My Xmas and New Year Adventures

As the holiday period is over now, I get friends IM-ing and SMS-ing asking how was Vietnam. Most do not know that I cancelled the holiday trip and decided to stay back and work. Yeah, read on, as it’s been quite a journey.

Just before the Xmas holiday started, a pitch opened in Beijing, and I was asked to go to work on it. The client was a Chinese yoghurt company who sponsored the all-time famous TV show called Supergirl. Supergirl is China’s re-packaging of the American Idol that swept China off its feet. People at work, school, streets, trains talked about it with the highest level of passion and involvement. People voted via SMS on their favourite performers, thus the sense of involvement was huge. The girl who won was a boyish, punky, no-make-up girl that totally defies the image of a Chinese pop star. She’s China’s latest icon, and so is the sponsor brand we were invited to pitch to. Their sales tripled making them the market leader in the product category. The after-math is: every Chinese girl wants to be a star. In a country where entertainment is in its infancy stage, brands who get it right have an obvious advantage. The pitch was a lot of fun to work on, as it involved integration between TV, web, mobile and roadshows. Then we had to deal with issues such as : Supergirl III might not be as great, so what is the next show. How does the brand connect with youth outside of the TV show, how to collect database and use it after the show.

This was also my first time working with our Beijing team, so lots of learning on my part, Mandarin included. Differences in the way of thinking and language caused us to work till midnite for the whole week, WE included. I was exhausted but happy with the final outcome. What kept me going was the vision of that Vietnam beaches and mountains I will soon see.

Then I got a call from my colleague Kelly in HK saying that we were invited to a Blue Xmas Party by a potential client who I will have to call “Blue” here for now. It’s one of the largest consumer goods brand, huge budgets, committed to do stuff online, looking for an interactive agency in China. And! We are getting to go to the head of interactive guy’s party on Monday and a company credentials presentation on Wednesday. So I go shopping in Beijing for all-blue clothes, while Kelly gets me a blue wig, and Sunday instead of heading back to HK I go to Shanghai for our Blue Party and presentation. I still have vivid beach images in my head.

The Blue Party (which I seriously thought had a chance of being a coke-snorting party, as who parties on Monday without a hang-over on Tue?!) was a meeting point of all agencies that will potentially work on this account, meet the Mr Blue Big CEO, VP Marketing and the likes. Kelly and I are selected to be one of the best dressed, but the MSN girl takes it all.

The Blue interactive is headed by a 28-yr old Taiwanese-born American guy, a Harvard grad, ex-McKinsey, smart, dynamic, nice guy. He will be known as C for now.

Wednesday we meet the Blue team to present credentials. It goes well and we are told that they need help from the agency to prepare the online strategy for a presentation to their management on Jan 4th. He asks us if we can spend time with him over the next few days to brainstorm ideas and put stuff together.

I’m crushed. I have to make a decision in 10 min: beach or office/hotel for the next 10 days. I spend the next 1 hour strategising with my boss, then making all the cancellation and flight changes, effectively canceling my trip to Vietnam.

Many people were shocked with my decision, but to me this is also an adventure, just in a different way. And a journey it has been.

The same day after the credentials presso, our Head of Creative, Clement and I stay back in Shanghai to work on Blue. We meet at C’s apartment to start our brainstorm the same day. We start at 11.30pm and finish at 3.30am. I get to my hotel room at 4am, chill for 30 min by watching the last downloaded episod of Martha Steward's The Apprentice, and head back to the airport to catch my 8am flight. On the flight, I crank out a proposal for the first Blue project since Blue has some spare budget and they want to test us. The project needs to be signed off under the ’05 budget, hence today. I run into our HK office, our guys ready to wrap it all up with creatives, deliverables, costs. We send it off at 3pm, by 6pm the PO comes in. Our first project with Blue. We now have 4 days to deliver – this includes Xmas and the weekend. It’s tough – our Beijing team is already maxed out to its limits.

The only time I take off is Xmas day to chill out at Jono and Sarah’s place. So glad they are in HK and so lucky to spend time with them. It was a good all-Aussie party with some great food, good company and many many children. I wore my blue wig and terrified some of them.

26th Dec I’m back at my laptop, now preparing to help the client put together the whole interactive strategy for Blue, which we will be sharing with him on Dec 30th. Lots and lots of research, stuff I already know it not good enough now. I go and meet with friends like Dan and Jo and pick their brains on what’s latest on the internet. No, not latest – it has to be latest, straight off the burner. Dan and Jo run a usability and online research company, they got finger on the pulse and I like and respect their view on the internet. They give me good input. I also ask for help from Catherine and Dean for help on brand communications and communities and then help me too by sending stuff. It's more encouragement more than anything else. Working alone over a holiday period can be tough.

Dec 30th – we meet C at his apartment at 2pm to present our stuff and brainstorm further. Meeting at his apartment works well – more relaxed, more forgiving environment. When we take a break, he picks up his guitar to plays some tunes and I run to the kitchen to make some coffee. We finish at 9pm and head for dinner to a Moroccan restaurant, smoke some shisha there to chill.

I had to be in Shanghai on Dec 31st, so ended up going to C's New Year party. The party was the first party in '06, starting at 1am. I got home at 7am. The party was a fusion of 16-20 year old models (including the new face for Vogue China just launched) and C's friends from Harvard. And there was me. Had a truly good time. Contrary to what you may think, the girls were absolutely lovely and the C's guy friends were great to get along with.

Being part of determining Blue’s online strategy for China is an amazing privilege, not only fun. The past few weeks have been a journey it itself. If we win this account on a more sustainable and larger basis, it will change a few people’s lives in our company. Blue is an iconic brand in China and to be part of shaping its digital form is a great feeling. This also makes you realise the stakes are much higher than ever before - if this falls through as a pitch or as execution later on, some people will be dead meat, me included. But if it is takes off, it's like building MTV as a brand.

The past 2 weeks my life have been running on its own tracks and I feel sometimes like I’m standing on the side watching it go by. I can see the faces of a few friends, Annie screaming to Bryan "She's fucking lost it! Get hold of yourself, woman." Well, as you also said Annie, Vietnam will be there, as India was there for me.

Today is Jan 2nd – Monday – public holiday, and I’m off hiking at one of the outlaying islands in HK – need the fresh air and clarity in my head.