Certified Legendary Thread China History in the Making

[Jinglebells32]

Zhejiang is the wealthiest province in China, home of many of China's largest international companies and is China's industrial heartland. In Yiwu I noted every 2nd car was a lambo, Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley etc and I was told there are more luxury cars in yiwu than all of au and that in yiwu a lambo means nothing, if you are really rich you will have a Lear jet with a foreign pilot. The newly acquired wealth is astonishing. We felt like peasants driving around in a brand new Mazda 3, watch the movie filthy rich Asians for an example. I can see why the dumb ass yanks are getting jealous and itching for a war. China are beating them at their own game, capitalism, and will soon surpass USA as the worlds largest economy.
There are numerous large wealthy international cities in this province and it is also the home to China's Hollywood. So I can see why port chose zhejiang, te same province my wife is from. But it will be very difficult sell. Chinese people seem to follow epl & NBA only. Even then they are more likely to follow an individual star like wingard or lebron from team to team. And Chinese people DO NOT worship athletes like in the west, in fact people view athletes as being too stupid to pursue a proper career. Just the other day I was reading about a gold medal gymnast begging on the streets, in au a gold medalist would be set for life.
Having said that though I have been surprised to meet many Chinese who know about afl. Just the other day a taxi driver knew I was from au Adelaide and asked if I followed port or the crows. Wtf, I told him the crows were tongxinglian. Turned out his daughter studied in Melbourne and he had visited au. That made sense and was the case in almost every instance, eg they knew Ozzie rules from visiting au at some stage. This is the only way I can see afl taking a small foothold in china or if by some miracle we can unearth a Chinese star. Out of over a billion people there should be 1000's of Gary Abletts and warren treadreas.
Anyways I find most people build an image in their mind of a certain place based on what they have heard and seen on tv generally, I did the same before I came to China and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I have lived in the USA too and I feel a thousand times safer in China and I feel the same about the 2 countries politically.

My wife's family are in Jinhua,
Zhejiang.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

It’s not up to me to tell you or anyone else anything. It’s up to the Club’s Communications Division (yet to be set up) to do the telling, setting the pace in advance, controlling the message.
Cathay Pacific is in deep s**t thanks to the massive hacking strike that has brought down customer faith and commitment, sent the airline deeply into the red, and set in motion the emergency elimination of their lower end partnerships, one of which is/was us renewable annually.
It opens the door to Singapore Airlines, to whom the Club has lost no time making overtures.

Heard this news report on Monday. The issues continue for Cathay Pacific.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01...s-first-class-tickets-tenth-of-price/10714294

Less than two weeks after a Cathay Pacific ticketing error led to premium seats being sold for economy fares

, Cathay Pacific has accidentally sold tickets from Europe to Hong Kong for less than a tenth of their usual prices. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that first-class tickets from Portugal to Hong Kong were sold for $2,103, down from $22,179. And because Cathay Pacific doesn't fly direct from Lisbon to Hong Kong, the deep discount also included one-way legs on partner carriers from Lisbon to London, Frankfurt, or Zurich. A Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said the fares were the fault of a website error due to an input issue. "The sale of such fares was stopped immediately," she said in a statement. "We are looking into the root cause of this incident both internally and externally with our vendors. "For the very small number of customers who have purchased these tickets, we look forward to welcoming you on board to enjoy our premium services."
.........
The error continues the string of Cathay Pacific's woes. Cathay Pacific made worldwide headlines and caused a buying frenzy when round-trip, first-class tickets from Vietnam to North America were briefly discounted from about $23,000 to just under $1,500, and business-class seats were less than $1,000 on New Year's Eve. Cathay honoured all the tickets, but SMCP reported that the mistake, which was the product of human error, likely cost the carrier millions of dollars. In October, stocks plunged when their airline revealed a massive data breach that affected 9.4 million passengers.

