China Marketing Weekly
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago -Join us to keep up on the trends affecting marketing in China!
We cover new features in WeChat, Douyin, Baidu, Weibo, Bilbilili and other Chinese platforms.
Plus, we'll give a brief overview of the news in Chinese culture, politics and economics, while pointing out the takeaways for marketing teams.
Just 35 minutes per week, and you'll be up-to-date!
The podcast is new, but we've been blogging on this topic since all the way back in 2008 - before most of the Chinese digital platforms even existed.
Your hosts are:
1) Tait, Canadian entrepreneur that's worked on hundreds of marketing campaigns in China.
2) Lawrence, Chinese marketer that studied & worked in Australia for 8 years.
3) Wiki, Chinese social marketing pro from Poland.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
China Auto Trends - What Will The Streets of China Look Like in The Near Future?
April 22, 2021 02:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBHello! This week Tait and Lawrence talk about auto trends - new energy vehicles, smart vehicles, delivery drones and more. Plus, we chat a bit about China's economy, aging population and crypto asset predictions. ------ Topics and sources: Alibaba fined 2.8 Billion USD, vows to end forced exclusivity. Source (English): https://technode.com/2021/04/12/alibaba-pledges-end-to-forced-exclusivity-after-antitrust-penalty/ Chinese citizens prefer less military spending, more income equality....
China Travel Trends - What's The New Normal?
April 14, 2021 18:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBHello! This week we’re looking into Chinese travel trends. We hope to help you understand what’s going on with Chinese tourism, both inside China and in/out of China. In short, domestic travel in China is back to normal, with strong travel over Qingming Festival. Many Chinese citizens feel safe from COVID and they’ve become even more comfortable with travelling. But first, two now-travel news items. Topics and sources: Alibaba fined 2.8 Billion USD, vows to end forced exclusivity. S...
Baidu’s New “Jimuyu” Landing Pages
April 08, 2021 02:00 - 31 minutes - 21.9 MBHello! This week we chatted about trends in environmental protection in China. It's a big opportunity for businesses from around the world. Plus, Baidu is rolling out a new landing page tool that will be required for many advertisers - marketers will want to learn about this. Dig in! Topics and sources: Is after school tutoring banned? Source (English): https://pandaily.com/beijing-retightens-its-grip-on-the-after-school-tutoring-industry/ Baidu’s new “Jimuyu” landing pages required for...
Xiaomi to Release a New Energy Vehicle
April 01, 2021 02:00 - 30 minutes - 20.8 MBHello! Here’s our new pitch to newcomers: If you want to make money in China, you'll need to understand the trends in Chinese culture, technology and business. I've spent a quarter of my life in China, and I've been doing business there since 2003. In this podcast, I chat with my friends about the newest developments from China that I think will affect business, or are just plain fun. Topics and sources: Huawei Pay is really coming Source (English): https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-03-...
The Chinese Digital Yuan vs Bitcoin, and Other Trends From China
March 26, 2021 02:00 - 20 minutes - 14 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence to hear about Chinese cultural, tech and marketing trends. This week's topics: Chinese apps to collect less personal data. Source (English): https://pandaily.com/chinese-regulators-clamp-down-on-apps-collecting-excessive-personal-data/ China’s largest automaker teams up with US lidar producer. Source: https://pandaily.com/chinese-carmaker-saic-teams-up-with-lidar-specialist-luminar-to-make-new-self-driving-cars/ Pinduoduo founder steps down at age 41. Source:...
Douyin Bans Creators That Show-off Wealth
March 17, 2021 22:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBJoin Tait and Wiki to hear about Chinese cultural, tech and marketing trends. This week's topics: Cangzhou grants Baidu first robotaxi permit. Source (English): https://technode.com/2021/03/17/china-grants-baidu-first-robotaxi-permit-for-paying-riders/ Savvy Chinese consumers complain online, mostly on Weibo. Source (Chinese): https://www.huxiu.com/article/414898.html China’s vaccination program speeds up with approval of 5th vaccine. Source (English): https://supchina.com/2021/03/16/c...
