Marketing China

Coolio Yang
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Welcome to Marketing China (formerly Eastbound Insights) — your definitive guide to cracking the code of the world’s most dynamic and complex market. Curated by Coolio Yang, a seasoned industry veteran and former Vice President of Ogilvy and Greater China CEO of Kantar’s media division, this podcast delivers high-level strategic clarity for Western brand owners and global marketers. Doing business in China requires more than just a presence; it requires a deep understanding of unique digital ecosystems and shifting consumer behaviors. Each episode unpacks: China Marketing Strategy: Real-world playbooks for market entry and sustainable growth. Consumer Trends: Deep dives into the mindsets of Chinese Gen Z, silver economy, and middle-class consumers. Digital Ecosystems: Navigating platforms like WeChat, Douyin (TikTok), Xiaohongshu (RED), and Tmall. Expert Analysis: Candid conversations on the challenges and opportunities defining the Chinese market today. Whether you are an executive at a multinational or an entrepreneur looking to scale, tune in to elevate your China strategy with unmatched expertise. Connect with Coolio: coolioyang.com/en/ -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

  1. 10 FEB

    Redefining Festival: Why 19 Million People Didn't Go Home for Chinese New Year

    In this episode, we dive into a fascinating shift in China's consumer landscape: the "Not Going Home for Chinese New Year" phenomenon. Based on insights from Coolio Yang, we explore why nearly 19 million people engaged with this topic on social media—not as a protest, but as a quiet revolution in how the holiday is celebrated. We discuss: • The Shift to Intentionality: Why established professionals are swapping extended clan gatherings for nuclear family trips to coastal destinations like Sanya. • Curating vs. Rejecting: How consumers are keeping the symbolism of the festival (the food, the renewal) while opting out of the "emotional labor" and invasive questions often found in traditional reunions. • The New Gifting Logic: The transition from mianzi (face) to xin yi (genuine care), where practical gifts like gourmet meal kits and health supplements are replacing purely prestige items. • Brand Implications: How smart brands are adapting to a holiday where "home" is no longer a fixed place, but a state of mind. Join us as we unpack how the Spring Festival is evolving from a singular, prescribed ritual into a constellation of personal choices. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    15 min
  2. When Agencies Become Banks: The Dark Side of Media Buying in China

    29 GEN

    When Agencies Become Banks: The Dark Side of Media Buying in China

    Did you know Adidas China allegedly lost a staggering $2.8 billion (19.5 billion RMB) to marketing corruption and kickback schemes? In this episode, we dive deep into the explosive scandal rocking the advertising world, where GroupM executives are facing charges and commission rates have skyrocketed to 25%. We explore the unique, often opaque dynamics of the Chinese media landscape that made this possible—from the dominance of super-apps to extended payment cycles that force agencies to act more like financiers than marketers. You’ll learn how "media buying" has morphed into "financial engineering," including shocking examples where agencies buy their client’s own stock to fake ROI numbers while destroying brand value. Finally, we break down the structural flaws creating a "race to the bottom" in the industry and discuss what brands should actually be looking for: true content-channel fit and comprehensive performance attribution, rather than just cheap traffic. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    19 min
  3. The Death of the Service Fee: A Marketing Gamble

    11 GEN

    The Death of the Service Fee: A Marketing Gamble

    What happens when a marketing expert stops playing it safe and starts betting their own money on a client’s success?. In this episode, we dive into the disruptive world of Coolio Yang, a marketing consultant who walked away from guaranteed service fees to embrace a "zero fixed fee" model. We explore the "football coach" dilemma—the fundamental misalignment where agencies get paid regardless of whether the team wins or loses. By investing capital directly into client media and content, this new model replaces traditional "client satisfaction" with pure market performance. We discuss: • The Power Shift: Why "skin in the game" creates instant trust and the freedom to tell the brutal truth. • The 10x Reality: Why the workload triples when you move from being a "tutor" to "raising the child". • The High Stakes: Navigating the "crazy" risks of losing real money and managing intense cash flow pressure. • The Perfect Partner: Why this model only works for brands with market validation and "founder chemistry". This isn't just about marketing; it’s about redefining professional accountability and building partnerships that actually mean something in an era of uncertainty. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    12 min
  4. China Marketing 2026: The 8 Survival Skills

