Australia is Rising from the Ashes and Social is playing a BIG Role

What makes Australia distinctly Australian? Meat pies and kangaroos?  What about the canefields of the North Queensland agricultural belt?  Did you know they were elegantly constructed by an Italian migrant base?

What is distinctly Australian is becoming harder and harder to define.  When it comes to Aussie residents being born in other countries, we boast the second highest population in the world of 28 per cent, only behind Saudi Arabia.

The bulk of Australian immigrants are from Asia, specifically China and Hong Kong. This number is set to soar by 2020, with the new middle class of Asia looking to extend its reach into Australia.

So as Australia’s robust economy continues to prosper, experts like demographer Bernard Salt believes immigrants are playing an enormous role in business dealings for the country—something professionals in the marketing space need to keep a keen eye on.

“What it does mean is that this nation should be proud of the fact that we have achieved something that no other nation has achieved or attempted,” he said.  “And that is the delivery of sustained economic prosperity combined with a generous immigration program­ over generations.”

As the new wave of migrants gear up to head over to Australia and make their mark, marketers and communicators need to learn how to cater to these customers. So how we go about communicating with this new demographic, one that’s only set to diversify even further?

Some of the challenges

Challenges in the marketing field don’t stop at just a few, and as technology and digital innovation continue to shake things up, throwing in a potential whole new demographic is a real speed bump for marketers. It’s a good one, but a challenge all the same.

Marketing to Australians of Chinese descent carries with it several hurdles. In fact, founder and chief executive of Chinese-focused marketing agency Digital Jungle Mathew McDougall said: “In terms of what is different, it is almost everything.”

So, let’s start with websites. One of the common questions businesses have for their marketing firms is “Can we translate the content to Mandarin?”. You can, but it won’t make much difference. That’s because the entire way web pages are built in China is actually entirely different—everything from the content to the page navigation. You’re an expert in web design and development? Great. How about Chinese web design and development? Not so much.

Uh-oh. New territory. But that’s exciting.

Eye-tracking studies reveal that Westerners read from top left to bottom right, whereas Chinese consumers go from centre top to centre bottom. Clean, elegant and uncluttered pages are in vogue in the Western world, whereas Asian websites are often busy, brightly coloured and loaded with content.  

It is also important to remember that Facebook is one of a host of websites outlawed in China, along with Google, YouTube and Instagram.  This means it’s not easy enough to just jump on social media and make a few swipes or throw up a few memes to get customer engagement rolling.  Communication through these channels is extremely restricted for this new demographic, meaning it’s worth the while for marketers to becoming savvy with WeChat.  

Some of the advantages

Chinese culture encourages extremely tight communities; a trait which translates to the Western world.

If you’re planning on tapping into these communities, you need to know the channels that links these communities. From seeking out a decent lunch to advice on negative gearing for multiple property acquisitions, questions are more than likely going to be asked locally, over the phone, and most importantly for marketers and advertisers, on WeChat.

Sydney based consulting company ThinkChina managing director Benjamin Sun said WeChat was widely used by Asian Australians, with 1.5 million users in this country, and savvy businesses were tapping into this market.

“There are lots of businesses that are already using it in Australia and using the official page function to publish news and blogs,” he said.

Consumer purchasing is very different as well. The burgeoning middle class of China means a huge array of higher end products and services are now desirable and the more prestigious the better.

The cultural shift

Education is always the key, and so far Australia has failed miserably in this area. Well, not miserably…but definitely not impressively.

Despite the rising numbers of Chinese immigrants and trade deals being struck with Asia’s new rich crowd, the number of people learning Mandarin plummeted from 1500 students in New South Wales in 2005, to just 832 in 2015.

Of the 4000 studying Chinese across the country in 2015, only 400 were from a non-Chinese background. And almost all of high school students who are non-Chinese drop the language by Year 10.

This has to, and will, change, if the marketing space in Australia is going to meet the demands of new demographics and future customer bases. Foreign language programs that include Mandarin have been rolled out in pre-schools since 2015. More highschools are adopting Mandarin as an elective subject and are offering the education on why students should take it up. It’s time for marketers to get serious on the potential of Mandarin as a language to leverage in the world of advertising and media.