And on a lighter note, one of Cathay Pacific's planes in September was discovered to have been branded with a misspelling of its own name.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01...s-first-class-tickets-tenth-of-price/10714294

 

[Janus]

Those aren’t errors IMO. It’s guerilla advertising designed to whitewash Google of the hacking incident.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Those aren’t errors IMO. It’s guerilla advertising designed to whitewash Google of the hacking incident.

Interesting strategy if they did that. Wont whitewash them - just moves it page 5 or 8 or 10 of a general search or news search. You can pay people to write algorithms to somehow stop your name / company name coming up.

 

[OneGreatClub]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Today's Fin Review has a front page story titled China GDP set to mask slowdown. Its another one of these "FMD China is only gping to grow at 4-5% this year not 6-8% we will all be ruined" type stories I keep hearing and reading the last couple of years. Europe and North America would kill for 4-5% real growth. Anyway the box to the side of an article about another China article on pages 36-37 and Shanghai in particular says - "The Golden Era of Shanghai is over .... due to soaring costs, taxes and tighter regulation."Business Struggle to grow in XI Jingping's China. Haven't read the article yet to see of its another one of these panic type articles but we might have to work a bit harder in Shanghai than we thought. Its too big not to be a massive opportunity but maybe it will be a wake up call that we have to start working smarter not just harder. We should pass that onto the coach.

 

[Janus]

Today's Fin Review has a front page story titled China GDP set to mask slowdown. Its another one of these "FMD China is only gping to grow at 4-5% this year not 6-8% we will all be ruined" type stories I keep hearing and reading the last couple of years. Europe and North America would kill for 4-5% real growth. Anyway the box to the side of an article about another China article on pages 36-37 and Shanghai in particular says - "The Golden Era of Shanghai is over .... due to soaring costs, taxes and tighter regulation."Business Struggle to grow in XI Jingping's China. Haven't read the article yet to see of its another one of these panic type articles but we might have to work a bit harder in Shanghai than we thought. Its too big not to be a massive opportunity but maybe it will be a wake up call that we have to start working smarter not just harder. We should pass that onto the coach.

China is transitioning from being a manufacturing country to a consumption country. That means the people who could simply throw their product out into the street and someone would pick it up are now having to make quality products because the market is more discerning with their money. Most of the people they interviewed in that article were small business owners who provide extremely niche products - new years decorations, souvenirs etc. Even the guy who said that the golden era was over was selling pasta and ice cream - which used to be a luxury product but wasn't any more.

All these guys are complaining because the rivers of easy money are drying up - both with retail and with rent.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

 

[Doctor Feel]

Can we D-FAT Ayden Johnson?

 

[Papa G]

Who's the bogan in the tracky dacks and beanie?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

China is transitioning from being a manufacturing country to a consumption country. That means the people who could simply throw their product out into the street and someone would pick it up are now having to make quality products because the market is more discerning with their money. Most of the people they interviewed in that article were small business owners who provide extremely niche products - new years decorations, souvenirs etc. Even the guy who said that the golden era was over was selling pasta and ice cream - which used to be a luxury product but wasn't any more.

All these guys are complaining because the rivers of easy money are drying up - both with retail and with rent.

Its more than that. Thought about it yesterday after I read the article.

Shanghai can't really grow that much more bigger than it already is. The rapid growth is over.
1982 11.8m, 1990 13.3m, 2000 16.4m, 2010 23.0m 2014 24.2m 2017 24.1m. In 2017 the Chinese Government implemented population controls for Shanghai.

Plus the taxes going up is part of local government authorities having to pay debt back to the central government. Alan Kohler on his Monday night business report on ABC had an enlightening segment.

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/abc-news-sa
"Well China's GDP grew at a rate of 6.4% in the 4th quarter of 2018.
They don't actually report growth for the quarter like Australian statisticians do,
they annualize the number, and they do it fast! 3 weeks versus the ABS 2 months.
That's because they work backwards from the government target which is 6.5%.
Local governments are expected to generate enough activity to meet that.
And they can borrow as much as they need to do it. Which is why China's debt
load is among the highest in the world.

