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."