We’re going to throw in a few numbers here, but they’re worthwhile. Relations between China and Australia began in 1972, and have grown robustly since then. We are interdependent, with two-way trade leaping $US100 million to $US116.6 billion in the last 40 years. That’s a whole lot of dosh.

China’s ambassador to Australia Chen Yuming said cultural relations have come a long way, and would need to continue on the path as more and more Asians call Australia home.

“Forty years ago, we found each other mysterious. Today, we are no longer strangers,” he said.  “Different cultural values and development backgrounds pose no barriers to understanding. We need to think more from each other’s perspectives, and be more considerate of other’s feeling.

“This is built on knowledge and understanding.”

Chinese people, living here and in Asia, are developing a more refined knowledge of Australian geography, culture and events. Doing the same about Asia can take you a long way towards achieving this level of understanding.

India leads immigration rate to Australia

There is already a strong Indian presence in Australia, with 295,362 Indian-born Australians recorded in the 2011 census. This figure is rising sharply, with Indians forming the largest percentage of permanent migration to Australia in 2011-12.

It is important to note that India’s economic growth eclipsed China’s in 2016 and projections show that only the US and China will top India when it comes to the new wealthy.

Targeted marketing towards Indian-Australians really only needs to follow one simple rule – don’t fall into the trap of portraying stereotypes.  Cadbury recently had to pull an advertisement for its Picnic product because of complaints of the nature of the video, which focused on an Indian man who spoke too fast.

“On the incredibly rare occasion that an Indian is seen on Australian television, he/she is portrayed in the most stereotypical and offensive manner,” the complaint read, in part.

Incorporating Indians in regular roles, with regular Australian accents and as regular people is the best way to capture this market, and to date this has not been the case.

While there have been the swings and misses like the Picnic advertising campaign, there have been some great success too like Moon Dog Brewing that is one of many companies marketing craft beer towards Asians.

The multicultural elements of Australia are set to become more thriving than ever in recent years, and campaigns that reflect this will enjoy the greatest success.

Do you ever get that strange feeling that the ad you just saw was something that you were discussing only a minute ago?  Or, have you ever sat in a meeting and Siri suddenly buts in?

If you’re a yes to either of these, you are not alone!

As technology advances there are more devices that have the ability to listen to our conversations. The big unknown is, are they always listening and recording our conversations?

At a pivotal moment in time when there is a global spotlight on all things to do with trust in the digital world obviously brought to the forefront by the now infamous Facebook Cambridge Analytica data breaches, consumers are right to be asking this question. As the growth and popularity of voice activated devices increases its clear this topic is only going to gain more traction.

The leading smart speakers in the market are Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod.  And yes, they need to be listening in some capacity so they can hear what are called the wake-words.  These are the trigger to get them to respond to the query, for example “Ok, Google” or “Hey Siri”

Both companies say they only start recording your commands when the wake-words are said. Once this happens it’s then transmitted to the servers to analyse the questions, so they can be answered. This data is encrypted within the cloud services.

Now the question on everyone’s lips, “Are these devices using my conversations to serve me ads?”

A friend in her mid-20’s recently told me that she was served an ad for a nursing home not long after discussing the fact they had a grandparent recently move into one.  It’s not surprising that the ad struck them as a little odd, given my friend wouldn’t naturally be a target for advertising a nursing home.

As a digital-media geek I would love to think that the industry is full of clever people working with  amazing technologies to ensure that all media is harmoniously providing the most accurate targeting whilst delivering effective results.  But, I am a realist and perhaps there is truth to the suspicions, like that of my friend and the nursing home advertising.

So, what do the likes of Amazon, Google and Apple have to say about such examples?

The short answer is, they have denied they’re listening all the time.  And we’re left scratching our heads on what is going on behind the curtain.

Is it possible that these devices do listen outside of their programmed boundaries and wake-words and will do more in the future.

Take Amazon’s latest patent.  It plans promote Alexa from virtual assistant to a dutiful aide with an expansive list of wake-words.  So if you’re discussing a restaurant on the phone, a recommendation could be sent to you immediately to make a reservation.  A simple example, but one that demonstrates that the possibilities are endless and potentially quite annoying!

