Ged Carroll

Category: china | 中國 | 중국 | 中華

Ni hao – this category features any blog posts that relate to the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese communist party, Chinese citizens, consumer behaviour, business, and Chinese business abroad.

It is likely the post will also in other categories too.  For example a post about Tong Ren Tang might end up in the business section as well. Inevitably everything is inherently political in nature. At the moment, I don’t take suggestions for subject areas or comments on content for this category, it just isn’t worth the hassle.

Why have posts on China? I have been involved in projects there and had Chinese clients. China has some interesting things happening in art, advertising, architecture, design and manufacturing. I have managed to experience some great and not so great aspects of the country and its businesses.

Opinions have been managed by the omnipresent party and this has affected consumer behaviour. Lotte was boycotted and harassed out of the country. Toyota and Honda cars occasionally go through damage by consumer action during particularly high tensions with Japan.

I put stuff here to allow readers to make up their own  minds about the PRC. The size of the place makes things complicated and the only constants are change, death, taxes and the party. Things get even more complicated on the global stage.

The unique nature of the Chinese internet and sheltered business sectors means that interesting Galapagos syndrome type things happen.

I have separate sections for Taiwan and Hong Kong, for posts that are specific to them.

  • Sainsbury Bank + more news

    Sainsbury Bank

    Eye-catching recruits and full bank buyout fast-tracks grocer’s push for supremacy – The Independent – interesting how Sainsbury Bank is going for it whilst the UK banking sector licks its wounds. Don’t forget that MBNA entered and disrupted the UK credit card market at the tail-end of the recession in the mid-1990s whilst the banks worried about underwater mortgages and building society demutualisation. Sainsbury Bank will be able to knit together Nectar loyalty points, retail presence, retail data and payments with its banking business. Sainsbury Bank could even be promoted through the supermarket website and magazine.

    Consumer behaviour

    Consumption and growth – interesting consumer confidence data

    14 Facts about Mothers from Euromonitor’s Survey Research – Analyst Insight from Euromonitor International

    Economics

    Remember when the global economy was desperate for steel? That’s over – is building becoming more controlled in its pace? Construction for the Beijing olympics, particularly the Bird’s Nest

    Three facts about emerging markets everyone should know

    Temporary and part-time jobs are going to kill the global economy – Quartz – vicious circle

    How Silicon Valley is Hollowing Out the Economy (And Stealing From You To Boot)

    The further you are from London, the more equal the cities are

    Study on the great restructure in Europe by Ipsos France and FreeThinking | Publicis Europe – (PDF)

    Finance

    Older bankers are sticking around longer, making it harder for younger colleagues to get promoted – this should slow down financial innovation

    French banks SocGen and Credit Agricole still look dodgy

    FMCG

    ‘Nandos Fergie Time’ on Twitter – chicken restaurant reacts to Manchester United news! #nandosfergietime – nice bit of work by Jonathan Hopkin’s team

    How to

    Nisus InfoClick – Uniquely Powerful Search for Apple Mail

    loads.in – test how fast a webpage loads in a real browser from over 50 locations worldwide

    Innovation

    A tour of some of Japan’s coolest tech innovations, by Dentsu’s Kei Shimada – 20 years ago this wouldn’t even be needed, Japan as an innovator wouldn’t be questioned

    The Exit Trap – I, Cringely

    Tech City – believe the hype? | guardian.co.uk – probably not

    Chart of the week: China’s patent / royalty disconnect | beyondbrics

    Japan

    Quality vs cost in Japan ‹ Japan Today – interesting points but look at the comments. More Japan related content can be found here.

