Red Bull Canimation

When I saw this video in the cinema, I had to cry. Not even the most dramatic movie can trigger these emotions in me, but that short "behind the sciences" film just hit me. I know that clever marketing guys are behind this film and I know that it is built up to get to the heart of the people, but I still just could not help it. Red Bull is usually rather known to support extreme sports and crazy athletes, but Canimation is a different kind of sponsoring. I just love when enthusiastic and motivated young people get a chance to show their creativity and get the recognition for it. 

Red Bull somehow found a way to support people who are dedicated in what they're doing and at the same time profit from it also commercially. This is pure brand building and Red Bull managed to turn these millions of marketing spend into profit and into a brand, which is so valuable.

Canimation was a competition and Red Bull welcomed all creative people to enter with an animation, which used the blue and silver can as inspiration. The results of the winners can be viewed on http://canimation.redbull.co.uk/

Will Shang Xia become China's first global luxury brand?

China is the second largest market for luxury goods after Japan and forecasts estimate that it will become the world's top consumer of luxury goods in 2015. At the moment it is mainly the western luxury brands, which profit from this incredible growth, but it won't take too long until the Chinese and also the global market is ready for China's own luxury brands.

Brands from China still struggle to get rid of the copy, mass production and bad quality image. Especially when it comes to luxury goods, consumers in China and in other countries favour European brands with their long history and global reputation. But there is also a sign that buyers in China start to seek out brands, which have their roots in their own culture. Once established in their home country such brands would have a huge potential to become global brands, merely due to the size of their domestic market.

Shang Xia might be a very promising candidate. Shang Xia opened its first store in 2010 in Shanghai and plans to open another one in Beijing and Paris soon. Their products range from clothing, shoes to furniture and ceramics. Already visible throughout all their lines is a clear message of a minimal design, a self-confidence of its Chinese heritage and a finesse of its traditional production. Indications, which could make it a very successful luxury brand.

However, the main reason why I see much potential in Shang Xia to become China's first global luxury brand is the French company, which is part owner of Shang Xia: Hermès, one of the world's most desirable luxury-goods brands and also one the most profitable one. The experience and Hermès' own brand will definitely help Shang Xia to enter the global luxury market and I believe that also consumers in Europe and the United States are ready for a Chinese brand.

Video Game Industry Outgrows Film and Music

Recently I was in the cinema and saw a trailer for "Assassin's Creed: Revelations". During the trailer I thought, wow I need to watch that movie. Until I realized it's not a trailer for a movie, but an advertisement for a video game. It happened to me again, when I saw the poster in the tube and the thought came up: didn't I see that trailer? Must be an awesome movie. I even tried to google, in which cinema I could see it. Then I realized that I have been confused before and that my mind tricked me again. The poster just looked so much like a movie ad.

The way video games are advertised becomes more and more similar to film advertising and the budget they spend to market a new game must also reach the sums for Hollywood blockbusters. This has also its reason. Without really being noticed by the media, the video game industry started to outgrow the film and music industry. The global video game industry was worth $66 billion in 2010, while the global box-office results for film in 2010 was only $31.8 billion. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3", a shooter video game took $775 million in the first five days after its release, which you can compare to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II", the highest-grossing film of 2011 and and its $202 million it made in the first five days.

The video game industry takes therefore place in the first row of the entertainment business and its growth predictions are even more exciting.
No wonder that also brands start to discover product placement in video games.

What happened to the CCTV?

For most of the people CCTV triggers the image of security cameras, but CCTV is also the short form of China Central Television (the Chinese counterpart of BBC) and "the CCTV" is commonly also used as a name for the skyscraper, which was built in Beijing to serve as the broadcasting channel's new headquarters.

The CCTV headquarters was designed by OMA, the architecture office of Rem Koolhaas, and received international recognition for its very unique structure. Together with the Olympic Stadium (the Bird's Nest) by Herzog & de Meuron, Paul Andreu's National Theater of China and the terminal 3 of Beijing’s international airport designed by Foster + Partner it belongs to symbols of the new age of iconic contemporary architecture in China built by famous international architects.

Pictures of the CCTV headquarters can be found in many books about modern architecture, since it is symbolic for a new generation of complex engineering structures, which would not have been possible a decade ago.

The beautiful rendered pictures is what everybody has in mind when they think about the CCTV headquarters, including me when I first visited Beijing last summer. Walking towards the building, the pictures out of the architecture books seem to keep their promise. The 44-storey skyscraper arising in the Beijing Central Business District looks absolutely stunning. However, when I came closer I got more and more the feeling that there is something wrong. The building was officially opened in 2008, but everything looked like it is still in construction. A big fence surrounds the CCTV headquarters and it does not really look like anybody works in there.

Three years ago, in the beginning of 2009 I was in Shanghai during the Chinese New Year and I remember very well the Lantern Festival, which is the last day of the festive season. We received the news that one of the buildings close to the CCTV headquarters was on fire and that there was a huge risk that the skyscraper itself gets damaged as well. The Beijing Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which was in construction and was meant to occupy the building burnt down completely and some people suspected fraud behind the fire, since the hotel business was not at its best during this time. However, the good news was that the CCTV headquarters was undamaged.

Therefore, I did not think anything bad when I planned to visit Koolhaas' skyscraper in Beijing. Lights are on in the building, but it looks rather unoccupied. The building, which burnt down was not completely removed and the whole area still looks like a construction site, although the buildings should have been finished already. So what happened to the CCTV? Google could not give me an answer, descriptions are vague and give rather information about the unique and praised design of the structure than about the current use. Pictures again seem all be rendered and very seldom you'll find a real photograph.

If the Chinese want to keep hidden what happened on the night of the Lantern Festival in 2009, they will probably manage to keep it hidden. I wonder, what happens with the CCTV headquarters. It would be a real shame, if the building is never going to be used. Hopefully the site looks different the next time I'll be in Beijing...