A source of light

Chinese print media, originally uploaded by Illuminant Partners.

Illuminant Partners, as a world-class public relations and strategic communications agency in China and Hong Kong, implements our disciplined methodology to every communications project we undertake. One important hallmark of our work is high-quality copywriting in English, Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese/Hong Kong Chinese.

Our view of the important writer’s tool, the inverted pyramid, is as follows.

The Inverted Pyramid

Traditionally when you write, you begin with an introduction and foundation and gradually build to a conclusion. In journalism, however, you use an inverted pyramid style. Journalists generally begin with the main conclusions and progressively include more details:

* Conclusion
* Supporting information and relevant details
* Background and technical details

What is the inverted pyramid?

To understand what the inverted pyramid means imagine and upside-down triangle. The narrow point is at the bottom, while the widest point is at the top. The widest point contains the most newsworthy information in the news story. The narrow end represents the least newsworthy information. Begin by telling the reader the conclusion, follow with the most important supporting information, and then give the background.

Deciding what information is important is actually quite logical. If, for instance, you are describing your chance meeting with the Australian prime minister to your friends, you would not begin your story with inconsequential details such as: ‘I woke up late and had to skip breakfast,” and then add, “so on my way to work I stopped for coffee at Starbucks and standing in line in front of me was the prime minister!” In fact, you would be so excited that you’d begin your story with: I just met the Australian prime minister standing in line at Starbucks. That would be the “lead” to your story and this would be followed by the next most important information and finally the smaller details such as what you both were wearing. The lead is the news story opening paragraph. All good leads summarize the ‘what,’ ‘where,’ ‘when,’ ‘who,’ ‘why,’ and ‘how’ of a story.

A practical example.

Here are some basic facts for a news story:

An accident happened.
An airplane crashed.
Happened last night—Sunday night at 9pm.
Happened in Los Beach, California, 2 miles south of Los Angeles International airport.
Airplane was a twin engine plane. It was a Cessna 310.
Pilot was killed.
The only passenger in the aircraft also killed.

Pilot name is John Smith.
Passenger identity unknown.
Plane crashed 50 meters from the Pier.
Plane was headed to San Diego, California.
Air traffic control said pilot lost control of the aircraft.
Pilot had 50 years experience.

The lead would contain the following information:

A twin-engine plane crashed near Long Beach pier Sunday killing the pilot and the sole passenger.

The next paragraph would give more details of the accident:

The Cessna 310 went down just before 9 p.m. approximately 50 meters south of the popular Long Beach pier only minutes after taking off from Long Beach airport.

The next paragraph would give more details about the victims:

According to air traffic control, the pilot, 50 year-old John Smith of Portland, Oregon, lost control of the aircraft resulting in the death of the only passenger on board.

Other details would be included in the final paragraph:

Smith was a veteran pilot of over 50 years. The identity of the passenger is still unknown. The plane was en route to San Diego.

Note the use of transitions that both connect to the previous paragraphs and add details.

Why use the inverted pyramid?

In the journalism field, editors often must make a story a particular length. As deadlines are inflexible and timeliness urgent, if a story is written in an inverted pyramid format, editors will simply trim the story from the bottom up until it matches the required length. The editor can do so knowing that all vital information will be contained in the beginning of the story. Also worth noting is that paragraphs are deliberately kept short. Short paragraphs best deliver information and looks best when typeset in a narrow column.

While especially useful in story writing, using the inverted pyramid format is useful for any writing that must make an important point quickly and clearly.

Kevin Rudd launching SmartTrans EventTrack (3), originally uploaded by Illuminant Partners.

Illuminant Partners was enormously proud to have coordinated the official China launch of SmartTrans EventTrack by Australia’s prime minister Kevin Rudd.

The launch event, held in front of an audience of 200 invited guests, was the sole commercial product launch which the prime minister supported during his first official visit to China as Australia’s leader.

SmartTrans EventTrack is a unique technology service which provides transport planning and services to VIPs, officials and guests of major events such as the Beijing Olympics.

The prime minister’s speech:

Television coverage on CCTV:

FAKE, originally uploaded by Illuminant Partners.

The protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) was a major chapter during China’s negotiations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) prior to its accession in 2001. Since then many reforms and improvements have been made and the Chinese government heavily promotes its achievements in the fight against product piracy. But according to the latest OECD survey, still 4 out of 10 counterfeited goods on the global market are “made in China”.

Interestingly to know, that not only the big names, such as Apple, Gucci, Nike or Universal, fall victim to product piracy and counterfeit – also small and medium sized companies lose immense amounts of money, because their innovative products get imitated in some Chinese backyard and are than sold at dumping prices. Repeatedly companies were made aware of IPR violations just because an angry customer called up the headquarters and complained about the poor quality of the product or asked for after-sales services.

C’est la vie en Chine?! Is product piracy merely one of the side effects one has to simply accept, when doing business in China? Not at all! Although one has to be aware that even the best strategies might fail on the Chinese market, there are 3 simple ways to reduce the potential risks for your company significantly.

1. Know the market!

Knowing the current market environment for your industry is the key for a successful performance on the Chinese market. IPR violations may happen in any industry, but the better you understand how your industry functions on the Chinese market, who your (Chinese) competitors are and what previous cases of counterfeit in the industry took place, the better you can prepare and protect your company against it.

If your company does not have the resources to get all the necessary information, you may be well advised on hiring a skilled local marketing or PR firm that is specialized in market research and truly understands the Chinese market.

2. Know the law

Since its accession to the WTO in 2001, the Chinese legal system improved significantly, although the actual implementation is far from perfect. On paper the Chinese IPR regulations do meet international standards, but most companies, when getting involved in counterfeit issues, do face a frankly unmanageable number of barriers, such as the Chinese language, the complexity of Chinese bureaucracy and the overall costs of a time-consuming lawsuit. Nevertheless, the best advice in case of an IPR violation still is to take legal action, instead of capitulating and depreciating the loss.

Be aware that the costs for an average lawsuit on IPR violations may be between USD250,000 (international law firm) and USD10,000 (local law firm). Therefore it is important to do some research and compare the actual cost-performance ratio beforehand.

3. Know your allies

Most national governments do offer some sort of investment protection for companies that are expanding their business to China. These agencies generally offer legal advice in case of IPR violations as well as financial support during a lawsuit.

Get in touch with the Chinese representatives of your home country’s chamber of commerce or the business section of your embassy for further information, or speak to Illuminant Partners for an obligation-free consultation.

Article by Anja Knass, Illuminant’s corporate affairs manager.