First, a shout out to my Chuck Norris Fan Club team mates. 2 and 0, and no signs of stopping. See you TONIGHT for a Cormac McCarthy-style beating of the Urban Wussy Cowboys.
Local food blog, with video and pics and reviews! (via Shanghaiist)
A chinese social networking site for chubby peeps.
How to hack a marathon – to get yourself ready for Shanghai’s on November 26!(via Lifehacker)And anyone know when this is getting here!?
Also, your somewhat useful link of the day.
Gawker readers pick the worst magazine covers of all time.
Pitchfork staff pick “100 awesome music videos” – with YouTube links. (And while you’re at it, you might as well check out their picks for top 100 albums of the 1980s and 1990s.)
The 3000 most common Chinese characters in order of frequency.
The top 100 free, downloadable books via Project Gutenberg.
A contest for a good cause.
The Chinese consumer is on advertisers’ minds. Ad companies have their sights set on spenders, targeting them with more sophisticated methods of making people and their money part. Christine Huang investigates the ways that agencies are tapping into our billion-man marketplace.
Tom Doctoroff’s office, on the 25th floor of The Center looking out on the city’s decorated skyscrapers, is a perfect lens into this complex economy. It’s hard to escape the blinking lights and neon signage of Shanghai from these heights; a city fast becoming an ad-man’s dream. The designer offices of JWT, the world’s fourth largest advertising agency, could be easily mistaken for a Madison Avenue headquarters. But, as the CEO of JWT, Greater China (and Area Director for North East Asia) is quick to remind, “looks can be deceiving.” Multinational companies like JWT have been streaming into the market for more than a decade, but only in the last several years has the average consumer perceived the impact. “The few agencies today that are of scale – Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, McCann-Erickson, Saatchi & Saatchi… they all came of age at the same time, in the late 90s,” explains Doctoroff.
Behind JWT’s Western exterior lies a business heavily dependent on an understanding of a very diverse Chinese market. Doctoroff has been in Shanghai for nearly a decade and has witnessed the maturation of the industry in China – a dramatic, rocky journey. His recently published book, ‘Billions: Selling to the New Chinese Consumer’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), uncovers the reality of this glittering, and to many, arcane market. While ads for Nike and McDonald’s are as ubiquitous as construction work and corner stores, the logic driving advertising strategy here is far from crystal clear.
A POLAR INDUSTRY
Less than 30 years ago, Ogilvy became the first foreign agency to publish an ad in China – in the Shanghai Wenhui Bao newspaper. Today, advertising spending in China is approaching ¥250 billion a year (243.9 billion was spent in 2005, according to AC Nielsen), and is expected to escalate at an increasingly fast rate. Investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) estimates that within a decade, the Chinese consumer will likely have displaced the US consumer as the primary engine of global economic growth – good news for China’s potential advertisers. “There’s been a great change, as advertising moves in line with the economy. When the market booms, so does the advertising industry. It’s synonymous with revenue, growth, and creativity,” beams Stephen Kong, Creative Director at Leo Burnett Shanghai Advertising Co.
IT’S ALL IN THE BRAND
Some of the biggest challenges companies face in the Chinese market is the ebb and flow of prestige and overproduction – but it is here that they can shine. “There are too many goods being produced and too few people wanting to buy them, which leads to, in many segments, downward prices and profits. The only way for brands to escape this cycle is to increase their prices, and the only way to [do that] is by developing brand equity,” Doctoroff explains. Indeed, according to a May 2006 study by AC Nielsen of Chinese consumers, designer brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Versace (the real McCoys, not the fakes) are the most highly regarded apparel brands, suggesting marketing campaigns for these luxury goods have successfully established their identities, and made them – despite their pricetags – highly sought after.“China is what we call, ultimately, a brand-building market. 15 years ago, most Chinese didn’t know what a brand was… Now everything is available, so consumers are confused. The only way for a consumer to make sense of this is with advertising and communication; they need consistent positioning,” says Doctoroff.
