Some additional thoughts on foreign market entries … we’ve discovered that whatever operations a US-headquartered company establishes in a BEM such as, for example, South Africa (where we’ve assisted in the development of two feature films) should be supported with training programs that not only provide career-building incentives for the workers, but also curry favor with the government in helping to educate and elevate the skills and marketability of the labor force however appropriately.

Further, it’s critical in most cases to set up joint ventures with in-country partners — for example, tightly integrated manufacturing operations (assuming a “product” orientation here) — even if only to a minor degree; the knowledge share alone can be a real boon, irrespective of actual profits. Also, engaging in-market distribution channel partners to move those products to consumers through established systems and storefronts is critical, and has proven a favorable path with a lot of companies using white- or private-label strategies. Which may sound obvious, but it’s easier said that done given a variety of factors, not the least of which are language barriers and cultural differences.

Posted by: Colin Mangham

When assessing global marketing strategies, as we did a couple of years ago with a mobile media company soft launch in Vietnam to be followed by rollouts in China and India, it’s useful to segment markets according to stages of economic development before digging in to assess real opportunities and challenges. This is particularly the case when endeavoring to leverage marketing efforts, brand positioning and operational practices proven successful in a company’s existing markets when expanding into new markets.

The World Bank provides some useful segmentation categories, with gross national product (GNP) providing a basis. The four key categories include Big Emerging Markets (BEMs), Least-Developed Countries (LDCs), Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs) and The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) comprised of mature economies.

According to the United Nations, there are 50 countries in the low-income ranks that are considered “least developed” in terms of market potential. A key contrasting characteristic of these markets, particularly the case in China, is that market growth is largely driven by cheap but highly motivated labor forces serving international markets through trade/export activities. China is also categorized as a “Big Emerging Market” (as are India and Brazil), and what quite obviously makes these countries increasingly powerful are their large populations, which provide not only the opportunity to harness cheap labor in the manufacturing sectors, but also reach large numbers of consumers … a billion-plus in China alone. As if you haven’t already heard that a hundred times or more this year alone, eh?

Posted by: Colin Mangham

According to today’s LA Times (article here) and a couple weeks ago in the People’s Daily (article here), Barbie’s a debutante once more, this time for the gala opening of Mattel’s megastore on high street Huaihai Road in Shanghai.

Moms and daughters can now indulge in chit-chatting mani-pedi’s either side of shopping for their arguably collectible likeness of the forever young 50 year-old. To celebrate her birthday and new Mainland digs Barbie has gone under the knife for some enhancements — though not in a paparazzi-hounded 90210 clinic, but the hinterland factories of Guangdong province. Her latest clone features “bigger eyes, a rounder face and a softer complexion.”

There’s also an emerging stir about her body adornments(s), as she’s accessorized with a variety of stick-on tattoos, presumably lifting a page from the stylebooks of Angelina and, more conservatively, The Lohan (what’s “La Bella Vita” in Mandarin, anyone?). Will be interesting to see how that plays out in a culture that has traditionally associated tats with punks and criminals, not doe-eyed fashionistas. Still, with China churning trends at a breakneck clip these days Miami ink could very well be the Next Big Thing a few hours from now.

My main curiosity is if perennial Chinese faves Mickey and Winnie (and Tigger, too) will entertain the diva as their new BFF, or instead hawk bricked iPhone snapshots of her in compromising situations to TMZ and Gawker. Let the post-Beijing games begin….

Posted by: Colin Mangham 

There’s a saying I heard while traveling recently (and I’ll refrain here from citing to whom it referred) that “the only thing with four legs [they] won’t eat is a table.” In contrast there are, with few exceptions, a lot of animals that Americans in particular simply won’t eat; for starters, our beloved Lassies and Fidos, Garfields and Felixes.

It’s not an urban myth, however, that dogs are a delicacy served on special occasions in parts of China. And according to Petspourri.com, it’s not just the neighborhood strays hitting the home plate. Big breeds like Saint Bernards, Great Danes, Newfoundlands and Tibetan Mastiffs are being imported for conspicuous consumption. To each his/her own … just not in my backyard BBQ.

