Event: Just a reminder to come and join in an offline discussion with our Thought Leader Asit Gupta, formerly the Greater China Marketing Director for BAT. Asit is another truly visionary thinker with a captivating life story, who has offered to share with us his experience and some well kept little secrets relating to building cigarette brands such as Dunhilll, 555 and B&H in Russia and China. Feel free to post any questions for Asit in the Reply section of this page. Members can contact Asit directly through the online discussion section of the website.

Date: Friday, 17th September 2010. 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Location: Cuba lounge , JC Mandarin Hotel, 2nd Floor, 1225 Nanjing Xi Road
Shanghai, China (86-21) 6279 1888

Entry: The 17th of this Month is unusual in that it falls on Friday,  and on such occasions we make the event open house. Therefore anyone can attend and there is no charge. So come along and rub shoulders (we stop at shoulders) with some of the world’s most exciting people in the brand building and marketing industry.  Member Badge holders naturally get priority seating, complimentary drinks and Cuban tapas .

Membership Fees: From 1st September2010. One time Registration fee: US$1750 (non refundable) + Annual Subscription fee US$175. More details

Careers in Branding: For the latest Brand related jobs and positions from our Mastersofthebrand supporters Michael Page please click here.

Brand Conferences: If you are in the Luxury industry don’t forget to get involved in Luxury Brand conference by Marcus Evans this November in Shanghai.

Subscriber /Unsubscribe to these complimentary Mastersofthebrand email updates by clicking here

Byron Constable, Founder
Mastersofthebrand

THOUGHTLEADERSHIP EVENT, TUES 17TH AUG 2010

Join me this Tuesday for another truly exclusive interview, this time with thought leader Mark Klingspon, China President of Gibson Music at the Gibson China flagship store on Hengshan Road, Shanghai (full details below)

The brand Gibson is synonymous with rock and roll as leather and teenage rebellion. Famous for guitar vintage stylings and intonations, this century old guitar brand is considered among the world’s leading innovators in guitar manufacturing.

Why does a brand build a flagship store? Those attending will learn about Mark’s (previously the China Managing Director for Taylor Made Adidas Golf) thought process which has lead to the worlds first ever  Gibson flagship store appearing in Shanghai. Aside from discovering why there are a pair of Nike running shoes with pink fluffy inners in the flagship store the discussion will mostly focus around the point and value of a flagship store in building/expanding marketshare for iconic brands.

Date: Tuesday, 17th August 2010. 6.30pm – 8.30pm. Interview takes place from 7 -7.30pm

Venue:  This event will take place at Shanghai Gibson flagship store, 10 Hengshan Lu, near Wulumuqi Lu 衡山路10号, 近乌鲁木齐南路 +86 21 3461 2758 (* Note this is a new venue)

Mastersofthebrand presents a truly exclusive interview this month with
thought leader Ben Tuff, Director of Insight at Pepsico foods, China.

Ben is the Gentleman behind the decision making process that has lead to an
incredibly original (blueberry flavoured potato chips!) and successful China market
strategy for the global brand Lays potato chip.

This is a rare opportunity for members to learn invaluable knowledge of how
research is used to adapt a global brand to Chinese consumers tastes,
desires and thinking, and the logic behind why fruity and spicy flavoured chips
made sense for this global brand.

Date: Thursday, 17th June 2010. 6.30pm – 8.30pm
(Coming? Leave a reply below for other members)

Venue: As usual is The Aquarium Lounge, Alfred Dunhill, Plaza 66, Unit 111A,
1266 Nanjing Road West, Shanghai Tel: (86-21) 6288 3822

Entry: Members + 1 members guest (complimentary fine drinking for members)

Membership: Click here to register if you are not already a member

Mastersofthebrand is the private network of over 500 senior executives building global brands in Mainland China. Members collaborate online and at regular monthly events for brand building related decision making and experience sharing. Joining is possible only through invitation from an existing member. Members may bring 1 guest to each event. Guests may attend once only.

