Lots of people were sceptical when Starbucks announced its plan to enter the Chinese market years ago. Starbucks would flop because China is a nation of tea-, not coffee-drinkers, so the reasoning went. 14 years on, nobody is laughing. Shaun Rein writes on CNBC more ›

From 6:30pm to 8:30pm on Tuesday the 14th, couples can stroll into any of the three Lofree restaurants in Shanghai and exhibitionistically suck face make out for 60 seconds to receive "free food until you're full!" more ›

A variety of couples took part, including some that were a bit gun-shy when it came to the moment of make-out truth, two cute toddler girls forced on stage by their parents, and even an old husband and wife in their sixties, who just sort of held each other in a mortified fashion. more ›

What does the Yao deal tell us about China? That everything the wine industry has come to believe about tackling the Chinese market is on target. Brands matter. Prestige matters. Celebrity matters. Why do Lafite and Mouton still reign supreme there? Because they have the reputation. Artisanship (with all due apologies to that press release) is irrelevant. Terroir is irrelevant — although the overall brand power of Napa Valley certainly holds sway. more ›

Xinhua News Agency recently blew big money on ads in New York City's Time Square, but apparently people still have no idea what it is they sell. more ›

"Toronto, Cincinnati, New York, Tokyo, Beijing, Istanbul." more ›

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The sanctity of fast food norms are under threat! Residents in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou now have the option of getting a hot dog and a small coffee for the appetizing price of 10RMB during breakfast at McDonald's. Finally, a hot morning wiener to go with our little cup of McD's coffee! What took them so long? more ›

We promise you we have our best people working on this. A few photos of what appears to be an In-N-Out ad taken in Shanghai have spurred speculation online that we could be going it 'animal style' in the foreseeable future. Update: We are hearing from multiple sources close to the company that this ad is, unfortunately, absolutely fake. But we'll take a fake In-n-Out over none, right? more ›

Abe Sauer makes the astute observation on BrandChannel that celebrity over-endorsement in China is leading to "overlapping shilling" and "mass confusion" among Chinese consumers:

In China, the paradox of this is that the hot celebrity of the moment can haphazardly accrue numerous, simultaneous endorsements. In China, this flood of celebrity pitch people appears to have muddled the message and confused consumers. more ›

Taiwan's Tourism Bureau has launched a new international marketing campaign that aims to lure more travellers to the island even as it attracted a record number of visitors last year. The full 16 minute film, "Time for Taiwan - My Beautiful Island" aims to showcase all of the island's culture and natural beauty and is targeted at four main categories of travellers -- backpackers, women, families and elderly couples. Since it was launched about a month ago, the video has been seen close to half a million times on Youtube. The masterminds behind the film, Johnason Lo and Michael Fimognari, were tasked with breaking the mould of conventional marketing campaigns employed by other tourism bureaus, and we think to a large extent, they have succeeded in what they set out to do. more ›

Because nobody under 30 in China watches TV anymore, we thought we'd point you towards this new and rather aesthetically pleasing little montage of athletic behaviors from the corporate monolith good people at Nike. more ›

There really isn't much of a story here, but this twitpic of the New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony doing his best punk-ass tourist sneer with his panda homey is definitely worth your attention (though Shaq seems to have already claimed the same panda-throne two years ago!). Anthony, along with his potential future teammate Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, is currently in Chengdu as part of the annual pilgrimage of NBA stars to the succulent milkable cow that is the Chinese market Jordan Brand Flight Tour, a four-city brand promotion do that includes store appearances and training camps for the Jordan shoe imprint owned by Nike. more ›

O Dear God, no. You're taking our taxi touchscreen mutant humanoid neck stretch woman away from us?! Nancy Pon, the mystery fitness instructor who was inexplicably the subject of massive internet chattering recently, has been replaced in taxi video screens by a video featuring a male fitness guru doing shoulder exercises. more ›

