Connecting Peoples

Earlier today I was passing that blood bank bus I've mentioned before when talking about brand utility, and I thought I'd do my bit and load up the People's Republic with some of my own juice as I had a pint or so to spare.


This nice Gentleman took all my details and loaded them up on the notebook.


And the nice nurse checked my blood pressure and took a sample to be on the safe side.


And I got on with taking a few pictures as the people on the bus were all the generous giving sort. (I don't count myself. I was looking for shameless blogging content).


And Bob's your uncle. No mess, no fuss, just juice. Which sounds like a line doesn't it?


And that was my Saturday afternoon, apart from buying some Stella McCartney's Adidas for a girl I haven't yet met, because I do that once in a while.....meet someone, figure out if I've bought the right size and if it looks like it will work, say 'here's something I bought earlier'.

Seriously though if there are any ladies out there who are really into this the Adidas 'Stella' the store on Wanfujing is doing 50% off and I can only justify buying the one item on the off chance of meeting a close fit, even though its easily the sexiest and most futuristic female clothing I've ever seen and it doesn't seem to be shifting over here. Its like Prada/Miu Miu meets Adidas. Which isn't a bad thing. Its still pricy but a half price sale is a fair chunk off. Go check out the current collection.

Snakeskin feel, golden touch

Yeah I know, I kind of like its unashamed sleaziness, but then as I said way back here I thought the Razr which was the must-have mobile phone of 2005 is the product that Motorola slashed its corporate wrists on. Via Maddison Boom

Joy Island

I've just come across the astonishingly talented Chinese Photographer Joy Island. Not bad for someone who started taking photos in 2005 is she? With creativity like this it shouldn't be too hard to breath some life into brands that all too often are sclerotic and asphyxiated with a marketing bullshit that has crushed the life, tonality, voice and ability to inspire or provoke thought, through endless quantitative measurement of the difference between idea free and idea less.

Great brands are about ideas, not about doing everything possible to avoid an idea, and we need to let let talented local Chinese creative people and artists connect at this level. Creativity doesn't come from an Apple Mac it comes from people. The brand idea that sticks out often gets hammered in, here in Asia, but with photography like this I just know that China has a brilliant future as long as the creativity is protected.

The Digital Divide

Get over to those top folk from Minneapolis, Zeus Jones, for a little more detail on a wonderful post about the digital divide as they see it. It's a compelling chunk of writing and for me has all the makings of a hallmark digital anthropology post.

Brilliant News

Famous Rob (Mortimer) has secured a job offer and is now set to blaze a brilliant career in advertising. Rob lives in the North of England where planning options are very much less frequent than London. He's done a brilliant job of getting to this stage, and the agency that hires him will be benefiting from a terrific eye for marketing communications. I believe from his carfully considered reviews of British advertising that he will be responsible for some lovely stuff in his career. Rob we salute you. Well done.

Speechification

If you haven't been checking out Speechification yet, then you should. The soundclip that goes with their post about Tony Blair's official portrait is every reason why the site is shaping up as one of the most engaging podcast resources on the net. There's even a player embedded so you can listen up pronto. The chilling point about the painting above, according to the artist, is that it depends on the viewers politics how the poppy is perceived. As I said. Everything is contextual. I'm betting Lauren is going to love this one too.

The brand idea that sticks out gets hammered in.

I just found this post lurking in my drafts folder from way back and thought it might be a reasonable opportunity to pop a pic I took on the Nokia N95 a few weeks back to add some spice.

I'm all for localization. I don't know anyone else who believes as much as I do that the tired old mantra of "think global act local" is more often both an oxymoron and an excuse for marketing economies of scale. OK, so as I said in this post, everything is contextual but for those who argue in favour of brand message uniformity at all costs, why doesn't that apply to the product itself. You may for example wish to try the McDonalds coffee I talked about over here, which in China is like amphetamine treacle and tastes most awesome; way superior to the coffee chain from Seattle that I can't bear to mention.