Introduction to Ben Tuff:

Former Market Research Society Young Researcher Of The Year Ben spent
10 years at UK soft drinks company Britvic before coming to China in late 2006
tasked with step changing the use of Consumer Insight within the China
PepsiCo foods business.

By challenging the local norms, that agencies are merely suppliers of data, that
what you hear from the consumer must be true,that market research is not just
a “yes/no” tick box, he has instilled a culture of consumer understanding to
underpin business decision making and brand development.

Through a slow process of developing best practice and pushing partners and
colleagues to develop their approaches consumer understanding has become a
strategic business tool and a foundational platform for creative thinking to disrupt
and differentiates to build business value. Ben’s belief is that great Insights start
with a clear understanding of the key problem or question and a deep understanding
of the consumer, the category and your brands and how they interrelate.

亲爱的品牌达人

我 们荣幸邀请Mastersofthebrand会员参加下一场独一无二的论坛活动，Ben Tuff，PepsicoFoods中国市场洞察总监(Director of Insight)

Ben曾经领导了一系列的超级原创而超 级成功中国市场策略制定，例如在Lay薯片中国市场推广中开发蓝莓口味的薯片！

又一次，您将有机会领略并体会到国际商业领袖们在中国 市场 推广的过程中如何探索成功的方式，如何克服各种意想不到的挫折，以及如何最终找到征服市场和消费者‘口味’ 的整个‘历险’！又一次，您将有机会学习和借鉴在任何媒体上都不会看到的私人体会和经验。

日期- 2010年6月17日，晚6.30-8.30
(点击 这里确认您的到会，或发邮件向我们确认你的预定)

场 所:  The Aquarium Lounge, Alfred Dunhill店, 恒隆广场 111A,
南京西路1266 号， Tel: (86-21) 6288 3822

入场: 会员 可携带一名朋友参加 (会员本人可享受免费饮料)

您的会员资格到期日:  点击这里申请延长

Mastersofthebrand 是中国大陆最具影响力的市场营销高层人士社交网络，新会员的加入必须通过现有会员的推荐，每位会员每次活动可携带一名Guest朋友参加，每位 ‘Guest’只被允许参加一次活动。

Ben Tuff 简介:

Introduction to Ben Tuff:

Former Market Research Society Young Researcher Of The Year Ben spent
10 years at UK soft drinks company Britvic before coming to China in late 2006
tasked with step changing the use of Consumer Insight within the China
PepsiCo foods business.

By challenging the local norms, that agencies are merely suppliers of data, that
what you hear from the consumer must be true,that market research is not just
a “yes/no” tick box, he has instilled a culture of consumer understanding to
underpin business decision making and brand development.

Through a slow process of developing best practice and pushing partners and
colleagues to develop their approaches consumer understanding has become a
strategic business tool and a foundational platform for creative thinking to disrupt
and differentiates to build business value. Ben’s belief is that great Insights start
with a clear understanding of the key problem or question and a deep understanding of the consumer, the category and your brands and how they interrelate.

.

NEXT THOUGHT LEADERSHIP EVENT: 17 Jun 2010 Ben Tuff, Insight Director, Pepsico China

Mastersofthebrand upcoming thought leadership speaker is Stephanie Hallford, Intel’s Director of Asia-Pacific Mobility Brand Marketing

Stephanie lead the global team that built the Centrino (the brand that ignited the wifi era) brand globally. As this MOB thought leader event Stephanie has kindly offered to tell the full brand building story in detail including how she  constructed and  presented a US$300 million budget plan to the CEO of Intel, how the budget was spent in less than 9 months to build this global brand and how the return on investment on this clearly successful super brand building strategy was evaluated.

* As always this is a closed door event and will not be recorded, transcripted, twittered or broadcast in any form.

