Social media push “Love is Not Blind” to the top of film ranking

“Love is Not Blind” is a small cost domestic Chinese film tells a simple story about how a lovelorn unmarried women “heal”, no super star, no famous director, no fantastic scene. However, in Hollywood super pieces gathered November, “Love is Not Blind” writes a box office triumph – 21 million of first-day box office, easy to defeat the “Real Steel”; hundreds million the first week box office, almost reaching the sum of “Rise of Planet of the Apes”, “Real Steel” and “Immortals”. The success of this film surprised the moviedom. How can such a seemingly plain small piece be unexpectedly popular?

First, make full use of the fan effect.

With the help of new media, this high-quality internet novel quickly gained popularity and audience’s word of mouth. “Love is Not Blind” made a name for itself from an online serial novel in Douban.com, and the novel has a high degree of loyal supporters. Before the film releasing, these core fan groups’ initiative promotion of the film had attracted lots of public interests, to some extent, pushing the potential readers to the actual audience walking into theater.

Secondly, benefit from unique social media marketing strategy.

Since the traditional “blanket” propaganda method did not pay off, the “Love is Not Blind” promotion team began to look for other ways. Making full use of social media such as Microblog, Renren.com, the focus was fixed on two target groups- classroom and office, the classroom is for 85, 90s students, the office is faced with a 70, 80s white-collar workers.

In Sina Weibo(a Chinese version of Twitter), there are up to more than 600 million microblogging taking “Love is Not Blind” as keyword and hashtag. When searching “Love is Not blind” in Weibo, comments and tweets flood you, and most of them are positive. Fans number on its official Microblog page has reached 209,619. On Baidu movie ranking, with 122 million searching volume per day the film ranked first; In Douban and Mtime, the film’s average rating keeps beyond 8 points.

A film critic David West believes that the “Love is Not Blind” provides a little confidence to small budget films; at least shows that emotional category TV serials, love stories still have survival space, but the “revelation” is more important than “copy”.

From the “Love is Not Blind” case, we can see how social media work well, and you should have something to take away. Throw me your feedbacks and comments.

Public Opinion should understand China’s interests

When it comes to safeguarding China’s interests, it will be labeled with “conservative, closed”. In my view thses are two different things. Reforming and opening-up in China, of course, are necessary, but is that meaning people can ignore the nation’s interests? Undeniablely not. Americans assert “U.S. interests” all the day, which is their evaluation of all basic norms of behavior.

According to the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese President Hu Jintao called for world leaders to stop urging emerging market currency appreciation, he used so far in China on the currency issue the strongest possible terms.

Hu Jintao held in Cannes, France, the Group of 20 summit speech, said that repeated requests to the appreciation of emerging market currencies, reduction of export, it will not bring about balanced growth; the contrary, would only global economy into a “balance of recession”, making sustainable growth impossible.

In addition, the Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said that the RMB has appreciated to a reasonable level.

The more appreciation of the RMB, the more USD will be comparably devaluated to RMB, which means that China will suffer greater lose, while the United States will obtain more benefits. This is a common sense issue that every Chinese must understand. Therefore, there is no surprise that The United States, standing on its position, to do and say so, but what strange thing is: China’s domestic public opinion does not echo and insist on the position of President Hu. At this time, scholars seem “dumb”, and the attention of news reporters seem far to the edge.

Facing so many problems currently, aren’t Chinese scholars and the media obligated to stand up and assert China’s interests to help state leaders? Is the time.

The “Sun-Never-Sets” Sample Sale Webs

In this internet-connected world, online shopping has prevailed for recent years, and one of the most excited online shopping web styles must be Sample Sale Web such as Gilt.com, Ruelala.com, Ideeli.com. Isn’t it fantastic to buy big brand products on a pleasant discount? Of course, I am a big fan of these webs! In my opinion, just as sample sale of big brands will never pale, this kind of shopping web will be a “Sun-Never-Sets” favor for shoppers. Let me introduce some points about these webs.

