China Archives - Page 10 of 11

Shanghai, China – Midea, the global appliance manufacturer headquartered in China, has announced its upcoming state-of-the-art virtual factory – the Midea Thailand Smart Factory – and it has partnered with creative technology company MediaMonks to create an innovative immersive experience for Midea’s customers.

MediaMonks was named partner during this year’s Midea RAC (Residential Air Conditioning) Online Canton Fair, with the aim to deliver richer, and more interactive experiences to consumers, and to give greater clarity and understanding on its brand, vision, and products. The smart factory is only one of the two main projects that the two are working on, with the other being the Midea Vision or what is also called the M-Vision project, a digital interactive platform. Both aim to demonstrate Midea’s strong vision for the future.

On the smart factory in Thailand, MediaMonks utilized a WebGL experience to provide customers with all aspects of its construction. To give them a comprehensive view of the innovative construction process, MediaMonks came up with the idea to create a virtual tour to this ‘future factory’. Customers are able to freely explore the facets of the factory online and get a deep understanding of its key features and highlights.

According to Technical Director for MediaMonks Shanghai Ron Lee, the virtual factory environment was achieved with the combination of aerial and ground photography footage built upon a 3D modelling technique called photogrammetry.

“On the fly through experience, we enabled our digital visitors to navigate across a 3D modeled factory represented in the clean, modern aesthetic of minimalism,” Lee said.

Lee further explains that visitors can now explore interactive hotspots. Alongside the archived time lapse videos, customers can choose to watch a live camera feed for a real-time look at the factory’s construction, and finally, a dedicated news tab keeps customers up to date with relevant information.

Ramzi Chaabane, also a head of strategy for the Shanghai team, said, “The factory of the future is characterized by the integration of digital technologies into manufacturing processes. The ‘smart factory’ – or Factory 4.0 – aims to achieve further competitiveness and will rely on the convergence between the industrial and digital worlds.”

“This is hinged on existing tools and creativity – sensors, automation, big data, IOT, cloud computing – being propelled, and the arrival of new activities in energy, green products, robotics, molecular biology, genetics adding value and innovation to marketing. This thinking will empower Midea and its partners and help future-proof and create lasting business impact,” Chaabane adds.

Meanwhile, the Midea Vision, which is under the air conditioning line of Midea, is a digital interactive platform, which will be the integrated home to all the latest RAC and Light Commercial Air-Conditioner (LCAC) products, as well as core technologies, branding, manufacturing and company information. It will also be including the RAC Canton Fair virtual center, enabling Midea RAC to connect all global business customers closely by utilizing a cutting-edge AR product launch event, interactive live streaming and immersive product experiences.

“Midea is a category leader when it comes to R&D, manufacturing, and shipping to name a few. The ambition is to build a solution to solve ongoing business challenges and pave the path for the future. The core of what we try to deliver is to allow users to have more discovery moments and information touchpoints to create a seamless experience,” said January Zhang, head of marketing department at Midea RAC OSC.

As part of the efforts with Midea Vision, MediaMonks will also be building Mia – Midea’s holistic AI solution – which will help solve a host of business challenges. In the near future, Mia is targeted to be a tech that helps achieve a variety of things not seen before, such as knowing customer insights and applying them on behalf of every user to improve R&D, and engaging directly with customers and managing manufacturing, shipments, logistics and production lines to improve the sales experience.

Midea Vision is already live and Mia 1.0 has already been launched this month. Meanwhile, the Thailand Smart Factory is slated to open in October 2021.

Shanghai, China – UM, the media agency arm of media marketing network Mediabrands, has appointed Lawrence Wan, former managing director, team intel, and head of integrated solutions and growth at Dentsu International China, to be its new chief executive officer (CEO) for China.