There's a whiff of intellectual brand bankruptcy hanging in the air for those who endorse brand identity uniformity as more important than product conformity. And no I'm not talking about adapting the product to local tastes because the coffee at McDonalds in China compared to say McDonalds UK is the equivalent of the difference between that Turkey you roasted over Chrimbo and the Turkey Twizzlers y'all rebelled over a while back.

I've been talking about brand adaptation a fair bit recently and for the life of me I can't see why a country as large as China can 'adapt' itself to working with say Microsoft Windows ("oh no" they cry. "Its not Chinese enough" - erm excuse me? Even I can operate Windows in Chinese because the layout is so familiar) or an iPod. I do believe that if the iPod was presented as a concept first, the local ahem marketing and agency 'talent' would be all over it with design changes and modifications to 'localise' it.

OK, there is a time and a place when sensitivity towards local culture and taste makes great business sense but the knee jerk reaction to adaptation is killing too many good ideas and its not as if the alternatives are standing out much better is it?

I'll say it one more time only. The brand idea that sticks out gets noticed. Just like that bloke in the picture above who is mesmerised by the flares they use to show off to the clubbing crowd that somebody has ordered Champagne. It's not rocket science is it?

Learning to count

Everything is contextual

Update. Many of the photos in this post have been lost so I've deleted them. I hope it still makes some sense.

Particularly when it comes to advertising or otherwise we'd use the ads from yesteryear, year in and year out.... and they would work. I'll be fleshing out that theme at some point but in the mean time here's more China Syndrome.

The local bank cards don't have a 'chip' but do have a six figure PIN which makes a lot more sense than a four figure PIN. The one above was at the hotpot restaurant from this QIK video and has been given some love and affection with stick-on hearts and pseudo bling. A bit like putting a sprig of parsley on top of food. erm not!

These steamed dumplings and cakes (Xiaolongbao) are still found all over Beijing from little vendors that keep the feel of food more interesting than elsewhere to me. I've been going on a bit about street food of late.


This is the first ad that has impressed me in China. I"m hoping its local as the brand is a local glasses retailer. There was a French version next to this poster, so it might well be international. 

Its also beautifully art directed. Seen in the Oriental Plaza, Beijing.


These little fellas (Motuoche) run around Beijing like the Tuk Tuk's of Bangkok, although far less ubiquitous. The example above is in mint condition and used solely by a restaurant to ferry its customers to and fro. It was all glinting and sparkling in the sun.


Well you might have caught on to that whole Ferrari brand extension thing over at Rob's which prompted me to take a look around their shop. They actually sell a Ferrari branded telescope on top of other pointless crap!! Its a top quality telescope with a Ferrari (which I think has like Prada, not the most attractive logo) badge on it. Ferrari are fucked if they need the few extra dollars that this retail shit provides. It would be a shameif they were the first luxury car brand to do a Pierre Cardin/Burberry. I know there are people who have made a bazillion in China (as indeed elsewhere around the world) who aren't very discerning but this is just plain crass.
La Pargay above however have got something going on. It's a talented local Chinese designer. Their clothes are really innovative and have a particular identity - that to my mind taps into the Mongolian roots of Northern China. The retail staff also remind me of Mac Cosmetics who have always hired interesting staff over classically beautiful assistants. Also the ladies in this shop were definitely wearing the most risque clothes I've seen women wear in Beijing. Its not summer yet so maybe things will change but the girls clothes here rarely reveal their upper torso unlike the girls here and which I hadn't really thought about till I took a look around La Pargay. These people are one to watch fashion lovers... You heard it here first.

I'm completely in love with I.T the clothing brand above. They are from Hong Kong and apart from doing very noticeable advertising. I like the cat aping the model in the lower right hand corner. I've done something I only do very rarely which is buy 3 of an item because I know I will love them forever.

These special edition Adidas caught my eye and were the "Special of the month". I'm not sold on what looked like under closer inspection a cutting edge pedometer on the tongue. Trainers like this do look OK with a baggy casual suit or something, a la Alexander McQueen some years ago. Sort of like a loud sneakers modest clothes look.

Lastly I think I've found the origin of toffee apples. I've never come across these in any other culture but these toffee fruits look splendid on their display pillars, and particularly at night when they are illuminated.

