It was not until recent that consumers started to give us compliments about how wine in a can could also be a great sell in China and around the world because of the environmental benefits of wine in a can.

If you go on a outdoor adventure and want to toast to a glass of wine in the middle of the wilderness, you will undoubtedly think it a hindrance to carry a heavy glass bottle of wine with you.  Furthermore, what do you do with the then empty glass bottle?  You must either take it back with you, or dispose of it and dirty the earth.  Well with a can of wine you can simply crush the can and slip it into a side pocket in your bag.

In this article from ScientistLive.com, Incept, a UK based consultancy firm also found that wine in a can

* Have half the CO2 transport related emissions of the equivalent 75cl wine sold in glass packaging.

* Wine, in both 200ml and 250ml cans, produces fewer transport related CO2 emissions than other packaging formats

* Compared to glass bottles, to save one tonne of CO2, only 5,330 cases of 250ml slim cans need to be sold

* Slim cans are up to 17p per litre cheaper than glass bottles and have 2 – 20 pence less cost per unit in the value chain

* Suppliers could save between 2 and 8 pence per unit

* Retailers savings are between 1 – 13 pence per unit

I pose a question to all readers… Would like some wine in a can?

Bringing fine wines from around the world to markets throughout Asia.

Join us this winter (Nov 25 – Dec 17), this winter in the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou as Mir Global Marketing LLC presents our wines of the world in China’s fastest most sophisticated urban centers.

If you would like to request information about our upcoming promo tour of the Middle Kingdom (China), please email our International Trade Consultant, Bennett Reiss for more information

Any major themes to take note of?  Comparing this commercial, with that of the Remy commercials in yesterday’s posts, one thing is indeed VERY clear.

When marketing a product that is (generally speaking) for the masses of everyday consumers, tapping a worldly theme is very important.  China wants to fee like it is not only a part of the greater global community, but that it is contributing to it.  This commercial highlights such a theme perfectly in a very straight forward fashion.

The commercials from Remy Martin (see yesterday’s post) target a wealthier consumer and promote images of peace, tranquility, class and sophistication which are derived from the pleasure of enjoying a exclusive and expensive beverage like Remy Martin cognac.  Perhaps this is tapping into the desire to find a way to relax and disconnect from a life of a over-worked Chinese executive.  Offering a type of reward incentive for ones hard work, in the form of a “special” drink, the you work hard to be able to afford, consume and thereafter experience the feeling promoted in the marketing image.

Chinese culture tends to place far less emphasis and importance on receiving and giving compliments.  Confucius said, “to remain un-soured even though one’s merits are not recognized by others, is that not what is expected of a man of virtue?”  In other words, when the over-worked, wealthy business executives in China see this commercial, they see a beverage that creates the aura of achievement, recognition and merit so desperately desired.

The Tsingtao commercial on the other side wants you to let go of that hard day, drop your personal barrier and simply enjoy a beer with the world around you (not escape from it).

Jonathan “Jono” Warren is one cool guy, whom I must say it a honor to call my friend. Despite what his un-updated profile may say over at his blog, Garbageandnoodles, he is currently based out of Kashgar, Xinjiang, China.   He is working to begin a very interesting tea business, involving the packaging of Pakistani tea in China, and thereafter marketing it in the US.  He hopes all readers extract something from his posts and learn a little about a different side of China.

Carved in Stone – Reflections from the KKH

Written by Jono, the autthor and man behind Garbageandnoodles

Karakorum Highway (KKH) Nanga Parbat - wikipedia

“This is pretty scary, right?” I said as the crowded bus swerved to avoid a gaping pothole in the middle of the dirt road, the leftmost tires gripping pebbles and nothing. I contemplated the possibility that this imported Japanese schoolbus could careen off this mountain pass into the river below as I spoke aloud: “our lives are entirely in the hands of our driver.”

“First they are in Allah’s hands… then our driver’s,” the young man of 25 to my left assured me.