Private Membership:

Almost all of the sample sale webs are private membership, which means only with invitation of a current member can people join in them. New members can have some extra discount like free-shipping, $10 gift card; meanwhile, old members will earn gift card reward when the new members first purchse.

Considerable brands & Complete sizes

Another attraction of sample sale webs is that they pleasantly surprise shopper with considerable brands, from farfamed big brands to promising young designers around the world. What’s more, you can shop “elegantly” with all the sizes and styles exhibited online, no need to be overwhelmed by digging from many products on the shelves or to expectingly stare at size 2 in others’ hands in the sales area any more.

Short time:

There are many discount webs in US, sample sale webs is one of them. But what different is that sample sale webs are in accordance with sample sales’ “short time” style. Generally, brands sales time span is 24-hour or 2-3 days, the longest won’t beyond 5-7 days. The sales start on a certain time everyday. It has been a routine to many of my friends to seat in front of their laptops or use their iPads to scroll over and over everyday no matter what they are doing at that time.

Absolutely “Sec Kill”

Well, as sample sale webs have so many attractions that no one want to miss, there will be definite “second kill” whenever they have big brands on sale such as Marc Jacobs，Gucci，Chole，LV，Chanel，Prada. No kidding!  Shoppers have to add and then pay for the products as fast as possible, since there is only ten minutes for reservation in shopping bags. It is not difficult to imagine how disappointed and annoyed people will be when they find what they like but unavailable only a second ago. Psychologically, the reason why “Sec Kill” exists is that competition will accelerate and catalyze people’s shopping desire.

 After-sale service

Another merit of these webs overshadow live sample sale is that most of the products accept return. And the refund process is really easy; all you need to do is glue the return label and put the products in USPS or other delivery locations.

I really love those sample sale webs, because it is so convenient and cost-efficient. If you are a fashionable and reasonable-price shopping lover, try them! You will love them!

Confront the media and benefit from good communication strategy

Recently I read William J. Holstein’s book: Manage the Media(Don’t Let the Media Manage You), and I found it useful for us, so I just want to share it to you.

This book is focused on how CEOs can win-win in media communications by defining and analyzing problems, then giving advices. Holstein’s expatiation is practical and realistic. Also, readers will appreciate the fact that Holstein cites real-world examples throughout his lively narrative to illustrate his key points. For example, in the first chapter he explains how Home Depot’s PR strategy (“or the absence of one”) created so many problems for its then CEO, Robert Nardelli. He also cites a situation in which Wal-Mart “found itself in an almost purely defensive posture similar to that of the Nixon White House” because it allowed its opponents to decide the terms of engagement, in this instance an agenda of social issues, and put Wal-Mart on the defensive. Though those examples are a little bit out of date, we can still learn much from them.

Certainly as a well-qualified business journalist, who has been involved in covering major US companies for more than 20 years as a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report, then as an editor-at-large at Business 2.0, Holstein has plenty of practices and experiences in this field. He has also written business articles for The New York Times, Fortune, and Barron’s. So the advices he gives are in point.

1. Incorporate communications into corporate strategy.

Excerpt:” Once all the building blocks are in place, and communications skills have been inculcated into the whole organization’s DNA, CEOs have a chance to go on the offensive in the complex battle swirling around them.” I presume to add that communications issues are really business issues. Therefore, communications initiatives must always be in proper alignment with an organization’s overall strategy.
Holstein recommends CEOs to incorporate communication into corporate strategy insider the entire company, from boards to general employees. Those advices are not only useful for CEOs, but also for communication professionals: what we also need is a very thorough and savvy understanding of how the business works and what the market forces are and what the technological and political forces are.

2. Go on the offensive and shape the message

In this part, Holstein states, “One if the central rules of public relations is the `shark’ rule. It goes like this: if you don’t feed the sharks, they will feed on you. However unflattering that is to journalists, there is a certain truth to it. The best CEOs are able to define the story by creating a set of issues that the media pay attention to. That’s a much better strategy than letting the media or activist groups define the story.” In other words, either manage or be managed.