But we should also remember we’re talking about over a billion people and a menu item that’s far, far from commonplace. In fact, the killing of cats or dogs for food has been illegal in Hong Kong for nearly 60 years. And in all fairness, let’s also consider the things that many Americans eat that are considered just plain disgusting in China. These include deer and cow testicles (yum), sheep brains (double yum), fish eggs, sausages, goose liver and even cheese (wait, really?), sour cream, sauerkraut and salty bean dishes (all according to maxent.org).

Not that I’ve ever knowingly eaten a Rocky Mountain Oyster. Or dog or cat, for that matter. I mean, this is a pretty old joke but still rings true … can we really know for sure what’s been ground and pressed into that All-American hot dog?

Posted by: Colin Mangham

With 10-foot fences and dutifully stoic sentries stationed around the perimeter, this is about as close as I can get to the Bird’s Nest and next door Water Cube without major league press credentials. But it’s nonetheless very impressive, even awesome in the true (not followed by “dude”) sense of the word … I was actually a little surprised at how captivating and dynamic the structure is. And what a footprint, the thing’s massive. But has anyone else noticed that it’s stylistically reminiscent of an Eddie Van Halen guitar?!

An article in the LA Times today confirmed an observation I had while in Tokyo last month: Japanese are increasingly keen on the small screen (mobile phone) and the big screen (TV) but decreasingly into the conventional PC.  “In Japan,’ the article in the Times said, “kids now grow up using mobile phones, not PCs. The future of PCs isn’t bright.”

However … within minutes of my arrival at the hotel I gave up and packed away my mobile; Japan is on the UMTS 2100mhz band and my GSM iPhone wouldn’t work (neither did my Treo). But I figured, hey, this place is off-the-hook gaga over tech, I’ll just lug my laptop and hitch onto some free wi-fi. Only, there’s very little wi-fi to be found. Turns out, yes, they’re mostly using mobile phones for web searches, and you don’t find a bunch of people hunched over laptops at a coffee shop (though you will find plenty of Starbucks).

So there I was, half a world away with no phone, no email, no web browsing, no instant messaging. Sadly, I had to resort to communicating face-to-face with real live people … what’s this world coming to?

Posted by: Colin Mangham

Yesterday’s Japan Times featured a lengthy profile of former restaurant manager Einosuke Sumitani, who opened Tokyo’s Kidzania (a franchise of the original in Monterrey, Mexico) in October of last year. If you’re not familiar with this “career theme park” — and I admit I wasn’t — it’s worth checking out at KidZania.jp [English text version].

The gist? Remember when you wanted to be a fireman? Or an astronaut? Or a trapeze artist with Barnum-san & Bailey-san? Well, here’s a whole Westworld-inspired scene where the currency is in Kidzos, everything but the giftshop prices is scaled to two-thirds actual size, and children of all ages actually pay their parents’ hard-earned Yen to suit up in their favorite grownup roles.

There are 50 company-sponsored pavilions, and over 70 different roles to, um, play. Notably, parents aren’t allowed inside, they have to watch from the perimeter windows. At first blush it sounded a bit like Carly Fiorina had come out of retirement to run the Wonka Factory, or more accurately a low-cal version of Kid Nation (but thankfully not the island of Battle Royale). It actually looks like it could be fun and educational, as they say. I’ll of course let you be the judge:

Service Station Attendants
Beauticians
Coca-Cola Bottlers
Pizza Tossers
Burgermeisters
Way-Off-Broadway Dancers

Posted by: Colin Mangham

It’s Halloween night in Tokyo and, having been here only once before, I figured my best bet for an unguided tour of the freaks that come out at night is to visit Akihabara Electric Town. The area is hailed as one of the world’s biggest shopping centers for all kinds of gadgetry, PCs, videogames, and electronic parts ranging from thimble spools of copper wire to full-on motherboards. And then there’s all the Anime, Manga and other otaku delights … those are the real draw, especially if you’re a Westerner like me jacked up on green tea to power through the jet lag and looking for a good reason to rubberneck and maybe snap an interesting jpeg to email “Konichiwa, Mom.”

