Shanghai, 26th-July, 2002; The rapid accumulation of 160 million people across China's Motherboardland who network themselves into society via PC and mobile phone interfaces has given rise to the fastest growing media phenomena mankind has ever known, PERSONAL MEDIA (individual promotional messages instantly transmitted by SMS or email to millions of pre-identified consumers.)

But very few of these networked consumers welcome uninvited advertising messages in their mailbox and brand marketers using Personal Media to blast out messages to mass audiences in the hope of catching random consumers' attention will find themselves powering a Magnum 44 - pointed the wrong way...as they slowly, over time, blast their brand reputation to bits.

Personal media should not be, and should never be used to replace mass media but merely supplement it. Today's smart Brand marketers understand that unlike mass media, personal media requires constant commitment to checking that messages sent are welcome by each recipient and not being perceived as a waste of time or invasion of privacy.

In simple terms, whereas mass media vehicles are often valued by sheer consumer reach (circulation, viewers…) personal media vehicles in contrast are valued by sheer consumer feedback (no. of subscribers, open emails, clicks...)

PERSONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

The initial consumer feedback (also referred to as permission) comes in terms of the information each consumer offers when taking action to subscribe to receive advertising messages. Known as "opt-in," this information has nothing to do with information obtained through sneaky pre-checked boxes (opt-out) or from a business card with an email address left behind near the photocopier (junk information).

Personal Media services such as 51mymail-superbrand messages and China loop already have millions of profiled subscribers across the Mainland who have offered their profiled information and requested to receive selected categories of promotional messages. So instead of having to go out and build your own list of subscribers, these Personal Media services providers will transmit your message to their relevant subscribers for you.

1. SELECT CAMPAIGN POPULATION
Hand select each of the target consumers for your campaign by age, sex and location, or any other feedback information offered by the consumers at the time of subscription*. This will build your campaign "population". (* Reputable Personal Media service providers will never disclose personal details such as email address or mobile phone number of their subscribers)

2. CREATE MESSAGE
Create your message in Web format (HTML) for email or Text (Normally used for SMS messages and newsletters).

3. TRANSMIT MESSAGE
After the message is created transmit to your campaign population. In the case of email, the message transmission technology should give you feedback so that you know how each of the subscribers behaves toward your message (e.g. who opened it, which buttons/links they clicked on).
In countries such as Mainland China were the percentage of the population who can afford imported brands is comparatively low and spread out across many cities, brands such as L'oreal, Ford, Esprit, Ericsson, Evian and IBM are discovering personal media is a more cost effective way of communicating directly with (as opposed to "to")their target consumers.