The new appointment will see Wan leading the China team to drive digital transformation and growth, and to provide clients with best-in-class offerings across data, strategy and analytics, performance, and planning, as well as to help them navigate the evolving media ecosystem, and future-proof their business. Starting April 2021, Wan will report directly to Chris Chen, the CEO of Mediabrands China, and Kasper Aakerlund, the regional president of UM APAC.

Wan brings with him 20 years of experience in marketing and digital media across the greater China region, working with companies such as dentsu, media investment company GroupM, and media network Omnicom Media Group. He specializes in productizing, operationalizing, and evangelizing, as well as integrating new digital media innovations into global brands’ marketing strategies. He has been exploring digital transformation from the internet boom to ad tech to data-driven AI.

Commenting on the new appointment, Aakerlund said, “I am very excited to welcome Lawrence to UM China. Lawrence has the qualities that matter to our clients – entrepreneurial spirit, focus on growth, and passion for driving digital transformation. I have no doubt that Lawrence will make great strides for UM China and I look forward to working with him to future-proof our clients’ business.”

Meanwhile, Chen said that as digital transforms the business landscape and the pandemic accelerates that transformation, UM believes the future is now, and embracing change is the only way to drive growth.

“As a digital transformation pioneer with a growth mindset, I believe Lawrence is a great fit with UM’s Futureproof philosophy and he is the ‘future’ talent we are looking for to lead the UM China business to new heights,” added Chen.

Shanghai, China – Full-service media agency Essence China has been appointed by Global footwear brand Crocs in China to be its media partner to handle the brand’s integrated media business.

Essence will be managing the brand’s strategy, media planning, media activation, and content innovation for Crocs’ digital and offline brand and performance marketing campaigns.

In China, Crocs products are available on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD.com, and in retail stores across the nation.

Senior Marketing Director of Crocs in China, Hao Xu, commented that the brand is committed to making the world “a happier place” through continued innovation and creativity. Hao Xu further shared that they were looking for an agency partner to accelerate their efforts in a year of rebranding, deepening their relationship with consumers in the e-commerce space, and capturing new opportunities in the market.

“With Essence’s integrated media offering, and expertise in data-driven brand and performance marketing, we look forward to working closely with the team to drive Crocs’ brand transformation and business growth in China,” said Hao Xu.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Wei, managing director of Essence China, said that Crocs and Essence share a “tireless pursuit” of innovation, creativity, and improvement with a people-first approach.

“With a mission to make brands more valuable to the world, Essence’s belief is that when brands like Crocs put people first, they have tremendous potential to make the world a better place – creating real value for consumers while fueling organizational culture and success. We are delighted to collaborate with Crocs to deliver valuable advertising that reinforces its vision of ‘everyone comfortable in their own shoes’ and propel its growth across China,” added Wei.

Shanghai, China – Advertising network Grey Group in China has appointed former Proximity China CEO Sharlene Wu as its new CEO, in an aim to build better connections with Chinese Grey clients.

The new CEO will work with the Global COO & President for International of Grey Group Nirvik Singh and will lead the Grey Advertising. She will also be responsible for the integration of Grey DPI, Grey Star Echo, and Grey Easycom.

Leveraging on her experience in the Chinese market, Wu will be responsible for driving the agency’s overall strategic vision and growth plan, furthering business transformation, and providing oversight across key clients and businesses. With Grey, she will continue to enhance and deliver Grey’s marketing services & integrated solutions to clients.

Sharlene Wu is an accomplished advertising veteran. Her career began in 2000 with WPP’s JWT Wings Taiwan and then Ogilvy. Following a short stint with JWT Shanghai in 2006, she then joined as Business Director of BBDO Shanghai in 2007, which marked the beginning of her career with Omnicom Group as Proximity Shanghai’s general manager.

She instantly progressed through the ranks and was named Managing Director (MD) for both BBDO and Proximity Shanghai in 2015, creating specialty teams across Digital Planning, Data Analytics, Social Media, and Digital Production while managing client accounts such as Adidas, Visa, Master Kong, Tencent, and Alibaba; and in May 2020, Wu was finally named CEO following the merger of Proximity and RAPP in China.

