Benetton’s Kissing Presidents: Make Love Not War

by Ray Ally on November 30, 2011

PHOTOS: BENETTON

Public displays of affection like kissing or even holding hands between the sexes use to be taboo in China. This gradually relaxed with the opening up of China in the late eighties, though attitudes to homosexuality remain in the closet. The latest ads from Benetton would definitely be frowned upon, as they show China’s President Hu Jintao kissing America’s President Obama.

While partnerships between the US and China has been improving, I wouldn’t say they were yet at the hugging stage of the relationship. However these controversial ads wont be published in China, as the government still exercises a strong control of the advertising and media industry.

Not that this bothers Benetton, who have never been shy from producing controversial advertising using graphic photography to shock. The company argues that it’s campaigns tackle serious issues head on. In the hope of changing people’s prejudices toward subjects of sex, religion, race, and war.

This latest campaign called “Unhate” was created to confront the issues of hate in the world between different peoples, cultures and religions. While trying to promote more peace and understanding between across the world. The ads feature world and political leaders with opposing views kissing each other. Benetton’s Deputy Chairman Alessandro Benetton explains:

“While global love is still a utopia, albeit a worthy one, the invitation ‘not to hate’, to combat the ‘culture of hatred’, is an ambitious but realistic objective…”

Fostering global peace and love is an overly ambitious yet noble cause for a fashion brand to take up. It shares some ideals of the “Make Love Not Love” campaigns of the 1960s, but with more modern edge. However these ads have again created more bad feeling among certain sectors of the public. But sometimes you need to shock in order to make your point, otherwise you message gets lost in the over saturated world of advertising.

On many occasions Benetton ads have been banned, most famously the image of the new born baby in the mid 90s. But all this has done is create more publicly and notoriety for the brand. Raymond Rubicam, the father of modern advertising believed that  “The only purpose of advertising is to sell. It has no other justification worth mentioning”.

I am not sure if these ads will have any impact on the sales in store. But they will connect with their target audience of urban and affluent twentysomethings, who think of themselves as independent and free spirited. It has also put Benetton’s brand back on the fashion map even though the ads may be banned in traditional media.

However, this is a campaign that will gain more impact and attention through viral means, especially among China’s 200 million internet youth. Advertising on its own can never bring about world peace but it can be a powerful medium to communicate the message. And with Benetton’s controversial approach it highlights the issue and gets people talking, which is always better than a war.

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No Medals For London’s Olympic Posters

by Ray Ally on November 24, 2011

The official posters for the London 2012 Olympics were unveiled earlier this month in London. Despite being created by some of Britain’s best artists, the response from the public and the press has been largely negative. With comments ranging from “absolute rubbish” to “my two year old baby could of done better”.

Art has always been subjective and even controversial. Dividing people between those who prefer a classical realistic style with others who favour a modern abstract approach to art. The British public may not be the best judge of art, but they have been very vocal in their dislike of the style of these posters.

The big issue for me is not the style, but the content of the posters, which seemed to have missed an important part of the brief. Firstly; to embody “the values of the Olympic Games” and secondly; and most importantly, to “celebrate the Games coming to London”.

This is the main reason why I think the posters don’t work. So we have ended up with a generic set of images than fail to communicate these two key themes. After all, the world is coming to London for the games and we have missed an opportunity to promote the energy, culture and colour of the city, which is a huge part of the Olympic event.

Perhaps I am overly London centric being a Londoner myself. But I witnessed the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and I know how important the art and culture of the city was to the spirit of the games. The posters for the Beijing Olympics combined the city’s ancient heritage and culture with a modern approach to art and architecture. Although the style was conservative, at least there was a strong idea, which captured the flavour of the city and the games.

The posters for the London Games were created by some of the UK’s leading artists including Bridget Riley, Howard Hodgkin, and Rachel Whiteread. All of whom are award winning and celebrated within the art community for their unique and if at times controversial work.

Sadly I don’t think any of them are memorable, inspiring and fully answer the brief they were set. Although if I had to choose one, it would be Whiteread’s, “LOndOn 2O12” because of the Olympic circles and it’s energy and graphic simplicity.

Overall these posters wont be winning any medals, as they are just a bunch of also rans and will soon be forgotten. Which is a shame as we have used some of Britain’s best artists, who are world class – but on this occasion have failed to perform. Lets hope our athletes don’t suffer the same fate, but bring home the medals on the day.

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Reinventing Foreign Brands For China

by Ray Ally on November 15, 2011

China has the most diverse and dynamic brandscape in the world. Fuelled by a growing population of over 1.34 billion and a rising middle class that’s aspires to luxury brands.

Consumers in China are more open to trying new brands especially foreign brands, even those that may seem tired and old in the west. Which is why many faded brands have been able to reinvent themselves in China and reposition themselves in a new light.

