The building that used to be called the Fourth Teaching Building, has recently been renamed after the brand “Jeanswest”, a popular casual apparel brand founded in Australia in 1972 and entering China in 1993. The rebranding has stirred debate among university students and teachers.

Even though other campus buildings in Tsinghua University are named after B to B enterprises such as Omnicom, still most of the students and lecturers said the name was unacceptable since “there is no connection between Tsinghua University and an apparel brand.”

picture from Chongqing Economic Times

The term “vicious tongue” bosses has been popping up online as more netizens complain about receiving harsh treatment from their bosses. According to a survey conducted by the Chongqing Economic Times, interviewing employees in 7 fields including sales, design, advertising, logistics,  consulting, recruiting, and networking, about 50 percent of white collars have encountered “vicious tongue” bosses and 17 percent among them have quit a job because of it. Cruel comments mentioned include jokes about girls being single, salesmen being incompetent and employees being unable to afford a car.

We have noticed a lot going on with soda packaging thee days. Neocha Edge produced a new can design for Sprite and the global McDonald’s limited edition clear colored Coca Cola glasses in the shape of cans . But with the good also comes the bad.

Giant beverage brands Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Mater Kong simultaneously launched moves to change their packaging for summer. Consumers are left with bottles slimmed from 600ml to 500ml, sold at the same price point as before. The 3 companies, however, failed to get consumers on board with the revised products.

Coca-Cola played it safe by saying that it’s a global move and that increasing costs is a factor in the change. In contrast, Pepsi claimed that the packaging change is to meet consumers’ preference for smaller bottles after a 18-month market research in the country.

Netizens don’t buy it however; many expressed on forums and microblogs that Pepsi’s explanation is unacceptable, challenging Pepsi’s market research. Some extreme netizens said: “We can assume from Pepsi’s words that consumers get what they want. Then why don’t they offer drinks for free as that’s exactly what we want?!” Others predicted in a humorous way, “We may soon have 10ml oral solution version cola!”

In the race for China’s theme park consumer mind share, there are currently three contenders. While none are up and running yet, we are excited to see how each country re-invents its classic characters for the Chinese market. Here is the basics of the animated invasion come to life:

Contender #1: Disneyland

characters: The Disney family (Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Winnie The Pooh etc.

country of origin: U.S.A.

location in China: Shanghai

budget: RMB 24.5 billion (US$ 3.7 billion)

opening date: 2015

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Haier Group, a domestic Chinese brand which topped the Euromonitor Global Major Appliances 2010 Brands’ rankings for the second consecutive year, is turning its eyes on Chinese youth. The brand’s “Everyday Xiao Qingxin” (小清新 literally meaning little freshness) campaign on the indie youth favorite SNS, Douban, is directed at connecting its new environmentally-conscious, formaldehyde removal air-conditioning product with fashionable consumers.

“Xiao Qingxin” originates from Indie Pop, but it has since become a fresh style of its own in China, grounded in aesthetic and simple design, with its own manifestations in books, magazines, photographs, and music. Xiao Qingxin style even has a standard dress code – white canvas shoes, long cotton skirts, white T-shirt, armed with a LOMO camera.

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