Date: Monday, 17th May 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Venue: As usual is The Aquarium Lounge, Alfred Dunhill, Plaza 66, Unit 111A, 1266 Nanjing Road West, Shanghai Tel: (86-21) 6288 3822 (Directions: Just stroll into the Dunhill store on the ground floor of Plaza 66 and then gavotte down the stairs)

Entry: Members + 1 members guest (complimentary fine drinking for members)

Inviting friends and colleagues: Masters of the brands is a Private Network for the most influential brand marketers in Mainland China.  Joining is possible only through invitation from an existing member. Members may bring 1 guest to each event. Guests may attend once only.

Thursday, April 22 2010 at the Puli Hotel, Shanghai at 7pm.

Aside from the occasional spot of drab British humour expect me steering the dinner conversation in a way that will coax our venerable guest, Cella to open up her treasure chest of stories on brands that have done  exceptionally well with the strategy of valuing honest opinions from consumers online.

Please note we can only accommodate 6 additional people at the table so please respond asap. FULLY BOOKED

Cella Irvine biography

President and CEO, The About Group

Cella Irvine became president and CEO of The About Group in July 2008 and
has over 25 years of digital industry experience. Before joining The About
Group, Ms. Irvine was the chief administrative officer of Digitas Inc.,
where she was responsible for operational, administrative and governance
functions. Before Digitas Inc., she was global head of strategic planning
and then chief operations officer for a business unit of Marsh, Inc.

Ms. Irvine was also general manager of New York Sidewalk for Microsoft
Corporation from 1996 to 2001, where she built, launched and scaled the
business that became the 25th most heavily trafficked Internet site.
Additionally, she has previously held various management roles at Hearst New
Media & Technology and Prodigy. Early in her career she worked in
educational and entertainment software.

Ms. Irvine holds a B.A. from Cornell and an M.B.A. from Harvard. She lives
in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan with her husband, daughter and son.

The About.com Group

Every month, over 80 million people worldwide visit About.com for help with
everything from health care and parenting issues to advice on travel,
cooking, technology, hobbies and more. And we offer solutions in the form
of over 2.5 million hand-crafted, original articles, recipes, product
reviews, videos, tutorials and more, all created by our network of expert
‘Guides’ – real people who, like all good neighbors, help others so that
everyone’s life gets just a little better.

Founded in 1996, About.com was acquired in March 2005 by The New York Times
Company (NYSE: NYT). Today, About.com is recognized as a top 15 content site
and one of the largest producers of original content on the Web. The About
Group includes About.com, ConsumerSearch.com, Caloriecount.about.com and
UCompareHealthcare.com.

各位品牌大师：

有一个很特别的机会跟品牌大师们分享。美国About.com集团的总裁Cella Irvine下周四来上海与大家分享关于“建设诚实品牌价值”方面独到、精深
的见解。Cella是美国这一领域的意见领袖之一。

Cella 将于4月22日晚上7点，在Puli Hotel举办一个小型的、非正式晚宴。本次活动只能容纳6人，如有兴趣，请尽快发送你的确认信至：

Angela Tang, angela.tang@about.com.cn.

作为品牌大师的会员，我们诚挚邀请你参加，与Cella共同分享你的观点和见解！

下面是Cella Irvine和About.com集团的简介。

Cella Irvine:

About集团总裁及CEO。

Cella Irvine于2008年7月被任命为About集团的总裁及CEO。拥有超过25年的数字行业领域的经验。在加入About集团之
前，Irvine 女士是Digitas Inc.公司的首席行政官，主要负责该公司的运营、行政管理以及政府方面的工作。在加入Digitas Inc.之
前，Irvine 女士在Marsh Inc.公司负责全球战略发展，并担任商务部门的首席运营官。

从1996年至2001年，Irvine女士是微软 旗下New York Sidewalk的总经理。在她的带领下，成功的建立、运营并将其发展成为全美排名
第25名的网站。此外，在 Hearst New Media & Technology公司和Prodigy公司，Irvine女士也担任不同职责的管理工
作。 在Irvine女士的职业生涯初期，她就职于教育和娱乐软件行业。