Unassured, I looked up to notice a brilliant moon illuminating the night sky in a gradient from white to black, but never touching gray. The other stars, normally radiant, glowed dimly, jealously. The moon set late in the night to reveal the same night sky that compelled Gallileo to wake up and say “I must invent the telescope.” I remembered seeing the Milky Way from a similar viewpoint some nights before, during the new moon after Eid-al Fitr. Silhouetted mountains were peperred with the earthly stars of little houses in even smaller hamlets with juniper wood fires for brewing tea. It was then that I noticed that Allah’s outstretched hands had guided us safely into Chipurson Valley.

The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is about 40 years old and is currently being renovated. There are 4 to 5 thousand Chinese laborers hard at work connecting China’s cheap goods to Pakistan’s cheaper markets. It is the major artery that connects western China to Pakistan and far northern Pakistan to Islamabad. The snaking road that hugs the side of the karakoram overlooking the Indus river is only ever as wide as to allow the width of two cars separated by just enough space to keep the paint from scratching off two passing cars. One learns to accept potentially near death experiences as commonplace. In the three weeks I spent in Pakistan, about 40 hours were clocked on the picturesque and oftentimes periloius KKH.

Most human transportation between cities on the KKH is done with old 15-seat toyota vans. These vans will only leave the depot if there are at least 19 passengers in the seats, sometimes with more hanging off the back or sitting on top alongside the luggage. The ride is cramped and hot. Women and children usually sit in the first row behind the driver.

Driving in the daytime, the road is enveloped in a couldren of mountains. As the path winds, the mountains cleave from one another in an ever-widening “V” (or lowercase “y”) reavealing new titans, each one more spectacular than the last.

Even though the ride from Shonas to Gilgit may be uncomfortable, sometims you get to meet some fun characters. Afsar and I had a conversation about Pakistani hiphop – his cousin “Bee Jay Hussein” was the most famous “northsyde” rapper in Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly the “Northern Areas” or “NA”). He told me how much people liked Lupe Fiasco here because he was a muslim rapper.

The 25-year old going to Chipurson with us was trying to secure support for his “Walk 4 Peace” from “Khunjerab 2 Karachi.” The 100-day walk would try to raise awareness of the Pakistani domestic problems in Swat and Tribal Areas and show that the majority of the Pakistani people are against the Talibanization of their people.

My conversation with Afsar was interrupted by the sight of some viscous orange-brown liquid creeping down the window. It was local apricot jam and I just hoped none of it jammed my bag stored up top. I drifted off to sleep and expected to wake up covered in jam.

I had just begun to doze off when I was abruptly roused from my slumber by a terrible noise. A brilliantly adorned sphinxy painted in the brightest greens and yellows had honked its horn. On the KKH, the sounds and sights of these hulking iron beasts on wheels are quite common. The passing of a truck is always accompanied by the blast of its horn or, when there was no need to honk, by the gentle sound of chimes followed by the roar of a diesel engine. The truck is truly a product of a failed “Pimp My Ride” episode where Xzibit takes some redneck’s pickup and comes out at the end of the episode and tells the owner “Aight, your trunk can hold 50000 kilos of potatoes now. We set you up with a horn that is as loud as it is obnoxious and sounds like mo’f'n’ Flash Gordon’s lizardman-blastin’ lasergun killing an elephant.” Some of them have decorative Ben Hur-like charriot spours. Dick Dastardly is the driver while Muttley rides shotgun and operates the smoke screen and oil slick.

On the 16 hour busride from Gilgit to Mansehra, in addition to stops to let people off the bus, we stopped four times. The first stop was right outside Gilgit for lunch. We stopped in Chilas for a tea break. At about 6pm, we stopped for evening prayer, which conventiantly gave the bus driver enough time to change a tire. The last stop was my favoirte and always is on these long rides on the KKH: dinner at a cliffside restaurant. Lit by Christmas lights and propane-fueled lanterns, we’re presented with a plate of roti(bread), daal(lentils), and gosht(beef) as we sit on a rope-mesh bench as a tributary of the Indus rushes beside us.

