January 29, 2007

The Chinese Way

Chinese car manufacturer was at 2007 (North American International Auto Show). Base on the article "" by , American reporters are not used to the way the Chinese company set up the presentation. They found it very "strange". What they didn't know is that Chang Feng was just doing it the very proper Chinese way.

"When in Rome do as the Romans do." Apparently Chang Feng doesn't – at least didn't – think that way. You can't blame them. The "normal" American procedures are not respectful in the Chinese standard. Who in the company would have the guts to go against the Chinese value and follow the American.

So please understand the cultural different and try to appreciate the special ceremony. It is nothing but out of full respect to the new market and to the show. As for the "odd" design, well I guess I am not in the position to judge. They must have their reasons.

Cheng Feng, please consider some local adaptation. It may help business growth.

In case link doesn't work, here is the copy of the article…

Chinese Show New SUV and Odd-Looking Concept
Story Filed: 1/8/2007 6:45:00 PM EST
By Alexander Popple

SUV maker Changfeng Motor shows journalists a "propaganda film" at the unveiling of its latest models and states its ambitions for worldwide sales.

Changfeng Motor Company, China's largest maker of SUVs, in 2007 becomes the country's first automaker to exhibit throughout the entire auto show. (Compatriot firm Geely showed its car only during the Press Preview last year.)

To mark this milestone, journalists were invited to what turned out to the auto show's most unusual press event.

Auto show Joint Chairman Robert Thibodeau and local dignitaries exchanged gifts with Changfeng Chairman Li Jianxin in the type ceremony more usually seen at diplomatic events. Chairman Li then made a speech explaining Changfeng's 5-year plan: Expand production to 300,000 units, seek out foreign partners whose "advanced technology we can absorb" and, thanks to China's admission to the WTO, "face up to global competition."

That last point is code for raising standards to become competitive with the world's leading automakers, and prepare to start exporting to western markets such as North America.

The event turned a bit bizarre as journalists were shown, to use Changfeng's own description, a "propaganda film." For a few minutes, stirring images of uniformed workers assembling cars, comically speeded-up vignettes of Changfeng products in action, and even a photo of Mao Tse-Tung filled giant video screens; and as the rousing strains of "Jerusalem" reached a crescendo, the voiceover romped through a blizzard of statistics and split infinitives, only to finally inform us that "the dragons are taking off and the cheetahs are leaping."

Things came back down to earth with the unveiling of the Liebao CS6 SUV and Fiebao CT5 truck. There was a lot of interest in these vehicles: though they're partially based on time-expired Mitsubishi technology, Chinese engineers have made enough changes to make these vehicles their own. The styling isn't ground-breaking but it's good enough to be of interest and it's clearly a step forward of which Changfeng is justifiably proud.

There are five cars on the Changfeng stand, all of them more or less unusual, but the oddest by far is the Rhombic concept car. It's a lot less convincing than the production models. This car has four wheels, but they're not quite where you'd expect them to be. There are two in middle of the car and one each in the front and rear.

The front and rear wheels are for steering and the central ones are for traction. The cabin is made entirely of organic material, which appears to mean it was crafted out of bamboo by amateur basket weavers who've never actually seen a car.

Although this first foray into American car culture might have been a little clumsy, Changfeng has some impressive achievements under its belt. In 1996 it was an obscure military equipment maker and today it's a fully equipped vehicle manufacturer that even makes its own parts.

The cars on show in 2007 clearly don't reach the standards necessary for success in western markets. But Changfeng knows that perfectly well, and they're planning to fix it. On past evidence, it won't be long before we're attending a press briefing that has both authentic Chinese character and products with real credibility for western markets.

Things aren't going to get easier for the Big Three.


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January 25, 2007

Die at the Right Time

Many police officers and firefighters die at the 9/11 event. Several of them get their home streets renamed after them. No doubt they are heroes, but what about those who did not die on spot? Many of those who survive suffer from illnesses that they would not have if not the terrorist attack. They do not have the financial and spiritual support they deserve from the city and people they saved and protected. Is it fair?



If you lose a leg at the Iraq war, you get a metal from the president at a crowded ceremony in DC. If you don't, you get a thank-you for doing a good job fighting for the country and YOURSELF. So, losing is winning, winning is actually losing?!



In advertising, timing is very important -- an idea could be brilliant at a time and the dumbest at the others. I guess it is also important for your death. We may choose the campaign timing, but do we have any control on the time we die?

