:: Mark Haas (pictured below), former MS&L Global CEO, was recently named President of Edelman China. He’ll be reporting to Edelman Asia Pacific Regional President AlanVandermolen, and his current firm MH Group Communications has also been acquired by Edelman. Follow Mark on Twitter at @MarkHass. For more details about his new role role, link here.  // AjS

[full disclosure: I'm employed by Edelman Digital, Asia Pacific]

:: I was recently having lunch with VICE Magazine publisher Erik Lavoie in Shanghai and as the conversation wandered, he told me about some random Google recommendation algorithm quirks I hadn’t actually heard. Enjoy.  // AjS

:: can anyone help me understand wtf is going on with this sign? Seen today at Zara in Shanghai – so many things wrong with it. Completely mental.  // AjS

:: we had a party last night at my place and I decide to capture the second half of it with a new iPhone app called Hipstimatic. I used the Kaimal Mark II lens, however, there are quite a few more you can add-on.

I’m such a fan of the snapshot aesthetic.  // AjS

:: a cool viral for Harbin beer. Does anyone know who made it?  // AjS

:: a snap of me celebrating freedom in my glorious native land. Taken on Liberty Island, U-S-Motherfucking A! // AjS

:: I was recently included in Media Magazine’s Faces to Watch feature – a look at “A Generation of Achievers” to keep an eye on in 2010 in Asia.

I’m honored and flattered to be included in such an illustrious group – frankly speaking though, I’m out of my league.

At any rate, check out the feature below if interested. To read a more legible version of it on Media’s website, link here. To download the full size PDF, link here. // AjS

:: together with PublicAffairsAsia, my colleagues at Edelman China published a short white paper today titled The Dragon & The Mouse. The paper takes a look at how social media is impacting public affairs in China, and even includes some insights from yours truly (bottom of page 7).

To check out the press release and more details, link here. To download the white paper as a PDF, link here. To read the paper, see below. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.  /// AjS

:: I love what Dustin Hostetler (publisher and curator of Faesthetic Magazine) is up to with the This Must Be The Place show he curated for Scion. Check it out below.

Also, check out his Think Faest! blog here. He is also a pretty ridiculously talented designer himself, all of his work is archived here. // AjS

:: see below for a series of very cool back and white zodiac illustrations we stumbled upon by Beijing-based Neocha-user Amy Van. Look closely, each illustration tells a unique story.

For more from Amy Van on NeochaEDGE, link here.  // AjS

This post was originally published on NeochaEDGE, a site I regularly contribute to. To see more of my posts on NeochaEDGE, link here.

NeochaEDGE is a daily-curated, bilingual website and discovery engine dedicated to showcasing leading-edge creative content and emerging youth culture in China.

:: over the past few weeks we’ve been posting time-lapse videos of the live art performances from Search for Creative City (寻城记), an event that NeochaEDGE collaborated on with the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC). Since the graffiti writers who participated in the event are pretty much the best Shanghai has to offer in terms of street-art, we pulled them all together in a single post for everyone to enjoy. Link here to see time-lapse videos of pieces by Dezio, Popil, Mr. Lan, SAIL, AEK, Lamian (拉面), Shier, and HKER.

For more Chinese graffiti on NeochaEDGE, link here.  // AjS

:: taken in Shanghai, China.  // AjS

:: taken in Shanghai, China, just outside the Neocha studio.  // AjS

:: as I think most of you know, I’m a strategist at Edelman Digital Asia Pacific. As such, I just wanted to share some news.

Together with our partner Brandtology, we launched the Asia-Pacific Digital Brand Index (DBI), a regional study of online conversations about big tech brands covering 10 markets (Japan, Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, India, and Australia). The study captures and distills 800,000 mentions of 233 major technology and telco brands on over 4,000 sites.

For more details and market-by-market data / fact sheet downloads, link here. [Google was #1 and Dell was #10, link here to found out the rest of the top 10.]

The study’s analysis and insights are quite telling.

One of the key take-aways for me (something John Kerr, Edelman Digital Asia Pacific head discusses more here) is that while having a consistently aligned social media strategy across Asia markets on a macro objectives level is crucial, tactic execution needs to be locally contextualized to ensure success. The nuts and bolts of brand engagement simply won’t work uniformly across such diverse social media environments.

The study also puts forth an interesting series of indices that help local and regional marketers find measurement benchmarks around important areas like Internet word of mouth conversation volume, engagement (or mentions per unique voice), channel volume / breadth, etc. All very much worth checking out.

To learn more, feel free to get in touch: adam.schokora@edelman.com

Also, see below for a video of John Kerr giving a quick overview of the study. To better understand the study’s methodology, link here.  // AjS

[Full disclosure: Edelman and Edelman Digital represent technology brands around the world, many of which are included in the Edelman Digital Brand Index.]

:: taken in Shanghai on Huaihai Rd.  // AjS