(http://www.firebox.com/product/6513/Chineasy)
Last week, I purchased the book “Chineasy” by Shaolan. The curious thing is that I have never had much inclination to learn Chinese before. So why start now? Well, it’s all due to social media…
A friend of mine shared a post on Facebook saying “wow! This page is really cool”. Naturally, I was curious and clicked the link that took me to the Chineasy Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ShaoLanChineasy?ref=br_tfc), which I then browsed through.
I was very impressed by the concept of illustrating Chinese characters with pictures. I’m a visual learner and I was thrilled to read that the author of these pictures was thinking of publishing a book. I visited her website and looked through all the designs she’d posted and even pledged to her kickstarter goal to help her reach her dream of publishing the book.
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shaolanchineasy/chineasy-begins-0)
Several months later, when I had forgotten all about Chineasy, I visited Waterstones. I was perusing the different sections of the book shop when I stumbled upon the published “Chineasy” book. I squealed with excitement and ran to pick it up. My friends looked at me as though I were insane.
“Since when are you interested in learning Chinese?” A friend asked me.
And that’s when everything clicked in place.
“Since I saw that post on Facebook… Since I visited Shaolan’s website and saw her pictograms…”
I was fascinated by the use of marketing and social media and began asking myself questions. I have narrowed them down to 3 main questions sets, which I would like to explore in more depth.
1. How did I become SO aware of Chineasy?
2. What drew me in? Why did I become loyal so quickly and fervently?
And now, for some research…
The Empowerment of Consumers 