China Launching Vaccine Travel Pass
March 11, 2021 02:00 - 34 minutes - 23.9 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence to hear about Chinese cultural, tech and marketing trends. This week's topics: China’s dating apps let users filter out partners from inferior colleges. Link: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006892/China%E2%80%99s%20Dating%20Apps%20Are%20Swiping%20Right%20on%20Snobbery/ American opinions of China at a low. Link: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/03/04/most-americans-support-tough-stance-toward-china-on-human-rights-economic-issues/ Side note, Tait is apparen...
WeChat’s Emojis Have Quit Smoking
March 04, 2021 02:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence to hear about Chinese cultural, tech and marketing trends. WeChat emojis have stopped smoking. Source (Chinese): https://new.qq.com/omn/20210301/20210301A0E2KN00.html We published “11 Ways to Use WeChat for Student Recruitment in China”. Source (English): https://www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com/blog/wechat-student-recruitment China’s home-built passenger plane gets its first buyer. Source (English): https://supchina.com/2021/03/01/chinas-home-built-passenger-plane-r...
Why is a Shipment of Ants Trending on Weibo?
February 25, 2021 02:00 - 22 minutes - 15.2 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence to hear about this week's Chinese marketing trends. Chrome now offers QR codes for every page. Source (English): https://chromeunboxed.com/chrome-88-dino-codes-full-roll-out China’s trade with Canada up 8%. If Canada can do it, anybody can. Source (English): https://www.ualberta.ca/china-institute/research/analysis-briefs/2021/canada-china-2020-yearinreview.html China might allow all residents to invest in foreign securities. Source (English): https://www.scmp....
Our Viral Douyin Video
February 11, 2021 00:00 - 31 minutes - 22 MBHappy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐！ Join Tait and Wiki to hear about this week's Chinese marketing trends. Clubhouse has been blocked Source (English): https://pandaily.com/clubhouse-banned-in-mainland-china/ Source 2 (English): https://www.whatsonweibo.com/a-breath-of-fresh-air-clubhouse-app-discussed-by-chinese-social-media-users/ Douyin users surprised by the lyrics of popular Polish song Our discussion about it (English): https://youtu.be/flvhgQ-EOYY The video (Chinese): https://www....
Follow These WeChat Policies or Else
February 06, 2021 00:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MBJoin Tait & Lawrence to hear about the trends affecting marketers in China. This week's topics: 1) Follow these new WeChat policies or get banned. Source: (Chinese) 2) For Gen Z, more Chinese men (than women) are willing to be full-time parents. Source: (English) 3) Alipay launches the “Five Fortune” event. Source: (Chinese) 4) Douyin sues Tencent for monopolistic behaviour. Source: (English) 5) 50 million different covers for red envelopes. Source: (Chinese) 6) Some people are f...
India Keeps Banning Chinese Apps
January 28, 2021 20:00 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBJoin Tait & Lawrence to hear about the trends affecting marketers in China. Topics: 1) Bilibili red envelope bullet comments are coming. Source: (Chinese) 2) Chinese cities offer subsidies to keep citizens home. Source: (Chinese) 3) China using anal swabs to test for COVID. Source: (English) 4) Ant Group back on track for IPO. Source: (English) 5) India prolongs ban on TikTok and other Chinese apps. Source: (English) 6) Biden bans the term “China virus”. Source: (English) 7) Q...
Douyin Looking for Its Share of the Mobile Payments Pie
January 21, 2021 16:00 - 25 minutes - 17.3 MBThis week, we see the changing of political guard in the US but renewed American concerns about who has access to your WeChat data. Baidu and Geely join powers to take on Tesla in the electric vehicle (EV) arena, and there's ANOTHER digital payment option to make our lives even easier...right? Topics: Douyin launches payment solution. Source (Chinese): https://36kr.com/p/1062076780324231 Source (English): https://pandaily.com/tiktok-owner-bytedance-unveils-e-payment-service-douyin-pay-i...
Nio ET7 to compete with Tesla Model S
January 15, 2021 03:00 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MBJoin Tait & Lawrence to hear about the trends affecting marketers in China. Sum-up: Fewer people to travel during Spring Festival. A poll of 15,000 people showed the respondents to be about evenly split between three options: Travel during Spring Festival Stay home Wait and see Some local governments have urged citizens to avoid travelling, and some have even gone so far as to offer subsidies to encourage local citizens to stay at home. Source 1 (English): https://www.scmp.com/news/c...
