An Insight from Michael MacRitchie From the first lullaby sung to us as babies, music provides the “soundtrack” of our lives. So much so that I think many of us take it for granted — just as we do the soundtrack of a film, which we often hear without listening to it. That is, we enjoy the film without realizing …
An insight by Michael MacRitchie It is not uncommon to switch on the television and be confronted by celebrity after celebrity propounding the virtues of some brand or other. Celebrity advertising has always been popular and a fast growing economy attracts celebrities by the dozen in this space. People are easily influenced and impressed by celebrities, and consider it a …
An insight by Andrew Howie It has been touted as the format that will save the game. T20 cricket has come, seen and conquered in recent years. The shorter format of the game, originating from the UK, now offers lucrative deals to the world’s top players. And it is over in less than 3 hours. So successful has this format …
Insight by Andrew Howie There has been a huge growth in the number of ‘foodies’ in recent times. This secretive group of people enjoy going to good restaurants as entertainment and are hard to come by. They are not necessarily looking for expensive nor exclusive. They do however know of all the best places to eat. For them the thrill …
An insight by Andrew Howie Social media has brought about many new trends. It has also allowed for many heroes to be born and trends to spread globally in the blink of an eye. Think about some of the most viewed clips on Youtube. Evolution of Dance and Keyboard Cat were huge successes as a result of the internet. Brands …
An Insight by Michael MacRitchie China-To understand the widening digital gap between the Chinese state and its people, consider the underground success of the American TV shows “Gossip Girl”, “Lost” & “Prison Break”. Prison Break: There isn’t much about this Fox drama that would suggest a Chinese hit. Shot partly at Joliet Prison in Illinois, the show is an unabashedly …
-Andrew Collins is a leading social media strategist and founder of Mailman Social Media, he also consults to MGI on global entertainment partnerships. First of all – brands in Asia love to have the affiliation with ‘star power’. For the fortunate brands that get this connection right it can rain long term benefits (think……) but for the few brands that …
An insight by Andrew Howie The growth of the modern day crime based drama has been steady over the last ten years. The origin of the genre is hard to pin point, but the Godfather series and success of such shows as The Sporano’s can definitely share in credit for the boom. The ability for big screen ideas to be …
An Insight by Andrew Howie For many years most pretended that global warming was a fad and would not last. But, without admitting that it is actually a problem, most industries have begun making efforts to reduce their foot print. Some have done so in response to increased government pressures. Others have done so due to increased social pressures. But …
A insight from Michael MacRitchie To follow on from Andrew Howie’s piece on the FIFA world cup, I would like to turn the readers attention to China… Here in Shanghai one of the biggest TV networks CCTV (China Central Television) has won the rights to broadcast the World Cup and is now blowing the whistle for bids on advertising slots …
Denim brand G-Star has released its new ad campaign starring actress Liv Tyler. The campaign was shot by Dutch photographer and director Anton Corbijn for the third time, an artist mainly known for his work for bands including Depeche Mode and Nirvana. G-Star is also Dutch and already successful on European markets but wants to up its ante now, especially …
An Insight by Lauren Jane Whether you like Ke$ha or think her song, Tik Tok, is commercialized garbage, there is no denying that she has now got herself a smash hit single. Tik Tok hooks in the listener from the very beginning. Her playful and bizarre rapping style is so uniquely different from other pop-artists, and through this, she’s found …
An Insight by Andrew Howie We are on the verge of a huge groundswell. We are under 100 days to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. With that comes some amazing, and very expensive advertising. Every celebrity with an endorsement gets rolled out to be the backbone of brand campaigns. This leads to a huge amount of noise but …
A review by Michael MacRitchie This is not your typical war movie. Instead of dwelling on bloodshed on the battlefield, The Founding of a Republic focuses on the psychological war between China’s Nationalists and Communists, and the complex negotiations of their power struggle. The inclusion of archival black-and-white footage, from pivotal battles such as as those at Huaihai and Pingjin …
An opinion piece by Andrew Howie Sports stars are in the entertainment industry. They compete against musicians, artists, opera singers and even clowns…. They compete for the disposable income of the masses. Why do we think they can be anything more than this? I find this idea of them being role models profoundly crazy. I believe that somewhere along the way …
This is an outsiders look into the Chinese Music industry told from the perspective of indie rock band ‘handsome furs’. China Music Radar reports that In September 2009, China based promoter Split Works organized an 8 city Asian tour through China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. The tour was picked up by CNN, who gave Dan and Lex a …
An insight by Andrew Howie There is no secret in the fact I love sport. And by sport I mean all sport. If there are 2 people going head to head at anything, I’m in. If you asked me to choose between the Winter and Summer Olympics, my answer would be – ‘no dice’. I love them both equally. I …
March 9th, 2010 An overview by Michael MacRitchie The 82nd Annual Academy Awards was a night of firsts in the famed award show’s history: the first time since 1943 that ten feature films were nominated for Best Picture, the first time a woman won Best director and the first time that product placement was recognized as simply a seamlessly integrated plot …
A review by Andrew Howie Ridin’ down the highway, goin’ to a show. AC/DC are currently touring. Spreading the good word of their new album “Black Ice’, they have stops through Europe, the United States and Australia just to name a mere few. Widely thought of as Rock and Roll pioneers, these guys have sold over 200 million albums. Their …
An insight by Andrew Howie Over the last decade there have been some that have been amazing, and sadly there have been some that have stunk out the stadium. Looking back to one of the more famous reunion tours, the Blues Brothers put the band back together for a cause. They needed to raise money for the orphanage that …