Yes I know this is a bit of a crap post but the work is piling up, and I'm getting deeper and deeper into a lot of local and international brands and finding their context here in China. We're also waiting to hear some news on that pitch I've mentioned to a few of you and which deserves a post once the dust has settled because doing marketing communications in China, as in lots of Asian places, is often way different from other places around the world. Sometimes I think the biggest challenge is overcoming that whole consensus thing which is responsible for what can only be described as consensual communications. The internet seems to be the only place where reality can be externalised. Albeit through virtual persona sometimes.

Update: I subsequently discovered that La Pargay is Italian. Just trying to champion local stuff when I see it!

Just The Watches

I visited this place first back in September and at the time it struck me how extraordinary the sheer range of watches were on sale. I took this QIK video earlier at the Silk Street Market which is kind of like MBK in Bangkok. Its depressing isn't it, how much effort goes into pumping out enough timepieces to keep our insatiable 'consumer' appetites fulfilled? Each of those watches has so many hundreds of component parts and must be at least days, weeks if not months of time from drawing board to supply side distribution and retail all around the world.

Wanna See My Lunchbox?

In a dramatic turn and subsequently bizzare twist of events it turns out that the owner of the mysterious Hello Kitty Lunch box over at Robs was in fact none other than Marcus Brown of Munich (formerly Southampton). The Kaiser, not widely known for his sweet 'Kawaii' side 'fessed' up that the lunch container was his regular victuals pack with a sheepish face over here . The scandal dubbed 'Kittygate' in the raggedy end of the digital press has rocked the male dominated blogosphere with underhand and pernicious jabs that Marcus is a pussy, so there was little else a chap could do for a chum other than come to the rescue with a picture of my own lunchbox. Beef noodles or no beefnoodles. Barbera who took this snap with an unsteady hand from laughing about the rapidly expanding waistline had to be coaxed into keeping a aim so do excuse the indulgent smiles that come about as middle age spread takes another innocent victim.

Qik

Some of you have been viewing my Qik videos already, so I thought that now was as good a time as any to introduce them formally. I first came across Qik on Robert Scoble's blog and I thought it was a neat feature having the live video to internet on a Nokia N95 which is the smart phone I'm using. I also thought it would compete with some of the other video to net features like Kyte.tv or Ustream but as I've been using it I've also come to appreciate that its a cinch to use and has one extra feature that gives the broadcasts currency; there is a check box to send a link to my twitter account immediately. So it's kind of fun getting twitters back from friends about what they imagine I'm doing to whom in that hot tub in the second bathroom of the Hutong I'm intending to move into. Evidently my twitter chums have quite vivid imaginations!

Axe

Is this further support for that whole Lo Fi is the new Hi Fi idea. Just get them out there and be prepared to fail. - Via PSFK

Beijing Life

It gets a bit windy some days in Beijing

Yen Countdown

The PRC, being run in a top down sort of affair has allocated a district in Beijing solely for the artist community. It's called 798. I don't normally approve of art-under-duress but on New Years Eve I made an exception.

Beijing Strategy

The fifth to seventh floors at the Xie Dan shopping complex called Beijing Stategy are as good a place as any to check out where the hip kids are at, in the same way as say Harajuku would be the place to trend-watch emerging fashion changes in Tokyo. Its interesting to see what these young folk are wearing, what they are into and how they behave with each other. Although its mainly a 'teen +' fashion hangout, if you dig a little deeper into the boutique end on other floors you'll get to see a slightly older female customer looking for more sophisticated outfits. They're of the type that like to dress impressively but don't have the budget of hitting say The Place or The Peninsula Arcade at The Peninsula for top end luxury brands. Some of them are just smarter too! Beijing is a great place for buying clothes that look terrific but aren't necessarily designed to last forever. I guess this is somewhat indicative of the disposable society the West created I'd point out. More on that later because I've got some thoughts emerging on that one. I can't wait for oil to hit 200 bucks a barrel.

