Found in Translation

James M (MindShare, Thailand) writes: 

Today I attended a presentation arranged by AmCham with Asia Online as Guest Speaker. Once over the initial shock of the title (Is Machine Translation Ready for Real-world Use?), I found the subject matter fascinating and wondered why it had not struck me sooner? With approximately one billion online, many of whom are comfortable with the English language, what of the next billion? The ‘next generation’ will want (and many will only be able) to interact with the web in their own language.

Dion Wiggins, CEO of Asia Online, explained how currently only 12% of all web pages are in Asian languages (mostly split between Chinese and Japanese – with Thai making up less than 0.03%). Although much was made about making technology available to the developing world, he went on (especially the Nicholas Negroponte-fronted project One Laptop per Child) little progress had been made in making the vast majority of the existing, valuable content available in anything but the English language.

In response, his company is “innovating software translation technology to deliver far more accurate results and to support many language combinations…to translate huge quantities of valuable content and make that freely available in local languages.” They are well aware of the idioms and nuances each language possesses and as such the software requires vast amounts of data (corpus) in original and translated versions from which it can learn. Assuming they are successful, the value of existing content and the ability to create new pages instantly available in multiple languages will be of huge potential to the current and ‘next billion’ Internet users.

Watch this space…

A digitizing Bollywood? India’s first serial for mobiles

Ju (MindShare, Regional team) writes:

Hope you had a great refreshing holiday like I did and wishing everyone a superb year ahead!

I opened my inbox to find an interesting article on the distribution of content through mobile phones in India, forwarded to me by Alefiyah in MindShare Singapore who gave us the “Bollywood on Mobile” story last year. The article on the Hindustani Times, titled “India’s first serial for mobiles next month” featured another example of how Bollywood is capitalizing on digital technology to bring entertainment to the masses. Rajshri Productions, a major Bollywood production house, has created a “90-episode series, with three minutes per episode, … in the humour genre” offered to the audience via the mobile phone.

With the high penetration rate of mobile phones in the region, other developing countries in Asia-Pacific might want to keep an eye on India to see how the landscape for digital content and platforms will unfold. In the developing world, it is likely that India will lead in terms of creative ideas on producing content for new media like the Internet, mobile phones and mp3 players, given the population’s uniquely insatiable appetite for Bollywood fare.

The article reminds me a recent chat I had with a Thai security guard servicing one of my friend’s apartment in Bangkok. The guard (apparently an early adopter of trends, as my friend tells me) was trying out DTAC’s (a Thai mobile network operator) new GPRS promotion plan that offered a FREE mobile-internet-friendly Nokia phone bundled with 20 hours of downloads for 99 baht (about 3 USD). He was happily connected to the Internet with his phone through the mobile internet browser Opera, but he had one problem. He had no idea where to go to find any kind of entertainment on the Internet! I have a feeling he’d go for a Thai version of the mobile comedy series launching in India…

Read India’s first serial for mobiles next month on Hindustani Times. Thanks Alefiyah!

Connecting with Malaysian teens through TV

David (MindShare, Thailand) writes:

From our close relative The Juice comes this item about the continuation of “Impian Illyana” a great piece of integrated TV branded content & activation for SunSilk. Proof that sensitively-produced content can appeal to audiences and work at the checkout.

YouTube disappears from Thai Internet

David (MindShare, Bangkok) writes:

From today’s Bangkok Post:

Internet users reported on Wednesday that Thai authorities had blocked the popular website YouTube, over an insulting video of His Majesty the King.

Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the minister of information and communication technology, told the Reuters news agency he personally ordered a block of the entire site from Thailand after the ministry’s attempts to block the offending page last week failed.

