Leading Chinese Social Platform QQ Partners with Japanese Electronics Giant Casio

TOKYO, Dec. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- QQ, an instant messaging service owned and operated by leading Chinese Internet firm Tencent Holdings, entered into a formal partnership with Casio, a multinational consumer electronics manufacturer, at Casio's Tokyo headquarters on December 1. The two firms will establish a comprehensive partnership in several areas that include, among others, fashion-oriented products, trademarked images and brand marketing. The first batch of limited edition gift packages for QQ's 18th anniversary as a result of the cooperation between QQ and G-SHOCK, the wrist watch division of Casio, became available for sale on December 2.

Toru Tanaka, general manager of the timepiece division at Casio (China) Co., Ltd., said that QQ, the largest social network platform in China, shares the same user demographic with Casio's products including the G-SHOCK, BABY-G and Self-Portrait Tool EXILIM TR series. They plan to cooperate in many areas to increase their appeal to China's youth demographic.

QQ also plans to team up with BABY-G, a popular Casio brand targeting young consumers, with a plan to release specialty products in 2017.

Cross-border cooperation targets the young adult segment

QQ boasts 877 million monthly active users, of which more than 500 million, or over 60%, were born in or after 1990. This segment accounts for more than 80% of the users of QQ's products including LiMiXiu, games.qq.com and ac.qq.com.

Casio has been synonymous with a popular street fashion brand and with the making of selfies in China thanks to products such as the G-SHOCK, BABY-G and the Self-Portrait Tool EXILIM TR series.

The influential position that the two brands hold with the young adult segment led to the cooperation, Casio's first with a Chinese internet service brand following its cooperation with a number of the country's other popular brands. Yet, the cooperation between Casio and QQ represents not only a cross-border initiative, but also a joint expansion in the Chinese market in terms of content, image and brand.

Li Dan, General Manager of Marketing for Tencent's social networking unit, said that both QQ and Casio are popular brands among the youth demographic and the partnership is expected to result in more win-win results, including a deepening of the cooperation in the use of QQ IoT intelligent hardware by communities serving the segment including buluo.qq.com and personalized products, among them QQ expressions and themes.

Focus on the young adult segment and on making QQ an indispensable communications tool

Limited edition gift packages for QQ's 18th anniversary, which became available for sale on December 2, are the first product rollout to come as a result of the cooperation. Built on the hard edge and grittiness that defines G-SHOCK's traditional street fashion style, the gift packages feature a similar street style applied to the QQ image, consolidating QQ's appeal to the demographic segment. 

QQ has been committed to the young adult segment for years and has succeeded in heightening its visibility and consolidating its position through product placement in film and television series, mobile games and e-sports competitions, animated features, popular fiction and live broadcasts. In addition, the QQ series of penguin icons, known as the QQfamily, has gained increasing popularity across the demographic thanks to QQ's extensive social network and rich content, transforming the social network into a high-value intellectual property.

Leveraging the QQfamily, the social network plans to further commercialize underexploited aspects of its suite of properties through image licensing, collaborations involving its core technology, programs that drive traffic, content partnerships and offerings that repurpose the social media network. The cooperation with Casio helps to not only strengthen the QQfamily but also further diversify the brand's offerings.

SOURCE Tencent