The working days sandwiched between the Western and Chinese New Years are not typically considered particularly productive China, so there’s not so much to reflect on this month. However, we did get some things done…

2nd Annual IWOM summit Wrap Up

We finally wrapped up our IWOM summit where I met face to face with 17 marketing communications directors, managers, and CxOs from some of the most important and innovative companies in China. The takeaways are here. The one takeaway that keeps me thinking is the need for different types of brands, for example luxury brands, to find the voice in the Internet Community that has a tenor and tone that reflects the brand and resonates with netizens in the “right” way for that brand. A luxury brand like LV will ‘join the conversation’ in a different way than, say, Dell.

CIC CNY Party

Chinese New Year (CNY) means it’s time to have a company party. Our FAH (finance, administration and HR) department did an awesome job organizing, Jason was a great MC, and of course Leo and I rocked the house with a rendition of Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue. Congrats to Vanessa on being named the 2008 Staff Star; to Jackie on being named Young Tiger of the Year; Robin on being named Class Committee Chairperson of the Year; Ellen, Long, and Kevin for receiving 2008 Breakthrough Mindset Awards; and Lillian, Jerry, and Joe for being named December 2008 Brave Hearts.

CNY Gifts and Client Survey

Though maybe not particularly exciting to readers of this blog, sending out our yearly client survey is a big deal to us. We are all about the ‘listening,’ and the client survey (as well as IWOM summit) is a big part of how we listen to our clients. As a token of our appreciation, we also sent out gifts to our clients as well as to a few friends (see picture below). BTW, thanks to @florianpihs for tips on how to make the survey better.

2008 was a great year during which we saw tremendous growth across the board. We expect 2009 may be more challenging, but we are ready with a strong team and great clients.

I wish all my readers the best in the Year of the Ox.