Time recently selected “YOU” as the person of the year because “You” is taking control of the information age via blogs, message boards and video. Lucky for us, “you” also lives in China, with 2006 serving as a breakout year for Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM). Just as in the West, this was the year that consumers began taking control of their media.

They created their own stars. Dell learned that they can create a crisis. Bloggers topped the best seller list with their printed blog content and searched on Baidu for quintessential net star Fu Rong Jie Jie more than they did Mao Ze Dong. Brands also reached out to consumers for marketing ideas, asking them to create TVC and tapping their net stars to be spokespersons (i.e. Sony Ericsson and Tian Xian MM).

For this post, we have prepared a 6 month review of past CIC watches. It doesn’t cover the whole year, but if these past 6 months are any indication, we are only at the beginning of a long and interesting ride with the consumers behind the wheel. We look forward to reporting more in 2007!

Click here to download the free CIC Watch Review (PDF) if you would like to see the various sample cases and below is the content highlights:

Welcome to the Crisis 2.0 era

In the "old days," a company crisis typically started in traditional media, and then was amplified via on BBS and Blogs. "Black March" of 2005 with SK-II, Heinz, KFC and others offer plenty of cases. And this is what we call crisis 1.0.
Now, more and more, crisis' are actually starting on BBS or blogs. In the U.S., it started with Kryptonite. Then, Dell Hell, and more recently Comcast and AOL. For overview in China, see Business Week. This new era of crisis is 2.0 now.

Consumer-Brand Co-Creation

With the development of online interactive technology, working with your customers and letting them think about the brand at your position becomes much easier to access. Brands now have the opportunities to further expand their value through true engagement.

Extended PR/Marketing Channel In Web 2.0

The interactive web technology not only brings a sea of change to netizens’ online experience, but also provides a whole new channel to conduct its PR and Marketing event. Consumer engagement has never been so massively close to brands.

The Rising Net Culture

Netizens have special language, create and worship their own celebrities. Many offline experiences just do not work fine when they get online. For anyone who wants to fit in that world, it is wise to start observing. Furthermore, the net culture has not only online influence but also affects the offline world.