6 minutes estimated reading time
Hyundai
Hyundai have pushed out a campaign to teach British people how to pronounce the companies name properly. This is a well trodden path for foreign brands like Hyundai. My childhood featured ‘Nestle’s Milky Bars’ as the advertising jingle ignored the é at the end of Nestlé. I can only presume that it would be assumed to be too sophisticated for our palates rather than a playground staple.
More recently, I spent a couple of minutes coaching Arsenal footballing legend Ian Wright on how to say Huawei prior to him shooting some online video content for a smartphone launch. So I can relate to the challenge that Hyundai faces in gaining the correct pronunciation.
Getting the pronunciation right will allow Hyundai to use global English language assets, rather than having to do localisation. A small but important saving as it looks to compete for the UK and Irish electric car markets.
The advertising plays on the common pain-point of Siri and Google Voice failing to pick up on pronunciation in order to use humour to get Hyundai across correctly.
Branding
How Brand Loyalty Creates The Future – Branding Strategy Insider
Business
Shipping groups press Chinese counterparts for sanctions-proof contracts | Financial Times – concerns about sanctions due to Russia and Taiwan
The Business Case for DEI Reinforces Anti-Black Sentiment – Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly – ‘The business case for DEI reinforces the anti-Black sentiment, systemic exclusion, and underrepresentation embedded in capitalism.‘ Apparently the solution is socialism, while not recognising class struggle
China
Exclusive: US consulting giant Bain & Company offers China staff 6 months of voluntary leave, sources say | South China Morning Post – Some employees have been given the chance to take part in a half-year ‘career enrichment programme’ outside the office. The move comes after Chinese police visited the American company’s offices in Shanghai and questioned its staff – more in the Mintz and Bain police raids here.
Consumer behaviour
Older women and younger men relationships explored in this documentary. Prior to going to college in the mid-1990s I worked for a company that put coatings on materials to make stickers, stamps and labels. My boss there was a guy called Mark who married the PE teacher from school, once he’d finished his university degree. At that time Mark’s relationship was considered unusual in nature.
Design
Great film compilation of retrofuturist footage
Watching this film on the intersection of military clothing design and fashion reminded me of William Gibson’s Zero History novel.
Economics
The financial structure of motor vehicles is broken and electric vehicles are too expensive. The short life of electric vehicles is also interesting with an average lifespan of about 3 and a half years at the moment – New cars, SUVs, pickups aging: Average age of vehicles hits all-time high
Energy
A Chicken and Egg Problem: How Germany’s Hydrogen Boom Stalled – DER SPIEGEL and similar position for the UK (and Ireland for that matter) – UK at risk of falling behind in race to become green hydrogen global leader, Johnson Matthey says | Business News | Sky News
Honeywell looks at synthetic fuel to combat the decarbonisation of the airline industry
Ethics
Volkswagen defends China record at turbulent shareholder meeting | Reuters
Finance
Andreessen Horowitz saw the future — but did the future leave it behind? – The Verge – interesting article that looks like the harbinger of a VC winter. I have mad respect for Connie Chan at A16z who really digs into some ecosystems without the BS
FMCG
BAT: Jack hits the road as vapes focus fails to ignite valuation | Financial Times
Fake meat: has-beans suffer a market panning | Financial Times
Hong Kong
‘My time in the UK has been a disaster’: Hongkongers fear deportation after years left in limbo | Human rights | The Guardian – visa processing issues
New China-focused think tank staffed and advised by a number of prominent Hong Kong dissidents: China Strategic Risks Institute
Mainland Chinese visitors start to return to Hong Kong after Covid-19 restrictions lifted, but most tours low-cost and short stay, figures reveal | South China Morning Post – Tourism figures from February to this month show 86 per cent of tour trips from mainland China lasted one to two days and 54 per cent cost less than 500 yuan. Travel Industry Authority confirms it is investigating allegations of cigarette smuggling by mainland Chinese tour groups – it will be only a matter of time before the impact of this behaviour change ripples out to Hong Kong’s retail landlords and the luxury brands who have stores in the city. Hoteliers and the hospitality industry haven’t benefited from opening up the borders
Indonesia
Indonesia is an economic powerhouse in the making, but there are forces ripping away at its society that could leave it as inequitable as its neighbour Malaysia – which has been suffering from a brain drain and political stagnation. Indonesia like Malaysia before it seems to be coming under the sway of Gulf Arab traditions of Islam rather than the indigenous variant of the belief. Singaporean news programme CNA Insider did a good documentary on it all.
Luxury
Variety shared this story: Johnny Depp Signs $20 Million-Plus Dior Deal, Marking the Biggest Men’s Fragrance Pact Ever (EXCLUSIVE). Not convinced that men are going to be falling over themselves to smell like Johnny Depp – in that I don’t think celebrity endorsement works in that way. Fragrance is a deeply personal choice
To My Studio Team. 3.21.2023 | by Tom Sachs | May, 2023 | Medium – just waiting for the ‘Gordon Ramsay’ moment.
Marketing
A nice bit of retail design experience done by my friends at Shanghai agency Orangeblowfish
Materials
Merck KGaA aims to build domestic supply chains in China | Reuters
Life inside the South African gangs risking everything for copper | Financial Times – copper theft and the dysfunction of South Africa
How Carbon Fiber Fabric is Being Used in Fashion: Trends and Unique Applications | Carbon Fiber Gear
Robotic automation and how it can enhance additive manufacturing
Media
Hong Kong newspaper axes political comic strip after government criticism — Radio Free Asia
Online
Streetwear legend Bobby Hundreds thinks NFTs are a scam–and the future | Fast Company
Ex-ByteDance worker claims TikTok owner stole content, inflated user numbers in lawsuit over firing | South China Morning Post – Roger Yu Yintao claims ByteDance fired him for reporting concerns about a ‘worldwide scheme’ to steal content and fabricate user engagement metrics. Yu, a California resident, joined ByteDance as head of engineering in the US in 2017 and was terminated the following year
Daring Fireball: Heather Armstrong, Writer of ‘Dooce.com’, Dies of Suicide at 47 – Heather Armstrong was the original mommy blogger. Prior to that she’d shared details of her creative career in California. She was fired by her boss for sharing too much and being ‘dooced’ verbed.
Security
Historian Niall Ferguson the strategic vulnerability of Australia to Chinese aggression. Much of the commentary could equally apply to Europe as well.
Software
Volkswagen’s Woes Remind Us That Combining Hardware With Software Is Hard | Forrester Research