Anyway, while walking around Xie Dan which is one of at least three locations in Beijing that has a whole shop dedicated to Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas, I then stumbled across a shop called Boing Boing. I wondered at the time if they knew about one of the worlds top blogs and took a quick snap. So I was a bit bloody surprised to discover shortly afterwards I had been linked to by Boing Boing and saw my traffic stats go through the roof. Wanna take a peek?

Anyway, those peeps rushing over here to check out the crumpled porcelain beer cans will be unlikely to pay more visits and if truth be known I'm not looking for traffic, I'm looking for comrades as I mentioned to Johnnie, Damiano, Jamie and John last year at the Endurance in Soho. But it was quite a learning experience to check out the oodles of data that Google Analytics provides such as who came, where they came from, their ISP, what they clicked on, how long they stayed, where they went to next and all that stuff which very few bloggers ever talk about but is for me one of the reasons why I can 'head held up high' say I like a bit of quant now and again, as I said in one of my tweets that I've just discovered has been fed into a site I've never come across before. Once again I'm compelled to reminds folks that McLuhan said the third world war would be an information war with no division between civilian and military which sounds like fun doesn't it? (Churchill also said something similar and prescient).

China Central Television Building (CCTV)

I took a taxi ride out to the new CCTV building over the Christmas break. They have recently connected the two main pillars in a feat of engineering that can only be truly appreciated by standing under it, walking around it and hopefully the next time I go by sneaking into it.

Architecture for me is a love affair and I've been folllowing the Dutch mastermind for the CCTV building in Beijing for a while now. His name is Rem Koolhaas and this latest project is truly the only building since the the Guggenheim in Bilbao, which I've felt has challenged and then extended my appreciation and meaning of the building form. I was close to trembling while standing under that huge overhang - but maybe that was the hangover too. Its all steel and feels like a Airbus A340 is suspended over your head. Here are the pictures from my N95 mobile phone camera that really don't do it justice.

It appears to defy general gravitational and architectural balance guidelines. I'd really like to hear what Owen Hatherley of Nasty Brutalist and Short thinks of this design. I feel that this qualifies in some respects as as good example of brutalist with other design nods and dimensions that I'd love to hear Owen's erudite (and quality socialist I might add) views.

The shot below is really pushing the zoom feature on the N95 to the max. The slightest movement shows up on the final shot but I think it starts to give a feel for all the safety netting suspended underneath the overhang as it was conjoined recently.

I couldn't help but look at all the lovely media space waiting to be made beautiful. Or at least let Beijing use it as a graffiti space. Its huge and rusting at the moment.

It needs to be walked around to appreciate all its angles.


If you look really hard. You can see the construction workers walking on a little horizontal section at the point where the sky meets the upper part of the joining section. Or put another way the other side of where the sun's glare is.


Just seeing this building means I have no choice now but to buy a decent camera. Any suggestions very much welcome. You might be able to see what I'm trying to capture. Expect more Beijing architecture. There are some amazing pieces around the city for the Olympics.

Burn Down The TV Stations

This is pretty much what I've been advocating for the new advertising agency business model in my post over here and first aired over here. Its gets simpler the more I see people explain what I'm trying to attempt as it becomes more self evident of where we are heading.

Roughly speaking, ditch the interruptive messaging and get experimental/useful/collaborative across lots and lots of relevant communities in Lo Fi - Also be prepared to fail plenty and as a consequence succeed more demonstrably by embracing the upside of risk. Lo Fi is the new Hi Fi. Collective participation is more authentic than corporate brand synthesis. As audiences get smarter, the big switch comes closer. Its just a matter of time.

By way of the impressive Johnnie Moore

Thrifty Thinking

I've been meaning to post this utterly brilliant piece since I saw it first in Milan at the global creative review I talked about over here. The creative person on this work is Brendan Donnelly and I think he got his casting better than one could really wish for in terms of acting. Now my opinion on this ad doesn't really count until Famous Rob has given his view, because nobody reviews an ad quite like Rob Mortimer.