    3 GEN

    China Marketing 2026: The 8 Survival Skills

    Is your marketing team ready for the hyper-evolved, AI-accelerated landscape of 2026? The era of simply "writing copy, buying ads, and checking dashboards" is officially over in China. As we look toward 2026, a critical talent gap has emerged: effective marketers must now be equal parts technologist, data scientist, and product manager. In this episode, we dive deep into the eight non-negotiable technical competencies global brands need to screen for to survive and thrive in China’s unique digital ecosystem. We explore: • AI Agent Orchestration: Why building autonomous workflows in platforms like Coze or Dify is replacing manual tasks. • The Shift to GEO: How Generative Engine Optimisation is changing the search game on Xiaohongshu and Doubao. • Profit-First Strategies: Moving beyond ROAS to focus on POAS (Profit on Ad Spend) to ensure true business sustainability. • Privacy & Attribution: Navigating PIPL-compliant server-side tracking in a post-cookie world. • Ecosystem Mastery: Automating the WeChat (WeCom) customer journey and orchestrating Shipinhao (Channels) matrix strategies. Whether you are a hiring manager at a global brand or a marketing professional looking to upskill, this episode provides a roadmap for navigating the complexities of China’s technical marketing requirements. Stop hiring for 2022. Start building your team for 2026. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    13 min
  5. Why Brand Crises Explode in China and How to Build Resilience

    25/09/2025

    Why Brand Crises Explode in China and How to Build Resilience

    Brand crises in China are no longer anomalies; they are part of the operating reality. In this insightful episode, we explore why a wave of sudden reputational and regulatory crises is escalating for both international and Chinese brands. What starts small can reach millions within hours. We delve into the critical factors driving this intense volatility, including policy resets that reshape entire industries overnight and an increasingly unforgiving economic context. Crucially, Chinese consumer sentiment is highly sensitive: 72% of Chinese consumers would stop buying from a brand they consider politically or socially insensitive—significantly higher than the global average of 47%. We examine how social media algorithms exacerbate these issues, prioritising engagement and making controversies spread faster (a study found posts tagged with "national interest" are 40% more likely to trend). Furthermore, brands must navigate "grey zones in compliance" regarding data security and advertising language, and global brands often face value conflicts when headquarters push international campaigns. Even domestic champions like Ant Group, Luckin Coffee, and Li-Ning are vulnerable in this environment. Generic advice is no longer sufficient. Learn the systematic, operationalised approaches needed to institutionalise resilience: • Implementing consumer pre-testing to detect emotional triggers before nationwide launches. • Creating a structured crisis classification and response chain. • Building positive narratives that highlight societal contributions (like Lenovo’s emphasis on R&D hiring). • Adopting operational separation, where multinationals and Chinese companies run distinct entities to limit market contagion. • Establishing internal discipline, including social media handbooks and regular crisis simulations, which can reduce reaction times by 40%. Join us to understand how leaders can move beyond reactive firefighting to strengthen long-term trust with consumers and regulators in this complex market. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    14 min
  6. AI Agents in China: Reshaping Marketing Agencies – Quality, Aggregation, and a Split Future

    25/07/2025

    AI Agents in China: Reshaping Marketing Agencies – Quality, Aggregation, and a Split Future

    This episode dives deep into a question making waves in China's marketing circles: “If AI Agents can do what advertising agencies do, what will be left for you?”. This isn't just a humorous remark; it reflects a widespread anxiety and a genuine turning point in how marketing services are understood, particularly in the unique and rapidly changing Chinese context. We'll explore how this anxiety isn’t merely about automation, but also a confusion over the very word “agent” itself. In China’s highly volatile business climate, brand marketers spend significant energy mediating competing internal interests, navigating resource constraints, and balancing department politics. Ironically, their in-house marketing teams lack the bandwidth for strategic research, which is where consultancies and agencies traditionally found their value. However, agencies—especially the creative and media ones—have largely become "executors," while consultancies get to "think". Much of agency value in China has shifted from raising the marketing quality to maximising aggregation: buying media in bulk, leveraging cross-client scale, and driving prices down. Aggregation is often seen as easier, less risky, and more scalable than investing in real expertise. But what if AI is ill-suited to these aggregation functions? Our discussion will reveal how AI’s true promise lies in making solutions more rigorous, reports more granular, and data analysis more accurate—effectively returning marketing to a discipline of quality, not just quantity. This raises a new dilemma in China: should AI amplify the capabilities of agencies, or should brands internalise them? We'll unpack why AI Agents won’t simply replace the full function of agencies but will dramatically improve the quality and thoroughness of certain outputs, while aggregation remains a stubbornly human, relationship-driven game. Many Chinese agencies are already rushing to build and resell AI-powered tools, attempting to rebrand as technology vendors. Ultimately, we’ll look at the disruption brought by AI Agents not as simple replacement, but as polarisation, leading to a "split future" in China’s marketing landscape. It's a future where one camp is rooted in AI-driven quality—“the quality tribe”—and the other entrenched in aggregation and quantity—“the direct tribe”. This isn’t the end of advertising agencies in China, but a crucial moment for them, and their clients, to redefine value. The industry faces an urgent need to redefine what is truly valuable in the age of AI. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    11 min
  7. Branding: The Art of Strategic Pruning