BRANDING IDEAS
In his article in the July 2006 issue of the China Economic Review, Doctoroff notes that reliability is high on the Chinese consumer’s list of reasons to buy brand name goods, but that their weight as status symbols also plays a heavy role. He points to the popularity of Pizza Hut and Starbucks as an example of how influential the ‘see-and-be-seen’ element is here, as consumers congregate in relatively expensive chain outlets in an expression of status.Eddie Wong, Executive Creative Director for Euro RSCG Greater China, agrees that the future of the prosperous advertising campaign in China lies in ideas, not just products: “China, like everybody else, has evolved into a multi-market. Marketers are learning that they need to spend money on concept-based advertising, rather than the traditional product-focused advertising.”
WHAT WORKS?
The offbeat ad is on the rise. Electronics, media, and fashion are all markets in which the odd or counter-cultural has proved alluring, but even big-name companies, like Coca-Cola and Reebok, have found this to be a lucrative approach. This shift towards riskier ads is easily identifiable in the mainstream – like in the highly publicized McDonald’s Quarter Pounder clip (created by Leo Burnett). These print ads and television spots include taglines that stress the “thicker” and “juicier” nature of the burger, and encourages consumers to “inject protein and vitamins into your trendy body.” Kong says of his agency’s motivation, “You want something that appeals to the senses. A sexy woman eating a quarter pounder works as long as you’re vague in your suggestions.” But, as Doctoroff explains, using these tactics can be a challenge in a censored, guarded marketplace. “There are few formal rules, but the basic thing is, don’t violate the Confucian hierarchy – don’t show the kid sassing the parent, don’t show any disrespect of the hierarchy. Consumers don’t like that either – they are relatively conservative and they don’t like to have their values violated.”The failsafe approach in China, then, like the rest of the world, seems to lie in celebrities and simplicity. Coca-cola uses spokespeople like super girl Li Yuchun and track star Liu Xiang, while McDonald’s sports Yao Ming as their global ambassador. Kong stresses, “Celebrities are still a favorite, especially for children. And for the older generation, straightforward messages work better.”
MAINSTREAM MEDIUMS
An ad that is perfectly constructed for the consumer, though, can still get lost in the medium. In China, though television and print spots still reign supreme, big opportunities are being seen in the great outdoors. “Research shows that more people spend time outside the home. This is good news for outdoor advertising, which can reach consumers at the heart of their lives – when they go to work, go shopping, or socialize with friends,” says Xavier Dupre, Managing Director of One Stop Shop, a subsidiary of JC Decaux, a leading outdoor media company. According to CSM, a joint venture between CTR Market Research and UK based TNS Group, marketers are spending about $2.5 billion a year (about 10% of the total adspend) on out-of-home advertising in China. China has more than 60,000 outdoor media companies, and though the combined market share of the top five companies is still below 30%, both local and foreign players are gaining recognition in the industry for forging ahead in this lucrative sector.Clear Media (a division of Clear Channel Communications in the US) is China’s largest outdoor advertiser and plans on extending itself even further with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Having formed a joint venture with Outdoor Media China, a local company founded by ad guru Han Zi Jing, Clear Media now has a network covering 30 Chinese cities, including Beijing, where it acquired 634 bus panels in June (and hopes to control over 6,000 panels by 2008). But lately, it seems that all eyes have been on Focus Media – and its ubiquitous flat-screen advertisements. The key idea behind Focus Media is simple yet ingenious: advertise to people where they’re most bored and can’t escape – in lobbies waiting for elevators, or in taxi cabs and subway cars. Jason Jiang came up with the idea for his company while waiting for a lift himself in 2002; a year later, his company was installing flat-screen monitors in offices and upscale residential buildings throughout Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. Focus has since expanded to smaller cities and put its monitors in several different types of spaces, including supermarkets and gyms.
THE FUTURE?
However the message may evolve and whatever the dominant medium may be in the future, a deep understanding of the local market and clientele – and their vast differences with their foreign counterparts – is key. “It is crucial for foreign companies to find local partners with a deep local knowledge of the market,” says Dupre, whose French company signed a 30-year-joint venture with Gehua Cultural Development Group, a Beijing- government-owned enterprise. According to Doctoroff, a mixed portfolio that includes both local and multinational clients is one sign of a viable agency. He also points to size – larger core advertising teams usually denote stronger presence in the industry – as another important factor. Agencies that can tout both large advertising teams and a diverse portfolio are better positioned to reach a fuller range of clients and consumers.