Here's a graph of China's growth rate and the days of 10% per annum economic growth
are long gone of course, but in those days the target was 7.5%, which was easily
exceeded because of booming exports. Now the local governments and state owned
companies having to borrow much more to meet the targets because exports are being
squelched by Donald Trump."

Then he goes on to talk about the bigger more inexorable reason for slowing growth -
demographics. China is ageing (due to the one child policy) and its total labor force is
declining, before it use to be booming and at the same time age dependency ratio
ratio, ie those not working as a % of the workforce, to has almost doubled.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Papa G this is why Luzhuo Laojiao - s**t drink and all - were prepared to pay $45m over 5 years to sponsor the Australian Open. Tennis Australia are playing in a whole different China sponsorship league compared to what Port are, or Port have even contemplated to play in, me thinks. The Oz Open now has $150m worth of sponsorship deals with Chinese companies, led by Luzhou Laojiao. From today's Weekend Oz business section by sports finance journo John Stensholt (The_Wookie)

Open season on expanding tennis marketing

Virtual reality advertising boards courtside that show a range of brands in different broadcast markets around the world and a high-end shopping precinct modelled on airport departure terminals are the next stage in the Australian Open’s push towards breaking the $500 million revenue barrier.
......

Tennis Australia’s regional and global strategy is encapsulated by a record-breaking sponsorship deal with Chinese liquor brand Luzhou Laojiao, which signed as an associate partner of the Open this year for the first time in a deal almost on par with major partner Kia’s minimum $16 million-a-year arrangement. So important is Luzhou Laojiao to Tennis Australia, which has enjoyed a significant uplift in television ratings in China this Open, that the organisation will soon open a commercial office in Chengdu, close to the liquor company’s headquarters, to manage the partnership and add to offices or representatives already found in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and soon Tokyo.

Tennis Australia’s chief revenue officer Richard Heaselgrave told The Weekend Australian that the Open now has $150m worth of sponsorship deals with Chinese companies, led by Luzhou Laojiao. “They are all about the drinking culture and the celebration culture in China,” Mr Heaselgrave said. “They sell more in the world than the total volumes of whisky and vodka, but it is all in mainland China. It is an incredible scale that we don’t always think of in Australia. “They want to globalise the brand so they have looked at the Open and seen our global audience as a way to do that.” Luzhou Laojiao has helped drive a 40 per cent increase in television audiences in China this tournament through spending on the main CCTV channel. Virtual courtside signage aimed at the Chinese audience has also helped the commercial outcome for Tennis Australia, a strategy that will be rolled out for all overseas markets from the 2020 tournament onwards.

“All of our sponsorships over the past three years have been organised to be ready for two things: the use of virtual advertising from next year … and some big rights ending in 2021 like Eurosport, Fox Sports Asia and ESPN (in North America),” Mr Heaselgrave said.

“We can show advertising (in China now) that you would never see in Australia. From next year we will have the ability to do that in every market, which changes the paradigm for us. Some partners are global, like Kia, Rolex and Luzhou Laojiao, and some for specific markets, like Coopers and Vegemite in Australia. “That two-tier strategy has been key. There will be some brands that are interested in being global, and some that will be interested in the local market only. Because we are host broadcasters, we can split that feed.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bu...s/news-story/a0440b2c76a6025534b837ac03981023

And Tennis Australia are looking at new big lucrative TV contracts when existing contracts run out, and virtual advertising playing a big part in cranking up the price of TV and media rights.

Mr Heaselgrave said the expiry of broadcast rights in Europe, North America and parts of Asia in two years meant Tennis Australia could potentially explore deals with multinational streaming giants or negotiate market by market. “It might not just be about getting a rights fee now; it may be more lucrative to fund it via a bigger audience and through advertising. Take Europe. We could earn ‘x’ from Eurosport doing a deal there or earn ‘y’ by doing deals in those 53 countries but topped up by virtual advertising that is different in each. Or it could open up to the like of Amazon. So we will have choices.”