Despite all this, it seems that Australian’s are willing to overlook this possible breach in favour of the ultimate in convenience.  Research from Telsyte predicts Australia’s Internet of Things industry will be worth $4.7 billion by 2021, and households will boast 311 million internet-connected devices, or more than 30 in every home.

That’s a stack of opportunities for devices to be listening.  And perhaps there’s a group of consumers out there that simply don’t care that they’re being listened to, or don’t believe their conversations are worth listening to.

We as advertisers know that they probably are worth listening to and provide many opportunities for the ultimate in relevant messaging.  But we need to question if we’re willing to be part of this potentially invasive technology or if its over-stepping the mark.

There’s not many 5^th birthday parties where the hot topic is Blockchain, Virtual Reality and inserting NFC chips into your hand.  But we decided to get all grown up this year and celebrate Hatched Media’s 5^th year with some big brains and sophisticated food, instead of fairy bread and clowns.

Aside from the beautiful food and booze, we featured three fascinating presentations that pushed us to think differently about how to approach the future.

Let’s start with Jamie Skella from Horizon State.  Jamie is fresh off a speaking circuit that has seen him present Redesigning Democracy with Blockchain in Korea, Ukraine and Afghanistan.  His argument for replacing the paper ballot, sausage sizzling, queue ridden method of voting is compelling.  Its clear however that the main concern, around the world is how safe is Blockchain really?  Pretty safe, in-fact totally tamper proof.

Blockchain could also save countries millions in election costs, with costs predicted to make voting 15x cheaper.  That means our recent plebiscite for marriage equality, that cost Australia $122M could have cost only $2M.  We’re sure there are many groups out there, looking to do some good that would appreciate even a portion of that loose $120M.

This could seem like a small win, when you compare what a Blockchain voting system could do for countries historically rife with corruption.  Could Blockchain deliver an age of true democracy? As Jamie summed up, a historic improvement in our democratic process awaits. 

If you’d like to find out more about Blockchain check out the Future Sandwich Podcast and the episode on Bitcoin: (http://www.futuresandwich.com/#/2-breaking-down-bitcoin/) .

Or for those really keen, RMIT have just launched a course in Blockchain for entrepreneurs and business leaders https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news-analysis/rmit-stone-and-chalk-blockchain-course-entrepreneurs-business-leaders .

Next up we had another incredibly smart bloke, Damian from Liminal VR who shared his Virtual Reality mood-altering goggles with us.  The team from Liminal VR featured 2 experiences; a calming world filled with bubbles and ethereal music and another designed to energise us, using lasers that shoot from your eyes, bright colors and psychedelic landscapes.

The applications for VR are many and varied, but to truly understand this you need to goggle-up and have a go.  One of the VR applications that pulled on all our heart-strings was the relaxation and calming effects for people going through potentially traumatic health events, such as the removal of bandages on a burns victim or for a child in hospital about to undergo an operation.  Being able to take them away from the hurt associated, is indeed powerful.  So just imagine the applications for brands here.

Alongside Deakin University & The Florey Institute, Liminial VR have undertaken one of the biggest studies of colour and the relationship to mood ever undertaken.   It was fascinating to hear Damian talk about the applications this incredible tech will have in the real world.

But we at Hatched were left with one critical question… does our Hatched Media yellow soothe our clients into a relaxed dream state of bliss, or work them into a frenzy of high energy activity!  We’re asking the question and will report back in due course…

Lastly, Tommy McCubbin from Future Sandwich tied everything together beautifully, pulling from the themes set up by the two previous presentations, and spoke about the future… by talking a lot about the past.   In a fascinating approach to trends and innovation, by deciphering events from history and looking at clues in current events we went on a journey from the days of ice making in the early 20^th century to the possible applications of Blockchain over the next 20 years, in 20 minutes of inspirational gold.

And we saw how trends are speeding up.  The time it’s taken from product or service innovation to mass market over the last 100 years has reduced so much that when we look at trend and uptake curves today they are almost vertical.

Tommy’s recurring theme was that when something is on the rise, something else inevitably falls.  And beyond the core thing that is rising or falling a whole heap of subsidiary services, jobs and industries are born or die out.

