On ducks and branding in The Middle of Nowhere, Xian -

On ducks and branding in The Middle of Nowhere, Xian

Corbett | July 7, 2010 12:46 PM

On a recent property visit to Xian where we looked at over a hundred residential and commercial sites, I was getting a bit blurry eyed and cranky until I saw a little speck of white on yet another expanse of blue steel construction lot fence. It looked like a bus map - and this is way out in the sticks - with some familiar English on it. Tromping through the mud to get close enough to read it I was surprised to discover an LL Bean branded poster of, yes, a bus map, in The Middle of Nowhere, Xian.

I grew up wearing LL Bean, their jacket, their boots. One of my LL Bean college book bags even made it all around China on the hard seat. (A friend asked to borrow it for a 6-month long train hopping journey through China back in 1988. It was the only bag he took.)

I asked my young Chinese team if anyone had ever heard of LL Bean? Nope.
Any idea why this advert was stuck to this particular wall? Nope.
Any idea where we were? Nope.
Did I seem crazy standing in the mud pointing at a poster on a fence? Yup.

I remember reading a couple years ago something about LL Bean teaming up with a Korean company, Youngone Corp., with talk about opening up a lot of stores in China. Then they opened their first store at Solana in Beijing, a mall which just wasn't making it, and I had doubts if LL Bean would be popping up in other places around China, much as my bag did in 1988.

Anyway, the bizarre juxtaposition of an empty construction site, a bus map branded by a brand no one knew, in The Middle of Nowhere, Xian did achieve an amazing consumer communication connection (ACCC?). As I stood in the mud scratching my head and taking the picture, I really did wish I had on a pair of these:

Category: Mr. Asia

Comments (1)

Comments

Boyd R. Jones

July 8, 2010 2:33 PM

Such juxtapositions - in a truth is stranger than fiction sort of way - are what life in China is all about!

Visiting the Web site though, it seems that L.L. Bean has entered China? But with a store in Beijing. Perhaps they are expanding to Xian too?

Add a comment

3q2u is written by Corbett Wall, and is really just a window into my quirky little world. It's also a way for me to exercise my thoughts and make random comments outside of cultural, language, or business barriers.

3q2u is an acronym which if said in Chinese and Japanese sounds like "Thank you to you!" Dumb but easy to remember. More >>