3&4. Prevent the emergence of broad coalitions [of opposition] & Embrace the new media

“If CEOs become engaged rather than “remain in their bunkers…they can work with selected [internal and/or external] groups and still achieve their business goals, perhaps even enhance their business performance. In so doing, they can prevent the emergence of broad-based coalitions – because single-cause activist groups, if isolated, find it much more difficult to get traction in the marketplace of ideas.” Holstein emphasizes the importance of proper coordination with single or several activist groups to gain win-win situation.

What’s more, in current high-tech society, embracing the new media is essential for good CEOs: “The key is that millions of Americans are hungry for information, and they’re turning to searches on the Internet and other online resources to get it…Companies that do this well [i.e. reach out to people by using new technologies effectively] may be able to gain insight into product development, consumer needs, and strategic opportunity.”

This book is not only worth-reading for CEOs, but also for communication professionals to better gain a seat at the table by knowing what CEOs are seeking for.

 

Social Media, a method for soul-searching in China

On October 13th, a van navigating the narrow streets of a hardware market in Foshan, in the southern province of Guangdong, struck and ran over Yueyue, a 2-year-old girl. The driver paused, and then drove away. A surveillance camera showed that the toddler lay grievously injured for seven minutes, ignored by at least 18 passers-by, while a second vehicle ran over the child and drove on. A 57-year-old rag collector finally went to her aid. Sadly, on October 21th, Yueyue passed away. Ge happy in the heaven, God bless you dear Yueyue.

Surveillance camera record

This accident stabbed people’s heart and raised social soul-searching in my home country. More than 9 million people had posted comments on the toddler’s accident on Sina’s Weibo, the leading microblog, or Tencent Holdings’ QQ service. And many pray Weibo webs had been set up. All kinds of related activities such as votes, parades took place nationwide.

We swear: "Never be a ruthless Foshanese! "

Also, thousands of microbloggers in China have used the juxtaposition of callousness and heroism to fuel a wrenching debate over whether people in China lack compassion and, if so, why.

It is the sort of national conversation, increasingly common now, that did not exist before in a land where the printed press and broadcast media largely remain controlled by a Communist Party more interested in directing public opinion than in reflecting on the national mood. “What kind of nation is this?” asked one microblogger who called himself Patton Yu. “It doesn’t matter if an individual’s nature is good or bad, it’s the system that has made us deteriorate.”

As a Chinese, these kinds of tragedies pain me again. However, I would rather self-reflecting than blaming the society. There is no denying that callousness is common in modern society, but this is what we try best to change to achieve a better world. We cannot change a social problem by oneself, but we can be a better self, in turn, the dream society may be closer.

Social media gives a chance to connect people and share our common thoughts and self-reflection, and it is a method of soul-searching, isn’t it?

The first pitch I wrote

Pitch, as an invitation to the reporters covering your story, is a necessary tactics to a PR professional. Though nowadays, with the high-speeded advanced connection methods, reporters are annoyed with being flooded by pitchs and press releases, pitch is still a way to reach reporters especially when you run a startup.  In my view, I believe what matters is not the content but the chance to build relationship with reporters and blogers.This is my first attempt to write a pitch which is about concierge doctor service. I fictionalize that I pitch for a concierge medicine service company in New York, so my pitch e-mail is sent to Nicholas Bakalar, reporter of Health Section on the NYtimes.com.

New Concierge Doctor Service

Dear Nicholas Bakalar.

I read your articles in the health section of nytimes.com, and I think our new concierge doctor service may interest you!

Isn’t it pleasant to choose our own doctor whom we feel happy with from many notable experts? Isn’t it convenient to have access to our healthcare records online?

In addition to services such as same-day appointment, house call and 24-hour access, House Call Doctor New York offers a new service named Choosing Your Favorite Doctor recently. Patients, after interviewing with as many doctors as they like, can select the most suitable one for only $2,000 annual fee.(Including all basic healthcare, extra fees can be paid by insurance!)

A bad doctor can be unexpectedly troublesome, we are aiming at providing patients with pleasing healthcare process.

