Advertising and Popular Culture: East Asian Perspectives, MIT
By Jing Wang

Course binder on reserve that includes materials of case studies and other articles

Course Description
This course introduces the fascinating world of modern advertising culture with a focus on the rise of Transnational Advertising Agencies in China and East Asia and its impact on popular culture in those countries during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. We will look into the production of brand culture and its interface with youth culture and popular culture in East Asia. Larger issues (e.g., theories and practice of branding; East Asian youth culture; the debate over consumer-as-producer, music marketing, the relationship between advertising and media consumption) will go side by side with specific case studies of successful advertising campaigns and hands-on lab sessions on branding your imagery product. Cases include beer and beverage brands, clothing, automobiles, cellphones, and internet portals. Expect to be entertained by award-winning Asian TV commercials, Clio Awards, and the best television commerials from the most recent advertising festivals in China and the Asia/Pacific.

Course Requirements
Bi-weekly essay questions based on the assigned texts; 2 short papers, individual oral presentations, and a final team-written paper (team-presented during the last week of classes)

1. E-mail Essay Questions are due on every Monday and Wednesday at 7 a.m. Late submissions will not count toward your grade. Position yourself critically to the readings ssigned. Factual questions do not count. Your questions will be graded.

2. One short paper.
The paper is 5 pages long, double-spaced. The student will analyze a topic related to
branding covered in class. Due March 1; April 12. Hardcopy delivery.

3. Team-composed final paper: 15-20 pages. Double-spaced, typed.
This is a term project based on team work. Team work will involve lab work on branding
imaginary products or rebranding an existing product of your team's choice. Each team will
make a final presentation at the end of the term. The term paper will be based on the team
presentation. Due on May 17.

4. Individual Presentations & teamwork
Show & Tell: two individual presentations on one (or more) East/Asian/Chinese commercial you choose

Grade Distribution
Attendance 15%
Discussion participation & e-mail essay questions 30%
Papers 25%
Final Paper & team presentation 30%

Syllabus

Brand and Branding

2/8 (Wed.) Introduction and Basic Concepts

2/13 M
David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, chapter 2, 9-31
Ries & Trout, Positioning, 1-94
James Twitchell, "The Hathaway Man: David Ogilvy and the Branding of Branding," 20 Ads That Shook the World (Crown Publishers, 2000), 136-145.

2/15 W
1. Ogilvy, chapter 8, 103-117
2. Blair and Armstrong, The 360 Degree Brand in Asia, chapter 2, "The 360 Degree Imperative," 11-24

2/21 T
1. Mark Stockdale, "Are All Consumers Equal?" How to Use Advertising to Build Strong Brands, 211-223
2. Paul Feldwick (2002), "Are Brands Dead?" What is brand equity anyway? 15-33
3. Judie Lannon (1993), "Asking the Right Questions: What Do People Do with
Advertising?" Brand Equity & Advertising (1993). 163-176

2/22 W
Show and Tell

2/27 M Lecture: Apple's "1984"
1. Stewart Owen, "The Landor ImagePower Survey: A Global Assessment of Brand Strength," Brand Equity & Advertising, 11-30
2. Paul Feldwick (2002), "What is brand equity anyway, and how do you measure it?" 35-59

3/1 W
1. Ira Herbert (1996), "The Coca-Cola Company" in Richard Ohmann ed. Making paper due and Selling Culture, 3-16
2. David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, chapter 4, 5, 6, 45-6
3. David Aaker (2000), "The Brand Relationship Spectrum," 97-128, Brand Leadership

Globalization and International Advertising

3/6 M
1. Diane Crane, "Culture and Globalization" (2002), Global culture: media, arts, policy, and globalization, 1-25,
2. Denise D. Bielby and C. Lee Harrington (2002), "Markets and Meanings: The global syndication of television programming" Global Culture: media, arts, policy, and globalization, 215-32

3/8 W
1. Marieke de Mooji (2000), "Mapping Cultural Values for Global Marketing and Advertising," International Advertising, 77-101
2. Rosemary Ford and Adam Phillips (2000), "Media Can Be Global, But Is Youth?" 117-37

3/13 M
1. Roderick White (2000), "International Advertising: How Far Can It Fly?" International Advertising, 29-40
2. Jing Wang (2006), "Framing Chinese Advertising," (electronic copy) two different versions

3/15 W
Case Study: Motorola
Jing Wang (2005) "Youth Culture, Music, and Cell phone Branding in China"
Global media and communication, vol.1, no. 2

