Cheese Report September 2020

Market Watch

• Travel Industry Facing Bigger Challenges as First Round of Subsidies Running Out
• Uncovering 9 Reasons Why Digital Ads Do Not Work
• Best of Times and Worst of Times? Post-COVID-19 e-commerce Challenges and Opportunities
• Pandemic Changing Lifestyles – Nearly 40% of Shoppers Prefer Buying Online
• Home Delivery Spending Over NT$1 Billion per Month Even as Pandemic Scare Eases
• How to Connect with Gen Z – Conde Nast Social Influencer White Paper Offers Some Hints
• Exclusive Survey: CommonWealth CSR Top 100 Sees ESG as Investment Focus of the Future

Tourism Industry Update

• Tourism Outbound Departure Statistics, January-August 2020
• DGBAS Latest Economic Indicators for August 2020
• Sailing Dream Cruises around Taiwan with a Taste of Korean Culture
• No Layoffs, No Pay Cuts; Silks Hotel Group Sees Taiwan’s Best Opportunity in 30 Years
• 2020 ITF to Be a Different Travel Show; Visitors Urged to Give Tourism Workers a Boost
• Phoenix Tours to Invest NT$500 Million to Build Upscale Hotel on Xiaoliuqiu Island
• National Travel Recovering; Decoding Credit Card Spending Figures
• Taiwanese Airlines among the Few Making Money in Hard Times
• Western-style Mobile Amusement Park Opens in Taoyuan for 2-Month Run
• Taiwan Tops the List of Searched Destinations to End of Year
• Tourism Bureau Accommodation Subsidies for Quarantine Rooms to Be Extended to End of Year

Media News

• YouTube Kids Arrives in Taiwan, Helps Protect Young Users
• Big Change in Facebook Ad Policy: Text-in-Ad Image Rule Is Out
• Taking on TikTok: YouTube Launches Short Video Platform ‘Shorts’
• Accelerating Digital Transformation through Brand Marketing Strategies
• Apple Delays Consumer Privacy Feature until Early 2021

Case Study

• Fossil Fan Page Chatbot Campaign

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Market Watch

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Travel Industry Facing Bigger Challenges as First Round of Subsidies Running Out

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications initiated a “safe travel” subsidies plan in July to support domestic tourism as the COVID-19 scare eased, but the funds, which were expected to last to the end of October, have nearly run out. Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung said discussions have been held to have the government add funding and extend the subsidy program. At the same time, the standard National Travel Subsidy program ends in November, which could hurt late fall and winter travel demand, and potential solutions are also being discussed.

^{Source：ETToday
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Uncovering 9 Reasons Why Ads Aren’t Working

When ads are placed and they do not produce the desired effect or revenue bump, doubts arise over the value of advertising. People question the precision of the ad placement, the appropriateness of the platform used, and whether anybody recognizes the brand. In fact, when ads fail to have an impact, it’s usually because of one of the following nine reasons. If a concerted effort is not made to get to the root of the problem, it will be hard to find a solution. The nine most common problems are:

1. Thinking that the lack of response is the fault of the ad itself rather than other possible problems
2. Lacking objectivity, putting too much trust in one’s own views
3. Misjudging what the customer really wants or needs
4. Setting an inappropriate ad budget
5. Getting too obsessed with “targeting”; repeating the same ad to the right target may not work
6. Product being promoted lacks competitiveness
7. Poor market environment
8. Lacking an understanding of how to interpret ad indicators, analyze metrics
9. Not having a “funnel mentality”; need to break down the entire process, from ad to sale, into components as if through a funnel to better identify what is going wrong.

^{Source：Yahoo新聞
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Best of Times and Worst of Times? Post-COVID-19 e-commerce Challenges and Opportunities

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has fueled explosive growth in the e-commerce sector. E-commerce giants Amazon and Alibaba both saw revenue rise nearly 40% in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier. But that may not necessarily be good news for small and medium-sized online vendors. Bigger consumer demand could mean the emergence of more competitors and constantly rising ad bidding prices, driving costs higher and fostering a more challenging environment for e-commerce operators.

^{Source： Tech News
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Pandemic Changing Lifestyles – Nearly 40% of Shoppers Prefer Buying Online

COVID-19 has led consumers to move toward cashless and online transactions. According to the results of a global survey by Standard Chartered on the future of spending post-COVID-19, more than 64% of respondents agreed that COVID-19 has made them more positive about shopping online, including 50% of those in Taiwan. At the same time, 48% of global respondents and 39% of Taiwanese cited online shopping as their preferred way of buying in the future, up from 34% for both groups prior to the pandemic.That shift toward online buying covered all types of purchases, including groceries, travel, and digital devices and services. Also, 54% of Taiwanese said COVID-19 has made them more careful with spending.

