When I was growing up in the US in the 1970’s, my friends and I would listen to the radio, waiting for the DJ to announce the chance for listeners to be the “10th caller” to win a new record by the coolest new band. I would then rush to the phone to frantically punch in the phone number (I swear I can type phone numbers faster than anyone, even faster than speed dial!). Such tactics by brands on one of the most powerful shared media at the time, radio, created buzz among my network of friends.

In China, we see a similar tactic updated for the medium of BBS in “grabbing the floor,” where forum administrators or others will incentivize comments by offering gifts or privilege to those who write the 100th comment or the 1000th comment etc.

Clearly, I am in different times and different countries, but it is interesting to see the parallels of opportunities for brands to leverage the preferred media of youth. As brands look to BBS and more and more to social networks like Facebook and Zhanzuo, it should be noted that there are existing practices to be learned from.

“Grab Floor” – popular netizen initiated campaign model

Sample Quote
刘翔的生日是7月13日，所以如果谁是713楼，1713，2713，3713 ......后三位是713的，格式正确，我们将送出银币100个
Liu Xiang’s birthday is July 13th, so those who occupy the floor number of conversation including 713 such as the 713th floor, 1713th floor…… We will send 100 silver coins of virtual currency.

Summary
“Grab the Floor” (占楼) is an essential component of community net culture in China. It refers to “occupying” a specific “floor” in a BBS conversation with a comment (i.e. to be the No.88 or No. 188 comment within a conversation). The person originating the thread may incentivize commenters with gifts (i.e. virtual currency) or privilege to occupy a specific floor number (i.e. whoever writes the 100th or 1000th comment will get a gift) which can lead to massive participation. (see here and here for example). Also, see above example which drove over 52,000 comments and 110,000 page views for one conversation about Liu Xiang.

CIC View
This innovative netizen campaign model provides actionable implication for brands to plan their interactive event. (i.e. brands could use this model to give away their limited edition rewards like Liu Xiang signed shoes. Such tactics are used by netizens themselves to successfully create buzz, they are more likely to be accepted and successful if used by brands in specific campaigns or other for other online activities.

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

(click image to enlarge)

Other CIC IWOM 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)