    Luxury

    A Shift in the Goals of China’s Rich Abroad

    Media

    Localization alone isn’t enough for overseas game studios succeed in China, says App Annie chief

    Report shows bit torrent users pay for more content than honest consumers

    Master List of Facebook Marketing Links – JonLoomer.com

    Online

    Ping.it: An RSS reader that lets you create tailored feeds by keywords and popularity

    Microsoft’s Bing adds Facebook commenting and Like actions to its social sidebar – interesting move to improve the user search experience, particularly for the under 25s who rely more on social. But it also is an incremental steal in advertising from Facebook

    Marissa Mayer Has Turned Yahoo Into ‘A Safe Haven’ For Failed Startups – interesting contrast with 2005? Whilst Flickr broke even, Delicious was barely up and running as a business, blo.gs and Upcoming.org were burning cash (not that was bad then) and Jumpcut was more like an early project

    YouTube Blog: New ways to support great content on YouTube

    Yahoo’s Mayer Plans Search Revamp to Narrow Google Lead – Bloomberg

    BitTorrent introduces Bundles to help creators make money with file sharing — paidContent

    YouTube Trends: Introducing the YouTube Trends Map

    Yahoo Struggles to Find Way Out of Microsoft Web-Search Deal – WSJ.com

    Google services survive if they make money, aren’t social | Ars Technica

    Retailing

    Shoppers Who Use Mobile In-Store, Spend More [Infographic]

    PwC multichannel shopper survey – includes interesting data on China (PDF)

    Security

    India Outsourcing Under Scanner After $45-mn Global ATM Heist

    eBay, The FBI, Shawn Hogan And Brian Dunning – Business Insider

    Individuals can be identified despite IP address sharing, BT says

    Software

    Does Windows 8 RT Have Enough Users for Its Own iTunes App? – does it need to tie this in for Office on the Mac?

    Microsoft reveals only 145,000 apps in Windows Phone Store – developer interest slower

    The ISS Has Ditched Windows Entirely–For Linux – decided to stop using all Windows computers aboard the ISS, in favour of Linux—to ensure it’s systems are “stable and reliable” – admittedly the ISS was using Windows XP, but this still has to hurt…

    Windows 8: forget 100m licences ‘sold’, here’s how many PCs are running it | Technology | guardian.co.uk

    Why Adobe’s move to the cloud is a future victory for Apple

    After nearly 10 years, Adobe abandons its Creative Suite entirely to focus on Creative Cloud – The Next Web

    Style

    True Religion board accepts $835-million takeover bid – latimes.com – no substance behind the brand, and consumer’s requirement for innovation. The product itself, including a lot of the innovation (like many jeans brands such Guess and Arcadia) is done by third parties like Hong Kong headquartered Frontline Clothing

    Technology

    Adobe Debuts “Project Mighty” Smart Stylus For Tablets And “Napoleon,” A Digital Ruler And Guide | TechCrunch

    Most data isn’t “big,” and businesses are wasting money pretending it is – Quartz

    EE Times’ Top 15 Hot Technologies for 2013

    Telecoms

    Facebook aims to knock Cisco down a peg with open network hardware | Ars Technica

    Web of no web

    Smart metering rollout deadline pushed back to 2020

    Tesla CEO Talking With Google About ‘Autopilot’ Systems – Bloomberg

    Wireless

    Analyst Gene Munster Confirms One Of The Great Apple Fears, Says Margins Are Going To Drop Significantly (AAPL)

    Apple, Samsung: Smartphone profit still only a two player game | BGR

    Deep inside Intel’s new ARM killer: Silvermont • The Register

    Foxconn may be planning to pull a Samsung on Apple

    EU Backs Apple in Google-Motorola Patent Fight |IndustryWeek

  • Documerica + more news

    Documerica

    The U.S. National Archives collection of Documerica photos that were originally taken on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency from 1971 – 1977. There is such a great selection of images in Documerica released under a creative commons license and I love using them in slideware. Documerica featured the work of between 70 and 120 photographers

    Residents Take Part in Organized Daily Exercises in One of the Public Pools at Century Village Retirement Community.