If you need more information,

1. Schedule your time for convenience to contat me through 24-hour call at xxx-xxx-xxxx or e-mail xxx@gmail.com

2.Our website WWW. HouseDoctorNY.com

3. Press release at xxx

If my e-mail disturbed you please note me, I am so sorry for that, and thank you for reporting so much useful health issues! May you happy!

All the best,

Sylvia

PR manager of House Call Doctor

If you pitch for a new concierge doctor service, what will you include?

How much should be disclosed?

How much informations should be disclosed has been a discussing issue. Recently when I learned about disclosure of company information especially financial material, I found a WSJ report about Mylan’s Probed Meeting last year, and as I know till now Mylan hasn’t disclosed anything about that meeting. Has Mylan really violated Reg Fd? If you were Mylan’s IRO,  what would you have recommended the company’s course of action be ?

From my perspectives, I agree that Mylan Inc. broke Reg FD.

Rule 100 of Regulation FD sets forth the basic rule regarding selective disclosure. Under this rule, whenever:

(1) an issuer, or person acting on its behalf,

(2) discloses material nonpublic information,

(3) to certain enumerated persons (in general, securities market professionals or holders of the issuer’s securities who may well trade on the basis of the information),

(4) the issuer must make public disclosure of that same information:

(a) simultaneously (for intentional disclosures), or

(b) promptly (for non-intentional disclosures).

According to the WSJ article, Mylan Inc.disclosed confidential information about its coming earnings to a group of handpicked investors, allowing them to snap up the shares before a big rally. Since the information were never disclosed before and the investors in the meeting were enumerated, these were under the condition above.

Reg FD defined that information is material if “there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable shareholder would consider it important” in making an investment decision. And because the day after the meeting, Mylan shares surged 7% three times the previous month’s average daily volume, which showed some likelihood of those information to important investment decision, Mylan should make publicity of those nonpublic information.

The Rule101(e) stated that issuers could meet Regulation FD’s “public disclosure” requirement by filing a Form 8-K, by distributing a press release through a widely disseminated news or wire service, or by any other non-exclusionary method of disclosure that is reasonably designed to provide broad public access. However, Mylan didn’t meet any of these requirements as the article asserted.

What’s more, according to the WSJ report, an UBS analyst who attended the Sept.9 meeting said in a report to clients the next day that Mylan’s “Management sounded excited about the upcoming 3Q.” The report added “Although not saying it, management basically implied once again that it was confirming 2010 EPS guidance.” Other analyst notes also said the company was”excited”about reporting earnings.While Mylan shares rose that day,shares of its competitors were nearly flat. Sometimes, even though we didn’t say anything, our body language or tones revealed much.

In conclusion, though there were no evidence confirming whether Mylan, of Canonsburg,Pa., communicated anything at the meeting that caused its shares to rise the following day, their failure to submit disclosure to SEC or public showed they did violate Reg FD.

If I were the IRO of Mylan, I would recommended that

1.Apologize to the public, conveying the information that though we thought we had disclosed appropriately on the half of the company’s policy and interest, we feel sorry for causing suspicion and worries among investors not attending the meeting and will be in compliance with SEC’s scrutiny and policies.

2.Communicate with investors attending the meeting to make positive comments and if applicable, find out some evidences can prove the rising of shares was not directly related to the meeting rather than company’s good performance. Meanwhile, conduct a conference or calls to other important investors to answer their complain.

3.Disclose materials more detailedly than before in the following financial report.

What’s your opinion?

Top five defining moments in my online life

What scenarios will jump out from your memory when comes to top five significant moments in your online life?

Can you remember your first contact with internet? If we look back to the beginning of our online life, we can see how unprecedentedly internet changes our life.

1. My first meet with internet was in primary school using Google, the search powerhouse, with a market capitalization of nearly $174.15 billion, to finish my history class assignment. I had no need to go to library taking back many heavy books and wrote down hundreds of information as before.
2. Then in my junior middle school, my first intimacy to online life started with login in of Tecent QQ, which is instant messaging tool that has the most market share in China. Till now, I can hardly living without it, because I need it to chat with my parents and friends, especially when I am now abroad alone. QQ also helps me in my work, we use it to exchange and share information as well as documents, etc.