Grey Group’s Global COO & President for International Nirvik Singh commented that Wu is a dynamic, results-oriented leader who has extensive knowledge of our industry.

“Her appointment is a clear signal of our ambition to aggressively pursue growth and digital transformation in China. She is a seasoned professional with experience across many industries and categories and I am certain, along with our existing China Leadership team, will create a powerhouse offering for our clients,” said Singh.

Meanwhile, Wu expressed excitement in leading a “strategic and digital-focused” Grey Group in China, believing that she and the agency share the same belief that creativity can solve business problems.

“We have a great team in place to deliver innovative and creative work that will drive the growth of our clients’ brands and businesses,” said Wu.

Guangzhou, China – Chinese variety store MINISO has unveiled its new business initiatives this year, by focusing on including more sub-brands to its growing retail platform.

Dubbed the ‘X Strategy’, MINISO aims at diversifying its business and becoming a world-leading new retail platform capable of incubating more sub-brands.

It should be recalled that in December last year, MINISO launched its sub-brand ‘TOPTOY’, a toy store for children and young adults, opening nine stores in five Chinese cities over the last 6 weeks.

Furthermore, TOPTOY’s launch also paved the way for MINISO’s new strategic product focus this year, centered on the category of ‘Art Toy’.

A branch of TOPTOY inside a MINISO retail chain.

In addition to their new business alignment, MINISO also aims to boost its online presence on top of its proven success in brick-and-mortar channels. This comes also with the announcement of unmanned, self-service stores in China, with products also soon available on all online channels including its own e-commerce, WeChat mini-programs and flagship stores on major e-commerce platforms. Similarly, MINISO will further strengthen its e-commerce channels in key overseas markets.

“COVID-19 is a catalyst that has accelerated our digital transformation and embrace of online channels. We will keep broadening our online sales channels,” said Robin Liu, chief marketing officer at MINISO.

MINISO aims to expand in its domestic market, specifically in tier cities and select rural areas, as well as internationally, in countries with populations of at least 50 million – India, Indonesia, the U.S., Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, and Spain.

Guangzhou, China – Nanfang Media Group and Singapore Press Holdings’ Chinese Media Group (CMG) jointly launched a webpage named ‘Explore GBA’ on zaobao.com, a news website in Southeast Asia.

The webpage aims to bring together the enterprises and individuals that contributed to connections between Singapore and China’s megalopolis Greater Bay Area (GBA). It will focus on individual stories that showcase the latest and diverse possibilities for partnership between GBA and Southeast Asian countries.

In general, the two partnering organizations, being one of the biggest media groups in both Guangdong and Singapore, will make use of their resources on the platform to bring insights into China’s highly-anticipated economic plan, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA, and provide information on the Area’s advantageous policies, industrial and economic development, culture and people’s livelihood.

‘Explore GBA’ is a step forward for the partnership between Nanfang Media Group and CMG. Since 2018, the two media groups have been working to facilitate communication and information exchanges between Singapore and Guangdong, one of the most rapidly-developing provinces in China.

In line with the new platform, an online seminar on the topic of digital economy is scheduled for early 2021, where more details are to be shared on ‘Explore GBA’ according to a press release.

Hangzhou, China – This year’s 11:11 Global Shopping Festival by commerce giant Alibaba has reeled in USD 74.1B in gross merchandise value (GMV), marking a 26% increase in comparison to last year’s event.

The shopping festival, lasting through eleven (11) days from November 1 to 11 across Alibaba and its affiliates like AliExpress and Lazada, has seen 470 brand participations. These brands, in total, amassed USD 15.1M in GMV.

Other notable statistics include:

250,000 brands in total participated in 11.11 this year, of which 31,000 are overseas brands.
2,600 overseas brands participated in 11.11 for the first time.
AI customer chatbot handled over 2.1 billion queries during the 11-day period

The United States was the top country selling to China in terms of GMV value. Other key nations include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the UK.