    Business

    Chinese Way of Doing Business – In Cash We Trust – NYTimes.com

    MasterCard usage is growing five times faster in emerging markets than in the US – Quartz

    BP to use Angolan gas to fuel European homes – Telegraph – to plug the gap that mature UK fields aren’t filling and provide alternative supply to Russia

    Consumer behaviour

    Hotel Guests Turn Away From TV and Toward Streaming Media

    Placing the displaced: Lessons from researching the Irish community in London // Articles // breac // University of Notre Dame

    Is Dunbar’s Number Up? – University of Toronto

    Economics

    China Magazine Floats Idea of Selling Parts of Currency Reserves – Bloomberg

    George Osborne faces £24bn dilemma on UK bank stakes – FT.com

    Chart of the Day: European Unemployment Hits New Record – which will take longer to turn around than the economic numbers

    Chinese manufacturers are beset by a global slowdown and rising wages – gradual change in the structure of the Chinese economy

    Career mistresses, and the truth about women holding up half the sky in China – Campaign Asia – great article about consumer attitudes of Chinese women. Family cramps aspirations, financial gain is a key driver

    London property being snapped up as quickly as before 2007 crisis – Reuters

    BBC News – MPs question government’s infrastructure spending plans

    A rate cut won’t help Europe because investors still lack confidence in European banks

    The danger is that UK companies will spend their cash abroad – Telegraph – because it makes more sense than the economic uncertainty in the UK

    Finance

    Rethink listing rules after ENRC: top investor – Telegraph

    Bank lending to bounce back as bad debts fall – The Independent

    FMCG

    Junk foods avoid ad ban by targeting children online | The Guardian – not terribly surprising

    Innovation

    Oslo Copes With Shortage of Garbage It Turns Into Energy – NYTimes.com

    How Skynet Might Emerge From Simple Physics

    Luxury

    China calls time on expensive watches in face of crackdown – FT.com

    Media

    Clarification to Guardian’s Wrong Article, Again… | Socialbakers

    Facebook’s Declining User Growth Rate – AllThingsD – law of big numbers

    Five reasons why this is the worst earnings report Facebook has ever issued – Quartz

    ‘Facebook is dead’ among young people | PRWeek – it will be interesting to see if they can turn this around. Especially interesting that this is the message coming from BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat and 1Xtra news editor Rod McKenzie

    Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Predicts the Future of Streaming Video – Peter Kafka – Media – AllThingsD

    Deloitte’s UK Media Consumer survey ’13

    Digital Marketers Say It’s Becoming More Important to Rank in Global Search Engines

    Yahoo Announces New Ad Formats: Mobile-Friendly Native Ads And A Big ‘Billboard’ On Its Front Page | TechCrunch

    Auction System Helps Place Digital Outdoor Ads – WSJ.com

    Meme

    Twitter Users Mark ‘Ed Balls Day’ Anniversary | Orange UK

    Online

    Yahoo acquires 4 million user to-do app Astrid, service to continue as is for 90 days – The Next Web

    Free Speech on the Internet: Silicon Valley is Making the Rules | New Republic

    Security

    Proposal seeks to fine tech companies for noncompliance with wiretap orders – The Washington Post

    Why your personality will be scored in the next 5 years | VentureBeat

    Software

    Surface Tension: The effect of Surface on Windows revenues | asymco

    Apple to release OS X 10.9 with new power-user features, more from iOS later this year | 9to5Mac

    Jony Ive paints a fresh, yet familiar, look for iOS 7 | 9to5Mac – a move away from web 2.0 reflection metaphors. More here The Flattening of Design – NYTimes.com

    Apple addresses WWDC sellout, says that separate Tech Talks are coming this fall (Matthew Panzarino/The Next Web)

    Technology

    I, Cringely The Decline & Fall of IBM – I, Cringely

    Web of no web

    Here’s the Real Reason Why Virtual Reality Doesn’t Work Yet

    Google gets people ready for Glass with new how-to video

    SoLoMo: Kotak Bank Celebrates Foursquare Day in 200 Banking Branches | VisibleBanking.com

    Microsoft IllumiRoom is a coffee table projector designed for the next-generation Xbox | The Verge

    Wireless

    Samsung Marketing Advertising Budget Casts Dark Shadow Over Android | BGR – 9.2 billion dollars marketing spend, that’s one hell of a competitive advantage

    Apple’s Share of Worldwide Tablet Shipments Falls Below 40% in 1Q 2013 – Mac Rumors

    Active antennas invade next-gen smartphones

    Softbank posts 50% operating profit margins in its mobile business

    BlackBerry’s CEO is correct: There’s no future in tablets – I think that this is a cross form factor phenomena of commidisation driven by the Android operating system

    Does anyone know why Google bought Motorola?