The KKH is an unforgiving mistress, but at least I’ll have Allah on my side the next time I’m on a shaky 40-year old rope bridge when it snaps.

[Source] – Garbageandnoodles

For all the readers of Globowines, we invite you to take a sneak peak –

The Long Island Wine Experience

Click through the subsections on the tap at the top to see all the updates!

~ Bennett

July 13 — New York City –> Beijing (12.5 hours on Continental’s direct flight.) Highly recommend anyone traveling to China from the New York City area and not obligated to any specific carrier book their ticket on this flight. You save between 4-8 hours in additional travel time / transfer time at airports. You do not risk missing a connecting flight, and the service on the plane is quite good for a US owned airline. The one negative side is the cranky American flight attendants, which you do not find if you’re traveling JAL, Cathay, Asiana, etc.

Arrival in Beijing was quick and easy. Customs allowed me to pass with more wine than I was probably legally allowed to bring, I recovered from jet lag quite fast and was out on the town showcasing our wines from Chile and Argentina by my second night.

After reconvening with Xu Wenquan, Mir Global Marketing’s director of sales in China/ Asia we set out a game plan for how to best approach diverse selection of potential buyers / contacts. We would need to fine tune our marketing strategy for three different market segments.

- Chinese government owned entities.

- Chinese entrepreneurs / business owners of bars and night clubs which cater China’s rising middle and upper class. In other words, the sons and daughters of wealthy Chinese who are looking to make a name for themselves and are have chosen to start a business. Not with the goal of attracting foreign customers (although they would not object), bur rather China’s new consumers looking for a good time and some nice drinks.

- Western operated and privately owned establishments in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. These type of businesses cater to China’s trendy, diverse, metropolitan cultures. I define this group as a mix of foreigners and urban Chinese you would find at a popular bar in a major city like Beijing.

Now, I present a few words of wisdom for those considering to do business in China. These are my own opinions, and I welcome those who would like to discuss any of these points. Please add your comments below or drop me a email, bennett.reiss (at) gmail.com

1. The more interaction you have with China, and the longer you stay, the more you realize how little you truly know and understand the country. Don’t think a mere semester or two of studying in China, speaking Chinese, reading books about “doing business in China,” foreign policy or cultural communication classes make you a expert. They do not.

2. What you learned in business school will not necessarily apply in China. You must cautiously and selectively archive into the back of your mind what you have come to accept as common business practices. What you learned in all those over-priced business classes will usually not apply in China. This is especially true when dealing with Chinese partners, be it from the private sector or a government owned entity.

3. Smile. Even if you are impatient, frustrated, mentally a mess, cranky, jet lagged, suffering from heart break, or angry with life itself… Smile and put a face that mixes happy, calm and confident all in one. The moment you allow what you have bottled up inside to show, vis-à-vis body language or with words, you have lost the battle. You will fail at negotiating a cheaper hotel, you will fail to convince your taxi driver to take the shorter route and you will fail in business negotiation. A calm, collected persona and a smile go a long way in China. Remember this.

4. Keep an open mind and remain flexible as to adapt to any given situation you face. It is popular in western cultures to look for a logical explanation for something you do not understand or a problem you may face. Westerners also tend to believe it is possible to control things like your schedule. Many times in China, there is no logical answer, and controlling things is quite difficult when you are operating in a country as complex and large as China. Accept this now, before you lose your mind, and therefore compromise all the elements I described above in point #3.

5. Dress to impress if you’re doing business. Even if its hot and humid, put on that suit and leave the tie and jacket behind. As they say, you only get one first impression. When you’re dealing with a Chinese businessman/ woman, it is incredibly important to do all in your power to make your first meeting as professional as possible.

** Reminder to all readers, opinions expressed in this entry are my own and should be not treated as fact. Thank you.

~ Bennett Reiss – International Trade Consultant at Mir Global Marketing LLC