Full story at:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/topstories.php?id=117871
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/business/worldbusiness/05tube.html?ref=technology

Malaysia’s Justin Timberlake Brings Muslim Values Back

Yasmin and Liyana (MindShare, Malaysia) writes:

At first glance, Malaysia’s latest singing phenomenon looks like a Southeast Asian version of Justin Timberlake, with his slim build and closely-cropped hair. But this is where the similarities end. While JT sings about bringing “Sexy Back”, Mawi, as this unlikely pop idol is known, uses his latest album to bring the Quran back onto the airwaves for Malaysia’s youth. This 25 year old from a poor agricultural village sells more albums of religious tunes and Islamic verses than Justin Timberlake and other global acts. Mawi won the local equivalent of ‘Pop Idol’ by a landslide, motivated millions to purchase the products he endorsed, and has even unintentionally spawned the phenomenon of “Mawi headscarves” among Malay women.

Here’s a video compilation of his performances, with fans looking on in adoration:

So what propelled this average Joe to unprecedented heights of popularity? Timing has a lot to do with it. Alienated by the US-led war on terror, public opinion in the Islamic world, including here in moderate Malaysia, has gradually shifted away from a US-centric world view towards other alternatives. Along comes Mawi, who tries to pursue a career in the competitive entertainment world without compromising on traditional Islamic values. Among a sea of local Hollywood wannabes, Mawi stood out as the first to project a contemporary image yet stay true to Muslim values, winning over legions of Malay fans in the process.

The growing preference for local idols is reflected in the consumers’ brand choices too. According to MindShare’s 3D Research, Malays are more likely than before to opt for local brands. A local coffee brand infused with traditional herbs is giving established international beverages a run for their money, and a similar scenario can be seen in other product categories. For the new generation of middle income Malays, who make up the majority of the Malaysian population, foreign does not necessarily equal aspirational. The growing recognition for homegrown heroes means global brands need to seek ways to speak to consumers in their own lingo and on their own terms.

Singapore’s Retro-wave and implications for media

Sonal (MConsult, Singapore) writes:

The Straits Times, Singapore’s leading English daily, recently devoted its entire Sunday Lifestyle supplement to covering a phenomenon which seems to be becoming a rage in Singapore. ‘Nostalgia’ or the need to relive the past is a disease that seems to be afflicting more Singaporeans than is usual. In fact so big is the phenomenon, that one can almost call it a mini industry of sorts in this city state.

It has many avataars – retro/vintage/60’s or 70’s hip/40’s-50’s art deco/classic- and it finds many manifestations- retro theme parties, quaint looking eateries, retro designs for buildings and offices, activist groups campaigning for the preservation of historic buildings and their facades, retro furniture shops, nostalgia themed collections/looks by designers to even the National Museum putting up era specific memorabilia on display and publishing a book on Vintage Singapore. The most popular destination in Singapore currently, The Cathay Picture House (Most popular destination for online Singaporeans – MPulse November 2006), has also been through a recent makeover which highlights its art deco façade instead of a swanky modern contemporary look. The New Majestic Hotel, recently renovated similarly, is one of the hippest destinations in Singapore. In fact, even our Mindshare Singapore office has a conference room done up in mosaic sixties style!!

So what lies behind Singapore’s yearning for the past? Is it merely nostalgia, which can be found everywhere? Or is it something more, something to sit up, understand and possibly learn from?

For Singapore, a city often accused by the world of having no soul, this could perhaps be an attempt to discover what it is really about. The current generation is perhaps increasingly trying to bring back and understand the past to decode the character of the present.

According to a sociologist quoted in the aforementioned Sunday Times supplement, ‘People tend to have a kind of selective amnesia about the past. Not only they remember it, but they also embellish it and make it better than it really was’(Chua Beng Huat, sociologist, Sunday Times, Page L3, 18th February).

Therein, perhaps, also lies the key to the phenomenon’s marketability and it’s appeal to businesses. It is no surprise then, that an informal estimate by the same publication pegs the investment in recreating the past at SGD 20 million. Little surprise, also then, that brands with histories like Coke and Levi’s do not hesitate to jump on to the bandwagon by cashing in on the iconic equity of their older products/packaging.

It is therefore, definitely more than merely a rose tinted view of the past. What lies at the bottom of this is a need to find meaning, personality, character in things.

So what is it that we, as media and marketing experts can learn from the nostalgia story?

