Apple is Alive and Well in China

     

It is interesting to look into different cultures to observe different marketing strategies used in retail to promote business. Many malls and super markets use a lot of sales people as marketing tools to stand in their assigned position waiting to pounce on anyone who dares to walk by, but if you are lucky enough to have a small store on a city street the marketing strategy is a little different.

     

Around dusk you may see a lot of people migrating outside of a store with a lot of hustle and bustle going on. Workers (or a catering company) are busy setting up huge lights, a stage, speaker system, smoke machine, and a tent with marketing information. They can get this thing set up and ready to go in about an hour. Then the promotional marketing show begins – it usually consists of two cute Chinese girls wearing matching short shorts and t-shirts – the music begins and the girls dance in the form of an aerobic workout session. I can never tell if we are supposed to join in like a flash mob dance or just stand there and watch – well after around 5 minutes the realization settles in that they only have a couple of routines that continue over and over again. Oh well, the thrill is gone. Reality sets in and I take note of the store doing the promotion and move on. 

     

Now that you have an overview of this marketing strategy I can tell you what I experienced last night.

      

I was riding my bike home from my weekly shopping excursion when I noticed a promotional event taking place in front of the new Apple store.  China is big on Apple products and although many cannot afford them – given the choice – most people would buy them - including me. An unlocked GSM iphone would answer all of my prayers at this point in time, but at $800-900.00 a pop currently this lands at the bottom of my priority list.

       

The music I heard intrigued me and as I got closer, I noticed two Chinese girls on stage; both were beautiful with long black hair and both girls were dressed in the same classy white ruffled outfit. Each was playing a violin and they were doing a great job. The violins were backed up with an almost eerie new age techno sound and it was strangely enticing. 

    

 It was awesome, I was ready to run home, grab my neighbors and come back out to listen to the music, but after about five minutes – as with most promotional events – I noticed that the music was sort of doing the same thing over and over again. Once more reality set in as I took note of the store and moved on.  

     

Please keep in mind that I never visit cities in the U.S. unless I am on business, visiting my brother and his family who lives in Seattle, or my sister who lives in Fort Lauderdale. It is possible that this type of promotional event is common practice in U.S. cities and I am not aware of it.     

     

This is interesting to me because when Myrtle Beach runs a promotional event we usually go to a lot of trouble to set it up and it would probably last all afternoon or evening. Sales people would be standing by with promotional items and drinks and food would be served. The media would be alerted as well as the police and possibly an ambulance would be on alert for the occasion.

     

So given my experience with promotional events (and I have both worked and participated in quite a few) I must say that I sort of feel like I was ripped of something more that was not there. 

I may not be ready to take the Apple plunge today, but it will happen in the future. 

     

If Apple had added a little more to this event such as – complementary bottled water, a few snacks, and possibly a few friendly low key sales people wandering around to motivate the crowd to be happy or to dance

 – would this be more effective

 – or was it just as effective the way it was? 

Would I have become a more motivated Apple consumer buying an iPhone at an earlier date if I saw that this company was making a better effort than other stores to reach out to its potential clientele?

       

It might have knocked the iPhone up a notch on my wish list, but as of today, my thoughts still stand solid. This was a class act promotional marketing tool shining a new light on Baoji. It raised the bar just a bit – to show that culture could be intertwined with marketing promotions to compliment the people who live and work in the town instead of the gimme, gimme, gimme attitude.

:)

Fun at Kid Castle

     

     Many of the classes are winding down and kids are getting ready for summer break. At the end of each class, we create a presentation for the parents to show them what the kids have learned. The Chinese teachers do most of the work and I pitch in to do my part when needed.

     

     The communication barrier is extremely hard to deal with when working with Chinese teachers, but as long as we remind each other that, that is the problem – everything seems to work out. The real problem is that the Chinese teachers do not include or ask for help from the foreign teachers when they need it and they are not very good at clarifying and expressing how they want to put together a program.  Therefore, when it is time to do a presentation it is turned upside down and I end up doing a lot of improvisation. This is a pain because preparation is the key, but it may be good practice in learning how to think on your feet. Anyway, at the end of the day, everyone is happy with the presentation and all is fine and dandy.

     

     The last presentation I did  I was apprehensive about because it was not my favorite class and I had a few students in that class that were hard to work with, but they surprised me to the point that I was really proud of all of them. They sang a Christmas song that was amazing and wrote a short dialogue about their family to present in English. I asked them questions and they all answered them correctly. Got to love when that happens!

     One of my best classes was winding down after the final oral exam in the last class and there was extra time to kill so I decided to show the kids the portfolio I had put together with pictures of the beach, family, pets, and things I like to do when I am home. They had a blast and loved every minute of it! The kids screamed, laughed, and kept saying how pretty all the pictures were.  After the class, a couple of Moms came to the office and wanted to see the pictures. The Moms were excited and loved the pictures, but at the end an overwhelming look of sadness took over their facial expressions – it was disheartening to say the least.

