Spotlight on PR in China
Part 1: The Media in China
Once known as Paris of the East and the Pearl of the Orient, Shanghai is now returning to its heyday with phenomenal annual growth rates and futuristic new structures going up every day. As the gateway to China's vast market, one would expect the world's largest companies to have beachheads there, but mid-size and even small companies have started to follow. In Beijing, the 2008 Olympics, just around the corner, has stimulated a feverish building spree as well, and more foreign companies than ever are setting up shop there.
How can a foreign company in China establish a good reputation? How is the Chinese media different to work with than the Western media or media in other Asian countries? Does one have to consider China's communist social and political structure when conducting a marketing PR program?
Bridge Global Strategies asked Katsunobu Katada to talk about PR practices and standards we must be aware of to use PR effectively in the Chinese market. Mr. Katada, a native of Japan, is Director and Vice President, Kyodo Public Relations of China, Inc. in Shanghai. Kyodo PR, headquartered in Tokyo, also has an office in Beijing. This is Part One of a two-part article on PR in China.
Bridge: China is a huge country. Can you tell us about the media in China: is any of the media seen, read or heard nationally or is it mostly regional or local? We understand that Shanghai is the big business media center. Beijing, on the other hand, is crucial for reaching government decision-makers. What other media capitals are there besides these two cities? If you launch a new product or have a CEO visiting from overseas, do you need to visit the other cities or is it enough to travel to Shanghai and Beijing?
Katsunobu Katada: Recently, the Chinese media landscape is said to have become more liberal, due to ongoing industrialization and the growing strength of the market. However, in general all media is still under government control, although there may be differences in the ways and the strength with which influence is exerted. Except for some specialized nationwide newspapers, almost all newspapers are local. For example, Shanghai Morning Post and Oriental Morning Post are popular in Shanghai, but they are not on the map either in Beijing, Guangzhou or the Urumqi regions. And Beijing Evening News and Beijing News are very widely read by citizens in the Beijing area, however they aren't read in Shanghai. Shanghai is the country's principal business city. But Beijing is the hub of politics and mass media.
If the targets for a company's message are located specifically in these two areas, announcements and the CEO visits should be made there specifically. However, if a company wants to send a nationwide message throughout China, locations important to the client's interests will have to be singled out for specific, separate PR activities. I remember one example of a consumer product manufacturer who held 12 product announcement events in as many cities nationwide, starting in Shanghai.
Bridge: How competitive is it to get the media's attention for the launch of a new product?
KK: Some journalists in China have unreasonable doubts about foreign manufacturers (especially Japanese companies) whom they suspect of trying to sell products in China that have long been outmoded and outperformed in their country of origin. First we have to set aside those misconceptions. Then we must demonstrate those products' cutting-edge technology and features and their adherence to global standards. If products are not attractive, media interest for the brand will immediately decrease by half. Media have a tendency to prefer negative news topics such as product defects to new product launch and similar positively-oriented news items.
Bridge: How difficult is it to get media attention if you want to set up media interviews for a visiting company CEO/president from the home office overseas?
KK: Foreign markets are important in China. However, the most vital factors affecting the Chinese media's interest in visiting executives is whether they have any news to deliver about the company's relationship to the Chinese market. This is similar to media and readership interest in any country. But Chinese media are especially strict in judging relevancy to their own country. When preparing for media interactions in China, it is key to highlight and clarify all China-related elements ("how much to invest in China, how many people will be hired in China, how much tax would be paid in China, how big will the contribution to Chinese society and public-interest activities in China be, etc.") If journalists are already aware of how strong the client's position is regarding the Chinese market and how important the market is to the company, then their response to interview requests and invitations to press events will be much higher.
Bridge: Most American companies are not allowed to pay journalists for media coverage. However, we hear that this is standard in China. Is it true there is a practice of providing "travel money" for attending a press conference, much more money than is actually required to cover the cost of travel to and from the press conference? We've heard that without this travel money, journalists will not come to a press conference. Since most news is released in China at press conferences, they are an important part of obtaining media coverage. Can you comment on this?
KK: As of December 2006, it is a definitely a standard business custom at media-related events, such as press conferences held by private companies, to offer "gratitude money" to journalists, billed as transportation expenses.
There is not blackmail (We won't come if you don't pay), but rather a deep-rooted tradition that journalists think it is a matter of course to receive this compensation if they actually go to a press conference.
As for the relationship between incurring transportation expenses on the behalf of journalists and being able to secure coverage, I believe that actual common journalistic sense, quality of PR, and the news value of an item, are much more important in securing coverage.
I therefore think this transportation fee should be considered as a simple entry fee when organizing press conferences in China. I'm not sure how U.S. PR agencies are dealing with these issues. However, if you are doing PR in China, I think you should follow this custom, whether you like it not.
Watch for our next newsletter for the continuation of this article, "Part 2: China's PR Industry"
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