As one of the few countries in the world showing positive economic growth, the future of China sure looks promising. And to take advantage of a very large marketplace, Western companies like Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Goodyear and others have established beachheads in Chinese markets. However, an Economist article titled, “Impenetrable” reminds readers how truly difficult it is to sell foreign goods in China.
To be sure, some companies are thriving in China. The Economist article cites luxury good makers, airplane manufacturers, and commodity producers as successfully penetrating China. Yet, for every success story, there are a dozen works in progress especially in fields such as pharmaceuticals, banking and insurance and telecommunications. In fact, Ronald Schramm, a professor at the Chinese European International Business School says that the impact of Western firms’ total sales in China are little more than a rounding error.
Why all the difficulty? Western firms must deal with the fact that for all the excitement of capitalistic economic zones in China, most of the enterprises in China are state owned. That means Western companies must deal with plenty of costly and unending red tape from protective Chinese authorities. And while China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, there is much work to be done to level the playing field for Western companies to effectively compete.
Yet, all hope is not lost. Digging a bit deeper for strategies to penetrate and prosper in Chinese markets, I interviewed Globe Trade founder, Laurel Delaney. Ms. Delaney argues that companies doing business in China need to change their mindset and think of China as an investment that will pay off over the long run. She says, “It takes tremendous time, incredible patience and phenomenal preparation to do business in China. Many companies just don’t have the stamina, perseverance or dollars to last — yet, if they hang on and keep working on it, they will eventually find success.”
The path to successfully navigating Chinese markets also involves avoiding the biggest blunders. To that point, Ms. Delaney mentions the number one mistake a Western marketer can make when looking to China for growth is attempting to go it alone. “You need a strong and effective team and good “Guangxi” (relationship) when doing business in China,” she says. “The stronger the team you assemble breaking out of the gate — the greater your likelihood of success in developing business in China.”
Ms. Delaney also mentions the types of local talent, needed “on the ground” to propel success. First, she says, Western companies should set up a peer-to-peer advisory board consisting of legal talent, an individual with M&A knowledge, a transportation and logistics “superstar”, a banker and a governmental contact. It’s these people that can help a Western marketer iron out issues and challenges they’ll likely face.
In addition, outside of setting up a joint venture with a company, consider hiring local talent to help market to Chinese consumers. According to Ms. Delaney, someone on your marketing team, “(needs to know) native tongue languages of China, is smart and masterful at communicating which includes marketing/advertising, has experience with your product or service offering, and has a history of proven success.”
China is an economic giant and is poised?eventually?to be the number one economy in the world. For Western marketers, finding ways to get your products and services into China is definitely worth strong consideration. Success in Chinese markets won’t come easy, and it won’t be cheap. China’s markets hold great promise, but also peril for companies that lack determination and endurance for the long-run.
Questions:

• A Business Week article notes that in many instances the Chinese government has of late, “strengthened its grip on the economy.” Is there any hope for Western companies to sell their wares against state owned companies?
• Green industries are often cited by futurists as an area where the United States and other Western nations can create competitive advantage. And yet, currently, 35% of the world’s solar cells are made in China. Will the next Green revolution take place in China?
• Beijing University professor Michael Pettis says, “There is little real innovation or branding ability in China.” Does this provocative sentence scream “opportunity” for Western marketers and their associated products/services?

Users visit websites for content – to read, to learn, to assess, to compare, to buy. And they’ll return, time and again, if the content is useful, relevant, interesting, entertaining, up-to-date. We all know it’s true: Content drives readership on informational, promotional, and e-commerce sites.
So why is it that planning for content in a redesign happens late – or sometimes doesn’t happen at all? Why is it that the bright shiny new website gets populated with dingy old worn-out content that no one’s paid attention to for months, maybe years.
“After we finish the design templates, we’ll populate the site with content,” someone on the redesign team will say, as if fresh content just exists – somewhere – ready to go. In big, easy-to-assemble slabs. On shelves in some enormous storeroom.
“Hey Ed! Go get that content from the storeroom. We’re ready to load it into the site.”
What content?
It doesn’t exist.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Why does this happen? In the drive to redesign, too often the focus is purely visual. There are dazzling new designs, clean grids, fresh photography, appealing colors. And no content.
The redesign becomes a book without words. A business plan without a business. “There is no there there.” (Gertrude Stein)
Don’t get me wrong: Redesigns are essential. And when design is combined with content and functionality, everyone wins. Especially the end user. Here are some examples of strong, successful redesigns that included a good hard look at content:

Crisco. Promotions, recipes, tips, videos, and contests keep this content fresh and engaging.
Best Buy. An engaging corporate site that captures the energetic personality of the brand through lively content.
Albertsson Hansen Architecture. Magnificent images (which are themselves, the key content) combine with warm, approachable content to avoid the pomposity so common on residential architectural sites.

