Advertisers change sales pitch to discerning Asians

Advertisers change sales pitch to discerning Asians

By Ong Saw Lay

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): As Asia's middle classes have bloomed, their appetites have changed, posing a challenge for advertisers who now have to pitch to discerning and yet still widely varied markets in this vast region.

With rising affluence, more and more Asians, flaunting the ubiquitous mobile phones and credit cards as status symbols, are settling for nothing less than designer labels, advertisers say.

For example, young Asian women living with their parents have large disposable incomes and are prime targets for the marketing engineers. Many of these unmarried office workers would not bat an eyelid at blowing a month's salary on a Chanel bag or a Fendi wristwatch worth hundreds of dollars.

Government and private estimates indicate that middle-class people in developing Asian nations could number several hundred million by the turn of the century, the fruit of growing prosperity in huge economies like China and India.

While strategies vary from country to country, advertisers said marketing campaigns in Asia were becoming ingenious, with the brands becoming more important than price-cutting.

"But there is no common global strategy that we can apply considering the multi-cultural and multi-religious societies across Asia," said Ronald Quay, managing director of RA Advertising Sdn Bhd in Malaysia.

Marketing campaigns are overwhelmingly shaped by cultural and religious taboos in most parts of Asia, Quay said.

In Moslem-dominated Malaysia, advertisers have to stick to an advertising code that covers religious and sexual taboos.

"No pigs, no dogs, no women in swimsuits, no showing of armpits ..." said S.P. Lee, creative director of Bates (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

In a market of growing affluence, it is quite logical that the new rich would hook onto symbols of their status, said Lee. "We are, in a sense, where Singapore was four to five years ago," Lee said.

In China, the rapid emergence of an urban middle class has been accompanied by a veritable explosion in advertising, with foreign firms among the major spenders as they seek to carve a niche in the market for brand-name goods.

The dull, unprofessional ads of a decade ago have been replaced by slick, glossy plugs in the print media and television with models touting the accessories required for yuppie status, from color TVs to mobile phones.

The trend has caused alarm among the conservative authorities who last year issued a ban on advertisements that "abuse" women.

"A typical problem is that some advertisements depict women in inferior moral images and thus infringe upon women's dignity and traditional values, "said Liu Baofu, who heads China's national advertising regulatory body.

But in Hong Kong, except for blasphemy, there is no taboo hindering marketing campaigns. Feminist groups are, however, becoming vocal if advertisements were found to be sexist.

A sense of success and identifying oneself with successful people is one of the latest trends appearing in advertisements in Hong Kong, said John Casey of Newell Public Relations.

"It is also trendy to project western lifestyles in advertisements on brandy, foreign imported beers, cars, computers and clothing," Casey said.

In the tiny island-state of Singapore, which has been hit by a retail sump, marketing wares for the middle class is a tough task, merchants say.

Singaporeans have less to spend on shopping because the bulk of their income is used to repay loans for houses and cars, which are extremely expensive.

Firms in Indonesia target high-profile magazines and radio stations popular with the new middle class. These include women's magazines such as Femina, Dewi and the new rock station Trijaya.

It is no different in Thailand where its middle class likes to think of itself as enjoying the same level of comfort and sophistication as those in other countries.

So brand names and especially international brands add extra value, said Ron Batori, general manager of Bozell Breakthrough Advertising Ltd.

In Seoul, massive sales and advertising on television pitch to two separate audiences. One is for the young yuppie with designer clothes, shampoo, fast cars and modern music tastes, computer games and back-to-front baseball caps.

The family that's "made it" -- with healthy kids gathered around a huge television set and all kinds of modern appliances -- forms the second target.

The buy-Korean labels and laws of 10 years ago are being relaxed.

"One used to be liable for arrest if found with even half a packet of foreign cigarettes left by a visiting friend. Now, foreign foods like cheese are available," a marketer said.