Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
If you think of all of the greatest viral campaigns in the world, you’d struggle to think of many from Asia.
But that doesn’t mean people aren’t trying, and you may well have come across the latest ‘movement’ gathering pace in the region thanks to a smattering of "crazy Asians" type coverage in the Western press.
The premise for Sexy Mandarin is to teach people basic Chinese in a more interesting medium – namely lingerie clad women in pseudo porn scenarios seductively purring phrases while a deadpan, and slightly lecherous cartoon character tutor waxes lyrical about the translation.
The videos were done in partnership with Hong Kong based school New Concept Mandarin which helps with the lesson side of things.
For the purposes of this article, I’m going to put the various ethical arguments to one side and do the whole agency guy thing about whether it actually works as an effective viral campaign for New Concept.
The answer is yes and no, because it depends entirely on why they did it.
There is no doubt it is effective. The fact that a series of videos by Hong Kong based expat couple Mick Gleissner and Kaoru Kikuchi can get 1.3m plus views on YouTube in a few months is a testament to two things. The power of the internet - and more importantly - the power of sex on the internet.
As a whole, it also ticks all the boxes for a good viral campaign. It’s cringing, slightly offensive and a little amusing. In other words, it gets people talking. It’s also backed up by a strong website and social media presence too. Sexy Mandarin will remain on people’s lips for some time to come.
The problem with that is that none of that relates to New Concept. Their branding is actually very subtle. In fact it would be easy to argue that it’s too subtle. You can really only see their “serious” language courses as a brief slide at the end of videos, and on one place on the website.
If one of the points of their involvement was to increase awareness of their learning facilities then it isn’t working yet.
On the other side of the coin, there is a real danger of the viral brand spiralling out of control. Sure, the creators of the videos will get tonnes of publicity, but their brand isn’t at stake. What will they now do if this potential behemoth continues to grow? And is this what the partner school wants to be known for ultimately?
These are things I would have being flagging if it had been suggested to me (you’ve always got to think worst case scenario as well as best case). When the dust settles, if the brand association eventually sticks it could be what New Concept is best known for.
But if there is one thing Sexy Mandarin also demonstrates. The marked difference between Asia and the West in their reaction to such things.
Yes there has been a bit of outrage, but this campaign has been going for months and has had low key press in the West too. If you see the negative news coverage it seems more like manufactured outrage, journalists asking questions and contacting feminist groups as opposed to a collective rage spilling over online. It’s actually hard to find too much serious angry noise over the past few months from people other than journalists.
Would something like this have ever got such an easy ride had it been a London company? I seriously doubt it. There would be quite a few people finding it totally outrageous. It points to an interesting paradox about Asian culture – the mixture of the conservative and pragmatic.
People seem to get furious about practical issues rather than ethical ones. Maybe it’s Asian pragmatism at play, or perhaps it’s just a conservative society in action. But you’re more likely to see people displaying online anger about an increase in taxi fares than you are about a sex scandal.
Whatever the pros and cons, the videos have gained a lot of eyeballs and will continue to. But whether it is a worthwhile exercise ultimately boils down to two things. One. Are clicks a suitable objective for this viral campaign? Personally I don’t think so and it would be interesting to see what the conversion rate is both for Mr Gleissner and the New Concept Mandarin school.
Second, is there a chance an apparently reputable institution might suffer a backlash and alienate a good percentage of a potential audience because of its participation in the project? It’s not that likely, but stranger things have happened.
Befriend your ideological opposite. It’s fun.
Step inside the unlikely friendship of a former ACLU president and an ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justice.
- Former president of the ACLU Nadine Strossen and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia were unlikely friends. They debated each other at events all over the world, and because of that developed a deep and rewarding friendship – despite their immense differences.
- Scalia, a famous conservative, was invited to circles that were not his "home territory", such as the ACLU, to debate his views. Here, Strossen expresses her gratitude and respect for his commitment to the exchange of ideas.
- "It's really sad that people seem to think that if you disagree with somebody on some issues you can't be mutually respectful, you can't enjoy each other's company, you can't learn from each other and grow in yourself," says Strossen.
- The opinions expressed in this video do not necessarily reflect the views of the Charles Koch Foundation, which encourages the expression of diverse viewpoints within a culture of civil discourse and mutual respect.
3 ways to find a meaningful job, or find purpose in the job you already have
Learn how to redesign your job for maximum reward.
- Broaching the question "What is my purpose?" is daunting – it's a grandiose idea, but research can make it a little more approachable if work is where you find your meaning. It turns out you can redesign your job to have maximum purpose.
- There are 3 ways people find meaning at work, what Aaron Hurst calls the three elevations of impact. About a third of the population finds meaning at an individual level, from seeing the direct impact of their work on other people. Another third of people find their purpose at an organizational level. And the last third of people find meaning at a social level.
- "What's interesting about these three elevations of impact is they enable us to find meaning in any job if we approach it the right way. And it shows how accessible purpose can be when we take responsibility for it in our work," says Hurst.
Physicist advances a radical theory of gravity
Erik Verlinde has been compared to Einstein for completely rethinking the nature of gravity.
- The Dutch physicist Erik Verlinde's hypothesis describes gravity as an "emergent" force not fundamental.
- The scientist thinks his ideas describe the universe better than existing models, without resorting to "dark matter".
- While some question his previous papers, Verlinde is reworking his ideas as a full-fledged theory.
UPS has been discreetly using self-driving trucks to deliver cargo
TuSimple, an autonomous trucking company, has also engaged in test programs with the United States Postal Service and Amazon.
- This week, UPS announced that it's working with autonomous trucking startup TuSimple on a pilot project to deliver cargo in Arizona using self-driving trucks.
- UPS has also acquired a minority stake in TuSimple.
- TuSimple hopes its trucks will be fully autonomous — without a human driver — by late 2020, though regulatory questions remain.