January 19, 2007

Lack of Data, Lot of Promise For Asian American Media

CNNMoney posted an article "Lack of Data, Lot of Promise For Asian American Media" on December 18, 2006. Many key players in the market, including media and agencies, were interviewed. Their opinions vary sharply. (The link no longer works. See below for complete story.)

The Asian American market is definitely growing, just not sure at what rate. There is no data to support. Only one TV station is on Nielsen. Less than 5% of the publications are audited.

More and more Asian American media outlets come out every month. Many of them are branches of mainstream, eg. MTV Chi, MTV K and MTV Desi; OnWheel’s Asian On Wheels.

Asian marketing is a fun place to be at now and in the coming years. Though the harvest time may not come very soon, it sure is promising. Those who stay long and overcome all the challenges and learn the process will be the big winners – both media and marketers, both product and personal growth.

Lack of Data, Lot of Promise For Asian-American Media
December 18, 2006: 10:04 AM EST

Dec. 18, 2006 (Multichannel News) -- Asked about the state of the Asian-American television advertising market, more than a dozen media and marketing executives provided sharply different opinions.

"Definitely flatline," answered Elcid Choi, executive vice president and director of new client development for the multicultural agency GlobalHue.

"Nominal growth," said Michael Sherman general manager of KTSF, a broadcast station in San Francisco that transmits foreign-language programming for Asians.

"Very strong growth," said Saul Gitlin, executive vice president of strategic marketing services at Kang & Lee, one of the larger Asian-American advertising agencies.

But no one suggested the market was shrinking.

The different opinions point to perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Asian-American media industry -- the dearth of data. Only one media outlet subscribes to Nielsen Media Research ratings. And no firm collects industry-wide information about how much brands are spending on television advertising.

Still, there is widespread agreement about the attractiveness and potential of the Asian-American market. In September, the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth released a report estimating Asian-American buying power at $427 billion.

This represents an almost 60% jump since 2000. According to the Census Bureau, the Asian-American population is approximately 11.9 million. This represents a 20% increase between 2000 and 2004. Almost half have a bachelor's or graduate degree and a little under a fifth earn over $75,000 a year.

"It makes strong business sense to target Asian-Americans," said Joe Min, account manager for Toyota at Long Beach, Calif.-based Asian-American ad agency interTrend. The automotive industry apparently agrees and is an active advertiser in the market.

Chrysler just recently re-entered the Asian-American advertising market with a television campaign promoting its Sebring model. It is the first time Chrysler has advertised a new model simultaneously in the general and Asian-American markets. The campaign began in late November and will run through the first quarter of next year.

The buy concentrated on Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco through a mix of broadcast and pay television. The campaign actually consists of spots in three languages -- Chinese, Korean and then English for Indian-Americans. The creative is the same, albeit with different actors and voiceovers. English was used to reach out to Indians from all different regions.

According to Holly Scerbo communications manager for Chrysler Marketing, "The demographics make it attractive and challenging," Sherman agrees the market is very attractive. KTSF, which broadcasts Chinese-language programming in primetime, including local newscasts in Mandarin and Cantonese, is the only Asian station or network that subscribes to Nielsen. In primetime, it is often San Francisco's second most-watched foreign-language station, behind Univision but ahead of Telemundo.

Last year, following the January 2005 move to Nielsen, Sherman saw a big jump in advertising dollars. But this year has brought in little additional revenue. A little over half of the station's advertising comes from national accounts.

"Over time the advertising community has come on board, although not as much as I would have thought," said Sherman. "People's understanding of the market is not that great. A lot of our work goes into explaining the Asian market."

Partly, that is a reflection of the inherent complexity of the Asian-American market. The largest immigrant groups are from China, India and Korea. English-language competency varies from near universal for Indian immigrants to significantly less for Chinese immigrants.

Aside from KTSF, there are only a handful of local stations and no national broadcast network transmitting Asian programming full-time. The stations typically carry programming from several countries, with primetime going to the largest immigrant group in the area -- Chinese in San Francisco and Korean in Los Angeles.

In addition, there are a few dozen pay television networks that feature original-language programming imported from Asia. Two networks, AZN and ImaginAsian TV, air a significant amount of programming that is either in English or subtitled.

There are also three MTV Channels that have launched over the past two years: MTVK, for Korean-Americans; MTV Chi, targeting Chinese-Americans; and MTV Desi, for South Asian-Americans. The VJs speak primarily in English as they introduce Asian music videos.