3. 

The third defining moment might be my first blog in my early high school named “镜中窥镜”, which means know me through my blog. With that I could share my thoughts and feelings with people visiting my blog, which really gave me a sense of achievement. What’s more, I met one of my best friends Ian by commenting mutually.

4.  Moving to my favorite online life, it must be online shopping! In China, Taobao is the most popular shopping web whose daily visiting rate had exceeded Ebay since May 3, 2010. My first bargain in Taobao happened on April 28, 2009, buying a Converse at only half of original price without going out tiredly as usual. That triggered my online shopaholic life since then.

 

5.  The last and latest defining moment might be joining in the social networking society, especially the Renren.com, which is a copy of Facebook in China. With renren, we are building a more credible and real-life network since the people you connect may have many things and friends in common in reality.

Online life is really amazing and colorful, what will happen if all the online connection is cut down? How about your online life?

Splitting the roles of Board chairman and chief executive officer

Splitting the roles of Board chairman and chief executive officer

 

Pros: 1.The same individual taking combination of two roles concentrates too much knowledge and power. In such companies, other directors are dependent upon the agenda set by the Chairman/CEO for the Board. Their voices may not be heard, since they won’t know what questions to ask that are not on the agenda. Importantly, it is hard for other board members to remove a poorly performing CEO if he takes most power in hand.

2.One person’s energy and ability are limited; consequently, there is a great tendency that CEO/Chairman cannot cover all the issues. Also, it is difficult for one to estimate himself fairly and comprehensively, which may lead to scandal and corruption. On the contrary, separating the roles allows the chair to check up on the CEO, and in turn the company’s overall performance, on behalf of the stockholders. Separating the roles also allows the CEO and chairman to focus on different, equally critical aspects of the company’s performance.

 

 

 

Cons: 1. Combining the roles can give the CEO multiple perspectives on the company due to their multiple roles, and empowering them to act with determination, which curtails conflicts of interest. Since the same person takes two positions, there won’t be conflict between the CEO and Chair, also, the director gain more influence and respect from other board members, thus the board can focus less on constant watchdog evaluation of that individual than making him or her successful.

2. It is difficult to correctly split up the decision-making responsibility between a CEO and an executive chairman. How to find a proper fulcrum can be an issue. It may create confusion that can allow misdeeds to go unnoticed, and it might provide buck-passing cover to board members who should have stopped evildoers. What’s more, if a CEO knows that he or she could be second-guessed by a chairman, his or her willingness to take risks might be damped down. When comes to a significant decision, the two person may meet conflict.

Public Relations: Adapting to Technological Changes

By Yajing Cao

 

Media technological boom challenges PR practices, however, shouldn’t PR persons relish these changes meanwhile gain sense of achievement?

 

In 2009, with a one-minute simulation of babies roller-skating in New York’s Central Park while drinking Evian, the bottle water brand suggested that it had found the fountain of youth, captured with the line “Evian. Live Young.” With over 45 million viewers, the clip entered the Guinness World Records as the most- watched online ad ever.

 

To reinforce its brand position as, “The World’s Local Bank,” HSBC created Expat Explorer, an online community where individuals living and working abroad can find resources and expert advice along with an opportunity to share their own experiences. Original research about the relative desirability of international work locations drew tremendous attention from the general media last year, generating almost 1 million “tweets” in just the first week after its release.

 

These scenarios are not occasional with the blooming of social media.

 

Coverage of recent technological changes, especially the growth of digital and social media (blogging, Twitter, RSS, etc.) gives an understanding of how technology impacts the public relations industry. In the constantly changing world of public relations, the text continues to stress the need for public relations professionals to communicate more effectively to all audiences.

 

The rapid development of social media is changing the way PR professionals communicate with consumers. Even for traditional media such as TV, which still remains the most influential way to reach consumers, it is no longer enough to simply broadcast a message. Social media has made it possible for consumers to talk back to communicators much more easily.

