China, WTF?!

In this episode, Arnold Ma chats to Bessie Lee, formerly the CEO of WPP China and Group M, a China marketing guru in her own right, about her experience, tips and predictions of doing marketing in and to China.
Arnold addresses 3 main topics: The difference between Chinese and Western marketing (strategy), Chinese creativity, and marketing technology in China and the West.
Bessie, currently the Founder and CEO and Angel Investor of Withinlink, a China-based start-up incubator and early-stage venture fund has over 30 years of experience in the media communications industry in Greater China, exclusively across a number of WPP companies. As CEO of WPP China, beginning in 2013, she was responsible for 14,000 employees and more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
Timestamps:
0:38 An intro to Bessie and her extraordinary career
6:30 Who censors and what do they censor? The shift of censorship from the Chinese government to the Chinese people.
9:54 Is there a difference between marketing in China vs in the West? (Marketing principles vs platforms and innovation)
14:08 How consumers in Beijing and Shanghai are different to those in lower-tier cities
15:04 Why China presents the unique opportunity to re-start a brand from scratch
16:02 The difference between Western and Chinese decision-making processes and why China is ahead of the game
19:15 Advice for smaller brands entering China
22:15 China is no less creative than the West – what is Chinese creative?
23:51 China’s absence from Cannes Lion and why the West should broaden their categories and go to China to discover Chinese creative
27:00 Why there should be more Chinese award entries and Western brands should work with Chinese agencies to create outstanding work
28:05 The challenges with marketing technology and integrating data in China
28:27 Why the biggest obstacle to innovation is not data or technology, but it’s people and their relationship with change and automation
31:28 Why there has been a lack of change and automation in the agency industry in the last 40 years
33:26 Why appointing a Chief Technology Officer is a big mistake and the responsibility to innovate should lie within everyone in the business
34:12 The most disruptive MarTech in China right now: Bessie’s example of a Chinese marketing research technology that can save you months, even years
39:39 Why brands often go with the safe choice, not the right choice
41:54 What’s the future? Why Chinese AI is a “national movement” and the biggest thing to watch out for in 2020
If you like this episode, follow us/subscribe for more. You can also watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_DdGtNyAgbM
Feel free to contact us on [email protected] with comments, thoughts and suggestions.

Football has climbed its way up to second place in China’s favourite sports. With over 300 million Chinese football fans and counting, China has become a hot market for international club managers.

This episode is not just about Football and Sports Marketing in China but also has a special focus on Chinese fans: how to resonate with them, entertain and, ultimately, win their respect.

Host Arnold Ma chats to Tom Nixon, Qumin’s Co-Founder and Client Services Director, who originally learnt Chinese to become a football coach in China, and New Business Executive Sean Ekon, a registered football agent for the FA.

Tune in for:

01:36 When football was still new in China

05:00 Tom’s China story and why he didn’t end up opening a Chinese takeaway

08:50 Sean’s China story

11:15 The development of fan culture in China and why ‘translating’ no longer equates to ‘localising’

15:10 The fine line between being respectful and offensive

16:35 Chinese fans’ lack of patience

18:02 Gaining reach, resonance and reaction from Chinese fans

20:14 How to avoid being orientalist by tapping into everyday culture

25:27 Sponsorships or programmatic advertising? – Short- vs long term strategies

28:20 Why great creative work requires good clients – Watford FC’s brief for Qumin

29:20 Fake engagement in China’s football industry and the West’s transition from metrics to meaningful connections

30:40 The best platforms to generate real engagement and commercial return: WeChat vs Douyin (TikTok)

34:00 Qumin’s Manchester United campaign (culture, social CRM, gaming, and Manga)

41:03 Understanding people and cultures – the only way to stand out as a Western brand in China

42:33 Why the target audience for football clubs is the same as for any other industry

44:10 ‘Playing it safe’ in China vs wacky cross-industry collaborations

45:10 Street culture in China and its knock-on effect for the popularity of sports

46:22 The difference between football and fashion influencers

47:00 Building a football brand and creating true brand ambassadors to secure sponsorship deals and merchandising

50:40 The French federation’s terrible Mid-Autumn Festival greeting

52:00 Why football entertainment is understood differently in China

If you like this episode, follow us/subscribe for more. You can also watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2eOUEM4jUVg
Feel free to contact us on [email protected] with comments, thoughts and suggestions.

Welcome back to the only podcast to ask: China, WTF?! What’s The Future?

In this episode, we chat about Douyin, China’s hyper-developed TikTok twin. It is no secret that short-form video is taking over the world and that brands need to jump on the social train, so now is the right time to be looking at Douyin when you’re thinking about China marketing.

Although Douyin and TikTok are owned by the same Chinese giant Bytedance, they are rather different in many ways. We touch on the different features and focus, as usual, on the people that use Douyin, their user behaviour and how that influences the content on the platform. Of course, brand strategies and monetisation models are also introduced.

