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 »
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.
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 »
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