Article talks about Tennis Australia also opening up shops, restaurants, concerts during the 2 week event.

Mr Heaselgrave said a retail precinct was the next focus after a big expansion with a music festival and restaurants such as Rockpool and Nobu moving in over recent years. The Open had a row of five shops this year as an experiment and Mr Heaselgrave said that would expand through high-end brands not usually found at sporting events — existing sponsors such as Rolex, DeRucci and Country Road could feature — to expand entertainment options. “Our audience is here on site for eight hours. Think of it like airports........

I'm sure anyone watching more than 5 minutes of a match on Rod Laver Arena would have picked up the 1573 sign and Chinese writing to the left of 1573, as per the photo from the story below. Its been on the other courts but stands out on RLA games. Under the Chinese writing it says Guojiao which is one of the baijiu liquors Luzhou Laojiao makes and 1573 is their founding year. Its all part of the branding around the event. Show Court Two has been renamed 1573 Arena, and its the 4th largest after RLA, Melbourne Arena and Margret Court Arena, with capacity for 3,000 spectators. At press conferences with several sponsors brands on the billboard behind players, they have Chinese writing and Luzhou Laojiao under it.

"Advertising aimed at the Chinese market serves as a backdrop to Novak Djokovic"

 

[VineValerian]

Ouch.

Papa G this is why Luzhuo Laojiao - s**t drink and all - were prepared to pay $45m over 5 years to sponsor the Australian Open. Tennis Australia are playing in a whole different China sponsorship league compared to what Port are, or Port have even contemplated to play in, me thinks. The Oz Open now has $150m worth of sponsorship deals with Chinese companies, led by Luzhou Laojiao. From today's Weekend Oz business section by sports finance journo John Stensholt (The_Wookie)

Open season on expanding tennis marketing

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bu...s/news-story/a0440b2c76a6025534b837ac03981023

And Tennis Australia are looking at new big lucrative TV contracts when existing contracts run out, and virtual advertising playing a big part in cranking up the price of TV and media rights.


Article talks about Tennis Australia also opening up shops, restaurants, concerts during the 2 week event.


I'm sure anyone watching more than 5 minutes of a match on Rod Laver Arena would have picked up the 1573 sign and Chinese writing to the left of 1573, as per the photo from the story below. Its been on the other courts but stands out on RLA games. Under the Chinese writing it says Guojiao which is one of the baijiu liquors Luzhou Laojiao makes and 1573 is their founding year. Its all part of the branding around the event. Show Court Two has been renamed 1573 Arena, and its the 4th largest after RLA, Melbourne Arena and Margret Court Arena, with capacity for 3,000 spectators. At press conferences with several sponsors brands on the billboard behind players, they have Chinese writing and Luzhou Laojiao under it.

"Advertising aimed at the Chinese market serves as a backdrop to Novak Djokovic"

View attachment 610937

Ouch.
We are amatuer hour compared to that.

 

[Janus]

Ouch.



Ouch.
We are amatuer hour compared to that.

You’re comparing a Grand Slam with it’s international history and cachet to what we are trying to accomplish? That would be like a tech startup trying to compare themselves to Intel.

 

[Papa G]

Papa G this is why Luzhuo Laojiao - s**t drink and all - were prepared to pay $45m over 5 years to sponsor the Australian Open. Tennis Australia are playing in a whole different China sponsorship league compared to what Port are, or Port have even contemplated to play in, me thinks. The Oz Open now has $150m worth of sponsorship deals with Chinese companies, led by Luzhou Laojiao. From today's Weekend Oz business section by sports finance journo John Stensholt (The_Wookie)

Open season on expanding tennis marketing

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bu...s/news-story/a0440b2c76a6025534b837ac03981023

And Tennis Australia are looking at new big lucrative TV contracts when existing contracts run out, and virtual advertising playing a big part in cranking up the price of TV and media rights.