^{Source：cynes.com/Standard Chartered factsheet
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Home Delivery Spending Over NT$1 Billion per Month Even as Pandemic Scare Eases

At the COVID-19 outbreak’s peak in Taiwan in March and April, credit card spending on home delivery services hit an all-time high, but even as fears of the coronavirus have eased, demand for home delivery has remained strong, according to a report by the National Credit Card Center released today (Sept. 22) that analyzed credit card spending on home delivery platforms. In recent months, credit card transactions for home delivery services and credit card spending have remained at very high levels, exceeding 4.4 million transactions and NT$1 billion in spending per month, the report said.

^{Source：ETToday
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How to Connect with Gen Z – Conde Nast Social Influencer White Paper Offers Some Hints

The latest Conde Nast report that tracks Gen Z trends focused on the first group of Gen Z members born between 1995 and 2002. It said 58% of these Gen Zers have incomes from work, giving them independence as consumers and autonomy in making decisions.

According to the white paper, the social media platform preferences of Gen Z members were at odds with those of previous generations, with images and videos their main communication interface. Gen Z women are more attached to Instagram while Gen Z men use YouTube more frequently. Either way, with images and videos emerging as the main channels through which information is communicated, brands must use videos to converse with this group of consumers. Also, Gen Z is more demanding of the quality of the visuals presented and wants to see unique social aesthetics, putting even more pressure on brands to put a high priority on their visual style.

^{Source：INSIDE
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Exclusive Survey: CommonWealth CSR Top 100 Sees ESG as Investment Focus of the Future

ESG investment, which stresses social and environmental responsibility, is booming in the post-coronavirus era. The recently released CommonWealth Corporate Citizen Awards signaled four main trends in corporate sustainability, with the most noteworthy the apparent emphasis on “placemaking.”

“Corporate sustainability” has emerged as the most popular investment catchphrase in the post-COVID-19 era, including in Taiwan. From foreign institutions to retail investors, ESG (environmental, social and governance) investment has exploded in 2020. Not only have more than half of the assets managed by global institutions adopted ESG principles, but Taiwan’s ESG funds have the second most assets in Asia, behind those of Japan.

The results of the CommonWealth survey came out during an ESG boom. At a time when financial performance is no longer the sole measuring stick used by investors and as CSR (corporate social responsibility) has become a mainstream issue for companies, this list of Taiwan’s top 100 companies on sustainability can serve as an invaluable guide for investment and corporate development strategies.

^{Source：Economic Daily News
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Tourism Industry Update

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Tourism Outbound Departure Statistics, January-August 2020

1. Taiwanese went abroad 2,229,568 times in the first eight months of 2020, down 80.91% from the same period of 2019, when people went abroad 11,676,889 times. In August alone, there were only 37,786 outbound departures, down 97.45% from 1,481,669 departures in August 2019.
2. The top destination for outbound travelers from January to August 2020 was Japan, mainly because of its popularity as a destination in the first quarter of 2020 before cross-border travel ground to a halt, followed by China, South Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Travel to all of these destinations was down dramatically from 2019, falling by as much as 87.77% to Hong Kong.

^{Source：Tourism Bureau Monthly Statistics}

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DGBAS Latest Economic Indicators for August 2020

1. As the domestic economy continued to recover, 11,507,000 people were employed in August, up 9,000, or 0.08%, from the previous month.
2. Economic growth in 2021 was forecast at 3.92%.

1. The average regular monthly wage for employees (including full-time and some hourly Taiwanese and foreign workers) in July was NT$42,481, up 1.26% year-on-year. Average monthly earnings, which include bonuses, overtime pay, and other irregular income, was NT$55,505, up 4.46% from a year earlier.
2. In August, 478,000 people were unemployed, and the unemployment rate was 3.99%, down 0.01 percentage points from July.

^{Source：DGBAS Latest Indicators
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Sailing Dream Cruises around Taiwan with a Taste of Korean Culture

Following its simulated flight to nowhere experience at the Taipei Tourism Expo in late August and its real flight to nowhere over Jeju Island on Sept. 19, the Korea Tourism Organization will team up with Jeju and the Busan tourism bureau to hold Korean-themed festivities aboard Dream Cruises’ island-hopping tours around Taiwan on the Explorer Dream cruise liner on Sept. 30, Oct. 2 and Oct. 4. These activities have been designed for Taiwanese to enjoy Korean culture by air, sea, and land without having to go to South Korea and deal with COVID-19 travel restrictions.

