Tencent's SY Lau Unveils His Vision of a New Era of "Neo Content" at Tencent MIND Conference 2015

Neo Content will create a dramatic new chapter in China's "imagination economy"

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Sep 16, 2015, 11:03 ET

BEIJING, Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today in Beijing, SY Lau, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of its Online Media Group (OMG), spoke at the Tencent MIND Conference 2015, pointing out that connectivity can only be fully realized via a triangle that requires the connector, the connected and things in circulation. Over the past year, infrastructure has been developed significantly to connect people and equipment, but what comes post-connectivity? In the age of the Mega Web when all is connected, the next urgent priority, SY Lau said, is to expand the content to be circulated to involve information, products and services so as to reach the boundary of what we call 'Neo Content.' The management of Neo Content will become enterprises' core competency, he predicted.

SY Lau spoke at Tencent MIND Conference 2015

Themed "Internet+, A Smart & More Connected World," this conference is designed to explore media and branding trends in the age of Internet+. The 2015 Tencent MIND Conference brings together numerous top industry experts from home and abroad, such as Kevin Ashton, "Father of the Internet of Things," as well as experts from Warner Bros, McKinsey, Google, and the NBA, to name just a few.

"The development of the Internet-based economy in China, in fact, has already exceeded that of many Western countries," SY Lau told the audience. "In addition to continued infrastructure build up, we will need to develop Neo Content quickly in order to sustain our competitive advantage, which is critical for China to transform itself towards 'created in China' and even 'intelligently manufactured in China', which will in turn facilitate 'imagination economy' development in China."

"There are three principles for building Neo Content core competency in the age of the Mega Web," Lau continued.

First, use Neo Content to completely cover the super-network -- Mega Web. Lau elaborated on this with an anecdote: "Liping is a remote village more than 2000 kilometers from Beijing. There we established a simple connectivity infrastructure and in the following year we delivered various products such as communication services, trading platforms, trading information, entertainment programs, etc. to the residents there. We then saw a small-scale but truly dynamic cycle of economic growth starting to work in this most unlikely of places."

Second, use Neo Content to create a cross-boundary experience that involves product, service and information. There were too many uncontrollable factors to provide users a complete consumption experience in the past. Mega Web provides better choices in terms of payment and logistics, as well as offline experience. The reason why the NBA is attractive isn't only the matches, but also the cross-boundary experience it delivers, including audio/video, audience interaction and the onsite atmosphere generated. Therefore Tencent is now conducting a very bold experiment: We not only want to incorporate all possible experiences, but create new experiences. This is the power of Neo Content.

Third, use Neo Content to truly understand every individual: the post-90s generation is considered to be "digital native," a generation that values themselves more, pays more attention to niche and indie culture, and is more willing to spend. At the same time, they are more picky in terms of selection. What's most noteworthy is that the number of post-90s generation netizens is close to 200 million, accounting for one third of China's total netizens. We shall think alike while communicating with them so as to understand them better.

"A connected triangle, developed by three angles, namely, connector, the connected and Neo Content, will become the new currency of this era. Once we access this new currency system, we will embrace the arrival of new change, development and opportunity," Lau concluded.

About Tencent MIND Conference:

Launched in 2008, Tencent MIND Conference has established itself as a major gathering where Tencent and other experts interpret online marketing trends in China and the world. For the past seven years, the Conferences have been graced by the presence of many influential figures, such as Professor Don E. Schultz, Northwestern University; Kevin Kelly, Author of Out of Control; and Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP, to name just a few. Altogether 1,500 marketers join the Conference to share marketing insights and success stories every year.

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SOURCE Tencent