So, with electricity came the refrigerator which killed the ice farming industry, but beyond that single instance, urban industrialization kicked in (factories were built to mass produce goods), the logistics industry changed (from horse and cart to automobile) and people had to adapt to this new world (migrating from rural to metropolitan areas).  And these themes are all around us right now.  Innovation has become a buzz-word but the essence of this talk was that it has far ranging cultural and societal resonances that we often can’t see.  Take for example crypto-currency and cash.  Are we coming to the end of the era of banking?  Potentially, possibly, maybe yes.  Does the electric, automated, driverless car utter in the age of zero lives lost on the road, no more traffic jams, seamless transport systems, no more insurance premiums or public holiday fuel surcharges?   What happens to the insurance and petroleum industries?  What will car mechanics and crash repairers do?  What other jobs are born?

We can’t cover the lot here, but there are 16 podcast episodes that we recommend you dial into ASAP to get your head around some truly massive topics – http://www.futuresandwich.com/

Thank you to all those that joined us, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

In a few words, what is your role at Hatched?

My role is General Manager, which in this day and age of often extraordinary and unusual job titles, is exactly what it sounds like.  I generally manage our team and our office, focusing on our output as a business, ensuring we have happy people and happy clients.  Simply, I’m responsible for making sure we have everything in place so that we’re able to do the best job in order to get the best outcomes for our clients.  However the single, critical measure of my role is whether there is wine and beer in the fridge on Friday afternoons.  There is no higher responsibility.

 What’s the best thing you’ve read or done recently?

Two very different experiences spring to mind.   As a business we support The Big Umbrella Foundation which helps marginalised people around Melbourne.  Through their volunteer program, we recently helped at a soup kitchen in the city and it was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve had.  My sense of perspective was wholly re-set.  At the other end of the spectrum (and I admit completely out of all perspective) I was lucky enough to go to Auckland to see the British Lions play the All Blacks.  An amazing experience and for a POM, 16,000km from home, this once-in-every 12 year event was the stuff bucket lists are made of.

 Give us the goods on something cool you’ve seen lately – movie, tv series, doco.  What would you recommend our readers should have a look at?

I was very late to podcasts but have become addicted.  Without a doubt the best thing I’ve listened to so far has been S-Town from the team at This American Life.  In fact I’d go as far as to say as it’s the best content of any form I’ve consumed since Breaking Bad, which is the highest praise I’m able to offer.  It’s an absolutely astounding piece of journalism and truly compelling storytelling.  Whatever the listening version of “I couldn’t put it down” is, that was me.  I can’t wait for what they do next.

Welcome to the first Hatched missive for 2019, where we set the tone for the year by highlighting some examples of smart brands and meaningful consumerism.

We’re currently living against a backdrop where trust in Government, media and business is at its lowest ebb making it a great time for brands to stand up and be counted.  Sustainable and ethical consumerism coupled with brands driving legislation is increasing in a time of global upheaval; Trump, Brexit, epic migration, inequality and the future shock of new technologies.

Our connected world means it’s harder to ignore the negative impacts that consumption has on the planet, society and our own health.  In turn as free-thinking individuals, we know that the brands we spend our hard-earned dollars with increasingly need to reflect our personal identity: I’m smart! I’m connected! I’m ethical…a full 70% of Millennials are willing to spend more with brands that support the causes they care about.

Meaningful consumerism lead by brands is not always going to be an easy direction to take, but it can provide unique opportunities to stand up and prove what you believe as a brand.  As well, it’s a burgeoning territory in marketing where big brands are taking a stand to make the world better place – take the recent Gillette ‘We Believe’ campaign.

As we watch the world push and pull in different directions across a wide range of issues, we see many brands that are willing to get involved.  This is a movement in communications that we have taken a particular interest in here at Hatched and intend to share more cases with you across the year in our newsletters.

Here’s half a dozen examples to inspire, with more to follow next time.

 Glenmorangie Whiskey (UK)

Glenmorangie has pioneered a new Anaerobic Digestion system which provides an efficient method of waste disposal and a sustainable source of energy that can be cycled back to the distillery in Scotland.  The project, including partners from Heriot-Watt University and the Marine Conservation Society will ultimately restore Native European oysters to the Dornoch Firth and reduce the distillery’s reliance on fossil fuels by 15%.

