Recent posts in my Macau Category
July 19, 2009
Macau (slight return)
This week I'm going to be paying a lightning visit to Macau. The trip is so short that I'm unlikely to get much chance to blog about it whilst I'm there. Or indeed see anything worth blogging about whilst I'm there. However, I wrote quite a few blog postcards from Macau and Hong Kong last year, and thought it worth putting together a reminder myself of what they were. Selling adverts in the Chinese 'free' press Measuring customer satisfaction at...
August 23, 2008
"Land of the mascots"
I spent the build-up and start of the Olympics in Macau, which had certainly dressed itself up to celebrate the occasion. You couldn't move for 'The Fuwa', the five Olympic mascots. 'Beibei', 'Jingjing', 'Huanhuan', 'Yingying' and 'Nini' were everywhere you looked, decorating roundabouts, lamp-posts, and posters. 'Yingying' obviously wasn't prepared for the typhoon that hit whilst I was there though! Even Macau's greatest landmarks were not immune. The ruins of the Church of St Paul are arguably the distinctive...
August 21, 2008
Olympic milk, or gold medal substitute?
When I was in Macau, it wasn't just the clothing industry that was hi-jacking the Olympic brand and symbols to try and sell products. Take something as mundane as milk for example. Going to the local corner shop or supermarket presented you with a choice. You could either buy an official, Olympic endorsed "Milk Beverage"... ...or you could pick up the Kowloon Dairy's Gold Medal "Milk Drink"...
August 17, 2008
The Olympic Swim-O-Matic on display in Macau
Unlike at Euro2008, where UEFA's top sponsors had billboards all over the stadia, one of the challenges of sponsoring or being a marketing partner at the Olympics is that you can't directly advertise within the sporting arenas themselves. Marketing activity has to take place away from the Games, and, as I saw in Macau, is at risk of being usurped by 'fake' Olympic branding. There was a lot of official marketing around as well, and Olympic timekeepers Omega had...
August 16, 2008
Macau presents for your enjoyment....Olympic horse-back fencing!
As I mentioned, I was in Macau during the build-up and start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Although Macau is a 'Special Administrative Region' of China, and so under a different legislative framework, the area is still proud to be associated with hosting the Olympics. There are street signs and evidence of Olympic-related activity almost everywhere you go. Macau is an interesting area because of the mix of the Chinese population with the Portuguese heritage of the former colony....
August 14, 2008
Promotional Olympic leaflets in Macau
I was in Macau during the build-up and start of this year's Beijing Olympics, and, since it is one of China's "Special Administrative Regions", I really got a taste of what it was like to be in the host country. The British team stayed in Macau in the run-up to the Olympics, and we spotted quite a few people walking around with their Olympic accreditation badges and 'Team GB' shirts on. The reason they picked Macau was because it...
August 10, 2008
Counterfeit Olympic branding in Macau
For the last couple of weeks, during the build-up to and start of the Beijing Olympics, I've been in Macau, the ex-Portuguese colony that is one of China's 'Special Administrative Regions'. China has a reputation as a home for counterfeit goods and piracy, as any trip to the average corner shop or Internet cafe in Macau will show you. If you venture further, into a shopping centre somewhere on mainland China like Zhuhai, you'll find you can get pretty...
August 7, 2008
Latest Team GB news feed now on Chipwrapper...but not the BOA site
As Olympic Chipwrapper is focussed on British news about the Olympics, I've added the official Team GB RSS feed into the headlines mix, so that as well as seeing what British newspapers are saying about the Games, you can see what the BOA thinks. At the moment, it is one of the easiest places to find British Olympic headlines, as I had to do a bit of a hunt around for the feed address. The BOA site claims to have...
April 2, 2008
Postcard from Macau #11: The EA Games centre in Hong Kong
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is the last of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. Whilst I was staying in one Chinese 'Special Administrative Region', it made sense to visit the other, Hong Kong. During my...
March 29, 2008
Postcard from Macau #10: The grave of the magnetic telegraph engineer
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. As Macau was a Portuguese colony, the chief denomination of Christianity in the region was Roman Catholicism. That meant that for many...
March 28, 2008
Postcard from Macau #9: Information design on Macau's transport system
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. Whilst I was staying in Macau I mostly got around by public transport. There is an excellent network of buses across the...
March 26, 2008
Postcard from Macau #8: David Beckham in Hong Kong
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. Whilst I was in Macau last month, it seemed simply churlish not to take the hour ferry ride across the Pearl River...
March 25, 2008
Postcard from Macau #7: Information design in 3 languages
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. The unique appeal of Macau is that it is a former Portuguese colony located in Southern China. In fact, it is less...
March 23, 2008
Postcard from Macau #6: The land of SMS spam
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. Macau's telecomms industry seems to have a great deal of competition in the mobile network sector. With leaks from mainland China, at...
March 22, 2008
Postcard from Macau #5: Hong Kong's Edison Chen sex photo scandal rumbles on
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. "As of this evening, the police have made significant advances towards solving this malicious crime. As from the beginning I will continue...
March 20, 2008
Postcard from Macau #4: Hong Kong's missing TV archive
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. In the first of my posts about my recent trip to Macau, I mentioned the Sunday Morning Post. This is an English...
March 18, 2008
Postcard from Macau #3: An idiot's guide to Chinese piracy
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. The south-east Asian region has long been reputed as a hotbed of CD and DVD piracy. I saw many stores selling 'suspect'...
March 17, 2008
Postcard from Macau #2: Measuring customer satisfaction at the Chinese border
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. During my stay in Macau I made a day trip into China proper. Macau is a 'Special Administrative Region' as part of...
March 16, 2008
Postcard from Macau #1: Selling adverts in the Chinese 'free' press
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. One of the English language newspapers available in Macau is the South China Morning Post. The first weekend I was in the...