One of the many highlights of our trip so far has been to visit the firm that designed the Beijing Olympic Logo. Chun Guoning and Zhang Wu are the partners with Xu Shiping and Sun Yongjian as leads in branding and creative direction.
Our group of 29 was too big for their conference room, so we basically dominated their work space. This was very generous of them as they are very busy still producing work for the Olympics. They are in charge of much implementation of their logo and creating special logos for special events on subjects like the environment, volunteering, etc.
Here are some photos.
Beijing Olympic Logo by AICI
AIGA Design Expedition to China
I can't believe that I've been planning this for three years and that it has been occupying a good portion of my life these last few months, and this is the first I have posted about it.
We are leaving in less that two weeks and everything seems to be going smoothly. There are 27 of us from all over the United States and two joining from Brazil. We have a full schedule of visits to design firms, advertising agencies, and design schools in Beijing, Xian, Guangzhou and Hong Kong lined up. We will be visiting at least two designers related to the Beijing Olympics -- Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) where they designed the Olympic medals, and the designer who created the Olympic logo.
Huang Li, editor of Package and Design Magazine (one of two official graphic design magazines in China) is helping to organize this tour. Profiles of most of the participants will be published in his magazine. The profiles will be split between two issues -- May and July 2008.
From past experience, using the Internet from within China is difficult. The Chinese government seems to block many websites, including blogs. In the past, I have not been able to post on this blog from inside China. I'll try again this trip. If I can, I hope to post some of our activities as we go along.
For more information on the trip, see AIGA Center for Cross-Cultural Design website:
xcd.aiga.org
BRITE 08
The BRITE 08 Conference was amazing. The combination of people and case studies on cutting edge branding and the latest in social media were very exciting. Here are just a few highlights.
Bernd Schmitt (prefers to be called Schmitt rather than Bernd) presented his newest book Big Think Strategy published by Harvard Business School Press. This book lays out Schmitt's method for competing in a world where excellent marketing has become the status quo.
Schmitt uses the story of the Trojan Horse in the book. He commissioned this version of the Trojan Horse from a sculpture workshop in Shanghai.
The BRITE Jury Award for Big Thinker was given to Marty Homlish, Global Chief Marketing Officer for SAP. He is responsible for creating the key SAP strategy, "The best run companies run SAP."
Stephen Voltz is the creator of the original Coke and Mentos videos. He has an interesting story. He was an attorney and quit to pursue a dream. He spent 6 months developing the first Coke and Mentos. They posted it on Youtube on a Friday. By Monday they had 40 million hits and got a call from David Letterman. Sales of 2 litre bottles of Diet Coke skyrocketted and sales of Mentos went thru the roof. Stephen, however, has still not made any money on this. He would like to develop a business around viral marketing and performing, but the business model hasn't kicked in yet. Coca-Cola and Mentos companies had very interesting reactions to the videos. Mentos tried to be too close. They called right away, but they didn't know if this guy was a crazy or what. They were not able to cut any deals. The Coke people were in China at the time of the video and the issue was routed to the Coke risk management people. They were very stand-offish. A deal was not made there either.
Every attendee at the BRITE conference received one of these Spotme devices. Each person has a personal profile. The device allows you to interact with the rest of the group. You can see who is near you and how close they are. You can send text messages or just use the info in their profile to know who you want to talk to. There were also group voting activities and speaker feedback activities during the conference. Bänz Ledin is the founder of Spotme. He is just moving from Switzerland to launch Spotme in the U.S. Regine Flimlin is leaving Dialect and has taken a position as director of new business development for Spotme. We are very excited for her.
Brite '08 :: Branding : Innovation : Technology
I will be working on the staff of the Brite '08 conference next week as the photographer. In 2006 I also worked with the Center on Global Brand Leadership team on their Innovative Marketing Conference 2006, the predecessor to Brite. Since it was a conference about innovative marketing and media, the conference invited bloggers to post live from the conference. I uploaded my photos to Flickr several times a day and the images and news of the conference streamed almost real time from the event. We will also be posting live from Brite '08.