An interesting exploration to be made here is perhaps the extensive debate about the irrelevance of old media like newspapers and TV, which seem to be fading in importance especially amongst the youth as remnants of a time which is past. But these same youth are also the ones buying into ‘retro’ fashion, which they may not even have been around to see. Something, which on the surface seems to be a passing fad, actually has more depth. Take for example, the popularity of LPs in the world MP3 players and other extensive digital format options. There are young people who still buy into LPs because of many reasons, the superiority of content quality being an important reason. The feeling that you own the piece of music and have a personal relationship with being another, and the feeling of having something tangible in your hands.

This analogy is important to illustrate how and why old media like newspapers may never go out of business. In a world where information flow online is completely uninhibited and undoctored, information almost controls the individual…take the example of any website which you would visit. The possibility that the website takes you somewhere completely, through links that take you to other links, which take you even farther, from where you started is very high. There are people who feel lost on the net there is an overwhelming sense of loss of control. They also doubt the source credibility of it. Such people prefer printed words on pages. For them the printed word on a newspaper has much more veracity than a random website on the net.

The argument of tangibility also holds. The need to own a book which you love is huge for readers. Opening the book, whether new or old, and smelling its pages, is in itself an act establishing a relationship with it, as is reading it again and again.

For some the print medium has meaning beyond mere information. These people store collections of magazines like Vogue and National Geographic. There are people, in fact, who frame poems and put them up on the wall.

According to Colin Faulks, designer in residence, at La Salle Arts College, the print medium appeals to subconscious parts of us. Elements like the smell of ink, the need to hold what you read and feel some sense of ownership over it, the almost ‘organic, hands on feel’ that reading words on paper gives us, and the ability to touch it are all the qualities that may ensure the survival of this medium in this electronic age. He feels the reason why after moving from the scroll format to the present book/magazine/newspaper format, we have not evolved any new forms of print is the appropriateness of it, which has not faded.

Media owners will probably have to gear up for a future in which reading newspapers becomes a statement of sorts, and the medium itself evolves to a specialized niche one which stands for information of a particular kind. Its audience will then also be a niche one, allowing more focused targeting and high value revenue rather volume revenue.

What meaning will it hold for the reader and what kind of reader will it appeal to? One can only surmise but a reasonable guess is that similar to people who are passionate about music and prefer hard formats to soft ones, this will appeal to those who value the written word, those who take pleasure in reading, to discerning readers who value things like good writing, skillful use of language and informed opinions.

The newspaper has always carried, with its black and white print, no nonsense layout, the use of older serif fonts, carried with it gravitas and authority. News in the newspaper (the main newspaper) stands for a detached, impersonal, and rational point of view.

It stands for a sense of order and control, an explanation and guide to the chaos around us, and what asserts this is the intellectual rigor that goes into the writing of it. This sense of order in chaos may become even more valuable in the miasmic chaos of information that is the internet- undoctored, unmonitored, unverified and uncharted. Many young people look to the newspaper as the most credible source of information, even though they may not refer to it on a daily basis.

It is likely then that this deeper coded unchanging meaning within newspapers will still remain and fulfill a need for this ‘kind’ of content…and spell a clearly demarcated future where each medium fulfills a different kind of need altogether.

MTV Korea teams up with multimedia portals

Ju (MindShare, Regional team) writes:

We see media fragmenting everday, in the multitude of delivery platforms (mobile phones, MP3s and other personal media players, video sites) and the increasingly diverse content, such as the “Narrowing Divide in the English news space” in India.

What happens next? With so much choice for content and so many ways to consume it, it is logical to assume that wired consumers will subconsciously desire a simpler way to manage the bits and pieces of content floating around them. This is where the bigger, more familiar brands like MTV can step in, and has just done so with their new offering in Korea, MTView.

They called it “AN UNPRECEDENTED ALLIANCE BETWEEN FIVE MULTIMEDIA PARTNERS TO OFFER VIEWERS A WIDE ARRAY OF ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT“

From MTV Networks Korea’s press release, February 12th:

“MTV Networks Korea has teamed up with four leading web sites and portals in Korea: Bugs, Empas, Joins.com and Pandora TV, to launch an unparalleled multimedia network platform called MTView, creating an ultimate destination for Korean consumers to access and view a wide-range of MTV-branded and other original content online.