Irvine女士拥有Cornell大学学士学位，哈佛商学院 MBA。她与家人住在曼哈顿Chelsea附近。

The About.com Group

每个月，有超过 8000万的全世界各地用户访问About.com，寻求帮助和建议，从医疗保健、子女教育问题，到旅行、烹饪、技术、兴趣爱好等等不同生活领
域。 我们提供的超过250万篇的原创文章、处方、产品评论、视频、教程等等，全部来自我们的专家“帮手”—这些真实的人们，就像所有的好邻居，帮助大家解决生活问
题，使得每个人生活的更好。

成立于1996年，About.com于2005年3月被纽约时报集团收购 （NYSE:NYT）。About.com是全美访问量排名前15名，全球最大的原创生
活资讯网站。About集团包括：About.com, ConsumerSearch.com,
Caloriecount.abnag.com和UCompareHealthcar.com。

The PuLi Hotel and Spa
1 ChangDe Road,
JingAn District
Shanghai 200040 China
T +86 21 3203 9999
F +86 21 3251 8989

中文在下面

Dear Masters,

Our member speaker at 7PM, Wed 17th March 2010 is Pon De Dios the recently departed head of media buying for all of the P&G brands in China.

Location: The Aquarium Lounge, Alfred Dunhill, Plaza 66, Unit 111A, 1266 Nanjing Road West, Shanghai Tel: (86-21) 6288 3822 (Directions: Just stroll into the Dunhill store on the ground floor of Plaza 66 and then tango down the stairs)

Pon “one of the most powerful media buyers in China” is the gentleman who bid and spent 64 million dollars and more at the legendary annual CCTV advertising buying auctions.

How did he make these monumental decision? What was running through his head during the auction? How did he know he was doing the right thing? Were any tricks being played at the auctions by his rivals? What were his greatest fears? Were did he go after the auctions to celebrate? The select few of you who are Masters of the brand members will find out.

Please note that only badge holding members + their 1 personal guest will be admitted to this event. No exceptions for casual walkins, Press or even really nice people.

Alfonso Pon de Dios biography
Director, Telos Media Works, Ltd.
Alfonso Pon de Dios ad:tech A Learning Lab and Media and Communications Consultancy, based in Beijing
Focusing on purpose-driven capability building in the field of media and communications
Associate Director, Media and Communications, Procter & Gamble Greater China (2001 to 2009)

Responsible for Media and Communications Planning, Operations and Buying for all of P&G brands in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Previously worked at J.Walter Thompson, Philippines and has a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) from Northwestern University

Byron Constable, Mastersofthebrand

各位品牌大师

我们的下一位演讲嘉 宾将是Pon De Dios, P&G集团在中国的媒体购买总负责人，在3月17日举行, 19:00.

Pon作为中国最有影响力的媒体购买人之一，曾经在中央电视台的年度媒体拍卖会上花费超过6千四百万美元！

• 他是如何做出这些购 买决定的？
• 当时竞拍的时候他在考 虑什么？
• 他如何确定自己做的是 正确的决策？
• 他的竞拍对手到底玩了 哪些把戏和圈套？
• 面临这样的巨型竞拍， 他有没有恐惧？
• 拍成之后他有没有尽情 庆祝？

作为品牌大师的会员，你会有机会和Pon一起再一次亲身经历那些激动的时刻

请注意 – 只有会员本人（以会员徽章为凭证），和一位会员邀请的嘉宾可以参加此次活动。

Nicolas Zurstrassen is the general manager of all the Nike extreme sports (Skateboard, BMX… for those non extreme people reading this) business in Mainland China. What is the definition of cool in China? How does it compare to the definition in other countries? Can a computer geek be cool? What unique tactics are the competitors using to grab market share? How do you juggle the challenge of  opening more stores, while retaining the exclusive, sought after status of  you brand? I look forward to discovering these answers with you in November.