Thoughtful China Podcast

Social media is a great platform to engage Chinese consumers, but all too often, advertisers lack a coherent, ambitious plan to use digital channels and confuse digital strategy with social media activation, says JWT’s Asia CEO Tom Doctoroff. In this week’s episode of “Thoughtful China,” the author of Twitter Is Not a Strategy offers advice about how to align brand positioning and message clarity with technology-fueled consumer empowerment.

Smart retailers and marketers should incorporate technology in China’s booming retail environment to learn more about consumers and their in-store behavior as well as create opportunities to make in-store shopping the social experience customers want, especially for luxury brands. Find out how to socialize your store this week on “Thoughtful China.”

Smart advertisers in China realize social media should be a key part of the marketing campaigns, but many still make rookie mistakes. This week on “Thoughtful China,” Simon Young at syENGAGE shares five key mistakes he’s seen in China, such as omitting a call to action or not offering motivation to act, and creating social media campaigns in a vacuum that fails to involve their other marketing activities.

This week on “Thoughtful China”, our experts Clement Tsang, Clement Huang, Jun Yuan, David Chen, Lawrence Wan and Martin Zhang help you understand how China compares to the U.S. in terms of capabilities and skill set and how social commerce is turning China into a global pioneer for programmatic buying.

This week on “Thoughtful China,” Trevor Lai interviews American jewelry designer Loree Rodkin, and Ricardo Ferrer, CEO of Asian Horizon China, who is helping Ms. Rodkin and other niche luxury brands enter the Chinese market, largely through e-commerce. Hear from this famous designer about her goals in China and how she and Mr. Ferrer are overcoming the trust issue that luxury shoppers have when shopping online in China for high-value products like fine jewelry.

China’s senior citizens are largely ignored by mainstream marketing and communications efforts, a major mistake say experts Tom Doctoroff, Matthieu David, Kevin Gentle, Kitty Lun and Kunal Sinha this week on “Thoughtful China.” Not only do they represent real spending power in their own right, they can wield enormous influence on big-ticket purchases by their children and grandchildren on things like property, cars, travel and education.

Is your agency model outdated? This week on “Thoughtful China,” JWT’s Eugene Chew talks with Omnicom’s Jason Kuperman about how media agency groups should be reinvent their agencies to deliver better solutions, particularly as media strategies increasingly need to focus on digital and social media and e-commerce.

China has 320 million working mothers and they are a driving force of domestic consumption. This week on “Thoughtful China,” our experts Kitty Lun, Vijayanand Sinha, Linda Kovarik, Sherry Poon, Li Yuhong and Jacob Johansen help you understand the best strategies to market to Chinese mothers and explain why the “tiger mom” stereotype in the West no longer holds true within China today.

This week on “Thoughtful China,” host Clement Tsang interviews Viveca Chan, Chairman & CEO of WE Marketing Group, about how to make e-commerce social, why retailers and brand owners need an active relationship with their customers and why brands need more than a branded storefront on Alibaba’s Tmall to succeed in China’s e-commerce market.

This week on “Thoughtful China,” host Clement Tsang interviews Winder Chen, co-founder and CEO of Kuaizi Technology, about trends in programmatic buying in China and how to bring creativity into an increasingly automated ad-buying process led by the power of big data. He also shares predictions about P&G’s plans for programmatic buying in China.

Social media is the backbone of consumer engagement in China, but the platforms and tools differ dramatically from those in the West. Today, some media experts argue Chinese platforms are better than their western counterparts. This week on “Thoughtful China,” Vincent Digonnet, Razorfish’s Executive Chairman, Asia-Pacific tells guest host Clement Tsang why China is 10 years ahead of the West at social commerce.

Small and medium size enterprises are coming to China in search of enormous opportunities in this fast-moving market, but new arrivals face the risk of failure for failing to do proper homework, abide by local laws, and understand the local market and its customers. This week on “Thoughtful China,” a special episode produced with the American Chamber of Commerce’s Small & Medium Size Enterprise Center in Shanghai, experts share insights about how SMEs can enter the Chinese market successfully.

China has grown into a global and political power. Now it’s eager to connect with the world through the arts and culture. This week on “Thoughtful China,” guest host Harry Hui speaks with a leader in the drive to build bridges and drive interaction between China and the West on a cultural level, Lady Linda Davies.

Consumer marketers increasingly communicate with customers through direct marketing. With the rise of smart phones, tablets and social media, it’s not only possible to engage consumers on a one-to-one basis now, it’s imperative that they try to reach niche consumer groups with targeted messages—something B2B companies have excelled at for years. Find out how B2B companies use direct marketing in China, and what B2C companies could learn from them.

Why are brand owners failing to innovate through digital media? Find out this week on “Thoughtful China” from Labbrand’s Kevin Gentle and Carat China’s Stella Jamie Lui, who share insights with host Kitty Bu about how to make digital media a driver of innovation.