Latest Posts
Shanghai to improve Bicycle and Pedestrian Network
Shanghai announced plans to create a non-motorized traffic network in downtown areas over the next five years. Cycleways and bike lanes and connections with sideroads will be improved, along with areas for Parking facilities for non-motorized vehicles at Metro and bus stations. Public bicycle renting facilities will be rolled out following trials in the districts of Baoshan, Zhabei and the Pudong New Area. At the end of last year, Shanghai had 10.67 million registered bicycles.
To improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, dozens of non-motorized “islands” will be created in the city. Connections between islands, footpaths and roads will improved.
More information at Shanghai Goverment
Calgary Mayor visits China and travels by public transit
Often you hear of trade delegations coming to China and experiencing the city. Usually its through the window of a bus or van whilst they run from airport to city and around the city going to meetings. So its refreshing to see Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi taking the time to go and travel on subways and not just do the touristy photo-ops. Of course, the Nenshi took the time for photo-ops who can blame him but he went the extra mile taking the time to travel with residents and see the city from a citizens perspective. Watch the video below for Naheed Nenshi trip around China.
Why the NHL should be in China
The National Hockey League is currently going through one of the most exciting periods of the season – the Stanley Cup playoffs with Game 1 set to kick off between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks. But sadly, the coverage in China is minimal. For a sport so fast paced, full of action and provides such a colourful spectacle its a shame its not on TV or streaming in China. I can go to a expat sports bar and watch the action in the early morning Shanghai time but a few hundred expats in a market of 1.3 billion seems a waste of potential the NHL has to make hockey a big sport in China.
There are Hockey Leagues in Shanghai and Beijing but with hundreds of millions of people living in cities that get extremely cold its seems like a no brainer to get NHL on television and the web. Numerous sports get coverage on television and IPTV in China including Basketball, Tennis, Football(Soccer), Golf, Car Racing, Snooker, Volleyball, Swimming, Badminton, Table Tennis. Many of these I can watch live including NBA, China Basketball, Major Tennis Tournaments, China Super League (Soccer), Premier League, Bundesliga, La Lagia , Serie A, AFC, FIBA, FIVA, FINA, Formula 1, and most Chinese National Sports tournaments and many are replayed again the next day. So where is NHL?
NHL needs to realise the potential of NHL and put some money and promotion into getting it onto TV screens and video streaming sites including Youku, Tudou, PPTV and others. The older generation watch CCTV 5 and local sports channels and the young using video streaming sites. NHL needs official channels on these web platforms. Why? China is a large market and the merchandise and possibility for Chinese advertisers to start paying to sponsor teams, stadiums and TV ad spots is real. However, if the NHL is not seen on TV screens at home how do Chinese company, CEO’s and marketing manager know that the NHL exists?
Think of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa before that no one knew about Yingli Solar until they sponsored numerous billboard advertisements at the stadiums and where a key sponsor to the tune of between 35 to 50 million. The company got write ups in the New York Times, CNN, Businessweek, Business Insider and the flow on was huge demand and financing deals. Given the World Cup is watch by billions but the precedent is set.
The NHL only has to look at the NBA and the sponsorship of the Houston Rockets and the stadium billboards by Chinese companies – many would say that due to Yao Ming, but its also because millions watch NBA games every week during the season. Also NBA, Soccer Leagues and Tennis highlights get played on buses and trains in large cities in China giving more eyeballs to sponsors and coverage to the sport.
Aigo an electronics company in China sponsors Manchester United due to the large following by Chinese EPL fans. They also sponsor McLaren F1 team giving it promenient exposure on the track but also featured on the Aigo website along with a report about how much exposure McLaren get per year in F1.
NHL is missing an opportunity not just to broaden the appeal of NHL to Chinese but also gain sponsors for teams, stadiums and league. Its time they made a move with at least a website in Chinese and setting up something with video highlights.
Creating the right marketing material for the China market
Recently I have seen some brochures from international design companies for the Chinese market. Some were good and others were down right appalling. I thought I would give some insights into what makes your marketing material good or bad for the China market.
Lets start with the bad
- Too smaller size font for Chinese text – I have seen lots of brochures with large English font and small Chinese font – who is the material for your home market or China? Make sure you use a nice Chinese font and that all the characters are correct – sometimes the fonts will have the wrong characters.
- ‘Western People’ Stock Images and Graphics – Unless your Louis Vuitton with $$$ to spend on super models make sure to get stock photos with Chinese people or get a photographer to take some good photos with Chinese and western people using the product. Your product may be international but you need to make the consumer feel like they can obtain the product.
- Irregular Graphic design – this goes for all markets not just China – unless your in-house team was trained as a designer and has some great InDesign skills you should outsource your graphic design. Putting out material produced in Word or Powerpoint is unprofessional and will do more harm in the long run. Also goes for brochures done in InDesign with irregular graphics and numerous fonts it just looks bad.
The good
- Brochures and websites in Chinese – engaging a local design house or a company with China experience makes a difference. The Chinese consumer has different tastes in the use of graphics and colour – you mightn’t like the design but its not the point; the point is to get sales of your product or service in the Chinese market
- Use of images of company staff – Chinese like to know the people they are dealing with as business relationships are more like friendships. Using nice photos of your staff  and team photos with friendly facesmakes a difference
- Chinese office contact details – make sure to include your China office address – people often talk about where your office is in China and relate it to their experience of the city
- International calling codes remember to put only +86 or (86) or don’t put 011 or 001 in front of the country code it will confuse people . As an example of  a USA number +1 712 555 5555
- Proof read chinese text – make sure your chinese text is proof read by a native speaker who is not your translator or translation company.
- Good quality printing and binding – the best brochures have good quality print and binding – you may save a few yuan on cheap printing but is it worth it in the long run
- Digital Format – make sure to have a digital copy of your brochures, price lists etc. – you don’t want clients to wait 7-10 days to get your promotion material in the post if your office is not in China
- Country Name – Use P.R.C. or People’s Republic of China – its the official country title so use it on addresses, contracts, etc.
- Formatting – remember to format dates, numbers, measurements, currency, etc to the regional standard allows for your customers to easily understand and eliminates confusion
China is a market of opportunity and your promotion material is your ‘face’ in China and needs to be the best you can present.