MTView, an extended offering of MTV BOOMBOX’ customizable on-demand music and entertainment broadband and mobile community platform, is the latest free of charge multimedia video sharing network service offered by an unprecedented alliance of diverse web services and content providers in Korea. With an estimated of 15 million online viewing streams and a potential reach of 23 million registered members, MTView is expected to be the largest video content portal in Korea giving access to 69.4 % of Korea’s internet users to MTVN entertainment and other compelling content offered by our partners.

With over 100 music videos being uploaded to the platform daily, consumers are given on-demand access to a vast library of content including music videos, MTV-branded award shows such as MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Europe Music Awards as well as hit shows such as Pimp My Ride, Sunny Side, Punk’d and The Hills. Alongside with pre-released music videos and exclusive MTV-branded international shows never shown on MTV Korea, MTView will also feature wide-ranging user-created content from Pandora TV, more music videos and music-related videos from Bugs, the latest in news and entertainment/lifestyle information from Joins.com and a web search service provided by Empas.

In the next phase, MTView will upgrade its service with additional functions, allowing internet users to customize and share videos across multiple platforms with each other through a social network video sharing service encompassing videoblogs, instant messaging and user-created content online viewing.

Commenting on the partnership, Luke Kang, Managing Director of MTV Networks Korea, said, “The launch of MTView marks a ground breaking partnership in a series of cross platform initiatives spearheaded by five leading media companies in the market. This digital offering not only enables us and our partners to intensify our connections with Korean consumers, it will also give us a strong competitive advantage to stay ahead of technology and user trends in the market.”

“The demand for quality video content is growing every day” Jihee Nam, Vice President, Digital Media, MTV Networks Korea said, “MTView is here to provide a first class service through a unique partnerships between MTV, the world’s leading broadcaster, and four partners specialized in music, search service, news and user-generated content websites, to further enhance the rapid changing entertainment needs and content interests of Korea’s internet users.”

MTV BOOMBOX is a comprehensive online entertainment destination utilizing state of the art technology across online and mobile platforms, providing Korean consumers a robust digital community featuring local and international MTV programming on-demand, a wealth of user-generated content and a vast library of local and international music video and audio downloads. MTV BOOMBOX launched in May 2006, marking the first MTV-branded broadband network in Asia and the first video-based music community site to launch in Korea.

Celebrating the launch of MTView, Korea’s latest girl band Wonder Girls from MTV Korea’s reality show “MTV Wonder Girls”, will be giving their first live performance at the MTV studio in Seoul on 13 February 2007. Viewers can check out the … websites and stand a chance to catch the girls playing live.”

The book MTV Collections of Cool Asia has identified the emergence of “Asian Art Collectives”, where individuals and small businesses come under one collective banner, creating more visibility and attention, such as The Asylum in Singapore, and The Click Project in Malaysia. With MTView as example, it seems the concept of “collectives” can also be applied at a macro-level, with media owners or brands teaming up with high-traffic partners.

The way I see it, it’s like identifying the universe that your target consumer lives in and creating your own branded galaxy within that.

Variations on iTunes song list and pricing – Japan most expensive

David (MindShare Thailand) writes:

Some interesting stuff via Gizmodo about iTunes’ pricing in various markets,
including a link that suggests Japanese customers are paying an 80% premium over Americans. The blogosphere has picked up on the dramatic variations in iTunes pricing and artist availability in various markets, and the restrictions that iTunes put on cross-border purchasing, starting here. I can understand to some extent the variable pricing, although the variations seem even more extreme than I remember from working with brick-and-mortar music retailers. But why make some Japanese performers available only to home-market consumers with local credit cards?

I have had similar experiences locally, where I can “look at but not touch” iTunes’ UK stock. In the Land of Smiles (and very good copies of digital media), this policy discourages the purchase of legitimate stock and does little to accelerate The Big Switch.

The big switch in news – shifting control to the consumer

Ashutosh (MindShare regional, Singapore) writes: 

Is the user-generated content revolution going to make the old business model of news redundant ? We are beginning to see some interesting developments in the business of news.  

