China Watch Blog

China Watch Blog received this from one of our readers, who claims this is a true account of what was heard on a recent flight from Shenzhen to Qingtao by China Southern Airlines:

China Southern aircraft

“Good afternoon, Ladies and the German. This is your cheap purser Wang Lui speaking. On behalf of China Sudden Airlines, I would like to welcome you on board our Bowling 737 from Shenzhen to Qingtao. Members of my crew speak Chinese and other languages that you do not know. It is a great pressure serving you to-die. Should you need any resistance during the fright, peace do pest the call button. I and my gals are available to make you feel comfortable. Meanwhile, the airkwaft is going to fry. Peace sit upright and keep you belt tightly fastened until dinner is served at five dirty p.m. Hope you would enjoy your fright with us. Funk u ..”

China Watch Blog has learnt that some angry customers have, after failing to get sightseeing trips for 1 yuan (16 cents) as offered by 360buy website – one of China’s biggest Internet retailers, taken their case to court.

The lawyers have submitted their case to Shanghai Jinshan District People’s Court on behalf of dozens of customers demanding that 360buy, one of China’s largest online traders, honor its contract and offer compensation, said Chen Cheng, a lawyer with Shanghai-based Co-career Law Firm, on Wednesday.

Disputes started when 360buy advertised several sightseeing packages, including one to Shaoxing, a historic city in East China’s Zhejiang province, at a cost of 1 yuan per customer on March 19.

The Shaoxing trip included breakfast, a one-night stay in a hotel and entrance fees for some scenic spots, according to the website. About 1,700 people had purchased that trip, and 10,412 had ordered a 1 yuan trip to a scenic spot in Mianyang, Sichuan province.

However, customers found the trips were canceled and their money returned to their accounts. 360buy said that the webpage containing the promotion was only a “test page”, and was not meant to be displayed on the website. The company apologized for the “technical failure”.

Tian Xiaoci, a public relations manager with 360buy, said the page with the promotion appeared due to mistakes made by technical personnel. She said the company is communicating with the customers involved.

But lawyer Chen did not accept the explanation. “The business should honor its contract once the customers have paid for the product,” he said.

Sun Xiaoxiang, a Shanghai resident, placed 16 orders on the website at 1 yuan each on March 19 , as he was planning to go to Shaoxing for sightseeing with friends.”I was furious after I saw ‘refund applied’ on the website, when I did not apply for a refund.” According to media reports, 360buy agreed to offer a 20 yuan voucher for every customer in compensation.

“I have spent a lot of time and money because I phoned the company repeatedly, so I’m not accepting the voucher, which I could only use at its online store,” said a customer surnamed Chen who also ordered the Shaoxing trip.

China Watch Blog wishes to inform readers that tomorrow Sunday, March 11, 2012 is the first anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan.

Readers of our blog can visit this link

http://cryptome.org/eyeball/daiichi-npp/daiichi-photos.htm

to see photographs of the disaster zone.

Hope lessons learnt from the disaster will be implemented in other countries which continue to develop nuclear power for energy.

China Watch Blog reports that PBS NEWSHOUR returns to Fukushima for one-year anniversary of nuclear disaster

In a multi-part series beginning Friday, March 9, the PBS NEWSHOUR will re-examine the Fukushima Reactor disaster one year after it occurred. In tonight’s kick-off to the series, NEWSHOUR Science Correspondent Miles O’Brien will examine what it’s now like inside the Fukushima evacuation zone, the irradiated area surrounding the plant.

O’Brien visits schools inside the area and interviews citizens about how their lives have changed in the last year.

Last night’s show will also feature an interview with Carl Pilliteri, a nuclear technician, who was one of 38 Americans at the Fukushima Daiichi plant when the earthquake hit. He spoke with Alex Chadwick, host of the new public radio series, Burn: An Energy Journal. It’s the first time an American who was at the site during the disaster has spoken at length to the media.