     When I had time to reflect on this experience and put myself in their shoes an understanding came almost immediately. Most Chinese people believe that all United States citizens are rich and many have difficulties when thinking about us in any other way. So looking at this situation from the Moms point of view this is what I believe they experienced:

     “Hmm, let’s see, Wendy’s dad owns a plane, her mom is a famous artist who sculpts beautiful birds, her older sister is beautiful, her younger sister is also beautiful and owns horses and a lot of other things. Her niece is beautiful and spends a lot of time at the beach, her nephews are very handsome and have many hobbies. Her brother is very handsome and looks to be an upstanding citizen with a fun family. Her friends are well dressed and look rich. Wendy lives in a huge white plantation house in Myrtle Beach and has two other huge homes in the same area. She loves to go to the beach and she owns two pristine cats (you would understand this is you could see some of the cats around here).  One of her homes has a river flowing through the middle of it with lots of pretty fish in it. She even has beautiful artwork and sculptures on her properties. 

What a lucky girl."

Yes, I am blessed with a wonderful life, but boy, oh boy, I never saw this point of view until I put myself in their shoes. 

Next time I show my portfolio to students, I will be sure to have a translator close by to help me explain the story.

Do I have to say it?

Oh, if they only knew!

:)

Speaking of Food

      I find that the majority of people in China eat a lot of different fruits and vegetables and rarely ever consume junk food (no macaroni and cheese here).  It is considered normal if you are at work and someone pulls a cucumber out of a lunch bag to munch on (with the skin on). I thought this was funny at first, but now it is not such a bad idea. However,  they eat a lot more meat now than in the earlier days and super markets are stocked with lots of chicken, pig, duck, and beef to name a few items. 


     The area I am living in is known for raising hens for eggs and chickens for eating. The director of the school, Julia, gave us (the foreign teachers at school)  a gift box of 60 eggs each in honor of the Dragon Boat holiday. I believe that this is the strangest gift I have ever received - I gave a few to my neighbors, ate what I could and froze the rest.   


     Cheese as well as butter and olive oil are pricey and hard to find, however, yogurt and milk are in abundance. Milk comes in fruit flavors such as peach, papaya, mango, apple, and coconut to name a few. 


     Baoji is known for its noodles and there are many varieties to choose from such as,  lotus roots, peas, corn, egg, tomatoes, red peppers, corn, and wheat. I am beginning to learn how to prepare a number of different noodle dishes that are simple to make without taking a lot of time to prepare.  


     The super markets have a huge baking section and there are many different varieties of breads. Recently I tasted a coconut bread that was exceptional!!! Cakes are smaller than in the U.S., but beautifully decorated and very flavorful baked without a lot of sugar. I do not believe that a lot of people bake at home due to the high cost of electric, but one of my neighbors has something similar to an easy bake oven (remember those) and she made me some brownies one day. 


    Snacks include seaweed potato chips, pea flavored straws,  dried fish, all sorts of nuts and dried beans, garlic flavored crunchy peas, corn flavored everything (even candy-yuk) and little cups of a jello like treats for kids that leave a lot to be desired. They could learn a lesson or two about our wonderful world of chocolate chip cookies, fudge, rice crispy treats, and popcorn -  oh yeah, let's not even touch on our wonderful world of pizza!!!


     Dried fish is available in small packs to carry with you in case you are hungry. I haven't found one that I like yet. There are aquariums in the fish department holding the catch of the day - and  fresh fish is not deboned or cleaned (oh you spoiled Americans - I can hear your thoughts - same as mine - why not?). One day for the  first time in my life I bought frozen shrimp with the heads on! After I got over the black beady little eyes staring at me from the steaming pot and after I got rid of the heads I must say the the shrimp is the best I have ever had (once the shrimp is cooked, the head comes off easily). 


     My biggest challenge is trying to keep up my protein levels - I do not have an adequate kitchen to cook fish and I do not eat meat - so I am making an attempt to cook my own lentils, beans, and tofu dishes. There is a tofu station in every super market as well as a huge rice station - the tofu is cut to order and there are many different kinds of rice that I have not yet explored. 


     Dabbled throughout the store you may see m+m's (plain), Dove chocolate, snickers bars, Oreo cookies, and chocolate ice cream, but the portions are tiny and the cost is quite pricey. Ice cream is for sale in the stores and different kinds of ice cream bars are available, such as, (get this) green peas and red kidney bean ice cream bars..... no thank you - however, a limited amount of other flavors are available.


     I am exploring different foods each week and each trip to the super market is a challenge. The huge markets are located on the basement floor of the super malls and they try to carry a little of everything - sort of like a Wal-mart -  but totally disorganized. I can't figure out why cat and dog food (one kind of each - crunchies - no fancy feast here) is located in the imported food section and why needle and thread is located in the sports department - oh well, maybe it is just me. 


     As far as the food chains from the U.S., I am sure that you all know that there has to be a McDonald's right smack in the middle of town. There are also a few 24 hour Kentucky Fried Chicken's and a Baskin Robbins close by. Lots of tea shops around each neighborhood, but I only know of one coffee shop located next to McDonald's.