See the Brite '08 website
Photos on Flickr from Innovative Marketing Conference 2006
Chinese Cars in Africa - Half Price
Today I read in the Financial Times an entire section called "China-Arfrica Trade 2008." It's about China's dynamic role in economic development in Africa -- far outstripping the World Bank and the West in responsiveness and interest. Of course the Chinese don't seem to care about the atrocities they support with their investment. Darfur is an example. With full recognition of this connection, I want to simply make some observations about trade, taxis, and Chinese automobile brands.
In 2005 I led a panel discussion on branding in China at World Trade Week NYC. One of the big items of discussion was the expectation of the emergence of Chinese automobile brands on the world market. Here they are. Introducing Chery and Great Wall automobiles. I took the above photos of a Chery display at the Guangzhou Airport in August of 2007. It looked beautiful and included leather interior. At the time, I heard that China was selling primarily to Africa with little interest in the United States. I thought it an interesting strategy to concentrate on a market where others are less interested. Africa and developing countries in general are a blind spot in the West.
In an article titled, "Time for the West to practise what it preaches" Senegal president Abdoulaye Wade makes his case for China . He tells how China is responding to Africa's needs while others are unable or unwilling to act. I'll let you read the article if you are interested. I simply want to point out one reference in the article that I find particularly interesting as follows.
President Wade says, "For the price of one European vehicle, a Senagalese can purchase two Chinese cars. The proof is in the parking lot at the presidential palace. Low-cost Chinese Chery and Great Wall models are giving Senegal's middle and working classes access to a new car, a sign of our emerging consumer class. We are even using these affordable Chinese cars in a pilot project to reinsert unemployed women into the workforce by creating a fleet of taxis called Sister Taxis."
Week's Supply of Food
I am posting the following photos and descriptions from an e-mail that apparently has been forwarded and posted widely. I was not, however, able to find the source. When I did a search for this on Google, I found 10 pages of blogs that had posted this, but I would really like to know the full story. Who did the research? How was this set up? Who traveled to help the families track their food intake and then gather and display the food? If anyone knows, please leave a comment.
Thanks Malina for sending this to me. :)
______________
What is eaten in one week
Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Chad: The Aboufakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Germany : The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98
Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Fuse.TV at Penn Station
Experiential Marketing is a topic that I will address in this blog many times. One of the main principles of creating an experience is to respect the viewer. Provide them with something of value, something they will enjoy and want to tell their friends about. This ad by Fuse.TV is worth telling your friends about. I love the way the words go down into the sidewalk. How did they get a permit to do that?
Common Cents Penny Harvest NYC
A harvest of pennies in Rockefeller Center. There is nothing like millions of pennies to make you feel the need to empty your pockets. What a lot of fun to see children throwing change onto the field.
For more information visit the Common Cents website.
Visual treats in London and NYC
While I was in London last week for some meetings, I saw this "rubbish collection vehicle." The City of London seems to be very proactive in using and promoting design in the public space. In addition to the garbage trucks, their newer public buildings are often highly modern and beautiful. It made my day to see this work of art on the streets. It's a lovely way to turn something so ordinary, necessary and potentially unpleasant into something delightful and surprising. Brilliant!
I stopped off in New York on my way home from London. Here's another visual treat from the back side of a diner in Tribeca.
Canadian Government Explores Internet Design and Culture
The Canadian Government publishes Intercultures Magazine. A few months ago, I received a call from Mara Munro, a freelance writer, to discuss cultural issues and Web design. We had a lovely discussion that went way beyond what I think Mara was expecting. Mara also interviewed Aaron Marcus, a fellow AIGA Center for Cross-Cultural Design activist.
Here is the article:
Internet and Design Culture - Unraveling the Tangled Web
by Mara Munro
Halloween at Dialect
The Dialect staff dressed up for Halloween. Here they are, from left to right.
Standing: Christopher (Tin Tin), Noriko (Halloween colors), Jane (Studious), Scott (with mask -- Malfoy from Harry Potter), Brian (Elvis), Malina ("Hi, I'm a PC"), Katri ("...and I'm a Mac")
Kneeling: Mike (iPod), Melynn (Cowgirl).
Missing from photo: Regine (in New Jersey), and Sandee
We know how to have fun around here.
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