I recently had an interesting discussion with a leading publisher on how online distribution channels are beginning to change consumer behaviour when it comes to news consumption, and how the profile of the consumer who still buys a ‘paper’ newspaper is getting skewed to the generation on the other side of 30. And similarly for news broadcast formats. 

And what is he doing? Hiring 18 year olds to create a supplement for teens in his same old newspaper, which is apparently now being read by anxious parents of these teens to find out what the younger generation is upto! But the teens still don’t read his newspaper!  The old-fashioned way of producing news via a bunch of people who write or present news with their own (or sometimes organisational) biased perspective is distinctly unappealing and therefore does not connect with the younger generation.  There is also a view that the best news experience is a shared social experience and therefore we will soon see the rapid rise of user generated news as well, and I tend to agree with this.   I recently registered at an interesting website http://www.YourNewsDay.com which claims to be a ‘global user generated content site on news, with no agenda, political or geographic bias’. It has set itself up as ‘open to everyone in the world to reflect their news – personal, local, national, and international – and share it with the world’. Check out this article at Contagious Magazine. 

There are other experiments going on, some of which have caught on while others are struggling.  For instance, Findory is a personalised general news service which has not really caught on, unlike Digg (which postions itself as user-powered content), Techmeme and Memeorandum which focus on narrowly defined niches (technology, politics etc). For more on this, read Scott Karp’s article on Is news a fundamentally shared social experience. 

What does this mean to the Rupert Murdochs of the world and how will it affect their businesses? I am sure they are waiting and watching…

Porn video glasses from Taiwan – a coming trend

  

James (MindShare regional team, Singapore) writes: 

At first I laughed at this Digital Journal article Watch porn in public with new video glasses. It’s well-known that the porn industry often pioneers new technology – VHS, internet payment, broadband video sites.

But it wasn’t until I just listened to Ross Dawson’s excellent podcast interview where he discussed video glasses and fold-out screens, that I grasped the underlying importance of this technology, especially for our business… 

First the news: 

Visitors at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo held this week were asked by Victor Quitoriano to try out a new technology that allows for intimate video viewing session complete with audio through an ear piece.

The model was shown at the Sands Exposition Center just a day earlier.“Our technology crosses over,” Quitoriano told AFP. “The videos we showed there weren’t porn, because we didn’t want to offend anybody. Here, it’s different. Imagine you can take your porn all over the place; in a plane or a train, but not in the car unless you are the passenger.

The new glasses are made in Taiwan and sold by Quitoriano’s California based company Body Care and connect to all the latest video playing devices including Xbox 360 and PS3 game consoles as well as iPods and Zune mp3 players. The new models being shown cost about $349.00 but were discounted for show-goers. 

I’ve never heard of video glasses before, but a quick google search revealed a number of new products in the market, such as this review for a brand called iTheater. Here’s some highlights of that product and a photo:

• weighs 3 ounces.
• video is at a 230,000 pixel resolution
• audio is surround sound.
• hook up your game consoles, DVD players, computers, iPod (video), or other video playing players.
• Like playing games or watching your DVDs on a 50 inch screen.

So what’s the significance? Very soon our mobile phones, video iPods and other devices will be capable of storing many hours of content. Online gaming can be played. TV can be streamed to devices. Already in Korea millions are watching TV on their mobile devices.

One of the main arguments against adoption of mobile TV has been the uncomfortable experience of ‘staring at a small screen’. With video glasses, and roll-out or fold-out screens, that potential adoption barrier will also be removed.

 To understand more of the implications of consuming content on the go, and especially mobile social networking, you should read Ross Dawson’s blog entry and listen to the podcast.

China’s instant messenger IPTV

James (MindShare regional team, Singapore) writes:

Virtual China just posted about a new IPTV product announced by Tencent and TCL. According to many reports on the Chinese IPTV market like this one, China will fast leapfrog to become the largest IPTV market in the world.   Given the massive adoption of free/cheap internet messenger services like QQ, on the PC and the mobile phone, it seems likely that this service will soon be integrated into the TV also. 