^{Source：7to.com.tw
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No Layoffs, No Pay Cuts; Silks Hotel Group Sees Taiwan’s Best Opportunity in 30 Years

The coronavirus threw a wrench into Silks Hotel Group Chairman Steven Pan’s plans for his hotel group’s 30th anniversary this year. Yet rather than give in, Pan has not laid off employees or cut wages. Instead, he has used these difficult times to transform his hotel chain by reposition his properties as city resort hotels and planning an aggressive expansion strategy. He has also seen new opportunity for Taiwan. “The situation now is the first time in 30 years that it has been favorable to Taiwan,” he said, in part because of the many Taiwanese professionals returning from overseas to take refuge from COVID-19.

^{Source：Business Today
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2020 ITF to Be a Different Travel Show; Visitors Urged to Give Tourism Workers a Boost

To support the ailing tourism sector, the Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF) has partnered with Taipei’s international tourism hotels, big travel agencies, tour bus companies, and amusement park companies on the first ever online ITF exhibition as a warmup for the real event. In the online show’s final stretch, companies are offering packages focused on the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Double Ten National Day holiday. Despite the industry’s headwinds, the organizer of the ITF, the Taiwan Visitors Association, announced that the physical fair would still be held as scheduled from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2 at the Nangang Exhibition Hall.

^{Source：Taipei International Travel Fair
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Phoenix Tours to Invest NT$500 Million to Build Upscale Hotel on Xiaoliuqiu Island

Phoenix Tours will soon begin work on a resort hotel on Xiaoliuqiu Island it plans to complete in 2022. Being built to take advantage of the 1 million people who set foot on the island each year, the hotel will cater to the high-end market, with rooms going for NT$7,000 to NT$8,000 per night. The hotel is part of the company’s strategy to diversify its business to the leisure market. It has already set up a Haus Food brand food court and is getting ready to set up a boutique hotel in Kaohsiung and move into the fitness sector by opening up a Fitnexx fitness center in October.

^{Source：Business Next
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National Travel Recovering; Decoding Credit Card Spending Figures

As fears of the coronavirus outbreak recede in Taiwan, pent-up demand for travel has exploded. But has that been reflected in a recovery in domestic travel? And where have people gone and stayed? According to the National Card Center, credit card spending on domestic accommodation began plummeting in February and hit bottom in April at below NT$5 billion, down from NT$20 billion in January, but it had recovered to NT$7.11 billion in June. Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties were clearly on the road to recovery, while Chiayi and Nantou counties were also drawing big crowds in June.

^{Source：udn.com
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Taiwanese Airlines among the Few Making Money in Hard Times

In an analysis of the world’s 30 largest airlines by revenue, the Wall Street Journal found that only four reported profits in the second quarter. Two of the four, however, were Taiwanese carriers China Airlines and EVA Airways, which ranked first and fourth, respectively, in operating profit in the quarter, largely because of strong revenues from cargo.

^{Source：Economic Daily News
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Western-style Mobile Amusement Park Opens in Taoyuan for 2-Month Run

The Qingpu area in Taoyuan has recently emerged as a hot tourism and entertainment center. Following the opening of the Xpark aquarium, a Shin Kong Cinema complex, and an Ikea flagship store, a Western-style mobile amusement park opened there on Sept. 25 to begin a two-month run. Access to the different attractions cost NT$60, NT$90 or NT$120. The biggest draw is the exciting 25-meter high Skydiver.

^{Source：ET Today Travel
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Taiwan Tops the List of Searched Destinations to End of Year

Online travel platform Agoda has announced the top 10 destinations around the world people searched for travel to the end of 2020, and Taiwan came out on top ahead of Thailand. Taiwan benefited from searches by both domestic and international travelers. Hualien, Taipei and Yilan were the most searched destinations within Taiwan.

^{Source：CNA, Agoda
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Tourism Bureau Accommodation Subsidies for Quarantine Rooms to Be Extended to End of Year

The Tourism Bureau’s program to provide a NT$1,200 per room per night subsidy for people required to stay in a quarantine hotel was set to expire on Sept. 30. Given the government’s epidemic prevention restrictions and the surging international pandemic, the bureau has decided to extend the program and offer a subsidy of NT$800 per room per night from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. But the subsidy will only be given to Taiwanese nationals, permanent alien resident certificate holders and local residents put into home quarantine.

