Shanghai Zhangjiang Group LtdBeyond Silicon Valley of the Eastvisit page Branded Content
Technology
Key objectivesTo raise awareness and elevate its brand on the global stage, Zhangjiang Science City asked Morning Studio to produce online content that paints a picture of the strategic landscape, business outlook and quality of life in this Shanghai innovation hub.
DeliverablesAfter doing extensive research on Zhangjiang and other hi-tech hubs around the globe, the Morning Studio team delivered three episodes of online content, with each addressing one of the science city’s key aspects highlighted in the objective.
The first episode was a written article based on interviews with three tech entrepreneurs living and working in Zhangjiang. Through the perspectives of these insiders, the audience got first-hand insights into what the Silicon Valley of the East offers to support tech companies and aspiring talents in pursuing their dreams. The second episode was a futuristic-looking multimedia story featuring interactive infographics that introduced Zhangjiang’s dedicated artificial intelligence zone. The multimedia page visualised data and distilled dense facts into easy-to-digest, graphic-oriented reporting. The third episode was a short video produced for Goldthread, SCMP’s lifestyle content channel focused on Chinese culture, that introduced younger audiences overseas to the concept of the “Zhangjiang nan” – China’s version of Silicon Valley tech guy. The video opened with lighthearted animation to illustrate attributes of the stereotype, then debunked the myth by featuring real-life Zhangjiang nan in a mini-documentary style, showing how diverse this group actually was while also highlighting their driven, entrepreneurial and positive “Zhangjiang spirit”.
The online series was amplified via bespoke creative display ads and native ads on SCMP.com, extensive exposure on the social media pages of both SCMP and Goldthread (including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube), and a targeted eDM blast to 20,000 SCMP subscribers.
Results
This series reached a total of 1.38 million international users, and was read or watched over 150,000 times (total count of page views and video views). The average time on page for the online articles reached 2 minutes and 44 seconds.