The pieces will air on PBS NEWSHOUR (check local listings).

In part two of the series, airing Monday, O’Brien will examine the impact of radiation on the surrounding land and whether is possible to remediate it. A third piece will address food exposure to radiation.

Also check out NEWSHOUR’s Science page for updates on the events after the disaster and our previous coverage of efforts to crowd-source radiation detection in Japan.

For more info or links, contact Kat Saunders at newshourpr@newshour.org.

China Watch Blog has learnt that Online marketing and small business experts, Ajax Union, best known for helping small businesses increase their web presence via online marketing, are giving companies a huge boost to not only keep them viable but make them successful in the lagging US economy.

To help companies stand out from the crowd they are devoting November 26, calling it Small Business Saturday, to helping small businesses increase sales and take full advantage of one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

Ajax Union, founded by Joe Apfelbaum and Zevi Friedman, is proof that companies can thrive in a down economy. One of the few businesses actually hiring these days. They provide companies with methods for increasing their web presence and brand marketing. Their success record is undeniable. They have helped troubled companies not just survive but actually thrive in our current poor economy.

Joe Apfelbaum and Zevi Friedman, co-founders of Ajax, were recently featured on FOX News, discussing how small businesses can benefit from targeted online marketing and advertising. In fact, they are offering their proven, effective advice to small business owners on November 26, as a way to help them increase their web traffic and take full advantage of one of the busiest weekends of the year.

This dynamic duo’s expertise includes methods for effectively increasing and utilizing Search Engine Anatomy, Search Engine Optimization Basics (SEO), and Google Places Listing and Optimization.

Ajax Union is a Brooklyn, New York-based search engine agency offering a diverse array of services created to suit the needs of small businesses. Since 2007, they have been serving their clients with an effective blend of industry-tested internet advertising services, plus a little something extra.

The result has been a unique search engine marketing strategy for every campaign – no nonsense, no budget-breaking expenses, and no work that you can only assume is getting done.

Ajax Union presents a better business marketing model that offers 100% transparency, 100% flexibility and zero contracts. In other words, a better kind of online marketing designed for small businesses.

Their approach is simple – they become experts in each business. They study the company, the industry, the goals and the competition and if any of those factors change, they adjust each campaign to match. This approach has enabled them to realize measurable results in improved search engine rankings, greater traffic to websites, and targeted social networking to connect each business to its key demographics.

Joe Apfelbaum and Zevi Friedman are the co-founders, and CEO and President respectively of Ajax Union. They possess years of experience in online marketing and by combining their entrepreneurial talents and hands-on approach with those of their hand-picked team, they are able to develop innovative business strategies that are tailored to the individual needs of their small and medium-sized business clients, ensuring them of maximum success online.

China Watch Blog is really blessed to have come across this article about how Mark Satterfield teaches readers the power of persuasion – a common trait found among all really successful sales people.

Their secret? Story-telling. Look at the late Steve Jobs; he was charismatic and people will never forget the stories he told.

In Unique Sales Stories: How To Persuade Others Through the Power of Stories, Mark Satterfield teaches this same powerful sales and marketing strategy that will make them stand out from the competition.

You might be thinking: ‘It can’t be that simple.’ But Mark has proved it is. There is a definite art to story-telling and when Mark is in front of an audience sharing his simple five-step process with them, they get to see that they too can create great stories that persuade and entertain. Audiences are amazed when they see how easily they can learn the art of persuasion and how it will make their clients remember them because they made it believable.

Mark Satterfield uses Super Bowl commercials as an example of the power of a story. Those ads run around $3 million for 60 seconds and people never forget them; in fact, the commercials are now almost as popular as the game itself. Anyone can now have that power at their fingertips – minus the $3 million tab!

Very few people are natural-born storytellers. Mark admits he wasn’t – but it’s a skill he learned and he now passes that skill on to readers and audiences. The power of persuasion is strong and audiences are thoroughly entertained when he shows them how easily they can learn to do it too. He’s proven it works – after all, we know that’s the one thing all successful professionals have in common – telling great stories.

