Scott Goodson's Cultural Movements Blog

China Is Embracing Thousands of New Brands. Hello Opportunity.

From Forbes:

Where are the new market opportunities for brands? A new report from McKinsey, proclaims that the Chinese have taken to consumerism in a way that would make your head spin and with an ease that would simply be unfathomable a few years ago.

The Chinese are embracing thousands of brands. Having said this, the growth of the market and changes that this growth is bringing is leaving all but the nimblest of companies breathless.

As McKinsey’s 2011 survey of Chinese consumers highlights, China is facing rising inflation, although Chinese consumers are more confident this year than in 2010 about their financial prospects.

For global marketers, take note of the fact that although brand awareness is rising, there seems to be little sign that brand loyalty is following suit. In fact, more and more consumers are choosing among a growing number of favorite brands.

Cool blog about Swedish design

If you are interested in Swedish design, or modern design from around the world evaluated and written about by a renowned Swedish journalist (in English) check out this amazing blog entitled: Things Can Always Get Better.

Here is a wonderful example of a theme:

The world’s first zero carbon emission house lives in Denmark. The Active House, as it’s called, was developed to be a more comfortable and user-friendly response to the Passive House, which has set the standard for sustainable living in the last decade. Passive houses rely on incredibly effective insulation, plus a heat exchanger that warms fresh air on the way in during winter. A true Passive House has no conventional heating system because, in theory, it doesn't need one. In practice, owners tend to install back-up systems, because it's no fun even to risk being cold.

Droog design and Hoegaarden

Over the next two weekends, New York's Governor's Island will host a design bonanza curated by Droog, the grande-dame of high-concept design. Curated by Ramakers, the co-founder of the pre-eminent Dutch design collective, Droog, the exhibit is part of NY400, a series of events around town sponsored by the Netherlands. Marking the 400th anniversary of the first Dutch exploration of New York.

Droog are an incredible design firm and I was totally inspired while working with them on a pan-European campaign a few years back, together with Mark Chalmers (who was CD at SF at the time and now runs Perfect Fools).

The campaign we created out of StrawberryFrog Amsterdam was to develop a pan-European campaign for Hoegaarden, the Belgian white beer. It was called "Welcome to the Hoegaarden". It was intended to awaken a premium beer brand in a saturated market is by thinking outside the crate. Our client at Interbrew envisioned Hoegaarden as a ‘discovery brand’ that trendsetters find for themselves and then talk about. To achieve this, we promoted a new culture that nudged Europe’s discerning middle youth away from laid back lounging towards fresh air and open-minded experiences. To stimulate trial, we were the first agency in the world to turn SMS virals into beer tokens. Our 'Sundaay Services' enticed the in-crowd to hang out at pre-selected bars. We worked with Droog and designer Frank Tjepkema to create the evolution of "lounge", with a new garden-themed furniture set for a new kind of bar scene, positioning Hoegaarden as a unique, natural drink that refreshes the mind. A ‘Saampler Tour’ led our curious target to the coolest DJs, the kookiest furniture and hip new art and fashion events throughout the year.

I have some of the digital work we did but unfortunately none of the images of the furniture we commissioned from Droog which was extraordinary. If I come across images I will post them.

If you have time the Droog design experience in NYC is a must see.