My expectations in terms of service have probably been recalibrated in the years since I first moved to China. I’ve been disappointed many times. No doubt it will be a long road towards improving overall service quality, but generally the efforts to promote better awareness of service standards are to be commended – particularly during the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai EXPO. I often wonder what types of expectations Chinese consumers truly have towards service, and two recent experiences got me thinking more about the service culture in China. Read the rest of this entry »
Putting the Smile back on Service in China
January 14th, 2012 Posted in China Trends
Jan, 14 2012
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Aug, 07 2011
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The German Bundesliga football season kicked off this weekend, and this season sees a number of China’s leading solar energy companies using the Bundesliga to take their brands to the lucrative European market.
The German market for solar panels represents a big prize for many of China’s burgeoning solar companies. German homeowners spent about US$6.7 billion on solar panels in 2010 according to recent reports, so it’s no surprise that the battle is intensifying. Interestingly, the marketing platform that has been chosen to play out this fight for market share in the lucrative German market is the Bundesliga football league. Major solar companies are queuing up to endorse German football teams, where could be better to win the hearts of German football fans, and more importantly homeowners? Read the rest of this entry »
Luk Fook Fail To Strike Gold With Poster Campaign
July 17th, 2011 Posted in Advertising
Jul, 17 2011
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I saw this subway poster ad last week (see picture on left) and felt it worthy of a post, I don’t know about the background of the ad, I’m guessing that it might be some kind of joint initiative between Luk Fook Jewellery and The World Gold Council. Although the ad is eye-catching, I think it fails on a number of counts. The model and actress Lynn Xiong and her colourful groceries really do stand out and definitely grab your attention as you pass the poster. However, the reason I thought this particular ad worthy of note, is that it is not immediately clear what this is for, and it was only on subsequent viewings of the ad (when I actually took the picture above), that I realised this was for jewellery.
Luk Fook are a successful brand and well established Jeweller, with hundreds of outlets in mainland China. It feels like they are trying something new with this ad. They appear to be trying to bring gold jewellery to a broader audience in China, along with their partners The World Gold Council. Read the rest of this entry »
Selling China to the US – Tough Brief, Tough Audience!
January 29th, 2011 Posted in Advertising
Jan, 29 2011
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A quick post on the Chinese ad that ran in the US last week (see it here). The ad had heavy airplay on CNN, as well as a huge outdoor billboard display in Times Square.
There seems to have been some negative reaction to this ad, mostly concentrating on the fact that it was not appealing to a US audience; 1) because it was introducing such a large number of new Chinese people in such a short time, and also 2) because it did not allow an introduction to many of the famous Chinese faces on display (not easy in 30 seconds). Furthermore, it was criticized for generally not offering up a more engaging creative execution than a bunch of well-known Chinese figures smiling for the camera.
Prepare for Message Overload at Spring Festival
January 23rd, 2011 Posted in Advertising, China Trends
Jan, 23 2011
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So here we are in 2011, and after an abysmal total of three blog posts during 2010, I clearly must do better! It’s not as if there’s any shortage of things to write about, I have a long list of potential topics but an increasingly short amount of time, as I try and fit this project around work.
As we approach Chinese New Year (or Spring Festival) and the forthcoming year of the rabbit, the next few weeks are always a fascinating time to observe marketing overload here in China. Many FMCG brands see a huge spike in sales at this time, and campaigns are created especially to tap into to that special Chinese Spring Festival feeling.
Apr, 11 2010
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KFC, the usually savvy China marketers, got their fingers burnt last week due to their ’Super Value Tuesday’ online voucher promotion. The offer featured a 50% discount on their popular chicken bucket.
This is my understanding of the promo. It is run in conjunction with the popular online store Taobao, with the idea that 100 lucky respondents will be eligible for this ’instant’ offer. There are three rounds in which offers are posted; round one is at 10am, round two at 2pm and round three at 4pm, consumers respond instantly through Taobao in the hope that they will receive a voucher in their inbox, the winning recipients can then redeem their vouchers at KFC restaurants. However, it seems that last week, before round one had even finished vouchers supposedly for round two and three already begun circulating on the Internet. It would seem that they were being shared as ‘valid to all’, rather than on the original basis of being valid only to the lucky 100 winners. Read the rest of this entry »
The China Marketing Lab Manifesto
March 25th, 2010 Posted in Advertising, BTL Promotions, Branding, China Trends, Digital, Market Research, Public Relations
Mar, 25 2010
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Welcome to China Marketing Lab! In this my first post I hope to explain exactly what it is I wish to achieve with this new blog, and from which angle I will be attacking this tricky subject matter. Click on about for more info about me, but to cut a long story short, I am hoping this blog will give me an outlet to share my thoughts on some of the interesting trends I am seeing as a marketing professional working in China. I should state now that I consider myself to be a market researcher first, and therefore this blog will detail the thoughts and observations of a market research practitioner plying his trade in the Middle Kingdom. I do not consider myself to be an expert on China. Read the rest of this entry »