Got this one from the guys over at DMG; it’s a Volkswagen ad, executed beautifully; the story removes the pretentiousness of glamour, replacing it with a mischievous twist. This humanizes the brand, rather than the stale “buy this car, become famous” we have “you don’t need glamour, glamour comes standard.”
While we’ll see ads like TBWA’s Adidas Olympics campaign (awesome ads that drive into the core of the Chinese psyche); DMG’s campaigns, the ones I’ve seen so far, seem to succinctly package the candy of Hollywood specifically for Chinese consumption; easy to watch, easy to understand; beautiful people, a smile, a quickened pulse.
And while some of us out there like to drink tea, some of us enjoy imported coffee; universally my guess is all of us, no matter our preferences, will always enjoy a quick taste of sweet Hollywood candy. I’m leaving that last statement open to interpretation.
Glamour with a playlist; you know cause the background looks like its a visual from itunes. get it? haha? ahhahaa? haaa...
Enough with these sophomoric ramblings. Here’s the ad, and some pics of the campaign; along with shots from the launch event. Enjoy.
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Picked this up via Han Jun Wei and Buzzandthecity; it’s a funny look at Chinese women’s dating options in China. Beyond the beauty of the photos, there’s also some sharp commentary on Chinese culture as well.
I’m wondering what a reversed “dilemma of Chinese men” collection would look like. My guess is that the model depicted in these photos wouldn’t be the norm; but hey, would that stop you from taking a peek? Neither I.
Decisions, Decisions.
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I played around with an “Ask Rand” feature a little while back, and while I was getting a lot of Qs previous, once I started to post these Qs online for people to respond, the flow of Qs became less. This is a positive/negative; I don’t have to spend so much time answering questions… however, it comes at a cost to the community.
As a fix, I’ve started spending more time in my two linkedin groups: China Advertising Group (616 members), and China Social Media Group (199 members); it’s here that I answer Qs, but even better, our other group members are actively answering questions as well.
This is great as the well-informed, high level marketing directors, and CEOs in our community come together to discuss and debate topics covering branding, advertising, marketing in China.
A few examples:
Therefore, instead of “Asking Rand” you can ask the community in one of these groups. I will always reply (as implicitly stated responsibility of group moderator), but you’ll also get replies from many others in the group, most are from CEO or director level positions with titles relevant to China advertising and social media.
Yes, I am trying to build these groups (is it that obvious?); this one is a win-win for everyone involved. If you’ve got time, give it a spin for advertising/branding, or for social media.
As many of you already know, tragedy struck China in the form of a mudslide that killed 1,254 people in Gansu Province. This event was nationally mourned; China’s television for that day played no entertainment; rather it looped footage of the tragedy and the government’s response.
This mourning also spread to the web; to align with the policy of no entertainment shown on TV; there was also no entertainment (or much less) on China’s web. Coupled with major sites going shades of gray; the nations mood; both online and off, was a somber one. To find out more; check out this excellent photo series from the Boston Globe (courtesy @niubi)
Taobao, China's top eCommerce portal.
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Picked this one up via LRB forums and Shanghaiist. It’s a recent campaign by Dior that visually treads the lines into racism against the Chinese. Interesting brand positioning “yes”; ability to catch attention and stir conversations “yes”; creates loyalty and brand affinity “no”; and therein lies the rub; one little “no” can ruin any good campaign.
Now is Dior racist? Methinks not; however, experience teaches that heroes are those who create the insights, the big idea, and the customer engagement; however, when it comes to execution, that’s where heroes go to die. I agree with Elaine at Shanghaiist; execution is the problem (ie: the “dreamer” should be Chinese, not Caucasian; that would solve all “racist” issues), and that the brand made a foreseeable misstep.
According to Dior, many young Chinese girls dream of being a tall, mature, evening gowned'd caucasian woman.
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For those of you following this blog, you’ll know that I’ve run a China ad agency for a number of years.
This innocent statement has volatility written all over it; the first being China; a chaotic beast rocketing forward; then ad agencies where business turns sweet or goes sour between morning and evening; and being an entrepreneur in the midst of all this, adding the struggle of finding the right market, building your operations, coupled with the “yeeha!” of hitting your stride.
Yes friends, it’s a punch-drunk, slap-happy process, with enough ups and downs for several lifetimes. So what’s the upside?
Well I like to think the upside as being similar to Dan Mintz over at DMG; a China entrepreneur who first set foot in the Middle Kingdom in 1989 with *zero* China knowledge or Chinese speaking ability, who then went on to grow a 400 person agency with offices flung across China, covering all aspects of advertising for the largest multinational brands, and who created a movie studio producing China’s top box office movies.
Crazy right? Right. Let’s dive in a bit deeper and see what Dan and DMG have been doing over the past few years; it’s all “big” stuff, and pushes the boundaries of advertising and branded content in China.
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So here I am sifting through data on this hot summer Shanghai afternoon; Internet usage up in China? Check. Penetration rates rising across country? Check. Most used search engine is Yahoo? Chec… uaaagh?
Direct from CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) “Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development in China (Jan 2010)” I read the line on pg.79: “Table 7.27 revealed the most common used search engine is Yahoo (82%), followed by Google (61%)”. They didn’t even mention Baidu in this sentance.
Without further ado, clipped and uploaded from the source; “Table 7.27″, along with accomplice ”Chart 7.23″:
The next page in this report shows number of pigs flying has increased in southern China
Hey all, I’ve relaunched LRB’s Media Aggregator; it’s newly designed, and filled with relevant info covering China social media, digital, advertising, business, culture and insights; it’s a good place to begin researching and understanding China’s unique landscape one blog at a time.
I’m sure I missed a few things here and there so please feel free to send me suggestions on new additions. I’ll keep updating the aggregator when I run across interesting sources; so keep it on your radar to get the latest buzz on and about China. Click here to give it a spin.
LRB Aggregator 2.0
Picked this one up via LRB Forums; In an interesting twist, a commercial banned by China Central Television (CCTV) once posted online received 2M views in only 8 days.
There’s a bit of celebrity power behind this one though; the ad features Yan Liu, a famous, beautiful TV anchor for Hunan TV getting her faced sucked by a sweaty fat man… and within that sentence you can intuitively grasp why it was banned without having to watch the ad yourself.
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zhaoboshujiao
Rand
Adam Minter
KyleChin
bud
Franz
Gene
bengborba
Tom
chad
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Mao Ruiqi
Charlie Wang