Here are some time stamps for reference:

02:00 Differences between TikTok and Douyin
03:10 The figures on short form video in China
04:28 Douyin’s AI and interest-driven content feed
07:24 China’s other popular short video platforms (Kuaishou, Xigua, Huoshan, etc.)
08:19 Kuaishou and the competition between Tencent (WeChat) and Bytedance
10:49 Difference in content and users on Douyin and TikTok
14:13 User motivations (‘Uses Gratification Theory’) and clever ‘undercover’ adverts
16:34 Seamless E-commerce on Douyin: ‘see now buy now’
19:02 The future of social media: combining the best part of social media and the best part of e-commerce
19:46 Influencers / ’content creators’ on Douyin and how to work with them
21:49 Meritocracy and the global influencer movement from lifestyle and commentators to talent and creators (led by Douyin)
25:26 The importance of Douyin search, trends and rankings
27:37 Paid media and monetization of platforms in the West vs China
29:11 Brand accounts and stores on Douyin (low barrier to entry)
31:02 Myths and huge missed opportunities: You needn’t focus on WeChat and Weibo and pay to play - Douyin is a good platform to gain organic traction
34:09 What’s the future?! Influencer fraud and click farms, platform competition and innovation
If you like this episode, follow us/subscribe for more. You can also watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QNcRZIJvFTc
Feel free to contact us on [email protected] with comments, thoughts and suggestions.
The next episode will be on wealthy Chinese consumers!

Welcome back to the only podcast to ask: China, WTF?! What’s The Future?

Arnold Ma, founder of Chinese creative agency Qumin https://qumin.co.uk/, gets to the bottom of what tomorrow may look like, globally, by dissecting China's today. The podcast focuses on Chinese tech disrupters, people and cultures.

In this episode, we shine a light on the millions of Chinese people living overseas and highlight their value to Western brands. We invited Vera Wang to share her own experience of living abroad and working with Western brands.

With a million followers across social media, Vera Wang aka WG Empire is a famous Chinese Influencer living in NYC. Aside from being nominated the first Chinese blogger in the US, she created her own public relations company ‘WG Empire’ and recently launched ‘Verified’, a brand that showcases Chinese designers to the world. Her goal is in line with Qumin’s: Connect China and the West.

Topics include:

00:36 Vera’s move from China to New York and her journey as the first Chinese blogger in America

02:28 Being a Chinese blogger in 2012 (Qumin was founded at the same time)

04:10 Bloggers are ‘free’ brand consultants

06:15 Chinese people in China value the authentic stories provided by Chinese bloggers abroad

10:00 How brands can ‘dip their toes first’ before they go into China

11:33 Three key myths about (overseas) Chinese consumers: they care about lanterns, dragons and red envelopes, they don’t use Instagram or YouTube, they only notice marketing that’s in Chinese

15:50 The need for different marketing strategies for Chinese people in and overseas Chinese

17:07 Why on the ground teams are essential when marketing to Chinese people in China

23:55 The creative industry in the West vs technology innovation and service design in China

26:48 Brands can be more experimental with overseas Chinese, as they are more open to different beauty standards

27:26 Although Chinese people are still very traditional culturally, China isn’t behind – it’s just different, and changing rapidly

28:13 Brands should tap into existing cultural tensions

29:57 More people are going back home to China and becoming advocates

31:27 Being Chinese is a USP for Chinese bloggers overseas

If you like this episode, hit subscribe for more and follow 'Qumin' on LinkedIn for the latest updates.

You can also watch the show on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSCZyPj532E&feature=youtu.be

Welcome back to the only podcast to ask: China, WTF?! What’s The Future?
Arnold Ma, founder of Chinese creative agency Qumin https://qumin.co.uk/ , gets to the bottom of what tomorrow may look like, globally, by dissecting China's today. The podcast focuses on Chinese tech disrupters, people and cultures.

Episode 3 is all about Chinese consumers!

We always talk about people and cultures at Qumin, as it is the people who drive the platforms and innovations. Only if we understand the people behind the platforms will we be able to stay ahead of the curve.
In this episode, we talk about the shift in consumerism, how consumers have evolved in China, how they've matured and how they are now leading the global economy. Selling to Chinese consumers is becoming more and more challenging for Western brands, so understanding them is fundamental. Marketing is downstream from culture, after all.

Topics include:

02:49 Qumin’s mission: ‘connecting the world to China’

03:25 From copycats to innovators, the evolution of ‘Made in China’

07:29 Chinese consumers are starting to get used to foreign brands in China. However, they see the brands (e.g. Burberry) differently to Western consumers, as they don’t have the attachment to brand legacy.

08:58 The QR code format and why it hasn’t taken off in the West

12:36 Chinese consumers had to deal with a lot more changes, a lot faster, compared to Western consumers

15:09 Why WeChat has become so popular with Chinese consumers: An introduction to the Guanxi culture

20:15 Independence culture vs collective culture: the difference between Chinese and Western consumer culture

22:18 The evolution of true social commerce In China and how it’s driven by the consumers and not the platforms

26:28 Why Chinese consumers never had brand.com websites and moved straight on to true social commerce

31:14 Consumerism and mobile e-commerce is bridging the gap between the rich and the poor and the rural and the urban in China

32:12 Brands launching in China need to focus on lower-tier cities, as that’s where the growth is

36:15 Marketing is downstream from culture: brands need to understand Chinese culture to understand the consumers

39:50 Young Chinese consumers only know China as a superpower

42:00 Being a foreign brand is not a USP anymore as domestic brands are becoming more and more popular

43:32 Chinese consumers aren’t ‘cash cows’ anymore

If you like this episode, hit subscribe for more!
You can watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_c44aVaAuQQ