Unique Sales Stories is a practical guide for developing and delivering memorable stories. Divided into three main sections, it offers a collection of Mark’s essays on creating unique stories with step-by-step instructions on how to develop your own one-of-a-kind sales stories, and includes a variety of examples he has developed for clients to use.

Mark has a Masters Degree in Psychology and an undergraduate degree in English from Washington University. Prior to founding Gentle Rain Marketing, he held executive positions with PepsiCo and Kraft Foods in addition to having served as the Director of Career Services for the Graduate School of Business at Emory University. He has been mentioned in Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who in Higher Education, and is the recipient of the AMA Award for Excellence in Management Education.

Mark encourages readers to visit www.uniquesalesstory.com or www.GentleRainMarketing.com for more information on his book and seminars.

China Watch Blog has learnt that an entrepreneur Steve Tebon has published a book Game On: The Power of the Sports Marketing Deal (Tebon Publishing) which claims to offer winning strategies For Business, Sports And The Business Of Sports, and he is targetting entrepreneurs, business executives, athletes and those who practice or study the business of sports.

Yours truly has not read the book, but for those interested, it might have a tip or two, and for all you know, it might end up with you (the reader) making a financial gain from Tebon’s tips.

As Tebon points out, the first step for anyone is to find your target market and be creative. For example, ask somebody about sports marketing and they’ll tell you it’s all about the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and major college sports. But not Tebon. He quickly realized there was a niche out there that offered big opportunities for a young entrepreneur.

“Recreational sports, lifestyle sports. The grassroots, participant market is the fastest growing and potentially biggest market out there,” he says. At some point, virtually everybody will shoot hoops, spike a volleyball, hop on a bike or lace up a pair of running shoes. Tebon shows his clients how to pursue this virtually untapped revenue stream, and now he’s sharing it with his readers.

You may not have given it much thought, but just how did that race to benefit a local charity happen? Who’s behind last month’s hugely popular beach volleyball tournament? There’s a good chance it’s Exclusive Sports Marketing or a company like it. It takes a specific skill set to create, promote and run successful events, and Tebon knows those skills inside and out.

A diehard recreational athlete, and 7-time Ironman finisher, Tebon has studied the industry intensely. Like many other experts, he’s bullish on the growth of grassroots sports. “The U.S. is experiencing a serious health crisis, and events like running, biking, and competing in triathlons are playing a huge role in helping people get back into shape, and focusing on a healthy lifestyle for them and their families.”

The keys to making sporting events and business in general profitable are easily understood through the informal and helpful pages of Game On. One of these is strategic alliances. Before Tebon sold his multi-million dollar business, Exclusive Sports Marketing developed long standing sponsor partnerships with industry giants such as Anheuser-Busch, Nike, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Gatorade, Nestle’s Brands, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Club Med.

Tebon’s strategies for closing the deal are clearly laid out in Game On: The Power of the Sports Marketing Deal. Creating and maintaining relationships is one important aspect. Providing “5-Star” Customer Service is another. Using these techniques and more, Tebon connected influential businesses with the audiences they targeted at more than thirty events every year, such as The Publix Family Fitness Weekend/Sprint Triathlon Series, The Bud Light Beach Volleyball Series, The Toyota Tundra Adventure Racing Series, and the Ft. Lauderdale A1A Marathon and ½ Marathon, just to name a few.

After selling Exclusive Sports Marketing in 2006, Tebon has been working as a consultant to the growing business of recreational sports marketing. His consulting services also include event/ athlete management, development of strategic programming and the creation of print and electronic marketing strategies. He will also be teaching a Sports Management course using Game On as the text, at Lynn University, (Boca Raton, FL), beginning with the Spring 2012 semester.

For those interested, join in the crowd. You may have everything to gain, that is, if you are into sports and the sports business.