Columns

Vine: A Great Teaching Tool for Brands

There’s been a lot of talk about Vine lately, but why should marketers care about Twitter’s video sharing app? We look at how brands from Oreo to Etsy are using Vine to educate customers.

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Engagement Checkup

Hashtag Marketing: How Brands Are Using Hashtags to Engage Across Platforms

#Too #many #hashtags #can #be #annoying, but if used well hashtags can be a great way to get marketing messages to spread. We break down recent hashtag campaigns, from Kmart to Visa, to find out what works and what doesn’t. more

The Content Revolution

Contentextual Drift: The Content Industry Needs a Dose of Reality

Why is content marketing experiencing a backlash? Because there’s too much content out there, and too much of it is about content itself, argues Spafax Content Director Arjun Basu. more

Feature Article

Chinese Luxury: The Rise of China’s New Elite

Who are you calling an emerging market? From a maturing upper class to satellite cities in the spotlight, China’s luxury boom has come into its own, reports Shanghai-based writer Lisa Movius. more

Podcast

Good Ideas: Episode 2 – Spirited Away in China

In the second episode of Good Ideas: The Sparksheet Podcast, we delve into China's booming luxury wine and spirits industry. Turns out that Chinese luxury is all about status, bootlegging... and green tea with cognac. more

Travel Touchpoints

TNS Australia’s Carolyn Childs explores how travel brands are using new platforms to connect with people around the world.

Travel Touchpoints

Beyond Boomtown: Second Tier Cities in Emerging Markets

In the last instalment of her series on the world’s emerging markets, TNS Australia’s Carolyn Childs explains why brands should look beyond Mumbai, Rio and Shanghai to the smaller cities and towns of the developing world.

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Travel Touchpoints

Branding Success in Emerging Markets

In her latest column on the cultural nuances of the world’s emerging markets, TNS Australia’s Carolyn Childs explains how successful brands can brand success itself. more

Travel Touchpoints

Emerging Markets Leap into Mobile

The world’s emerging markets are embracing mobile technology at incredible rates, but each in its own culturally nuanced way. In her latest column, TNS Australia’s Carolyn Childs advises travel brands to understand local differences before taking… more

Travel Touchpoints

Sex Still Sells in Emerging Markets

The world’s “emerging markets” are brimming with opportunities for brands, but each comes with its own local quirks and challenges. In her latest column, TNS Australia’s Carolyn Childs explains that while sex is still a universal selling… more

Travel Touchpoints

Same Same, But Different: Understanding Emerging Markets

From China and Brazil, to Pakistan and Vietnam, so-called emerging markets are brimming with opportunities for brands and marketers. But each comes with its own local quirks and challenges. TNS Australia’s Carolyn Childs suggests engagement begins… more

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The Transumer

The consumer in transit. The transient consumer. The global citizen. Whichever definition you prefer, there’s no doubt that we have unique and elusive needs when we’re on the go, and it’s up to brands to figure out how to fulfill them.

Luxury Brands

Storied: Luxury Hotels Star in Their Own Branded Films

Luxury hotel brands are using high-production-value short films to entice travellers to their storied properties, reports Natasha Mekhail. The recipe? Add supermodels; let simmer online.

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Feature Article, The Transumer

Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding

They say nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. But in a high-tech world, retailers, content creators and service brands are wooing customers with decidedly low-fi experiences, reports Eve Thomas. more

Travel

Crisis Mode: Four Travel Disasters and How Marketers Handled Them

How do you turn a national crisis into a marketing opportunity (and still be able to sleep at night)? Travel editor Eve Thomas explains how travel experts around the world have walked the fine line of disaster tourism. more

Travel

Enjoy Your Steak: Why Hotel Brands Are Embracing the Celebrity Chef

Too many brands in the kitchen? In our latest look at unexpected brand partnerships, award-winning food and travel writer Chris Johns explores what happens when gourmet chefs check in to a hotel near you. more

Travel

Airplane Food Goes High-End

In our latest look at unexpected brand mashups, award-winning food and travel writer Chris Johns explores how international airlines are pairing with gourmet chefs to turn inflight food into haute cuisine. more

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China in Motion

On-the-ground stories and insights into China’s emerging consumer class.

