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Chinese New Year Etiquette
Chinese New Year is celebrated by about 17% of the world’s population, making it one of the widely celebrated events on the globe. This year, the Year of the Monkey began on February 8th. Unsurprisingly, the celebrations in the UK are one of the biggest, as it is a home to over 400,000 Chinese, and among the top 10 most popular destinations for Chinese tourists.
If you are trying to target the Chinese communities or planning to do business in China this February, make sure to get familiar with the customs of Lunar New Year. Those not aware of the customs might find it difficult to schedule meetings, finalise deals or communicate effectively with the consumers or partners.
Transactions: Most of the business will be closed on the New Year day. However, if you have an important ongoing project, bare in mind that it is considered a bad luck to send or receive money on that specific day. Watch out not to prick the dragon…
Numbers: In Chinese, the number four is pronounced similar to the word for ‘death’, and anything with the number is considered misfortunate. Avoid giving gifts or giveaways in sets or multiples of four, and consider using the number eight instead, which is the luckiest number in China.
Veteran Tea Brand Typhoo Kicks Off First Ever Digital Ad Campaign
Typhoo, the 112-year old tea brand, has premiered its first ever digital ad campaign in a move which will give it presence on a host of popular websites before separate YouTube and VoD campaigns are rolled out. This will be reinforced by a traditional television campaign...
The Upcoming Cultural Events This Fall
From traditional events such as Diwali to the recent Notting Hill Carnival, the UK, in particular London, is a cultural hub and the setting for a number of events that celebrate diversity in a country were nearly a quarter of its population is of an ethnic background.
The summer of 2015 has been one filled with such events, including a number of Melas that we were delighted to take part in, on behalf of Elephant Atta. But have no fear, there are still plenty more to come before the year is up and Mediareach is here to tell you all about them.
Next month the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) will host ‘The Fabric of India’ exhibition, as part of the Museum’s India Festival. The exhibition will be the first major one of its kind to explore the world of handmade textiles from India from the 3rd to 21st century. The event will be held from the 3rd October till the 10th January.
Also in October, the British Library will be holding the ‘West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song’ exhibition. The exhibition will highlight stories from the regions nations and show how West Africans have harnessed the power of words to build societies, political movements and main religious beliefs.
Ofcom? more like ‘Oncom’…
We have been saying how times are changing and so are we and guess what? Ofcom’s most recent report on the communications market in the UK proves this (not that we needed any convincing).
As the digital revolution continues to unfold, consumer habits continue to change. The report announced that the UK is now a ‘smartphone society’. It showed that 33% of Internet users consider their smartphone to be the most important device for going online, compared to the 30% who stick to their laptop. Compared to 39% in 2012, today, 66% of UK adults have a smartphone in their pockets.
But this change is not merely amongst the younger generation; the report showed that since 2012, amongst 55-64 year olds, smartphone users have gone up from 19% to 50%. It’s not just web surfing that has changed, but also the weekly use of emails. Today a total of 52% of adults have access to email, a staggering increase when compared to the 5% in the 2005 Ofcom report.
Crown Commercial Services
Having been commissioned by the Crown Commercial Services, Mediareach is on the Government’s strategy and planning rooster for the next 5 years. We have been looking after Television, Cinema, Radio, Press, and Digital and Outdoor Media for all government run ethnic advertising and marketing campaigns. ...
What Have We Been Up To?
It sure has been quite busy over at Mediareach. You may be thinking, isn’t it always? … Well yes, but this last quarter has been particularly busy. And here’s why: our most recent client HKScan, has kept us on our toes in preparation for the launch of their new range Aafiyah.
HKScan is one of Europe’s largest meat and poultry suppliers, and Aafiyah is its brand new halal poultry range. Aafiyah offers a range of frozen, readly prepared halal chicken, including BBQ Drumsticks and Hot Wings.
So what has Mediareach done for Aafiyah?
After brainstorming and analysing the market alongside our client, we branded the range as one for young, traditional Muslims with time restraints of a twenty first century lifestyle. With this in mind, we designed and developed a fully responsive website and continue to carry out regular SEO and maintenance of it. We also set up social media pages for the brand and developed a social media strategy. Our social media team manages these pages and provides regular updates. We also do blogger endorsement and regular blog posts for halal foodies.
Great News!
We always knew we were among the best and we have the proof…
One word: The Drum Independent Agencies Census 2015 – Financial Rankings (ok, maybe more than one word). This census highlights the performance of independent agencies and celebrates their success and role in a marketplace dominated by corporate firms.
The rankings are based on three factors: financial performance, client satisfaction and peer recommendations. Agencies are then compared to those similar in size and of agencies with staff of 1-25; we came joint first alongside the very worthy component, The Agency.
The Story of the BBC (that’s short for British Born Chinese)
The chinese community continues to rapidly grow in the UK, here’s a little timeline about how it all began…
It all kicked off way back in the 17th Century when the UK carried out naval trade with China and Chinese sailors first established residence in London.
And then in the 19th Century the Chinese communities began to expand in other port cities such as Liverpool and Cardiff.
The 1950’s saw the opening of a number of family-run Chinese restaurants and takeaways and with the invention of washing machines, many of the first Chinese settlers set up laundries.
Ramadan Is Key season to reach Muslim Consumers
Understanding your audiences and consumers is vital for the success of any brand. With the holy month of Ramadan on our doors this provides brands and marketers with an opportunity to target and reach affluent, young and aspirational consumers with big budgets to spend.
Muslims represent the largest consumer group, after the mainstream, both in the UK and Europe and are increasingly considered to be loyal consumer group not just for Halal food, but also for fashion and cosmetics luxury goods market.
Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, regarded to be obligatory by believers and are the basis of Muslim life. During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink during the day and are allowed to have food and drinks only during the night. In this holiest season of the Islamic year, Muslims go through self-examination and higher religious commitment. During Ramadan, Muslims are very active in donating to charities and organising charity events, giving food to the poor, and other humanitarian activities.
