We are always excited to see brands come up with initiatives which enable them to actually participate in consumers’ online discussions and communities.

Recently, we saw that KFC launched a branded channel on Baidu Zhidao, a popular online Q&A service. The channel provides a platform for consumers to discuss nutrition. Of course there might be questions to what degree consumers would give credibility of a nutrition channel sponsored by a fast food restaurant, however, we see this an interesting step. We are also beginning to see companies place official representatives on Baidu Post bar.

We see participation on Baidu’s Post Bar and Zhidao as interesting because such a step gives the company a voice in IWOM. The most common ways up to now to have a voice is either to have a corporate blog or have a branded community. Baidu is clearly positioning itself to offer a third option on one of the hottest properties on the Chinese internet.

The original article from CIC watch is below.

Summary
KFC and Baidu set up “KFC nutrition page” on Baidu Zhidao beginning one month ago, which offers a platform for netizens to discuss KFC nutrition related questions. Within one month, it has received nearly 1,400 topics. In addition, KFC has promoted this campaign on its offline materials such as tray sheets.

Sample Quote

百度知道也由线上主题推广到线下品牌宣传。肯德基每天巨大的人流量，这个宣传作用是可想而知的。 (link)
Baidu Zhidao started promotion offline, there are huge number of KFC consumers everyday, the promotion effect should be great.
不是很关心这种些,都喜欢炒一下 (link)
I don’t care about these, too sensational.
怎么没有和M合作呀，我比较喜欢吃M (link)
Why didn’t Baidu cooperate with M (McDonald’s), I prefer M.

CIC View
KFC has promoted its nutrition concept for many years to set up a healthy image to counter its “junk” food perception. This time, it has a standard Chinese web 2.0 tool to “participate” in customers’ discussion. Within one month, more than 88% questions have been answered and the most welcomed question received almost 40 replies, which show an impressive degree of customers’ acceptance and participation.

Below is a screen shot of the index for the full IWOM watch report

Other CIC watch related posts that may be of interest:
CIC Watch Half-Year Review released (download the full report)
CIC watch: “You” – Time’s Person of the Year – also lives in China (download the full report)
IWOM Watch August 1-15: Baidu Post Bar Crushing Machines