  • Chinese brands opportunity

    Chinese brands opportunityl – a sister company of my agency has launched a report on the top 50 Chinese brands. The report is exhaustive and has lots of smart stuff in it that will undoubtedly make it into the PowerPoint presentations I have to churn out over the next year. Leafing through it though I was immediately struck by one aspect of the data in particular.  Four of the top ten brands derived less than 20 per cent of their turnover from outside China. And nine of the top ten brands derived more more than a third of their revenues from outside the country.

    In fact, it was only Lenovo that made over half its money outside China. This immediately struck me: abroad was Chinese brands opportunity. As the bulk of these brands have services that would certainly work internationally and there is an unreleased potential to create the next Shell, Citibank, British Airways or Whirlpool. Given that China is looking to move up the food chain as countries like Vietnam and the Philippines have lower cost workforces than areas like Shenzhen, international brand growth by these Chinese companies or their peers is only a matter of ‘when’, rather than ‘if’.

    The biggest barrier for fulfilling Chinese brands opportunity is the ability of the management team to move past hubris and a China-first focus. This is something that ‘struggle’ or wolf culture organisations like Huawei fail to do that well.

    More information
    BrandZ – Top 50 most valuable Chinese brands 2013

    Archived from blog posts I wrote for PR Week. More business related posts here.

  • Multi language content

    We were having a discussion in the team about the various different approaches to multi language content campaigns. Should we have different accounts for each language? Should we put multi-language content in the one post?

    It really depends on your brand what you’re trying to do. For Hong Kong (the market my team cared about); one account makes the most sense.

    But one approach we ruled out after looking around at a selection of different retail brands was using a machine translation service in-lieu of English editorial for multi-language content.
    Hallowe'en

    This example came from the Facebook page of Circle K Hong Kong. Circle K is a convenience store chain that is almost ubiquitous in Hong Kong. It is a subsidiary of the Fung Group.

    Despite all the discussions about deep learning there is still a way to go for mainstream multi-language content solutions. Hong Kong Cantonese is particularly hard for a few reasons:

    • The language is immensely symbolic
    • Cantonese uses a lot of idioms
    • It has evolved very fast compared to the mainland version of Cantonese. Popular media, the internet and international culture evolved the language out of all recognition. A language expert friend listened to Cantonese language courses issued to US government personnel in Hong Kong in the early 1960s, commented how similar it was to the mainland.

    Whilst Cantonese is a tough language for machine learning, it is good at seeing machine learning’s limits. English language in popular parlance has changed a lot. The use of bae, basic, finsta or lit are classic examples of uses that wouldn’t have occurred ten years ago. Google Translation got its corpus of information from looking at organisations that publish multi-language content like UN organisations. But this officialise doesn’t provide much guidance for how a language is used outside of official policy documents.

  • Jamie Hewlett + more news

    Jamie Hewlett

    Jamie Hewlett was not someone that I would have associated with luxury menswear brand Dunhill. Dunhill have been creating interesting content for a number of years, that used to be accessed through an iPad application and their own site. This interview with Jamie Hewlett is brilliant. Hewlett’s talent as a comic creator developed early with him working in the studios of Bob Godfrey. Godfrey is famous to UK TV watchers for the cartoon series Rhubarb & Custard. After college Jamie Hewlett was recruited for Deadline magazine, which is where his iconic Tank Girl creation was formed and his relationship with Damon Albarn of Gorillaz.

    Jamie Hewlett submarined during the 1990s when the underground became mainstream drawing Get The Freebies. Eventually Jamie Hewlett teamed up with Albarn to provide the visual look of The Gorillaz.