I currently own shares in two publicly-listed companies: one of them is Starbucks. I purchased Starbucks a few months ago, and it's slipped since then. It's a bad year to buy stocks — I know, I know. Now Starbucks says they have been affected by some of the milk recalls in China.

I don't drink coffee — gave it up in 1999 — but two months ago I decided to start tasting Starbucks' offerings. After all, if I own a part of their company, it helps to understand their product.

I started drinking soy lattes, and for about 3 weeks I drank at least one beverage from Starbucks each day (before I had to kick the caffeine habit and go through another week of withdrawal — that stuff is a drug!). What I noticed in the Beijing and Shanghai outlets I visited was that Starbucks' milk products were usually not being handled properly. When I was 17 years old I worked at TCBY in the United States — and it was drilled into us how to properly refrigerate any dairy or derivative products. But at the Chinese Starbucks outlets I visited I saw the milk containers often sitting out — neither in tubs of ice nor nestled safely in the refrigerators. On top of that, the soy milk was often being placed in mixing cups clearly stating they were for dairy milk. This is a problem for people who are Kosher, vegan, or lactose intolerant. I said something about it twice to Starbucks staff in Shanghai outlets on Nanjing Lu, and each time I got the same response: "This is what we always do". When I told a woman that I was sure there was a rule about not mixing non-dairy products in a dairy container, she told me, "You really know a lot about our company and rules!" I explained the health issues that could arise from the mixing of the dairy products, but she was incredulous.

I actually thought about blogging about the problem a few weeks ago, but I figured it was off-topic since it doesn't have anything to do with my company (this blog tries to stay topical to only this company, BDL Media). Now, I guess, I don't care — even though any negative publicity for Starbucks could hurt my shares even more. Some of our own media have talked about the milk problem and you can get more info from these sites in Chinese (this is how I keep it topical to our company):
三鹿召回致病奶粉
美国乳业加强产品质量管理

Now that Starbucks is focusing on dairy issues in China, maybe they can train their staff on better hygiene and food security issues too.

Disclosure: Starbucks was a client in the past when we helped with mobile and Web marketing campaigns.

Tags: advertising | coffee | dairy | marketing | milk | mobile | Starbucks

I'm the chairperson of the Amcham Shanghai I.T. Committee and we're having a joint event with the Legal Committee next Tuesday in Shanghai called "Development of Data Protection In China". It's open to both members and non-members, and the two speakers will be Grace Chen, a partner in the Corporate/Commercial Group of Bird & Bird law firm in Beijing and co-author of the China Q&A section in the PLC 2007/2008 Data Protection Handbook, and Ben Pasco, managing director of Legal Technologies Asia Pacific for Kroll Ontrack and professor of forensics at the China Institute of Defence, Science and Technology in Beijing. There is a new data security and privacy law that is rolling out soon in China, and it will affect direct marketers, advertisers, software companies, and anyone else that harbors data in China.

Last night I spent time at the opening night of the official Shanghai Oktoberfest — there are many Oktoberfest celebrations in Shanghai, but this is the one endorsed by the local government. We run and manage ShanghaiOktoberfest.com, which is the official website of the event and the festivities run for another ten days.

I've been a vegetarian for almost eight years. I don't drink milk and I don't eat eggs, but I eat fish about once every 6 weeks (when I am forced to in a social/business setting in China). I've tended to ignore all the troubles with Sanlu milk products because it just doesn't have any direct effect on me and what I eat. I'm sure that the problem associated with processed foods anywhere in the world are only the tip of the iceberg — most issues probably go unreported.

Tags: advertising | Amcham | American Chamber of Commerce | data privacy | data security | direct marketing | Internet advertising | Kroll | milk | milk powder | Oktoberfest | privacy | Sanlu | Shanghai | software | technology | vegetarian

Some of our websites run on WordPress, and we have developed dozens and dozens of websites for clients using WordPress as both a CMS and just a normal "static" website over the last 3 years.

WordCamp China is happening this weekend in Beijing and Shanghai and the WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg and his associates will be visiting the Middle Kingdom. Our company BDL Media and our ChinaTechNews.com have become sponsors. My technology manager in our Beijing office will be attending the event there and on the lookout for new hires, and I will be attending the event in Shanghai this Sunday at Fudan University.

Around 2000 I started using PHPNuke, which is still around, but it was always a messy handful to develop for and finding Chinese developers for it was rough.

We used MovableType for a brief period afterward, but what a mess that was — poor support, poorer Chinese-language support for our company's developers, and too much database madness from constant rebuilding. Using MovableType was/is like living on a deserted island and not having easy access to quick script includes and other niceties that PHP offers on the server-side (I'm sure some people will disagree and maybe MT has gotten a little better in the last 3 years).

Then we started using WordPress a few years ago. It is an elegant concoction, and there is lots of Chinese-language support, a good deal of Chinese developers, and (except for some issues with an update to the software within the last year that rendered Chinese charsets temporarily scrambled in the MySQL) good feng shui. Our company has donated money in the past to some of the plugin development projects — what helps us can help the community too.