These sites aren’t perfect. There’s always room for improvement, the next redesign phase, and the continual process of content creation and maintenance. The point is this: In each of these redesigns the content was considered, planned for, analyzed, created, and managed as part of the redesign.
I’m sure you have examples, too. Please share.
Content is an asset
In their influential book Web Redesign 2.0: Workflow That Works, Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler acknowledge the all-too-common practice of leaving content to the last minute:

“Late content is consistently one of the biggest reasons for project delay…”
“The task itself and the resources needed to complete the task are severely underestimated.”

Goto and Cotler’s advice for dealing with late content?

“Accept it. Plan for it. Charge for it.”

That last statement – “Charge for it” – is particularly telling. Goto and Cotler are writing to Web designers, so, purportedly, these Web designers will be charging their clients as they wait for this “late content.” It’s holding everything up. And costing more because of it. The proverbial bottleneck.
It seems as though the creation of Web content has fallen into the seam, somewhere between the Web Design Agency and the Client – and neither is responsible.
There is a different way.
Plan for content – deliberately
Instead of planning for content to be late, as Goto and Cotler warn, plan for content:

• Get content experts on the redesign team from the beginning.
• Analyze the content that already exists: is it current, relevant, complete?
• Analyze competitors’ content: what can you do better?
• Interview subject matter experts.
• Work hand-in-hand with the information architect and the design team.
• Clarify how content will address user needs.
• Determine what new content needs to be created: everything from key messages to product stories to detailed explanations to white papers.
• Create interesting, relevant, appropriate content – that appeals to end users, search engines, and, of course, the client.
• Create a plan to refresh the content going forward.

Yes, it’s a big job. Maybe that’s why it’s easier to redesign the content you already have. Rather than rethinking it. But be careful. If you redesign your site without rethinking your content, you cannot achieve the success you seek.

This three-year $300 million campaign is being rolled out by The Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Al Gore, whose core message is “we can solve the climate crisis.”
Because of its simplicity, the campaign logo has great marketing potential. Imagine a “we” button – what better in an election year? – worn to signify alliance with this global cause. Or imagine two buttons, one worn as “we,” the other as “me” – to serve as visible reminders that each of us, alone and together, can make a difference.
On second thought, a wasteful button artifact might not be the best way to signify support for the campaign. The alliance’s site, wecansolveit.org, is encouraging supporters to display the round green We logo on their Facebook and MySpace pages, without any adverse environmental effect. This is where the skillful logo design will really pay off – and start building awareness.
The logo is already capturing attention. Writing in The New York Times Week In Review, Steven Heller analyzed the bright green globe, spoke with its creators – The Martin Agency and Brian Collins – and underscored the difficulty of designing a logo that is, at once, refreshingly simple and undeniably powerful:

“An effective logo is a kind of calculus, the sum of disparate parts that adds up to a memorable image or icon. In this case, the logo is something of a risk because it is neither the name nor initials of the organization but a visual pun on the words We and Me.”

Everyone I’ve shown the logo to stares at it. It’s the strange “w” that holds their attention. The only reason they know that “w” is an upside-down “m” is the vertical foot or starting stroke at the bottom left. Typography is all about nuance. Scrape that stroke off and the logo loses its power.
I’d like to see some simple digital animations that capture this playful, yet profound rotation between “we” and “me.” Take this tagline: Join we today.
Imagine the “we” rotating to read: Join me today. It’s simple, rich symbolism.
It will be interesting to track the We campaign in the coming months. The first We television ad is airing now, and you can view initial print ads on the site. According to the We campaign website, “this three-year effort will combine the best practices of successful commercial marketing and issue advocacy efforts.”
With the logo in particular, I think the marketing is off to a strong start. And you?

Quick background: “Frenemies” is a relatively new word that describes businesses who both collaborate and compete, behaving as both “friends” and “enemies.” Earlier this year, I wrote a post on frenemies, noting that when frenemies collaborate there may be initial discomfort and turf wars, but the faster all parties can squelch the “enemies” mentality, the more successful they’ll be.
I interviewed Thornswood to obtain a client perspective on managing frenemies. Look for an upcoming post from the agency perspective, i.e., what it’s like to work side-by-side with frenemies.

Do you think “frenemies” is an accurate description of how some agencies view each other?
Or is it too militaristic?
“I think it’s a very accurate term and not overly militaristic or negative. In the business world Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” has become an overused handbook. Still, I’ve seen agencies fight working together as though resisting an invasion force.”

How much of your work involves managing “frenemies”?
“Virtually everything we produce at Target involves “frenemies” to some degree. We have an agency roster with best-of-breed experts in each major medium, so our packaging agencies are distinct from our broadcast agencies or our interactive agencies. I believe that is (and always will be) the best way to get excellent work in each category.”
Why so many agencies?
“I’ve yet to encounter any agency that can handle both the breadth and depth required across all our media types: they either do many things reasonably well or one thing exceedingly well. By orchestrating the integration on the client side and demanding collaboration among our agencies, we get breadth by combining the deep expertise of the best agencies in each medium.”
What projects or campaigns are ideally suited to multiple agencies or “frenemies”?
“I think any campaign that crosses media channels will benefit from frenemies working together.”