Remember that 2008 ad by Citroen featuring a scowling Chairman Mao? This time, yet another carmaker in another country has done it again. In a new ad for its Trezia model, Subaru Italy has used a feminised image of Chairman Mao to sell the car, which promises “a high driving position and superior internal space worthy of a revolution”. Needless to say, the Chinese aren't happy. In fact, they're so unhappy that the potential deal between Subaru and Chery to manufacture the Forrester here may be called off.
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A Taiwanese sporting goods brand had the brilliant idea that a crowd of 20 pantless Taiwanese models traipsing through Taipei subways could be a great way to market their "no pants day" campaign. Hmm, seems to have worked well so far. Video after the jump! more ›

As the blame game begins in the next episode of the Groupon Super Bowl tragicomedy, all eyes are now transfixed on the ad agency that singlehandedly created the catastrophe: Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. The 1,000 strong agency has offices in the US, Canada and Europe, but no presence in Asia, which kinda shows. more ›

That's right. Lay aside everything you've heard so far about Groupon's ambitious plans to hire 1,000 China employees by March and its insistence that it will beat the many Chinese clones that are already up and running here. Hot air or not, Groupon China is effectively history in the People's Republic. more ›

7-Up's internet campaign in China this Christmas season has chalked up over 3 million views in just three days: more ›

Sleek, fast car, check. 3G capabilities, check. Attractive people (one male, one female, both not Chinese), check. A clear jingle? Er.... more ›

PR practitioners need to watch this. At the recent launch of Chinese manufacturer Hanvon's (汉王) very own TouchPad, which they hope to be the next iPad-killer, senior executives were invited on stage to smash an effigy of Apple made out of ice. When asked by the emcee how they felt afterwards, one of them replied in a most nonchalant manner, "I never thought it'd be this easy to smash Apple!" 没想到砸苹果还那么轻松啊！ more ›

But will anyone really buy this?
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Shanghai-based wool clothing brand, Hengyuanxiang (恒源祥) has scored yet another epic advertising fail that is destined to be a top case study in the "What Not To Do in Advertising 101" course with this Chinese New Year commercial (aired between 25-31 Jan this year) that promises to rape the eyes and ears of its audience. The company, one of the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, unleashed a torrent of (well-deserved) criticism from netizens with its Year of the Goat television commercial last year, igniting a public furore so huge the ad was eventually pulled. Watch this commercial above and then watch last year's commercial at your own risk. You'll find that things have actually improved. We really can't wait to see what's in store for us next year. more ›

Get it on with Durex.
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Advertising Agency: Euro RSCG Life, Shanghai, China more ›

Shanghai lawmakers are taking Chinese tobacco giant Chung Hwa to task for its ubiquitous billboard ads that carry the four Chinese characters “爱我中华“ (Ai Wo Zhonghua, or "Loving my China"), and feature an image of the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, along with the warning that "Smoking can damage your health". Zhonghua (or Chung Hwa in Wade-Giles) refers to China and the Shanghai Tobacco Corporation which produces the Chung Hwa brand, has maintained that its slogan "promoted patriotism and was therefore a public service campaign". City lawmakers, however, are not buying the argument and are now calling for all tobacco ads to be "banned in line with the law". more ›

Beginning Jan 1, Mengniu, one of China's leading dairy firms, has launched a new advertising campaign entitled "Happy Niu Year" which is scheduled to run on television, in print and online, all the way through to Feb 9. The word "Niu" is a play on the Chinese word "牛" which means cow (as well as ox and bull) and this year happens to be the Year of the Bull. This is the first major ad campaign by a Chinese dairy company since the melamine scandal struck late last year. The television commercial for this campaign follows after the jump more ›

By Sam Jacobs more ›

Well, for one, we guess it gets you the Olympics in Beijing. And loads of infrastructural upgrades. But China was banking on the Olympics for an image makeover, and judging by Futurebrand's 2008 Country Brand Index, the results were at least somewhat encouraging. China placed 56th out of the 78 countries ranked, with 29% of respondents giving the country a "very good" or "excellent" overall rating. It did, however, make the biggest gains in overall brand rating, improving by a full 13%. more ›