Article talks about Tennis Australia also opening up shops, restaurants, concerts during the 2 week event.


I'm sure anyone watching more than 5 minutes of a match on Rod Laver Arena would have picked up the 1573 sign and Chinese writing to the left of 1573, as per the photo from the story below. Its been on the other courts but stands out on RLA games. Under the Chinese writing it says Guojiao which is one of the baijiu liquors Luzhou Laojiao makes and 1573 is their founding year. Its all part of the branding around the event. Show Court Two has been renamed 1573 Arena, and its the 4th largest after RLA, Melbourne Arena and Margret Court Arena, with capacity for 3,000 spectators. At press conferences with several sponsors brands on the billboard behind players, they have Chinese writing and Luzhou Laojiao under it.

"Advertising aimed at the Chinese market serves as a backdrop to Novak Djokovic"

View attachment 610937

The funny thing is they are completely delusional about what Baijiu can do internationally. They think it will be China's version of Vodka. It won't. It is putrid s**t. By all means take their money whilst it's on offer, but there's zero chance of Baijiu taking off internationally.

 

[Sleezy]

https://www.theage.com.au/world/asi...china-in-her-own-country-20190128-p50u1n.html

She gave evidence by video link to two committees keen to know about, among other things, her groundbreaking research into the Chinese Communist Party's activities in Antarctica in the course of producing her book China as a Polar Great Power. This is a vital interest for Australia, which has sovereignty over 42 per cent of the continent, as well as a vital area for NZ. And it turns out to be an area of very lively interest to China's military too, as Brady's research had unearthed. Her work uncovered, for instance, that the Chinese People's Liberation Army had built three military facilities on Australian Antarctic territory.

So when Australian Liberal MP Julian Leeser asked Brady whether she'd encountered any personal difficulties from Beijing over her work, she replied "yes", and summarised the various incidents. The Chinese government was deeply displeased that Brady had spoken out. "Soon after my testimony to the Australian parliamentary committees, some of my colleagues in Chinese universities were visited by the Ministry of State Security.

"They were very angry that I had spoken about the burglaries and break-ins. They were particularly upset that I had spoken it into Hansard," the official record of proceedings of the Parliament. Yet the NZ police didn't take the matter seriously. And the incidents continue. In November, Brady's car was tampered with. The NZ police treated the matter with familiar indifference and told the mechanic not to speak to the media.

 

[Janus]

Lol no one had claim to Antartica...only four nations recognise territorial claims - France, New Zealand, the UK and Norway...the same nations that have their own territorial claims.

The US and Russia already have military stations there to track satellites. If China wants to do the same, who cares?

 

[Lockhart Road]

Our China team is down to 5.5 persons (Shane Smith is part CFO, part China Operations head).

The Chinese-speaking media co-ordinator is now gone.

Claire Bunten (daughter of Frances Adamson and Chinese-speaking) is also gone.

Adam Thomson went long ago.

CHINA OPERATIONS

Andrew Hunter	General Manager - China Engagement
Shane Smith	Head of Operations
Damien Smith	Partnership Manager
Nuo Xu (Promise)	Executive Partnerships Manager
Sandi Camporeale	Account Manager
Jodie Cairns	Corporate Partnerships Executive

INA OPERATIONS
1. One Chinese-speaker remaining.
2. The GM is responsible only for ‘engagement’.
3. No travelling senior executive responsible for ‘commercial’ success in China (this task taken on by the CEO).

The latest developments in our limp-wristed formula for failure in China.

Koch meanwhile keeps silent. Not such a bad thing, to be honest.

 

[OneGreatClub]

S

Our China team is down to 5.5 persons (Shane Smith is part CFO, part China Operations head).

