Order tickets via Eventbrite:
http://cln29feb-efbevent.eventbrite.com
Chinese tourists spent more than US$7 billion overseas during this year’s Chinese New Year holiday. Spendy tourists from China are knocking on your door, to the tune of a billion dollars a year. Do you know how to serve them? Really?
Tourism from China to the United States is ramping up for a threefold increase. President Obama recently issued an executive order to accelerate visa approval for foreign citizens -- especially arrivals from China -- which is expected to add $850 billion to the US economy by 2020.
With more than 50% of Chinese consumers' luxury purchases being made abroad-- and some brands harnessing up to 30% of their home country revenue from Chinese tourists -- engaging Chinese travelers wherever they travel has become an operational imperative for prestige brands.
But just opening your door to Chinese tourists is not enough to build lasting customer relationships. Chinese customers have unique brand perceptions, travel habits, purchase preferences and service expectations. Companies need to completely rethink their branding, marketing & selling strategies to serve this emerging customer.
China Luxury Network, Jing Daily and ChinaContact will jointly host two high-velocity seminars on February 29, 2012 to explore new ways in which hospitality and luxury brands can improve performance with this dynamic new consumer group.
Please join us at the beautiful AW Asia Gallery for an engaging and informative discussion!
CLN will release findings from recent research on the aspirations and preferences of Chinese consumers. We will pinpoint industry best practices in catering to affluent Mainland Chinese tourists, and provide strategic and tactical recommendations to convert fast-emerging luxury consumers to loyal customers.
All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of China Luxury Network’s upcoming report: Global Consequences of Chinese New Year, detailing high net worth consumer preferences and trends with actionable insights and tactical recommendations for generating revenue and loyalty among China’s high net worth travelers.
Agenda:
Please note that there are two separate sessions. The morning session is focused on hospitality and related businesses and the afternoon on luxury brands and retailers.
(Morning Session)
Beyond Slippers and Pu’Er Tea: Hospitality Excellence for High Net Worth Chinese
08:30 Registration and coffee
09:00 Opening Remarks
09:15 China travel and hospitality trends, Avery Booker, Jing Daily
Statistics and trends
09:45 Who is the high-end Chinese traveller? Sage Brennan, China Luxury Network
Demographic data, Key China-related markets, Spending patterns, Education and culture
10:45 Break
11:00 Service excellence for Chinese visitors/consumers Roy Graff, ChinaContact
Travel patterns and destinations, Group / Individual travel characteristic, Cultural mores and suggestions
12:00 Case studies and Q&A
12:30 Closing Remarks
12:35 Coffee and networking
(Afternoon session)
Finding and Impressing Your Customer: Luxury Brand and Retail service excellence
14:00 Opening Remarks
14:15 China Luxury Trends Avery Booker, Jing Daily
14:45 Who is the Chinese luxury customer and how to reach him/her? Sage Brennan, China Luxury Network
Where / who / how, Demographic data, Spending patterns, Purchase decisions, Shopping and consuming trends, Online trends and social networking
15:45 Break
16:00 Marketing your brand to Chinese tourists, Roy Graff, ChinaContact
Tourism and Retail brand marketing, PR, Digital marketing and social networking, Partnership strategies
17:00 Case studies and Q&A
17:30 Closing Remarks
17:35 Reception
Presenters include:
Avery Booker, Editor, Jing Daily.
As Jing Daily’s founding editor and vice-president for new media, Avery Booker writes and translates a number of the site’s articles, primarily in the fields of branding, media and the arts. He was previously editor of ChinaLuxCultureBiz, the blog that preceded Jing Daily. Prior to receiving his M.A. at New York University in 2008, Booker worked and studied in China from 2004-2006, teaching American Literature at Xi’an Jiaotong University and editing a bilingual newspaper in Beijing. He also contributes Jing Daily content to the Forbes China Tracker blog, C-Arts Magazine, and the Luxury Society.
Sage Brennan, Co-Founder China Luxury Network
Sage first visited China in 1987, and has been studying and speaking the language and culture ever since. He has worked in China as a researcher, investor, entrepreneur, journalist and advisor, with a specialization in digital, mobile and strategy. Sage has advised companies on their China market entry and digital strategy as a co-founder of HotPot Consulting, including leading development of L2 think Tank′s research and advisory platform in China.