What Will This Year’s Spring Festival Be Like?
January 07, 2021 19:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBJoin Tait & Lawrence to hear about the trends affecting marketers in China this week. Sum-up: China (mostly) open for domestic Spring Festival travel Spring Festival is coming up, so it’s time for people to decide if they’ll visit family or not. The official holiday date is Feb 11–17, but there’s usually a lot of travel before and after that as well. The 40-day travel rush of 2018 and 2019’s Spring Festivals saw almost 3 billion trips being made. This year, travel will mostly go on as...
Half of China’s Population Is Overweight
December 31, 2020 20:00 - 23 minutes - 16.4 MBHalf of China’s population is overweight. At Chinese dinner tables, it’s common to hear “eat up”, “eat that” and “eat this” as Chinese parents and grandparents urge their children to consume more. While the older generation may have grown up in a time when food was sometimes scarce, that’s not usually the problem nowadays. According to government standards, over 50% of China’s population is now considered overweight by government standards (an increase from just 30% in 2002). The cause is...
China’s Facial-Recognition Tech: Naughty or Nice?
December 24, 2020 19:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBHello! This week, Kejie from ChinaMKTGInsights.com joined us to talk about fake bird nests and facial-recognition trends in China. Feel free to contact us if you have any other insights that could help companies sell more stuff in China. We could work with you on a podcast or a blog post. Dig in! “Show your face to enter” - Convenient or scary? Facial-recognition technology has become quite common in China, but concerns about privacy and data ownership have grown. After paying the init...
China's Digital Currency Tested Online
December 18, 2020 01:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. China’s digital currency works online. The latest test of China’s digital currency started last week. This time around, the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) could be spent in both physical stores in Suzhou and on JD’s e-commerce platform. Plus, it now works even if both the buyer and seller don’t have an active Internet connection. How will the final version of the ...
3X Chinese Tech Accomplishments + Baidu PPC Optimization Tips
December 10, 2020 16:00 - 26 minutes - 18.3 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. This week's topics: - China expanding its weather-control program. Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/china-expanding-weather-modification-program-artificial-rain-snow-2025-2020-12 - China rolling out 5 vaccines. Source: https://supchina.com/2020/12/07/china-begins-mass-distribution-of-covid-vaccines/ - China achieves quantum supremacy. Source: https://www.science...
How to Write Great Articles For WeChat
December 03, 2020 17:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MBJoin Tait, Lawrence and Nara as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. This week's topics: - The OECD expects strongest growth for China and India next year. Source: https://www.oecd.org/economic-outlook/ - China’s social group buying isn’t what you think it is. Source: https://36kr.com/p/992778165417607 - Fewer Western academics are studying China. Source: https://www.economist.com/china/2020/11/28/as-chinas-power-waxes-the-wests-s...
What's QQ Good For? And, Two WeChat Features You Need to Know
November 27, 2020 17:00 - 33 minutes - 23.3 MBJoin Tait, Lawrence and Nara as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. This week's topics: - A tour of QQ (kind-of like WeChat). - New WeChat features: hashtags and bigger file transfers. Source: https://dy.163.com/article/FS95BI2P05491QAW.html - Bilibili to launch 33 new anime shows. Source: https://radiichina.com/bilibili-chinese-anime/ - 3 big trade deals mean better access to the Chinese market. Source 1: https://news.cgtn.co...
Baidu SEO Basics (Audioblog)
November 24, 2020 21:00 - 14 minutes - 9.66 MBIn this audio version of our blog, Tait introduces: Why SEO is important. Why you should be doing SEO on top of your other marketing efforts. How to get started with basic SEO for China’s biggest search engine, Baidu. Baidu SEO doesn't need to be complex. It's easy to get started by simply doing the most basic on-page optimizations for your content.