Otaku can be interpreted as the Japanese equivalent to the All-American geek, obsessed with technology and nerdy humor, but in some cases with a pronounced dark side or otherwise fetishy underbelly. William Gibson, who many know to be the father of cyberpunk, or at least the first to sell the concept in mass paperback quantities with his Neuromancer, volleyed the term otaku Stateside in 1996 in the novel Idoru, and pegged an otaku as a ‘pathological-techno-fetishist-with-social-deficit’.

But in general it refers to an obsessive fan of anything, just more notably those who feast on Manga (Japanese comic books) and Anime, short for animation (if you didn’t know or guess), and often laser-focus their obsession on a particular title or zone like Gundam, or Transformers, or Miyazaki films, and even re-treads of such Holy Grails as our beloved Star Wars. Plus, there’s all the quote-unquote action figures and other anthropomorphic collectibles. This blog is at worst PG-13, so I won’t go into the objects of sexual obsession that are also quite prominent in the culture. (Therein lies the rub.) I will, however, admit mild disappointment that I didn’t see much of anything that could be categorized as startling. In fact, the most interesting obsession I found in Tokyo was the ubiquitous high-tech toilet.

Seriously, forget for the moment that having your toilet, public or otherwise, double as a biday isn’t exactly everyone’s bag, but why don’t we have at least some of these 21st Century features in the States? I mean, you open the stall door in a public bathroom and the lid automatically rises for you? And the seat is pre-heated to tropical levels? OK, sorry, yes, PG-13 here. Back to Akiba. Though the MPAA would likely cordon off some of the area’s shops with “no one 17 and under admitted,” those joints are really a very small minority, and typically back alley. It’s mostly good clean fun, less NC-17 and more NCC-1701 for all you Trekkie otakus out there (you know who you are). Just don’t try having Scotty beam you up from a Tokyo Toilet.

Posted by: Colin Mangham

Far from the posh of the Singapore Suites, and pretty much at the back of the bus by comparison, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines is doing well by being cheap. According to this morning’s edition of The Standard, Oasis is celebrating its first birthday, having flown approximately 350,000 passengers this past year on its two routes (Hong Kong-London, Hong Kong-Vancouver). As “the world’s first long-haul budget operator,” the carrier has been successful to the point of forcing stalwarts such as Cathay Pacific and British Airways to slash prices on competitive routes.

But the more intriguing story is in the company living out its mission, which, according to one of its founders, Raymond Lee, is to not only “set up a successful airline, but to harness it as a force for social good.” Examples of their walking the talk include offering heavily discounted fares for teachers and the elderly. The company reportedly measures its IRR right alongside its “mission rate of return,” or the good it does for society by facilitating the exchange of cultures. Lee, who is a pastor in a local church, is also said to quote “examples of the kindness they have experienced from passengers” in his sermons. Talk about flying the friendly skies….

Posted by: Colin Mangham

But according to Singapore Airlines it better not be love; or at least not the making of it. There’s been a lot of well-earned hoopla about the Airbus A380 superjumbo and its inaugural commercial flight Thursday from Singapore to Sydney. Much of the media’s attention has been on the First Class (or as Virgin Atlantic will call it, Upper Class) suites, including two of 12 that feature a double bed.

If you’re thinking Mile High Club (and you’re not a Sox fan dancing in Denver’s LoDo), think again. “If couples used our double beds to engage in inappropriate activity, we would politely ask them to desist,” Singapore Airlines company spokesman Stephen Forshaw told the Times of London. “There are things that are acceptable on an aircraft and things that aren’t, and the rules for behavior in our double beds are the same ones that apply throughout the aircraft.” So with those bottomless flutes of champagne, wheels of oysters on the half-shell, and your snuggly-wuggly or other objet du desir within arm’s or leg’s reach in what are still tight quarters, regardless of how suite they are, it’s a no-fly zone.

Nevertheless, it’s quite a bird. I’ve seen CNN, and even a blip in the news zipper on Al Jazeera Asia, featuring it as breaking news today, and the half-page ad in The South China Morning Post boasts a profile of a demographically distinguished gentleman kicked back in a what has to be a Barcalounger on one end of the cabin. The airline, which holds the honor of being the first to fly the A380, calls it a “class beyond first.” Just remember to remain classy (or really, really quiet).

Posted by: Colin Mangham