Eunice Yoon from CNN wrote China’s Miracle Markets about this issue, which featured a quote from me. It highlighted Buick cars, a brand in the US more associated with Driving Miss Daisy than The Fast And The Furious. However, in China it has repositioned itself as a younger, premium brand based on it’s great heritage.

This is similar to what the former British, MG car brand has done; after it was sold lock, stock and barrel to China’s huge SAIC Motor Corp. It’s been able to reinvent itself and position itself as a young, dynamic and sporty brand based on it’s racing heritage.

By cherry picking the brands best core values, it can forget all the negatives and failures of the brand that British drivers would remember. Most laughably sticking the MG badge on the Austin Metro, which damaged the brands credibility and reputation leading to its eventual bankruptcy.

In China brands like Buick and MG are given a new lease of life and are building a solid reputation among China’s new consumers. Many of who are still looking for the quality, premium design and kudos associated with foreign brands.

Stage one is to reinvent your brand for a new market and new customers, which is comparatively easy to do in China. However stage two, is to try and sell your reinvented new brand back into your home country. And that may be a harder, though not impossible miracle to achieve.

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King Kevin Rocks King Richard III

by Ray Ally on November 13, 2011

Photo: Ray Ally

Beijing receives many royal and foreign dignitaries, but it’s rare to have a Shakespearean King played by one of Hollywood’s royalty. Richard III opened last Friday for a special three night only run at the iconic “Egg” theatre, the National Centre For The Performing Arts. This version is a modern take on one of Shakespeare’s classics directed by Sam Mendes and starring the double Oscar winner Kevin Spacey.

It’s the first time that a Shakespeare play has been staged in the capital by a major Western theatre company. This is part of an initiative to attract world-class theatre to China. However, the government still heavily controls live performances of drama or music. So all scripts and song lyrics need to be approved by the censors before the show can go ahead.

Opening night brought out the full A-list of Chinese movie stars and singers among the predominantly 80% Chinese audience. Shakespeare plays are not easy to follow even for native English speakers. Especially as the complexity and subtlety of Shakespeare’s writing can be hard to catch when spoken at speed.

To help with this language issue, there were electronic subtitles in Chinese on the left and right of the stage. Although my wife said it was sometimes difficult to watch the performance and read the subtitles at the same time. I am not sure how much got lost in translation, but the majority of the audience like myself, was only there to see Kevin Spacey.

The show was visually impressive and Spacey’s performance was mesmerising, dominating the stage in his grotesque form. He played the evil, manipulating Richard with sickly humour. A role which seemed perfect for his character and could have almost have been written directly for him.

The play was three-hours long, but with plenty of rousing acts leading to the crescendo of the final scene. Spacey’s performance was brilliant and well deserved of the standing ovation from the audience. Although the story of Richard III is well known to many, the show still leaves you hanging for the ending.

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Big Trend: Small Luxury Cars In China

by Ray Ally on November 9, 2011

Photos: Ray Ally

One the biggest trends in the auto industry over the last few years has been the introduction of small luxury cars. Audi is the last of the big three German brands to launch it’s own version. It went on sale last month and I saw it at an eye-catching exhibition stand at The Place shopping in Beijng’s CBD.

Mass-market car brands have always made compact cars. Recently this segment has seen increased activity and competition from the luxury brands. All vying to compete for the first time drivers in China, who make up 80% of the market. Mercedes have their A Class and niche Smart Car brand, while BMW has it’s 1 Series and now Audi has the A1.

The Audi A1 follows in the footsteps of the “German sausage” approach to making cars pioneered by BMW. Design a car that can be scaled up or down using the same parts and often similar platforms. So you end up with a series of cars A1, A3, A5, A4, A6, A8, and a design that you can cut to size just like a sausage.

Ten years ago you would have been laughed at for suggesting these brands extend their range and make small cars. Especially as their premium quality and value is defined by their luxury executive class of products. However, times have change and the world is a very different place. Consumers in China and around the world, are more environmentally conscious and want more economic and practical driving solutions.

The small cars like the A1 don’t have all the bells and whistles of it’s bigger brothers. But they do have the build quality, safety and styling of the German brands that consumers in China care about. Consumers get to own a mini version of the car with all the kudos of driving a premium German car brand.

For the car companies they get to have an entry-level price car in China, the world’s number one car market. Hoping to hook young drivers and build a relationship with the brand so they potentially buy up the range as their income and lifestyle improves.

It’s a win-win situation for the consumer and the companies. As long as they keep a consistent level of core brand values and quality across the range, while clearly differentiating the benefits, features and desirability of the higher priced models.

The big black A4 and A6 Audi’s are everywhere in Beijing, as they are always associated with being big business and government cars. Which according to latest Business Week story, is hampering their image amoung wealthy car buyers looking for something less corporate. The Audi A1 is one of the best looking small cars, but time will tell whether it will have a big impact and help Audi project a sexier,  younger image to the market in China.