What’s the best way to ensure that frenemies focus on collaboration, not competition?
“I believe you have to be crystal clear on expectations from the very beginning. I like to say, ‘You’re doing X and they’re doing Y. If you have a great idea in their medium, share it with them and let them develop it – and vice versa. But please don’t present work in the other agency’s sandbox, and don’t ask for a piece of their business – because you’re not going to get it.’”
What challenges do you face when you put “frenemies” on a project?
“It’s not uncommon for me to clearly lay out expectations for collaboration, to have both agencies agree in one another’s presence, and then to watch those same agencies leave the room and not speak again until they’re presenting the ‘joint’ work they’ve independently created!
“I’ve even been clear in saying: ‘Agency X is working on the catalog and the budget is $X; and agency Y is working on the website and budget is $Y. I expect both of you to work collaboratively and understand that the budgets and work assignments are final.’
“What happens, unfortunately, is that each agency comes back with concepts that try to one up the other one’s assignment – perhaps in a vain attempt to persuade me to reallocate the budgets or reassign the work in their favor.”
Why does this happen?
“The ‘enemy’ part seems inherent in agency DNA. That strong competitive drive is hard to overcome. I know because I was in the agency world for 16 years.”

Are there situations where “frenemies” working together is not the best course of action?
“Don’t ask two agencies to collaborate on one single-media project because it’s too tough to draw clear lines between who’s expected to do what. Also, it’s incredibly important to be consistent: don’t start something as a collaboration and then turn it into a bake-off where you’re picking one agency’s work over another.”
Do you think agencies working together as “frenemies” is a trend?
“Yes, I do. I’ve yet to work with an agency whose expertise in multiple media is equivalently deep in each medium. This seems especially prevalent with traditional media and online, where I don’t believe there exists any agency that’s a complete rock star in both. Either they’re a traditional shop that dabbles on the web or vice versa, but I’ve never yet seen anyone do both excellently. Frankly, I don’t think they ever will. Their DNA is too different to ever create a true hybrid.”
In the end, do the benefits of collaboration outweigh the friction of competition?
“Yes. In my time at Target, we’ve continually innovated and constantly pushed the creative to new levels. Our recent launch of the Converse One Star brand is a terrific example of “frenemies” creating the best possible work. Neither our broadcast, print, nor interactive shops could have created as complete and inventive campaign on their own, but together we’ve created video, photo, and shopping experiences that build on one another incredibly well. In the process, we’ve also forged relationships that are more “friends” than “enemies”.
“I bumped into the broadcast art director the day after we wrapped shooting and she couldn’t say enough about how great it was collaborating with the interactive art director on set during the shoot. She said, ‘Not only were we able to create assets for use in both media, but we were real partners. I could start a shot and he could finish it – and vice versa. It was incredible.’”
Questions for MarketingProfs readers:
Do you manage frenemies?
Has the experience been successful?
Please share.

The word is starting to enter the business lexicon. Polly LaBarre and Bill Taylor, coauthors of Mavericks at Work, speak and write about frenemies and the synonym “froes” (friends + foes). See, in particular, Bill Taylor’s post at Harvard Business Online: The New Language of Competition: Are You Friend or Froe?

Frenemy: “A partner who is simultaneously a competitor”
The word “frenemy” is a wonderful mashup: easy to say and accurate in its depiction of the sometimes uncomfortable ambiguity that exists in many business relationships.

Who among us hasn’t been in a meeting when someone exclaims, “What? We have to work with them? They’re a competitor!”

Your response to such an outburst? “Get over it. They’re just a frenemy.” Then point your baffled colleagues to the Wikipedia definition: “a partner who is simultaneously a competitor.”

In the business world, I believe frenemies will increasingly describe firms who collaborate because clients have asked them to. While there may be initial discomfort and turf wars, in the end, the faster these new frenemies can focus on the “friends” aspect of the relationship, the more successful they’ll be.

Examples of frenemies: Multiple agencies working for one client
Firms become frenemies when their expertise overlaps. For example, a client might assign the interactive portion of a marketing campaign to one agency and the print portion to another. Because both agencies could handle the entire span of work, they would collaborate on behalf of their common client – as frenemies.

In another example, a client might turn to multiple agencies to handle a large interactive project, dividing up the work by, say, information architecture, design, and writing. In this example, every agency gets a piece of the work, but several of the agencies could complete the entire project. So, they work – politely and competently – as frenemies.

Here are two specific examples of frenemies:

• Target asks its broadcast, interactive, and promotional agencies to collaborate on major campaigns. The agencies are competitors, but they work together as frenemies for a common client – and the results are both innovative and cohesive across media channels.
• kajeet, the pay-as-you-go cell phone service for kids, asks its branding, advertising, interactive, and packaging agencies to collaborate on the launch of its product. The agencies might view each other as competitors because of overlapping areas of expertise, but they produce great creative nonetheless, working side-by-side as frenemies

Do you have examples of frenemies? Please share.