    16/06/2025

    Branding: The Art of Strategic Pruning

    In this thought-provoking episode, we dive deep into a surprising revelation from a high-end headhunter's job ad: a Chief Marketing Officer position explicitly stating, “This position does not involve branding”. Our expert, Coolio Yang, unpacks what this seemingly simple line truly signals – a company likely “once burned” by branding efforts that offered no clear returns, leading to confusion and frustration. Discover why real brand building isn’t about spending a fortune on poetic videos or simply adding tasks and campaigns, but about “subtraction” – returning to fundamentals, asking hard questions, defining clear standards, and removing everything that doesn’t serve those standards. It’s about doing less, but doing it with intent. We explore how professional marketers differentiate themselves by focusing on core intentions, asking critical questions like 'What does this brand stand for?' and 'What is its true competitive edge?'. Learn that branding is ultimately about clarity, not just visibility, and is the most efficient way to convey a founder’s original intention with precision and consistency. We’ll uncover why many CEOs fear the term 'branding' – often due to marketers imposing their own fantasies, chasing trends, or unexplainable expenses being filed under “branding”. Finally, we discuss why courageous, disciplined brand builders are essential “stewards of meaning” for any business. Tune in to understand why that 'no branding' clause might be turning away the very best candidates and how “in branding, everything communicates”! -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    13 min
  8. The New Gravity of China’s E-Commerce

    03/06/2025

    The New Gravity of China’s E-Commerce

    Get ready to navigate the new era of China's e-commerce! This episode dives into the key shifts happening in 2025, moving beyond chasing pure scale to focusing on "competitive gravity" – retaining the right users. We explore how internet user growth has plateaued, making retention the new power. Discover the changing landscape of content commerce, from the rise of mid-sized creators and store-based livestreaming on platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou to Xiaohongshu's lifestyle-first approach and WeChat Channels' loyalty-building capabilities. Understand how instant retail is becoming essential infrastructure for everyday consumption, expanding beyond fresh food to include categories like snacks, beverages, and household supplies, demanding logistical localisation from global brands. We also look at how major platforms like Tmall, JD.com, and Pinduoduo are re-centering around brand equity and pushing for China-native branding. Finally, learn why offline integration and lower-tier city penetration through channels like community group buying are crucial for foreign brands. If you're a global brand, the time for testing the waters is over – success requires building China-specific strategies with global discipline The Source: Article posted by Coolio Yang on LinkedIn - Founder of Coolio Yang & Consultants -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

    13 min
Elenco completo (20)

Descrizione

Welcome to Marketing China (formerly Eastbound Insights) — your definitive guide to cracking the code of the world’s most dynamic and complex market. Curated by Coolio Yang, a seasoned industry veteran and former Vice President of Ogilvy and Greater China CEO of Kantar’s media division, this podcast delivers high-level strategic clarity for Western brand owners and global marketers. Doing business in China requires more than just a presence; it requires a deep understanding of unique digital ecosystems and shifting consumer behaviors. Each episode unpacks: China Marketing Strategy: Real-world playbooks for market entry and sustainable growth. Consumer Trends: Deep dives into the mindsets of Chinese Gen Z, silver economy, and middle-class consumers. Digital Ecosystems: Navigating platforms like WeChat, Douyin (TikTok), Xiaohongshu (RED), and Tmall. Expert Analysis: Candid conversations on the challenges and opportunities defining the Chinese market today. Whether you are an executive at a multinational or an entrepreneur looking to scale, tune in to elevate your China strategy with unmatched expertise. Connect with Coolio: coolioyang.com/en/ -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Informazioni

  • Creatore
    Coolio Yang
  • Anni di attività
    2024 - 2026
  • Puntate
    20
  • Classificazione
    Contenuti adatti a tutti
  • Copyright
    © Coolio Yang
  • Sito web del podcast
    Marketing China