President Trump referred to COVID-19 as a “foreign virus” during his Oval Office speech last month. Soon after, that phrase gave way to the “China virus” triggering a spike of racism directed at Chinese Americans. Of course, Trump enjoys race baiting. It’s good TV. Most Americans don’t realize – or perhaps don’t care – that …more
Owned media at its best can provide a counter-balance to perceived injustices from the media and social channels. Organizations ranging from Google to Walmart to the Brookings Institution have depended on their blogs to deliver their point-of-view to blunt an attack. Now comes 3M, under fire last week (April 2) from President Trump who …more
Politicians tend to be skilled communicators. Lee Kuan Yew was gifted. Today marks the five-year anniversary since his passing. Much has changed in Singapore on the communications front. Maureen Tseng who heads our Singapore office offers an on-the-ground snapshot. Social media represents the biggest change over the past five years. Previously perceived as elitist and …more
By Frank Zhang, DGM Hoffman China Sitting on the train from Shanghai to Wenzhou, I had time to contemplate a simple question: What were students from Wenzhou-Kean University, a Chinese-American jointly established higher education institution, expecting to hear from an international communications consultancy? I arrived at the venue 30 minutes early. It turns out …more
Check out the headline in The Wall Street Journal last month. “Apple Teams with Jack Ma” The headline didn’t say “Apple Teams with Alibaba.” Why? And don’t say because the word “Alibaba” wouldn’t fit in the space for the headline. It turns out that both words take up seven characters. I think it’s because the …more
By Mandy Heiser, Account Executive Let’s take a look at the top Google results for the recommended search “china and us”: What about “us and china”? Let’s pull out a few phrases: “high-stakes trade”, “far apart”, “fail to reach agreement” “fighting for global power” … The story these search results …more
I wrote an opinion piece in VentureBeat a few years back titled, “Attention U.S. Startups, Don’t Ignore China.” The punchline — Virtually every startup should have a China strategy. Fast forwarding to today, startups in the U.S. are starting to back off in China. This assessment isn’t based on data; it’s more anecdotal and a …more
And people say my PowerPoint decks are too long. This year’s treatise on the internet from Mary Meeker weighs in at 294 slides. After reviewing the presentation, I’ve captured the slides that got my attention. Take Immigrants Out of the U.S. Tech Industry, and the Equation Changes . Thought Bubble: At a time when …more
There’s no question that photos like the one above that accompanied a New York Times article on China’s surging demand for coal accentuate storytelling. In some cases, we’re actually seeing storytelling revolve around visuals like the seafood charticle in WIRED Magazine. I think The New York Times does a particularly good job in building their stories around a …more
