BUZZ NEWS

"Love China" on MSN Messenger

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Recently, a huge buzz has swept throughout the worldwide blogosphere. The reason? Millions of Chinese MSN chatters added “love China” to their screen names by placing a red heart and the word ‘China’ next to it. This was a patriotic gesture in response to Western bullying over the recent Beijing Olympic Games protests.

MSN China caught wind of this phenomenon shortly after it erupted, and quickly released an article on their website claiming that MSN China was calling on "Chinese people worldwide to use the red heart to express their love for China as well as to support Beijing’s Olympic Games". As a result the number of red heart users reached roughly 3.5 million (as of one week ago), according to a Contagious report.

Debates about this occurrence/action are getting more and more heated; most bloggers comment on it as an overtly political matter. Here on Culture-Buzz I would however like to focus on a different aspect of this intriguing Buzz, and rather appreciate its success as a viral marketing campaign by MSN China. When entering into a market with a totally different culture, localization is paramount. The key is to genuinely understand and respect the local culture by putting their own individual views (whether right or wrong) at the forefront of their communication. In regards to this communication, localization is a means of finding ways to communicate a message that is acceptable for local consumers. Normally the characteristics of good viral materials include sex, humor, surprise (or a combination of these). Perhaps in China patriotism is just as powerful when used as a viral vehicle. For thousands of years, Chinese culture has considered patriotism the most important merit of all...

Another point that needs to be emphasized here: MSN China did not initiate this action (2.3 million MSN users had already added this badge to their profiles when MSN China officially launched this viral campaign, proving again how important it is to monitor online buzz). Foreign companies may not know the local culture very well, but they can start by carefully listening to the messages being put forth and by observing the means of such phenomenons. Perhaps there will be opportunities for them to seize and ensure successful branding and communication like this in the future.