Key benefits of the DEEP project include:

• Reduces the biological load discharged into the Dornoch Firth by more than 90%.
• Reduces the distillery’s dependence on fossil fuels by 15%.
• Creates a copper-rich fertiliser that will enrich barley fields in and around the Distillery’s home in Tain.
• Improved water quality in the firth helps return native oysters to the firth for the first time in 100 years.
• A restoration model that has the potential to be replicated around the world.

Next time you’re walking the whiskey aisles at Dan’s will this sway you?

The We Company {nee WeWork} (Global)

Co-working business The We Company’s mission is to create a world where people work to make a life, not just a living.

Their most recent contribution is that it will no longer let its 6,000 employees in 553 offices in 97 cities expense meals containing meat or serve meat at its events.

Stated in an internal memo: ‘New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact — even more than switching to a hybrid car.’

Contentious for many but smart thinking.

Chatty Costa Café (UK)

Costa has joined the chatty café scheme, to address the very real issue of loneliness, across 300 of their stores.

The aim is to provide a safe space for cafe-goers, particularly those struggling with loneliness, to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Almost 10% of people aged 16 to 24 were “always or often” lonely, the highest proportion of any age group, three times higher than people aged 65+.

A great way to innovate in your own physical spaces or shared spaces – to bring your customers together in new, beneficial and enjoyable ways?

Rewe Supermarket Chain (Germany)

Germany’s Rewe Supermarkets empowered shoppers to choose the sugar content of its own-brand chocolate pudding and distributed puddings that had 20%, 30%, and 40% less sugar alongside its original formula. The peoples’ choice was 30% less and will be permanently available for sale.

This is a shift from price wars to focusing on customer health and involving customers in product development.

REWE’s customers were given a choice between taste and health.

Which intractable industry challenges could you turn over to customers to decide for you?

Manulife (Singapore)

In brief mosquitoes are a major health issue in Singapore and Manulife (a Canadian insurance company) came up with a cracking idea befitting their remit.

This video nails it https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=aKoyRB4ZTH8

Patagonia (US)

The poster child of legislative companies, Patagonia bills itself as The Activist Company and publicly advocates for environmental protection, fair trade and stricter labour standards. It supports thousands of grass-roots environmental activists.

Most recently they donated $10 million, received by what they regarded as an unnecessary tax break for corporations championed by Donald Trump, to several different green groups.  In a LinkedIn post, Patagonia’s CEO Rose Macario said “Taxes protect the most vulnerable in our society, our public lands and other life-giving resources. We are committing all $10 million to groups committed to protecting air, land and water and finding solutions to the climate crisis”.

Next time you’re after that puffa jacket….

America is inexorably rolling towards the end of medicinal and recreational marijuana prohibition.

In the knowledge that Australia culturally leans towards Americana the question we ponder is which marijuana brand(s) will emerge here in a recreational market alone regarded to be worth an estimated $5 billion annually? (source https://newfrontierdata.com)

Whoever it may be, the lesson to be learnt is that sales volume and advertising budgets tend to move in lockstep.

Mark Ritson’s prohibition busting article clears through the haze with the simple observation that “new marijuana brands should strive to get to the top of the mountain in the next few years of frenzied competition and your advertising will work better for you because your scale will enable it.”

The full article can be enjoyed here https://www.marketingweek.com/2019/04/26/mark-ritson-investigates-recreational-marijuana/

There are 6,000 homeless people living in Copenhagen.  Under Danish law, homeless people are not allowed to sleep in groups leaving many exposed to theft and abuse on the streets.  Whilst sleeping in groups is illegal for the homeless, sleeping outside a shop to line up for a retail sale is not.  Which is why the paper came up with the idea to create Homeless Home Sale, an online geo-located shop for the homeless, so they can always be seen to be in a line, and therefore able to sleep in the safety of a group each night.

The interesting thing about this case is that it wasn’t a one off idea that the paper decided to act on.  Ekstra Bladet has long campaigned for greater awareness of the issue of homelessness in Copenhagen, even going as far as to have one of their journalists live as a homeless person on the street for a week.  Naturally this is where the idea for Homeless Home Sale was born and demonstrates a brand going beyond just talking about a cause they believe in, but aiming to change the rules that have caused the problem.

Source:  Trendwatching