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Learning Mandarin For Branding

by Ray Ally on June 27, 2011

Photo: Ray Ally

It’s been almost three months since I started my career break from my branding career to learn Mandarin. I thought I would have more time to relax and do all those things I have been putting off like writing more frequently on this blog. However studying Mandarin six hours a day in class, (one-on-one with a teacher) as well as homework has turned into more than a fulltime job.

I have joined the 40 million other people around the world who are learning Mandarin. It is the world’s most spoken language and probably the hardest to learn, especially if you want to read and write it. But I do have an advantage that I live in China and have a Chinese wife. Although it doesn’t make the process any easier, but it does mean you can practice in everyday life.

My first experience of branding in China was over fifteen years ago when I lived in Hong Kong. Since that time I have worked with many of China’s leading brands. However, I have always had to present with my colleagues translating or through the use of an interpreter. Having lived and worked in Beijing for the last four years I became tired and frustrated of this situation. After all there is only so much you can contribute and communicate through this method.

So I decided to take the plunge and invest a year of my life to become fluent in Chinese. My ultimate goal is to be able to present and discuss design and branding in business situations. Though I realise now, that it is a Himalayan Mandarin mountain to climb. Therefore it will take much longer than a year to be able to speak fluent Chinese at a high business level.

However, like any uphill journey you just have to take it one step at a time. And try not to look up to often otherwise you will be discouraged by how far you still have to go. Learning Mandarin is not a straight upward climb. It is made up of many smaller hills and valleys punctuated with plateaus. On a good day, you feel like you have made some progress and on a bad day, like you are walking downhill backwards.

With this in mind I wanted to share with you my top five tips for learning Mandarin. I have accumulated these from my studies and extensive reading and research online. As well as talking to many teachers and other long time language students and Chinese speaking expats. I am sure many readers will have there own, but these are my fundamental ones.

1. Learning Mandarin is a constant journey and not a destination.
I use to hope (and sometimes still do) that one day I will be able to speak fluent Mandarin. However, I realized that you can’t wait for that one day to come along. As it never will, unless you start speaking it today. It doesn’t matter how little you speak. You can start with one word or one sentence but you have to speak it everyday. If you take it one step at a time you’ll make small improvements everyday. But you’ll make big gains over the long term.

2. Tones are important for speaking Chinese.
I hate tones as much as any foreigner learning Mandarin. But you must learn and use them properly, as it’s the key to mastering the language. If the tone is wrong, the word is wrong – it’s as simple as that.

3. Reading and writing Chinese will help your speaking.
At first I resisted all attempts to learn to read and write Chinese. After all I just wanted to be able to speak the language so didn’t see the point. However if your serious about learning the language, being able to read and recognize characters is crucial to how you far you can go. I am still not concern about being able to write hanzi but if I can recognize then I can send sms and type emails using pinyin.

4. Read Chinese out loud
Mandarin is a hard language for westerners to speak because the sounds are unfamiliar and hard to speak. Talking and reading out loud is a great way to practice getting your mouth around the sounds. It is also critical for being able to hear the words and speak the tones so your ear becomes more accustomed to the language.

5. Take every opportunity to speak, speak and speak Chinese
I realised that the key to any language is to use it, so I started taking every opportunity to talk to people. It started with the ayi, then doorman, waiters, shop assistants and taxi drivers. At first I could only say a couple of words, then I progressed to a short sentence. Now I can string a few sentences together and have a basic conversation. However that often falls apart as people then think you are fluent. So they start speaking at normal speed and my comprehension drops to 100% to 20% and my response to zero.

However that is all part of the process of learning any language. The hardest part is being afraid to speak it for fear of sounding stupid or making a mistake. I still have this fear every time I open my mouth to speak Mandarin. But it is something you have to overcome and the more you practice the less afraid you are.

There is a very famous and often quoted Chinese saying that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Well in my case I think it is a journey of a thousand lessons, which should take me a year to complete. Not sure how far I will get, but I will remember to take it one step and a time. Making sure I enjoy the journey and take time to update this blog more regularly along the way.

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Smart’s Small Car Big Idea

9 April 2011

Photos: Ray Ally Take one of the smallest cars you can buy in China and one of the biggest basketball stars in America and put them together. Then you get the new multi-million dollar advertising campaign from Smart cars in China. Basketball and cars may seem an odd combination, but they are two of the [...]

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Shanghai Introduces One-Dog Policy

12 March 2011

Photo: Ray Ally Shanghai is introducing a new one-dog policy in downtown and new urban areas. It comes into effect May 15 and will limit households to only owning one dog. The law is intended to control the growing dog population and make owners more responsible for their pets. Last year in Shanghai there were [...]

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Beijing – The 72nd Most Liveable City In The World

26 February 2011

Photo: Ray Ally China is now the number two economy in the world, behind the USA. Despite the kudos and money this brings, it doesn’t seem to equate to a better quality of life. In a recent survey, Beijing only ranked 72nd in the list of the world’s most liveable cities. In the survey by [...]

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