Feature Article

Chinese Luxury: The Rise of China’s New Elite

Who are you calling an emerging market? From a maturing upper class to satellite cities in the spotlight, China’s luxury boom has come into its own, reports Shanghai-based writer Lisa Movius.

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Podcast

Good Ideas: Episode 2 – Spirited Away in China

China in Motion

Going Local: The Real Winners in China’s Online Space

How can Western brands engage China’s 500 million online consumers? By drawing on local expertise, explains the China Observer’s Joel Backaler. more

Feature Article

Shanzhai: China’s Brand Copycats

China’s consumer class is on the rise, but visitors may still find themselves checking in to a “Marvelot” or shopping at a “Dolce and Banana.” In this month's feature article, columnist Kunal Sinha looks at China’s copycat problem and… more

China in Motion

Old and New Converge in Hong Kong

As Sparksheet’s China columnist, Ogilvy & Mather’s Kunal Sinha gives us a first-hand look at the emerging Chinese consumer class. This month he reports on a hot summer day in Hong Kong – a city where the old and new worlds collide in unexpected… more

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Brand Brazil

Brazil may be the most digitally engaged country in the world, but most marketers fail to see past the samba. Sparksheet’s Brazilian correspondents bring you the latest on South America’s social media nation.

Podcast

Good Ideas: The Sparksheet Podcast – “Brand Brazil”

At Sparksheet we’re proud to call ourselves a multiplatform magazine and today we’re adding yet another platform to our content arsenal – a podcast! We’re big believers in the power and intimacy of audio and agree with folks like Mitch Joel and Jay Baer that podcasting is an undervalued and underutilized medium. Called “Good Ideas” after [...]

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Brand Brazil

Broadcasting Brazil: Q&A With Globo TV’s Roberto Schmidt

Globo TV is Brazil’s leading network, with the rights to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. We spoke with Roberto Schmidt, director of product development, about Brazil’s big decade. more

Feature Article

Brazil Goes Social: The Rise of the Brazilian Digital Middle Class

As Brazil’s “digital middle class” emerges, brands are scrambling to show these potential new customers they understand their needs, and can fulfill them too. Brazilian journalist Jamille Barreto reports. more

Brand Brazil

Brazil’s Emerging Classes Take Flight: Q&A with TAM’s Manoela Amaro

Brazil’s ballooning middle class is transforming the South American country into a global competitor. On the ground in São Paulo, Sparksheet’s Brazilian correspondent Renata Acioli spoke to TAM’s marketing director Manoela Amaro about how… more

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The Business of Storytelling

Corporate strategist Gunther Sonnenfeld waxes analytic on the role of storytelling and curation in today’s branded world.

The Business of Storytelling

The Human Side of Brand Storytelling

In his last three columns, Gunther Sonnenfeld explored how brands are “co-creating” meaningful experiences with people. This time he explains the connection between branded experiences and brand advocacy.

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The Business of Storytelling

The Business of Brand Storymaking

In his latest column on “The Business of Storytelling,” corporate technologist Gunther Sonnenfeld explains how brands like Audi, Kraft and Red Bull are using stories to curate meaningful experiences for people. more

The Business of Storytelling

Curation, Community and Coca-Cola’s Open Happiness Project

Whether you’re a major brand, a marketer or a media outlet, telling stories is the heart and soul of what you do. In his second column on “the business of storytelling,” Gunther Sonnenfeld explains how Coke embraced the universal theme of… more

The Business of Storytelling

Whether you’re a major brand, an online marketer or a media outlet, telling stories is the heart and soul of what you do. Corporate technologist Gunther Sonnenfeld explains how businesses can use storytelling to curate relevant branded experiences… more

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Marketing to Muslims

There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the word and they’re young, tech-savvy and drastically under-served by brands. Here’s what marketers need to know about the emerging Muslim consumer.

Marketing to Muslims

How Shariah Friendly Is Your Brand?

Brands seeking to engage the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims need to make sure they’re products and services are “shariah friendly.” As Ogilvy Noor’s Shelina Janmohamed explains, that’s easier than you might think.

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Marketing to Muslims