3/20, 3/22 No Classes. Brand-your-imaginary-product team assignments (see appendix)

3/27, 3/29 Spring Break

4/3 M
Class canceled and switched to an evening symposium: "Media Markets in New India"
Details to be given

Neo-tribes as a market segment & Luxury Marketing

4/5 W
Lecture: The Tribal paradigm & the post-subcultural era
1. David Brooks, Bobos in Paradise, 13-139
2. Jing Wang (2005), "Bobos in China? Neo-Tribes and the Urban Imaginary" China Quarterly

4/10 M
Brand audit exercises
Guest Speaker on product placement in games: Ilya Vedrashko

4/12 W
Lecture: Media Planning and the Chinese media scene John L. McCreery (2001), "Creating Advertising in Japan: A Sketch in Search of a Principle," in Brian Moeran ed. Asian Media Productions, 151-167

4/17 M vacation

Kidfulence

4/19 W
1. Anne Sutherland and Beth Thompson (2003), Kidfluence, selections
2. Kara Chan and James McNeal (2004), Advertising to Children in China, chapter 6, chapter 8, 97-115; 129-152
Team reports: concept writing

4/24 M
1. Martin Lindstrom (2003), Brand Child, selections
2. Martin Lindstrom (2000), Brand Building on the Internet, excerpts
Team reports continuing: concept writing

4/26 W
Joseph Jaff (2005), Life After the 30-Second Spot. John Wiley & Sons.

5/1 M Jaff Continued

5/3 W
Lecture: Media Planning & the Chinese Media Scene
1. Blair and Armstrong et al, "the 360 Degree Brand in Asia," chapter 5, 57-78.
2. Crystal Market Researching Co. (2003), "Leading Edge Youth Trends Asia"

5/8 M
Lecture: Search Engine Marketing, "One to One"@ Beijing

5/10 W Team presentation

5/15 M Team Presentation

5/17 W Team Presentation continued
Final paper due


Assignment for 3/20 & 3/22

Before you decide upon your team's imaginary product, think about the markets!

Market your imaginary team product to *two* markets, at least one of which has to be Chinese. For obvious reasons: An ambitious client will want to jump on the bandwagon of the China-gold-rush. Second, we have covered, throughout the first month and will continue to do so, research insights on the Chinese market (e.g., the 3D Mindshare tool, etc.) Every single decision you make about branding your project, esp. at the initial stage of deciding upon your product category and product per se, needs to be solidly based on research findings even if you are a Chinese national! There are constraints on your decisions (i.e., market environment). That is, save your "intuition" and creative juice for the 3rd stage of creative ideas and creative execution. At this stage, research is key.

The other market needs to be one on which you have already developed ample research insights. For instance, if you decide to take South Korea as your 2nd market, not only do you have to have linguistic and cultural expertise on that country, but you would also need to have at your fingertips the ideal Korean candidates for your focus group(s) interviews. For predictable reasons, I suggest that you take the U.S. as your default market.

Try not to be whimsical. That is usually a fastest formula for failure.

**************
What to do on 3/20 and 3/22?
1. Decide on which transnational ad agency you are working for? Why? (demonstrate that this is an informed decision)

2. Decide on the product category (show me the research before you arrive at this decision) (the client's decision)

3. Decide on your imaginary product (the client's decision, you can play the double role as the client)

4. Decide on your target segment for each market. For the Chinese market, decide on which tiers of cities and/or regions; other demographic determinants such as gender, age, etc. (joint decision made by the client and by the agency)

5. Decide on the brand relationship strategies: (joint decision)
(a) the house of brands: the P&G model
(b) subbrands: Sony Walkman
(3) branded house: the Virgin model
(4) endorsed brand: the Marriott/Courtyard

If you decide on none of the above, you should come up with a persuasive reason why not. I can imagine new brands emerging in China, much less so in the US, for instance. Even in China, depends upon product categories, the market is very cluttered.

6. Decisions like snatching the segment from Absolute Vodka is a business decision made by your client, NOT by the brand team in the ad agency. For that matter, imagine the 4th or the 5th member on your team, the invisible marketing manager of your client. Perhaps one member of your team can play the double role of being that plus a planner in the ad agency throughout steps #2-6.

In your next round of team discussions, please define your research and start dividing up your labor. This is Stage 1 of your final project.

Jing Wang, MIT

Copyright © 2006. All rights reserved.