Chinese consumers often not heard

Research done by both online ad company I-merge Shanghai and Sinomonitor, a media research company, shows that marketeers are still not listening to the powerful voice of their consumers, says a press release (not yet on their blog).

Indeed, one of the other striking overall results is that marketers in China (like probably in the rest of the world) continue to underestimate the power of customer recommendation and overestimate the power of advertising (and)(in) old media.

Some interesting tidbits:

Women communicate more than men, but men have a higher influencing power.

The internet has become the most important media for 80 percent of the surveyed consumers, outflanking dramatically traditional media.

You can download the press release here.

Update: Kaiser Kuo summerizes and comments on the survey here. Sam Flemming contributes in the comments.