“Over the past 12 years, innovation has been at the heart of 11.11 and along the way it became a global consumer festival. 11.11 is defined by our consumers, merchants and our partners across the ecosystem, and also a beneficiary of all the support from society. “We will continue to focus on developing our digital infrastructure in the service of empowering merchants of all sizes to find a path to success in the digital economy,” said Jiang Fan, President of Taobao and Tmall.

London – The ongoing global pandemic has created varied consumer impacts and reactions within the consumer base within the Chinese and Japanese markets, recent statistics from consulting firm Ernst & Young show.

In their latest “EY Future Consumer Index,” the report showed contrasting behaviors on pandemic impact on consumer behavior and everyday life. Chinese consumers showed more optimism that the pandemic fear will fade off, as 46% of the respondents say the fear will only last about one to six months. On the other hand, Japanese consumers were less optimistic, with 66% of the respondents saying that the fear will last for about a year or more.

With a significant increase in consumers shifting to online shopping, Chinese consumers are very likely to show interest in online shopping, with appliances and technology-related items being the top shopping choice.

On the other hand, Japanese consumers’ behavior tends to lean more to a “normalization” perspective, which accounted for the top consumer trend in the country.

Andrew Cosgrove, EY global consumer knowledge leader, notes that such mixed consumer behavior means that the future of shopping means transitioning to online channels.

“This points to the risk of showrooming, with consumers going to stores to touch and feel the product for the experience but then making purchases online where products might be cheaper. Retailers and consumer product companies will need to ensure they have both seamless omnichannel experience and the stock and price point needed to make the sale,” Cosgrove stated.

Limassol, Cyprus – To address the growing demand for Chinese market-targeted advertising, digital performance agency Mobiblade launches an automated ad service solution for advertisers seeking to launch ad campaigns to Chinese consumers.

The said service, which is available at the Mobiblade Portal, caters to clients by providing services such as social planning, social and search planning, or programmatic advertising. These are then targeted to Chinese websites or applications. After inputting required information such as company details and Chinese network documents, clients may then pay online and links to the availed portal services will appear on the client’s user portal. Additional services may be also purchased on top of the availed services.

The company, with full digital services offered to global clients, offers ad campaigns for various industries, ranging from finance to travel. Ad services include in-app ads, social media ads, and remarketing services.

Hong Kong – iClick Interactive Asia Group (iClick), an independent online marketing and enterprise data solutions provider in China, has launched its flagship marketing analysis tool iNsights, which gives brands in-depth and actionable consumer behavior insights to drive more effective marketing campaigns.

In the past months, iClick announced upgrades to iAudience and iActivate, its market intelligence and ad campaign management platforms. With the new tool launch, the iSuite solution of the company now completes the full campaign cycle including its audience targeting solution iAccess.

iNsights is a one-stop tracking solution that tracks and analyzes cross-channel campaigns covering China and overseas markets, eliminating the use of multiple marketing tracking systems.

Utilizing full-data analytics to produce reliable and accurate insights, iNsights provides for brands a better understanding of marketing-driven traffic as well as on-site audiences’ behaviors to facilitate more effective re-targeting. The tool is also said to carry a user-friendly dashboard that renders complicated data into visualized interactive graphics.

“iNsights effectively addresses the difficulties presented to marketers by the shallow insights provided by raw data and selective sampling data analysis, as well as the inconvenience and incomparability of multiple tracking systems for different regions,” said Frankie Ho, president of international business at iClick.

“Our recent update of iAudience and the launch of iActivate and iNsights are part of iClick’s commitment to continually build up and develop the best full-stack solutions for global marketers. iClick has always devoted itself to helping brands gain a better and deeper understanding of markets in real-time and to creating the best marketing strategies driven by data and advanced algorithms,” added Ho.