National advertising on these stations and networks comes in a range of languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Tagalog, as well as English. Although there is no industry-wide breakdown, a majority of Asian-American advertising appears to be in foreign languages.

"We know that overall the majority of Asians are immigrants and show a preference for their own language," Gitlin said.

Most of the advertising on The Filipino Channel is in Tagalog and comes from local businesses. Western Union (NYSE:WU) (NYSE:FDC) and California utility PG & E have both placed commercials in Tagalog. "Over the last three years, mainstream advertisers have begun recognizing us," said Jun Del Rosario, a product manager of TFC's Manila-based parent company ABS-CBN.

The network has some 200,000 subscribers via cable systems and DirecTV. Thomas Tseng, co-founder and principal of multicultural market research firm New American Dimensions, argues there is too much emphasis on Asian-language media. "There is a slew of media reaching that immigrant but there aren't a lot of media reaching the American generation," he said. Tseng pointed to surveys his firm conducted this summer, which find a sharp drop in Asian-language fluency by the second generation.

"When you look at a lot of the in-language media they tend to reach an older demographic," said Thomas Pyun vice president of advertising sales at ImaginAsian Entertainment.

Bill Georges, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Comcast-owned (NASDAQ:CMCSA) AZN, recommends first-time advertisers in the Asian-American market begin with English-language ads. Not to reach young U.S.-born Asian-Americans, but to reach the largest number of viewers possible.

"For too many years we had advertisers believing they were doing 'Asian marketing' when what they were doing was Chinese marketing in San Francisco or Korean marketing in L.A.," he said. "The English-language is a way to aggregate the Asian audience." Georges projects his ad sales revenues will increase some 75% next year.

The large number of networks for a relatively small audience that is fragmented by language combined with modest demand from national brands and little ratings information means that advertising costs are comparatively low.

"Your production costs a lot of times outweigh the media outlets. You are spending $100,000 on a spot and spending $75,000 on media," said Global Hue's Choi. Spending more money to produce a commercial than to run it is practically unheard of in other markets.

While the lack of ratings is an oddity in the market, it apparently is not deterring committed advertisers.

"We take a holistic view of how we are reaching our audience," Honda manager of emerging markets advertising Barbara Ponce said. "If Nielsen isn't available, we will look at other metrics while not closing the door".

Kang & Lee's Gitlin said those brands that make investments now in Asian-American advertising will reap tangible benefits. "The future is very bright. By the time we hit 2010, it is just going to accelerate," said Gitlin. "Asian marketing is going to shift from being an option to being an imperative opportunity."


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January 18, 2007

ImaginAsian's "Big Tent" Approach

ImaginAsian Entertainment is the cover story of the Money section in today's .

Michael Hong, CEO of , said that they are doing a big tent approach, trying to make the TV channel accessible to all Asians and non-Asians. I admire his ambition. Asian is a very much diversified group, yet we do share some similar culture and value. It is not easy to find the right programs to make everyone interested.

Right now, most Asian media are by ethnicity. Even for some pan-Asian stations like and , they have specific program/time slots for different ethnic groups.

Language is definitely the biggest challenge. Unlike Hispanic, Asians do not speak the same language. In fact, English is the common language among us as Bill Georges, SVP of , once put it.

Being an Asian and one who work in the Asian advertising industry, I do looking forward to seeing more Asian entertainment options. Ten years ago, no one would think Univision and Telemundo would grow to its current size. When will we have our UniAsian and TeleAsia?


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January 05, 2007

Asian Do Not Complain

Say a company wants/needs to cut marketing budget. They decide not to support all the diversities, but focus to one. Guess who will be the winner among African American, Hispanic, Asian, Women, Youth, Gay/Lesbian, or Military?

HISPANIC, yes, it is a no-brainer, right? But then, the company needs to think about how the society and employees would react to the cut. Would anyone feel discriminated or even file law suit? To play safe, the company keeps minimal level of activities with the other diversities.

But hold on, Asian do not complain. They are so quiet and accommodative. Let’s not do anything with them… even though they have a lot of purchase power and that the competitors are running after them.

Make sense to you?


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January 02, 2007

2007 Revolution

Just as I expected, I failed to blog as frequent as I should and would like to. In the past month, a lot of things happened at the workplace. I did have a lot to talk, but always thought I should better organize a little bit before I blog… and then the writing never happened.



It’s the beginning of the year now – time for revolution! I will follow the tips in (by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel). I will write whatever comes up in my mind (hopefully something smart). I will blog as much as I can – at least three times a week.



Wish me good luck!