2007

Its drawing towards the end of the year now and what a year its been - I'll never forget 2007 AD because it came fully loaded with really good people, terrific connections, quality conversation and deeply interesting times - I can't say that about every year. There have been a few turkeys.

All the people I went out of my way to meet this year were both digitally-literate and networked to the hilt. I've been pondering recently that in theory I could go missing, and still feel confident that it wouldn't take me more than a few days to get back up to speed; what's new, where to look, what's interesting, where its developing. I'd probably never ditch Twitter though even if I do try a spell as a Benedictine monk. There's nothing in their rules on a vow of silence preventing an SMS of what I'm doing! 

What am I trying to say? I think this augmented extension of the self through the internet, can provide an ability to repair foolishly untended relationships quite quickly. That I think this nascent network in 2007 is invaluable in terms of digitally experiential relationships, and probably seminal in terms of human relationships. There's nothing quite like meeting the characters behind the keyboard. It doesn't matter about the country or the culture. I think this new social pattern is a different process than say being disconnected from your mates, since you left school and then the internet kicking off and finding Classmates.com or Friendsreunited.com rudely interrupting the illusion we hold of ourselves. The one that we have built in the absence of continuous partial attention reminding us of who we all actually are. I think this says bundles about the difference between the digital natives and the digital immigrants. I find it fascinating that in the future there will be no people like some of us immigrants who have the benefit of both hindsight and I hope a little digital foresight...... But I'm not planning on going anywhere. There's just way too much interesting stuff going on. 

You could do no better than look at Johnnie Moore's recent post about David Snowdon which reaffirms what I think is a profound change for 21st century communications. There is the notion that we are rewiring our brains to do what they always did best anyway; absorb lots of loosely connected information and build a picture from that which equates to a much closer representation of reality than the one that 20th century hierarchically driven monologue and the militantly linear and didactic process that the scientific method dispensed us. Oh shit, that sounds like an intellectually conceited mouthful doesn't it? I do go off on one occasionally. Sorry about that. 

An easier way to understand all this might be to highlight that humans are designed for chit chat. We absorb stuff much better that way. Anyway I didn't know I was going to go down this path when I set out on this post because I find blogging about communication theory a little bit like complaining about the food not being salty enough when the salt mill is to hand. But I am very grateful that some people have been paying attention because I'm (it should be we, but I don't want to sound like I'm aping Wallpaper), are just a little bit chuffed that Punk Planning made it into Campaign's top ten blogs. We're also deeply indebted to people like Rob Campbell from Musings of an Opinionated Sod for showing the rules and conventions that can be broken, while still being able to spot the corporate/agency stench of bullshit from leagues and furlongs away. Opinionated Sod! We salute you :)

1969

1969 was an ace year. There was Woodstock, Apollo 11 and man first walking on the moon. The first Boing 747 and Concorde flight, test tube fertilisation of human eggs, The Beatles last gig on Apple Records rooftop, John & Yoko conducting their Bed-In, the Stonewall Riots, and the introduction of the ATM as well as the opening of the Beijing Subway, the mass anti Vietnam War demonstrations and don't forget the first message between two computers through Arpanet the forerunner of the internet.

Well anyway I'm biased and so it seems are Kappa. I couldn't resist this just in case the last few posts were a bit too serious, and even though Lauren doesn't like my Puff Charlie look. But the way I see it 1969 is so close to the 70's which is just a mere extension of and adjacent to the 80's. Doddsy knows all about all of them anyway. He was there man.

Beijing Smog

Beijing was immersed in smog for a marathon three or so days till this afternoon, and I thought I'd take a picture of how it looked compared with a clear day earlier in the month that I blogged about over here. There's a lot of schandenfreude in the Western Press over (well over anything Chinese actually) the smog in Beijing in the run up to the Olympics, along with less helpful suggestions that restricting the traffic will have an impact. It doesn't! The smog occurs over the weekends too. It looks very much like its the smokestack industries to the west of Beijing that are responsible for all this. The ones that made the remote controlled toy helicopters you secured for Christmas or filled up the Christmas crackers with plastic toys. Well you know how I feel about buying pointless shit.