Sage is Co-Founder of China Luxury Network, a division of Affinity China that advises luxury brands on reaching the emerging Chinese luxury consumer -- both at home and as they travel around the world.
In Shanghai, Sage was the Chief representative of China operations for Hong Kong-based hedge fund Pacific Sun Investment Management. He was the general manager of Shanghai-based Pacific Epoch, a boutique telecom and technology research firm, later acquired by Pacific Crest Securities. Sage was also a consultant for telecom, media and technology firm BDA, based in Beijing.
Sage contributed the weekly “Sage Brennan’s This Week in China” column to Dow Jones’ MarketWatch for two years, and remains a frequent commentator on China-related media and technology issues in print media and on programs such as CNBC’s Asia Squawk Box, Wall Street Journal and others.
Sage is a founder and curator of the Shanghai chapter of MobileMonday, with over 3,000 participants, and founded the TEDxShanghai chapter. He is also a regular speaker on China at conferences such as SouthXSouthwest, AdTech and other.
Roy Graff, Founder ChinaContact
Roy is an experienced China travel marketing and distribution executive involved in e-commerce, online travel and hospitality.
From 2009-2011 Roy was engaged by two of the top-ten travel companies, Expedia and Travel Leaders Group to plan, develop and market online hotel distribution technology platforms targeted at travel agencies and consumers.
Since 2005, he combines consultation on China's tourism sector with travel and hospitality technology projects in Europe, North America and Asia. He conceived and ran the flagship forum on China's Travel Industry, ‘China the Future of Travel’ at WTM in London from 2006 to 2008. In 2005 (updated in 2008) Roy published the ‘China Outbound Travel Handbook’, a comprehensive primer on China’s outbound tourism sector. He is a founding member of the China Advisers Network (C.A.N), an association of leading China specialists and advisers from various fields in the UK.
Returning to Europe after a long period of travel industry work in China, Roy continues to assist tourism companies, travel providers and tourism promotion bodies eager to discover the tremendous potential of China as both market and destination. Since 2002 until early 2005, Roy engaged in senior level business development and travel product distribution for the world's leading independent provider of products and services to the travel trade, Gullivers Travel Associates (gta - now part of Kuoni).
Roy served as China Director of e-Commerce for gta, overseeing all aspects of the company's electronic product distribution in China. In September 2004, Roy planned and executed a high-level three-day conference on modern tourism trends titled 'The Future of Travel is Here', co-hosted by Beijing Municipal Tourism Board. It was attended by provincial and city tourism board chair persons from China, senior level representatives from UNESCO, WTTC, Visa, AIG and other leading international companies totalling over 100 participants.
Roy holds a bachelor's degree in Chinese and Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and speaks business level Mandarin Chinese fluently.
Renee Hartmann, Co-Founder China Luxury Network
Renee has been working and living in China since 2000, with a specialty in understanding and selling to the emerging Chinese consumer. She has worked as a brand owner, retail operator, consumer researcher, public relations specialist and market entry strategist in China.
She is Co-Founder of China Luxury Network, a division of Affinity China that advises luxury brands on reaching the emerging Chinese luxury consumer -- both at home and as they travel around the world.
Renee has advised companies such as Under Armour, Horizon Hobby, Advanstar and Symphony IRI on their China market entry strategy. She co-founded and later sold Shanghai based China consumer insights agency, Enovate, which advises multinational clients such as New Balance, Kraft, Unilever and Coca-Cola in targeting China’s emerging consumers.
Renee was co-founder of Shanghai-based apparel brand, Eno, and served as its COO and CFO for more than five years. During this time, Eno opened ten self-run retail locations in China and fifteen franchise and partner operated stores. Eno also ran its own e-commerce platform, as well as sold online through Taobao and other partner sites. Renee led the company’s fundraising efforts, which resulted in raising more than US$8 million from venture capital and angel investors. She oversaw Eno’s groundbreaking marketing practice, resulting in the company’s recognition as one of the Top Ten Most Innovative companies in China by Fast Company in 2010.
For more information on the organizers, visit:
www.jingdaily.com
www.chinaluxurynetwork.com
www.chinacontact.org
For sponsorship information, please contact Renee Hartmann at
renee@chinaluxurynetwork.com.
