
Access to Adequate Shelter & Clean Water
What is a smart city?

28. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
Access to Adequate Shelter & Clean Water
Clean & Renewable Energy Production
What is a smart city?

29. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
Access to Adequate Shelter & Clean Water
Clean & Renewable Energy Production
Electric/Autonomous Mobility (Mass Transit Systems)
What is a smart city?

30. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
Access to Adequate Shelter & Clean Water
Clean & Renewable Energy Production
Electric/Autonomous Mobility (Mass Transit Systems)
Safe & Sustainable Food Production
What is a smart city?

31. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
Access to Adequate Shelter & Clean Water
Clean & Renewable Energy Production
Electric/Autonomous Mobility (Mass Transit Systems)
Safe & Sustainable Food Production
Adequate Healthcare Services
What is a smart city?

32. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
Access to Adequate Shelter & Clean Water
Clean & Renewable Energy Production
Electric/Autonomous Mobility (Mass Transit Systems)
Safe & Sustainable Food Production
Adequate Healthcare Services
Communication/Connectivity/Data
eGovernment: Transparent & Convenient Public Info
What is a smart city?

33. Safety (Terrorism, Hackers, Pollution, Natural Disasters, etc)
Access to Adequate Shelter & Clean Water
Clean & Renewable Energy Production
Electric/Autonomous Mobility (Mass Transit Systems)
Safe & Sustainable Food Production
Adequate Healthcare Services
Communication/Connectivity/Data
eGovernment: Transparent & Convenient Public Info
Good Lifestyle - Access to Recreation & Green Public Spaces
What is a smart city?

34. What is a smart city?
The Internet of Things (including sensors & data) is the
starting point for creating safer, more efficient cities by
transforming infrastructure, buildings, and services. This
transformation is really the Internet of Buildings and even
the Internet of Cities…Connected Cities, or, as TDG calls them
……Conscious Cities.

35. Creating a “Conscious City” starts with the
integration of the energy platform into the entire
eco-system to support infrastructure and services,
especially mobility/transportation.

36. Mobility
Dynamic WEVC (Wireless Electric
Vehicle Charging)

37. Mobility

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41. VR Theme Park + Industrial Park + R&D Center in Qingdao, China
Theme Park: A Series of Lands & Worlds to
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42. Qingdao VR Theme & Industrial Park

43. www.thedigitgroupinc.com
Normandy Madden
Global Director, Media & Brand Innovation
The Digit Group
nmadden@thedigitgroupinc.com
+852-9302-7951
Thank you!