I'm quite sure they will restrict these offending polluters around the time of the Beijing Olympics to make sure that our international visitors have a good time, and leave with a postive impression. Before the 15 million of us who live here can get back to doing what we do best. Cleaning the air by breathing it in with our lungs, and making the it sparkle and clean like below.

What I find most daunting is that things are unlikely to change in the short term. China is under pressure to reduce its trade imbalance with the U.S. and all the other countries that consume its vast output at morally questionable prices, I talked about over here. How are they going to do this? Well, part of the answer is that China will subsidise those TV's, personal computers, washing machines, air conditioners and domestically produced mobile phones to its rural/low tier city constituency before it asks the West for something in return. That last article slipped by a lot of people in the mobile phone business. It was released in the Indian press first just before the Christmas break.

Random Retail

I've talked about the China Adidas 'Impossible is nothing' stuff before over here, and Rob raised a really good point about the work not being representational of the international spirit of the Olympic games which is bang on. I haven't seen one mention of another country mentioned in any of the communications for this international event. I think the onus is on the international agencies to have a word with the Chinese clients about this very inward approach to what is after all a celebration of multinational competitive spirit. Age also did a post on the Adidas commercial being derivative of a Visa commerical which is well worth a once-over here.
Personally I think line artwork is lovely stuff at the moment and I'm trying to get across to the teams I'm working with that tonality is crucial in marketing communications. That the messaging is often less important than the way an ad 'feels'.

But really, sports apparel advertising is looking soooo cliched - They are all clinging to lamposts like drunks, including Nike. The main high street in Beijing is dominated by Adidas with 'Impossible is nothing' as you can see above, but on the same high street is a domestic sports brand called Li Ning. Their flagship store is here, and their endline in red at the bottom of the poster below reads 'Anything is Possible'. This is for me the real challenge out here. Persuading brands to find their own voice, and understanding that standing out for the right reasons is a good thing. I'm already seeing a Yin and Yang correctional approach to branding and research... If its too functional that means we need to add emotional. If its too emotional it needs more functional. No it doesn't. It needs what it needs. There's also a philosophical debate to be had over business entities that exist in countries for no other reason than wealth creation. If that's the case then a brands values are all about making money. Period.

Personally I'm all up for the sports brand that talks frankly. Something along the lines of 'We know you stuff your pie-hole with takeaway pizza and corn syrup beverages but you do like to watch matches on the box down the pub with your mates, while wearing some sporty looking kit now and again'. That's a brand voice. Tagline - 'Its impossible, another cheeky half fella?'.


I saw this sign above while wandering around the latest shopping mall to open, and couldn't resist taking a snap. Of course I was thinking about 'her' at the time. She's so... she's so freestyle baby, and she's just for me. Apparently.


Later on I as I descended the escalator in the adjoining department store, I got thinking if this guy could qualify for that whole uncanny valley thing that Russell was talking about. That name though...Hunter Funny.... Most awesome n'est pas?


No post on Beijing retail could get by without some reference to Panasonic's Olympic street theatre on Wanfujing. Seriously, I don't know if Panasonic have ever knowingly had creative tumescence. This (ahem) brand, particularly in Asia (like Canon) suffers from the marketing communications equivalent of a charisma bypass. Whatever you do... Don't stand out! The Canon endline is particularly irritating. 'Delighting you always'. What a pile of shit that is. They so-don't delight people that I challenge anyone to find a delighted Canon user on the whole internet....Ever. At least Panasonic with their 'Ideas for life' are implying that they are just ideas and you wont need them when you're dead, and that they aren't a Volvo.

Last but not least, is it just me that sees a bit of Chinese (yes grasshopper) in the Colonel above? There's a healthy dominance of KFC over McDonalds for number of outlets in China and I'm blaming the atavistic logo! Ha

Hutong Life

One of the quintessential yet rapidly disappearing Beijing ways of life is the hutong. The hutong is the traditional architectural and communal structure for this style of living and stretches back centuries. Communal living in this style does however often present some harder realities. There are a terrific series of posts on Beijing hutongs including lots of photography over at Beijing Visitor