 

The aging of social media not only cause the traditional mass media orientation more complicated but also escalates PR efforts’ sphere of influence.

 

Towards to traditional mass media relations, since media themselves have evolved with social media strategy, gaining attention can be more reachable and instant. Also, journalists’ personal social media could be another channel to targeted publics. For example, evidence suggests that journalists are gradually turning more to post on their own blogs in order to have independence from traditional editors or media gatekeeping. This is much of what attracts millions of citizens around the U.S. and persons around the world to publish their own blogs. They can be the center of their own social networking circle to promote PR efforts.

 

Beyond media relations, blogger Stephan Spencer observes that blogs have grown into an important element in the realm of public opinion. “The ‘blogosphere’ is already a force to be reckoned with. Bloggers can wreck havoc on reputations (just ask Kryptonite) and careers (e.g., Dan Rather). Or they can create the ‘next big thing’. The immensely popular blog BoingBoing covered a very cool product called “InstaSnow” … and traffic and sales spiked”.[1] Spencer concludes: “The ‘power of the people’ has become the ‘power of the bloggers.’”

The reason why social media can be irreplaceable weapon lies on the fact that messages spread like virus infection and received with less aversion.

According to 2010 BrandZ’s Top 100 Brands ranking, many successful brands attempted to be reachable, involve in customers and inspire advocates whose personal voices potentially speak more credibly about the brand than the brand could speak about itself. There is an issue. Relying on independent advocates to develop a brand is equal to relying on the kindness of strangers. It can be heart warming, but it’s good to have a backup plan.

 

Pre-event schedule provides that backup, as illustrated by the car category. To promote its European, youth-oriented Fiesta brand in the U.S., in 2009, Ford imported 100 Fiestas and gave them to bloggers who were asked to comment online about their experience with the cars. Positive buzz surged rapidly through social networks. Because the content was interesting, mainstream media soon picked up and amplified the story. And the project reportedly generated 50,000 requests for information.

“This set the perfect stage for an advertising launch because people now are willing to listen,” said Andy Prakken, executive vice president, WPP Team Detroit, adding that the social networking campaign drove nameplate awareness to levels that normally would cost $100 million in propaganda. “They are anticipating the product so when the cars arrive here there’s already a pent- up expectation.” The role of the marketer, said Prakken, “is to be a catalyst and to help with content and distribution but to let it go.”

How much to let go need a balance. Too much control almost settles a safe but lukewarm place, while too much freedom risks results that are memorable but disastrous. PR practices are experimenting with this tension.

 

Also, social media is engaging more publics. To engage the interest of a new generation, Pepsi combined social media with social responsibility in the Pepsi Refresh Project, which it launched in January 2010. They request visitors to submit ideas for improving their communities or the world. Winning ideas, determined by online voting, receive financial awards from Pepsi. Coca-Cola organized Expedition206, in which the global soft drink leader selected three diverse and multi-lingual young people to serve as “Happiness Ambassadors” as they visit the 206 countries where Coke is sold, in 365 days, and report on social media sites about their daily adventures.

 

Smartphone advanced technology push much information to audience as well. Using relevant apps to either updating company news or better serving customers. However, if service were poor-functional, bad impression would be left.

 

To the public, that’s great if communicators have nothing to hide or can work comfortably with the privacy drapes open wide. Social media affords unprecedented intimacy between companies and customers. But like any intimate relationship, a deep, lasting bond requires two-way dialog, honesty and inter-respect.

 

Some companies are uncomfortable in this new world where customers can post thoughtful valentines or crude graffiti. Yet cultivating a relationship based on the slow revelations of courtship seems quaint and unrealistic as customers promiscuously speed date from Web site to Web site. In this condition, the best way to deal with technological improvements is to adapt to them then make full use of them

 

Technological advancement may cause pressures, however, when compared to the merits bringing by proper uses of them, the drawbacks definitely pale.

 

 

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[1] http://boingboing.net/2004/06/01/instasnow.html; http://www.stephanspencer.com/archives/2005/01/13/study-on-blog-readership-rss-aggregator-usage/