He points out, though, that a fully thriving and stable market is still in formation, and to succeed in this industry in China, patience is a pre-requisite: “A large advertising agency will generate $10 million in revenue in a Chinese city, whereas in the UK it would generate over $80 million, and in the US over $200 million. So we are still in the early stages of growth. And that growth is not easy.”
Google acquires YouTube for $1.65 billion! To listen to a recording of Google and YouTube bigwigs discussing the deal, visit TechCrunch.
And go here to see my favorite YouTube video (thanks, Adam). And here to find some revelatory facts regarding it.
Directed by Alejandro Agresti
Starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock
3.5 stars
First, a caveat: ‘The Lake House’ might very well be one of the most ridiculous movies you will ever see. Going into it, be prepared for unresolved paradoxes, saccharine romance, complete wtf-confusion, and a lot of time travel. Yes, time travel. No joke. But if you can look past these things, what you’ll find is an undeniably touching story of love and fate and everything you may have forgotten existed. ‘The Lake House’ sets out to do a few simple things – to make you believe in love, and to make you, for a shade under two hours, suspend your disbelief. And it works.
Another warning: this reviewer spent the better part of her pubescence pining over Keanu Reeves. Ten years later, Reeves hasn’t changed that much (never got those acting lessons, eh?), and apparently, neither has this reviewer. Last paired in ‘Speed,’ Reeves and Sandra Bullock have an unexpectedly magnetic chemistry that was hard to miss years ago, and is equally as resonant now. Half the movie you might be asking yourself what the hell is going on, but the other half, you might just find yourself sitting back, starry-eyed and heart-warmed, genuinely wishing these two time-crossed lovers could make it work.
The story begins with Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock), a weary and heartbroken doctor, leaving her beloved lake house to head to Chicago. Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves), a rugged architect, is quick to take her place in the charming house, which was built decades ago by his famous architect father. Simple enough – until Alex finds a letter Kate left for the new tenant indicating where to deliver any mail that finds its way to her old residence. A correspondence begins, and within the first few rounds, it becomes clear something fantastical is going on. You see, Alex lives in 2004, and Kate lives in 2006, exactly two years later. They can write each other love letters, even have conversations and go on walks together, laugh and argue, but all as ghosts to one another. For the majority of the movie, the audience is left wondering how on earth these two characters are going to cross paths. Over the course of the correspondence, though, Alex manages to meet the Kate of two year prior, but fails to come up with a non-loony way to indicate to her that he, uh, has been writing love letters to her … in her future. The two lovers meet and part, all in Alex’s 2004 reality with dramatic irony in full effect. All the while, Kate version 2006, as well as the audience, is in a suspenseful romance coma, pondering the ludicrousness of the story and what will become of it.
The Lake House isn’t for everyone – some might find its persistently baffling time travel concept not only hard to follow but nauseating and annoying. But director Alejandro Agresti has accomplished a feat few romance movies do these days – he has given the audience a bit of fantasy to get lost in, and for the most part, they do. What could have been just a sappy sequel to ‘Serendipity’ (or an uninspired rip-off of its source material, the Korean sap-a-thon ‘Il Mare’) is actually a compelling, albeit completely unbelievable, classic love story. Beyond its logical absurdity, this dreamy romance does a remarkably good job of stoking that fire of hope for true love, unbound by place or even time.
While you were busy being all eco-touristy, I was spending my October holiday buying things and feeling inadequate in lovely Orange County, California. Before the television series, I was a little embarrassed to be from ‘The OC.’ Now I know that I was only one of many alienated Seth Cohens struggling to just make some sense of my complex indie identity in a suburban wasteland.
Anyhow, I stumbled upon more than a few links over the break that I think you’ll like:
Foxlingo, a Firefox extension that translates any webpage into over 20 languages. Little flag icons across the top of your browser allow you to just click to choose which translation program you want to use, and what language you want to translate your page into.
Yelp.com, a community for sharing and posting citizen reviews of local bars, restaurants, hotels, etc – free and easy to use. Their Shanghai section is still slim, but they just received 10 million dollars from some VC duders to keep on expanding, so let’s get the ball rollin’!
Have you ever heard of an ‘amphibian vehicle’? Me neither! It’s like the missing link of automobiles. Via Virtual China.
The atrocity that is the Shanghai Animal Olympics needs to be stopped. Danwei brought this ridiculous show of cruelty to my attention, and mentioned what you can do to stop it.
