In the past few weeks there’s been a discernible increase in the volume of media reports and articles about Chinese brands entering western markets or rather, Chinese companies buying western brands. For someone who’s been closely involved with Chinese brands in Europe it has been fascinating to witness the eruption of interest and different viewpoints […]
Read more »
The old proverb ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ isn’t just a timeless bit of wisdom. Here in Europe it seems to be an active operating principle of self-harm, one that is cleverly exploited by China’s leadership. Recent trade-related dramas suggest that Europe (always a collection of self-interested nation states with short-term horizons) have inverted […]
Read more »
I was recently asked for an interview. The key question was: “what keeps you, as a marketer, awake at night?” Interviews concentrate the mind wonderfully. They’re like a switchback mechanism, returning thoughts to what we have forgotten and taken for granted. Random and unstoppable, the ideas flow to challenge preconceived assumptions. My answer to the […]
Read more »
It was a moment worthy of a scene from The Wizard of Oz. That was when Huawei’s mystery man, the company’s secretive and until now largely invisible CEO Ren Zhengfei, appeared in person to give his first ever interview to western journalists in New Zealand. Sporting the regulation dyed black hair of a middle-aged Chinese […]
Read more »
The movie ‘Red Cliff’ directed by John Woo is a modern classic of Chinese cinema. It’s set at the end of the Han dynasty, just before the era of the Three Kingdoms. It depicts the epic battle at Red Cliff between the huge military forces of Cao Cao (曹操) and his arch-rivals Liu Bei and […]
Read more »
As we enter the Year of the Snake in the Chinese lunar calendar, I’ve been thinking about birds. To be more precise, how brands have utilized birds to feather their own nests, so to speak. Snakes don’t bear much thinking about. They’re slithery, slimy reptiles strongly associated with cunning, deceit and death (who can forget […]
Read more »