^{Source：Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications
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Media News

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YouTube Kids Arrives in Taiwan, Helps Protect Young Users

A growing number of parents and children are using the internet and digital platforms to acquire new knowledge and access entertaining content. YouTube Kids will provide Taiwanese users a more suitable platform to access video entertainment for children, such as cartoons, educational videos, nursery rhymes or content related to math, science or nature. YouTube Kids has five major attributes: 1) family-friendly content; 2) specially selected partner content; 3) ease of use; 4) protection and blocking functions for parents; and 5) the ability to set time limits.   

^{Source：Techbang.com
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Big Change in Facebook Ad Policy: Text-in-Ad Image Rule Is Out

Facebook has updated its ad rules and ended the requirement that the amount of text in ad is less than 20% of the image. This requirement no longer appears in Facebook’s user guide, but Facebook still suggested that the amount of text be limited because “images with less than 20% text generally perform better.”

^{Source：inside
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Taking on TikTok: YouTube Launches Short Video Platform ‘Shorts’

Short-form videos are hot, and YouTube, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, has launched the TikTok-like platform “Shorts” in a bid to compete with TikTok in the short video market. The Shorts platform’s functions are similar to TikTok’s, including enabling creators to record 15-second videos, enhance videos with filters, and select background music from a music database and upload it to the social platform.

^{Source：cnyes.com
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Accelerating Digital Transformation through Brand Marketing Strategies

During the COVID-19 outbreak, 70% of people in Taiwan have spent more time on their smartphone. Another 45% have spent more time on a social platform, including more than 80% of Gen Zers. Though pandemic concerns seem to be easing, the longer amounts of time people spent on mobile devices and the shift toward online consumption seen during the outbreak continue to exist.

Those were just some of the findings of an online survey on Taiwanese consumers’ use of mobile devices commissioned by Facebook and conducted by Nielsen in April 2020. The survey identified two key trends that could be of help to brands’ digital transformation.

Key Trend 1: Mobile videos in vogue, accessed mainly through smartphones

As smartphones are more commonly used to watch videos, video formats and preferences have changed, and watching videos in vertical formats has grown increasingly popular among Gen Z. Thus, smartphone video ads are very important, and priority should be given to vertical media elements that cater to mobile devices.

Key Trend 2: Moving video ads – seize the golden 5 seconds

Some 45% of respondents said they decide within 1 to 5 seconds whether to close a video ad, so advertisers must maximize the golden first five seconds of their ads and inject elements that cater to viewer preferences and get viewer eyeballs to stay focused on the ad.

^{Source：Facebook Business
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Apple Delays Consumer Privacy Feature until Early 2021

Apple has been planning to give users of iOS 14 and related operating systems the power to accept or decline app developers’ requests for their Identification for Advertisers (IDFA) codes, used to track the effectiveness of ads. But Facebook felt it would severely impact its ad network, and Apple has announced it will delay this new feature until next year.IDFA codes typically provide data on each user’s behavior after interacting with an ad or marketing promotion (such as placing an order and clicking on content). Without this information, advertisers would have a much harder time placing personalized ads or finding out how effective they were. To Facebook, general media, and third-party app developers, not being able to get IDFA codes could hurt their ad revenue, with many experts believing the Apple feature could have a devastating impact overall on internet advertising.

^{Source：ithome
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Case Study

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Fossil Fan Page Chatbot Campaign

Key Visual

Campaign Background

The Fossil brand is a watch and genuine leather goods brand catering to younger consumers that sells its products through an online shopping channel and brick and mortar distributors. Their hope was to use digital marketing and publicity to boost both their online and physical store sales. Digital ad placements typically guide target consumers toward e-commerce platforms, but they have trouble directly luring target consumers to physical outlets. CheeseAd found an opportunity to overcome that obstacle through one-on-one dialogue with Fossil fan club members.

Campaign Features

Fossil’s target customers are university students and new people in the workforce, and we created a “Jungle: The Official Survival Guide” theme focused on the idea of it being “graduation season and time to enter the workplace,” and “the need to better understand oneself.” A one-on-one question and answer format was used to provide a workplace survival test and analysis, and with the analysis, we provided discount vouchers for purchases of Fossil brand goods in physical stores as well as product recommendations, generating sales opportunities.

Promotion Activity Steps

Digital Media Ads

Because chatbots need to be run through Facebook and Messenger, the ads for this promotion were generally placed on these two platforms. We were determined to find the most effective form of advertising.

Facebook   News Feed   Display Ads

Facebook+InstagramMessenger  Messenger Ads  Stories

Facebook   Messenger   Messenger Ads, Stories & Messenger Indox Ads