The Chinese-speaking media co-ordinator is now gone.

Claire Bunten (daughter of Frances Adamson and Chinese-speaking) is also gone.

Adam Thompson went long ago.

CHINA OPERATIONS

Andrew Hunter	General Manager - China Engagement
Shane Smith	Head of Operations
Damien Smith	Partnership Manager
Nuo Xu (Promise)	Executive Partnerships Manager
Sandi Camporeale	Account Manager
Jodie Cairns	Corporate Partnerships Executive

INA OPERATIONS

1. One Chinese-speaker remaining.
2. The GM is responsible only for ‘engagement’.
3. No travelling senior executive responsible for ‘commercial’ success in China (this task taken on by the CEO).

The latest developments in our limp-wristed formula for failure in China.

Koch meanwhile keeps silent. Not such a bad thing, to be honest.

Sheesh

 

[manureid]

Encouraging.

 

[OneGreatClub]

Our China team is down to 5.5 persons (Shane Smith is part CFO, part China Operations head).

The Chinese-speaking media co-ordinator is now gone.

Claire Bunten (daughter of Frances Adamson and Chinese-speaking) is also gone.

Adam Thomson went long ago.

CHINA OPERATIONS

Andrew Hunter	General Manager - China Engagement
Shane Smith	Head of Operations
Damien Smith	Partnership Manager
Nuo Xu (Promise)	Executive Partnerships Manager
Sandi Camporeale	Account Manager
Jodie Cairns	Corporate Partnerships Executive

INA OPERATIONS

1. One Chinese-speaker remaining.
2. The GM is responsible only for ‘engagement’.
3. No travelling senior executive responsible for ‘commercial’ success in China (this task taken on by the CEO).

The latest developments in our limp-wristed formula for failure in China.

Koch meanwhile keeps silent. Not such a bad thing, to be honest.

Maybe this is why we are pulling out all the troops

 

[Lockhart Road]

Maybe this is why we are pulling out all the troops

AFL House is moving its troops in to fill the void and spend the money. There are already four AFL permanent staff responsible for China - two full-time, two part-time.

 

[Andre]

AFL House is moving its troops in to fill the void and spend the money. There are already four AFL permanent staff responsible for China - two full-time, two part-time.

Just when you think you can have a few days without shaking the head at yet another stuff up by the club. Being a Port fan is the sporting equivalent of hiring a Dominatrix. ‘Hit me again Port, make it hurt’.

 

[El Zorro]

Our China team is down to 5.5 persons (Shane Smith is part CFO, part China Operations head).

The Chinese-speaking media co-ordinator is now gone.

Claire Bunten (daughter of Frances Adamson and Chinese-speaking) is also gone.

Adam Thomson went long ago.

CHINA OPERATIONS

Andrew Hunter	General Manager - China Engagement
Shane Smith	Head of Operations
Damien Smith	Partnership Manager
Nuo Xu (Promise)	Executive Partnerships Manager
Sandi Camporeale	Account Manager
Jodie Cairns	Corporate Partnerships Executive

INA OPERATIONS
1. One Chinese-speaker remaining.
2. The GM is responsible only for ‘engagement’.
3. No travelling senior executive responsible for ‘commercial’ success in China (this task taken on by the CEO).

The latest developments in our limp-wristed formula for failure in China.

Koch meanwhile keeps silent. Not such a bad thing, to be honest.

I didn't know Claire spoke Chinese. In any case, she appeared to have a mostly administrative and event management role.

But yes, the lack of a suitable commercial driver has been obvious for a while. I mentioned this to AH and Shane, and suggested a few potential models. But I have the feeling they though I was just trying to get a job.

I don't think they understand what's needed and the ramifications.

 

[bomberclifford]

AFL House is moving its troops in to fill the void and spend the money. There are already four AFL permanent staff responsible for China - two full-time, two part-time.

The beginning of the end.