What interested me about this product and post especially was the detailed product features and human benefits profiled here by Intel blogger Kevin Rui:

• Tencent today announced with TCL industrial research institute in Shenzhen iTQQ TV– the first TV with interactive intelligence born in China.
• ITQQ TV offers online games, photo albums, e-cards and instant messagers..you can play poker online while watching TV
• According to Tencent Shenzhen R&D center general manager Li Jiancheng: Old people can now inquire the working status of their children through the device even with no former internet experiences.
• The remote controller can be used to communicate with the children to know whether and when they will come home for dinner.
• With QQ IM functions, the end users may share their favorite TV program with friends instantly
• Upload digital photos and make new years’ e-cards for online QQ users while watching TV
• All of these operations using one single remote controller.

Why give FIFA 07 away for free in Korea

  James (MindShare regional, Singapore) writes: 

Eric Pfanner at IHT just wrote an excellent, well-researched article Internet pushes the concept of ‘free’ content, supported by advertising.

I recommend you to read the full article, which explores the overall trend towards giving content and other media and services away for free, and the huge burden companies are putting on advertising to provide the long-term business model. We see the same trend in (free) newspapers, music, mobile services and other areas. 

In Asia of course, where piracy is rampant, and consumers are far less willing to pay for content in general, this trend is likely to be accelerated. Here are the two Asian examples from the article:

“FIFA 07,” a video game for soccer fans, costs around €50 in
Europe. In South Korea, five million players have downloaded the online version free — yet Electronic Arts, the publisher, is cheering them on. Realizing that it was impossible to sell “FIFA Online” in a country where piracy is rampant, Electronic Arts started giving away the game last spring. Once the players were hooked, the company offered for sale ways to gain an edge on opponents; extending the career of a star player, for instance, costs less than $1. Since May, Electronic Arts has sold 700,000 of these enhancements.

Even in China, where piracy is widespread, EMI Music agreed this week to make its music available for a free, ad- supported service run by Baidu, the country’s largest search engine.

I’ve also pulled out some other juicy facts/examples from the article:

• At least 28 million free newspapers are distributed every day around the world, 19 million of them in Europe, where the total has doubled over the past three years.
• After several years of heavy promotion, digital sales made up only 10 percent of total music industry revenue in 2006
• AOL, formerly a subscription service, has opened its Internet portals in the United States and Europe to all Internet users, free of charge, in the hope of appealing to more advertisers that way.
• According to a survey of 130 media executives from around the world, conducted recently by Accenture, 31 percent forecast that subscription models would be the dominant business model in five years’ time, with 25 percent opting for so-called pay-per-play funding. But 37 percent said advertiser financing would be the predominant business model in five years’ time.
• Worldwide, media spending by consumers and business users still handily outstrips advertising, by $944 billion to $385 billion, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers

Leapfrog the Internet with instant video to iPod

David (MindShare, Thailand) writes:

This could be a Big Switch accelerator in markets such as Thailand which lack decent broadband TV and have no TiVo penetration. Via Popgadget here’s a $199 box that allows you to record programmes direct from TV to iPod Video. And a great name, another one missed by Apple’s trademark team. Already on sale at Amazon.com.

Peeks into Asian homes?

David (MindShare, Thailand) writes:

Here’s an interesting site <http://www.normalroom.com> via Boing Boing displaying shots of member’s rooms from around the world.

Not too many postings from Asia though – possibly because the site refers to us as The Far East – sooooo last century! One for international planners to keep an eye on in case the database grows to the point where it offers real insights. or perhaps we should start our own – how about views of the inside of fridges and larders, for food brands?

Why Filipinos love online communities

 

James (MindShare regional team, Singapore) writes:

Prolific Filipino blogger Mike Abundo explains an interesting theory here:

Why are Filipinos such natural adopters of social media? Why are half of all Friendster users Filipino? Why is the Philippines among the top countries on BlogExplosion?

Here’s what I think. One of the Filipino core values, passed down from our small-town islander ancestors, is bayanihan — community collaboration. That’s exactly why technologies that facilitate online community collaboration are such hits with Filipinos.