Marketing Tips for Zhihu, Toutiao, Bilibili
November 20, 2020 22:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. Today we'll be giving some practical tips about Toutiao, Bilibili and Zhihu. All topics and sources: 1) Zhihu is growing, and Zhihu ads are becoming more sophisticated Source: https://www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com/blog/zhihu-advertising 2) What is Toutiao? How do people use it? Source: https://www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com/blog/what-is-toutiao 3) Bilibili's has a cool new not...
China's 5 Year Plan, Baidu Ranking Factors and More
November 06, 2020 16:00 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MBJoin Tait and Lawrence as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. Today we'll be talking about China's five year plan, because it gives insights into major opportunities in China. Plus, we'll be looking at a few Baidu ranking factors from a new correlation study. Sources: https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/23/21531154/judge-denies-trump-administration-ban-wechat-tencent-china https://blog.searchmetrics.com/us/analyzing-baidu-seo-ranking-factors...
Chinese Elders, Labourers, and Only-Children
October 31, 2020 02:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBJoin Tait, Lawrence and Phoebe as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. Today we'll be talking about cultural trends affecting working-age adults and their parents. Plus, some insights into Baidu, WeChat, Douyin and mobile Internet browsers. Sources: - https://pandaily.com/economists-propose-three-child-policy-in-china-to-combat-reduced-population-growth/ - https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006348/chinese-want-online-parental-controls-%E2%80%...
Double 11 is Coming, and Americans Beware! - China Marketing Weekly
October 23, 2020 02:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MBToday’s topics: - COVID 19 vaccine available for 228 Yuan/shot. Source: http://med.china.com.cn/content/pid/210471/tid/1026 - Alibaba’s Double 11 festival is approaching. Source: https://www.alizila.com/what-to-expect-from-alibabas-2020-11-11-global-shopping-festival/ - 2 KOL sells more than 7 billion CNY in Taobao Double 11 pre-sale. Source: https://36kr.com/p/934835367713927 - Travel warning for Americans: Don’t go to China right now. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/politi...
WeChat Video Account Upgrades and More
October 16, 2020 17:00 - 44 minutes - 30.7 MBJoin Tait & Lawrence as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. Today’s topics: - WeChat video account upgrades. Source (Chinese): https://36kr.com/p/921002628024711 - How Carrefour started earning profits in China. Source (Chinese): https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1680420249402606899 - COVID updates Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54504785 - 3 ways to protect data from the Chinese government. Source: https://w...
Weekly China Marketing News Oct 8 - WeChat Kids' Mode, Negative Views of China, Chinese Quarantines and Snail Rice Noodles
October 09, 2020 02:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBJoin Tait & Echo as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. Today's topics (~4 minutes each). - WeChat releases kids' mode. - Negative views of China hit 10-year high. - China installs the most industrial robots. - Quarantine and travel. - A human/AI immersive art display. - Zhihu account setup, advertising. - Snail rice noodles are the hotness of 2020. Sources: - https://supchina.com/2020/10/06/wechat-for-kids-is-here-but-is-it-just-pr/ - htt...
Weekly China Marketing News Oct 1, 2020 - China's Age 50+ Users Log On, Shanghai Bans Plastic, Mid-autumn Travel Approaches Normal
October 02, 2020 02:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBHappy Mid-autumn festival! Join Tait & Lawrence as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. Today's topics (~4 minutes each). - More Chinese people aged 50+ login. - China's SaaS ecosystem barely getting started. - Shanghai bans plastic. - Tesla thriving in China. - Sina and Sogou going private. - WeChat cracks down on obtrusive video ads. - Rising Yuan will spur more luxury consumption. - Mid-autumn festival travel back to 70% normal levels.
Weekly China Marketing News - WeChat, Huawei, Market Opportunities and More
September 25, 2020 05:00 - 36 minutes - 25.3 MBJoin Tait & Lawrence as we take you through the top news this week that affects companies selling into China. Today's topics (~4 minutes each). WeChat ban Huawei's OS China's currency Foreigner resident permits Carbon neutrality 5g subscriber numbers Chinese FDI China cyber insecurity Tait has been working in digital marketing in China since 2008 - that's before most of today's major platforms even existed. Lawrence is a newer Account Manager at Tait's company Nanjing Mar...