WordPress is about to launch a new version and a usability survey has been going around. I think some of the changes in the new launch will be a step backwards so far as allowing non-English users good access to the administrative section of the software, but the good thing about WordPress is that a plugin or change to the software can easily be mustered to get around any core deficiencies. Another thing that needs to change soon is a better ability to secure an installation by taking full control of the directory and file names of key scripts.

Tags: Beijing | blog | blogging | ChinaTechNews.com | feng shui | Matt Mullenweg | MovableType | MySQL | open source | PHP | PHPNuke | Shanghai | WordCamp China | wordpress

Today is the first day back to work after a mandatory Chinese national 3-day holiday, but the markets were active yesterday (Monday) in the United States, where Lehman's troubles helped tumble Chinese tech stocks: Ctrip.com dropped 7%, Shanda fell 4%, Sohu.com fell 8%, China Netcom dipped by 7%, Baidu fell 3%, and the list continues… Xiang Ji posted pics on her blog and was down at the headquarters of Lehman in New York where security was tight and employees were departing.

Tags: Baidu | China Netcom | Chinese stocks | ctrip | Lehman | New York | Shanda | Sohu | stock market

Here's a comprehensive rundown of hotel loyalty marketing programs in China from our China Hospitality News (go here for a briefer version on hotel loyalty programs in English). Last year we assisted over 260 hotels with their campaigns, and this year we should do 350+ — the hotel business is booming in China, and loyalty marketing programs — from economy hotels like Super 8 and Jinjiang Inn up to 5-star outlets from Starwood and IHG are the best way for these businesses to maintain a solid relationship with their guests/databases.

China Hospitality News is going to put out something on airline programs in a few weeks too. We currently fully manage the frequent flyer program database for two international airlines operating in China and provide services to about 12 other domestic and foreign carriers. With fuel prices high, airlines are cutting back on incentives to their frequent flyers, so better cash-in your points while they are worth something.

Tags: airline | direct marketing | hotel | IHG | incentive travel | loyalty marketing | marketing campaign | MICE | rewards | rewards program | Starwood | travel

In about 24 hours I need to be in Shanghai where I'm giving presentation on PR/CSR/Web2.0. I planned to devote 2 slides and 6 minutes to discussing the end of traditional press conferences (oh no, that might mean the end of hongbao too) and then I found this article posted today called "How the Blogosphere Killed the Press Conference". It's an interesting read, more so because it also has ramifications for the death of BusinessWire, PR Newswire and other traditional press release companies if they don't morph soon — the Securities and Exchange Commission issued some statements recently that will make posting PR via those services unnecessary soon and the info can go out directly via the SEC's own website. This is what we've been banking on at Xinwengao.com for many years to happen.

I've been in Beijing the last few days and leave late tonight to go back to Shanghai. The air seems very bad — much worse than during the Olympics 2 weeks ago — and traffic is horrible with only half of the cars on the road.

Tags: Beijing | China Newswire | CSR | Olympics | pollution | pr | PR in China | PR news | press conference | press release | press release distribution | public relations | SEC | Shanghai | Web 2.0 | xinwengao

I chuckled when I read Stan's post (and then read David's post — thanks to Stan a few weeks ago who showed me how to rediscover all the typepad blogs that are blocked and that I have had no access to for many months). Some of those ideas are what Stan and I have been discussing for years to each other on the phone or over meals. There are a few quick things to take away from those posts, and with my own feedback:

1) A foreigner knows only so much "about China". The true experts are the native Chinese. Reading a book (or blog) by a foreigner on how to do business in China is like reading about how to polish a pane of translucent glass.

2) Foreign experts who write on business in China — unless they are 80 years old, retired, and live in a few mansions — are probably more expert on writing than doing business in China.

3) Never confuse the ability to write, with the ability to fully understand a subject. Some of the best writers are bullshitters (this doesn't just go for China, but anywhere in the world).

4) It is important to read many books on China, because they provide a framework and flavor. However, like Stan and David say, everyone has their own experiences and no two experiences are the same. If a foreign company comes to China, they need to tread their own new path.

5) Nothing earned in China comes easy. One of the things I usually tell people when they pry to much into getting free advice is "Sorry, I'm not a consultant" — everyone running a business (and some of those who work for a business) has a wealth of advice to provide, but there's no sense sharing it with the world if you're not a consultant and in the business of sharing that experience. This is one reason why I really try to stay away from blogging about "the China business" issues and instead just focus on my own company and what's happening with it on this blog.

By the way, and on a similar subject, a GREAT book to read is "The Hermit Of Peking". I read it about 9 years ago, it was first published in 1976, and it recounts the life of Sir Edmund Backhouse who lived in Beijing about 90 years ago. That is really the only book you need to read. It reads like a modern-day look at life in Beijing for foreigners and foreign businesses trying to operate here. The same trends and personalities that existed then, still exist today.

Ok, enough said on that topic — will add more when I buy a few more mansions and relax with my grandchildren in 50 years.

Tags: blog | blogging | book | business book | China | typepad