Chinese growth, digital transformation

This week, we focus on the recovery of the Chinese economy, which is threatened by deteriorating trade relations with the United States, the recent shifts in the world of digital marketing, and the discovery of a huge pool of gas from Turkey.

After a slow first quarter, due to the corona virus epidemic, the Chinese economy saw a rapid recovery in the second quarter of 2020, with a 3.2% increase in GDP. What upset analysts' expectations.

In Chinese cities, most structures have reopened. This is the case of Sanlitun Market in Beijing: “During the epidemic, we suffered from a lack of interaction and recreational activities. This market allows us to return direct exchanges with consumers and this helps us a lot, we sellers. I noticed the return of the industry and the recovery of companies,” says Liu Xia, a market trader.

But as the United States gears up for this year's presidential election, President Trump has reignited trade tensions with China by re-launching the idea of economic "decoupling", notably through its preference for domestic markets.

No country like China has deceived us.It's a good question, because so far we haven't gotten anything from China, the killing of US President Donald Trump in an interview with conservative Fox News.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry addressed both Republicans and Democrats in Washington.

China hopes the Democratic and Republican parties of the United States can view China-US relations in an objective way, and work with China to enhance their relations with an emphasis on coordination, cooperation and stability, so as to serve the common interests of the peoples of China, the United States and the world at large, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao.

Whether or not a “decoupling” of the two global trade giants is achievable, one thing seems likely: Whoever sits in the Oval Office in 2021 will have to settle bilateral trade relations from a weaker position compared to a stronger China.

Creating websites: “Pretend to be able to make it happen”

Dubai-based company, Create Media, was recently ranked among the 50 fastest growing marketing agencies in the world by US trade magazine Ad week.

"When we started, our first big client arrived, we gave him a website. He was a client we shouldn't be working with; he was out of our reach. We had just moved into our first headquarters. So I was late. I was late, I couldn't anymore. We had just moved in.
And we had no electricity. I called a friend and asked if there was a big battery I could plug the computer in. I put it under the table and gave a full show, I said we had about 15 people at the dealership. They pretended they were working on computers that weren't plugged in," says Tom Otton.

Audacity finally paid off. Today, the marketing agency has many clients in the Middle East. “We work with Visit Dubai, which is part of Dubai Tourism. We run the social networks for Expo 2020, we're working on a project with Emirates Airlines, we manage their video content. We have a very nice report with Spider-Man on the release of 'Far From Home'," he says.Tom Otton.
Digital marketing is one of the sectors that has not been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. But even so, the start was a little difficult, Tom Otton says: “We lost some customers who were most affected. But other than that, we saw growth. Last year we increased the workforce by 91 % We're on the right track, this year, we might go up from 50 to 60. So the growth has been fast over the last three to four years.

As the founder of Create Media explains, the global pandemic has precipitated recent changes in the digital landscape.“The three years of track that we planned in January happened in just a quarter,” the CEO said.He adds, “There are so many happenings in the news cycle that we help government departments craft and tell stories. For example, tourism in Dubai. How do we show that Dubai is open for tourism? We still need to sell the travel dream, but at the same time, we need to make sure. We are also focused on safety, protocol, and people getting safely from the airport to the hotel."
Create Media is also helping its clients reach an even more ambiguous audience, particularly “Generation Z,” who have very different consumption habits than other age groups.

"The younger generation doesn't have the time to make very sophisticated content. Let's look at Tik Tok. There is nothing rawer than it. They are people who make short videos, mostly in their homes. But some brands don't understand that. It's not about taking the same ad." And put it on Tik-Tok, because that's where the younger audience is. It's about understanding the psychology of people who connect with the platform, what they want to see and what they are waiting for and creating a story along those lines," says Tom Otton.