Edelman’s global study Innovation and the Earned Brand reveals that Chinese consumers want to be reassured rather than inspired

Nine in 10 Chinese consumers say concerns about how innovations impacts privacy, the environment and their security will stop them from purchasing new products, according to, Innovation and the Earned Brand.

Consumers continue to embrace innovation. A vast majority (94 percent) of consumers in China view innovation as an essential component of society’s progress. More than three-quarters (85 percent) believe it’s the responsibility of business, and not academics/universities (29 percent) or individuals (17 percent), to drive innovation. However, two-thirds (67 percent) state that business-led innovation is motivated primarily by the desire to make more money. The majority of respondents believe innovation comes at a personal and societal cost. Privacy (58 percent) and environmental impact (52 percent) are the major concerns in China.

View the Full Study: Edelman Earned Brand CHINA.pdf

“It seems innovation in and of itself is not enough to be liked, trusted or bought,” said Carol Potter (pictured above right), executive vice chairman, Edelman Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa. “We find consumers simultaneously positive about the benefits of innovation at the same time as anxious, uncomfortable and skeptical about the companies that bring it.”

Over half of the respondents in China claim to be bored/frustrated by constantly being told to upgrade their products. Two out of three respondents believe brands are not moving in the right direction in the ways they listen and communicate with them. They are more likely to want to be reassured (64 percent) than inspired (42 percent) by a brand.

With a lack of reassurance coming from brands, consumers are turning to their peers for reassurance about their concerns over innovation. More than one quarter (41 percent) of Chinese respondents say peer conversations make them trust the brand more, help them overcome concerns (30 percent), help them make decisions (31 percent) and warn them of risks (37 percent) about a product or service.

“The peer’s experience with a product’s innovation has become the evidence consumers are now relying on when making purchase decisions,” said Ernest Tan, Edelman China National Consumer Chair (above left).

Consumers are also expecting brands to provide platforms that enable these peer-to-peer conversations. Four out of five (82 percent) Chinese respondents say they trust a brand more if it’s easy to review products and services and they are equally more trusting (81 percent) of brands that encourage peer-to-peer conversations about their products.

“Brands win if they power peer conversations with platforms and meaningful context, and understand that the right to innovate is earned,” Tan added. “To do that, brands have to listen to consumers, understand their concerns and what is valuable to them, and create a narrative that can be passed on in a positive way.”

“There are significant implications for how companies and brands who view themselves as innovators need to behave and, above all, communicate with their potential customers,” said Potter. “They must: inform transparently so they can educate their audience to enable them to make personal choices; operate with purpose and show how they fit into the bigger picture and are active participants in society; live with character that is true to themselves and have a personality that their audience can buy into; and make their mark by doing something unique or differentiating that is worthy of attention.”