Santa Monica, in the wintertime, the lazy streets so undemanding...

We had one last free day in LA before flying home so Sandra, Carla & I took the public bus to Santa Monica.  This was an experience in itself and gave us a view of the less glamorous side of life in LA, with some interesting characters, and also an acceptance by the driver that a certain percentage of struggling people weren't going to pay the fare, which was only $1.25 or 55c concession.  We are staying in Hollywood itself and there is certainly a seedy side to life here which is pretty close to the surface.  We had to catch the bus from Hollywood Boulevard so had a wander along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, past the Kodak Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and there were plenty of hustlers out and about. 
After a fairly long bus ride we checked out Santa Monica beach and pier then walked back to the Broadway for some shopping and a late lunch.  The MAC store was an experience in itself with two if not three drag queens working as somewhat intimidating but very well made-up (if that's your thing) store assistants - rather over-the-top but very LA! 
The bus trip home was even more of an experience with some complete space cadets alternatively ranting & raving at people, trying to convert them to bizarro religions or blowing raspberries at them.  It was hard to know where to look at times and also difficult to suppress the giggles LOL.
After a quick rest it was time for pre-dinner drinks in the Simons' room as hosted by Simon G in true Hugh Hefner style, followed our final group dinner at Malo, as recommended by Mischa Barton's bestie.  It was a fun night but sad to say good-bye to everyone after a fantastic three and a half weeks together.

Disney x 2!

We started the day with a very interesting and informative visit to Disney's headquarters, where we were privileged to be given an insight into some of Disney's marketing strategies and goals for the coming year.  It was also good to get an insight into the cohesiveness of the different Disney business units and the ways in which the marketing might can be harnessed to support initiatives as necessary. 
And then it was off to Disneyland!!  Call me a big kid, but it was a really, really fun day with lots of rides and laughs.  We split off into a group of eight and had a ball going on Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Indiana Jones, Star Tours and the Haunted Mansion.  We caught the tail end of the Celebrate 2010 parade and had a bit of time for shopping at the end.  Unfortuntely being a Thursday the park was only open until 8pm and there were no fireworks, but we were pretty worn out by the end.
Today concluded the formal part of our program - hard to believe it has already come to an end but it has been an amazing experience and it has been wonderful to share it with a great group of people, not to mention two outstanding progam directors in Sandra and Carla.

Free morning then another flight

We had a free morning today so most of us had a fairly slow start - I have come down with a bit of a cold so was not keen to rush around sightseeing in the cold, so had a fairly leisurely breakfast then a bit of a wander around the nearby shops before packing and getting ready for the flight to LA.  Sandra, Carla and I went into the AA lounge at Newark airport so missed the excitement at the gate lounge - Mischa Barton & her bestie, singer Nikki Lane, plus two dogs, waiting to board our flight.  The plane was quite empty but Nikki & one of the dogs got booted out of exit row and moved down behind to our group, so was duly grilled for tips on where to hang out in LA.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and we arrived safely in LA, ready for a big day on Thursday! 

An awesome day in New York

The sun was out today and we were running early for our visit to Bergdorf Goodman (thanks to an uncrowded subway) so we started with a quick photo stop in Central Park.  As the NY weather has been quite mild there was no snow on the ground, however the ponds still had a thin covering of ice on them.
We then wandered back to Bergdorf Goodman for our visit with the very distinguished and amenable David, the training and development manager, who showed us arond the store before it opened for the day.  We started off in one of the Chanel boutiques before moving up to shoes and some of the other European designer boutiques, before we were given a VERY special treat - we were invited to sit in on a private showing of Michael Kors' new Spring 2010 collection by the designer himself to the Bergdorf Goodman staff.  This involved four models and two assistants showing off each piece of the new collection while the designer discussed the features and offered some selling tips.  The clothes were just beautiful and the session provided a glimpse into how the other half lives, as indeed  the whole store did. 
It is clear that Bergdorf Goodman strongly believes in building long-term relationships with its customers rather than taking out full page advertisements in the newspaper.  It has also put a great deal of effort into making the store a destination in itself, offering fittings and furniture which its upper crust clientele are at home with, and preserving as many features of the 1920s building as feasibly possible, while modernising it with energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.
Following the B-G visit, we wandered down Fifth Avenue for a spot of shopping before I met Tad for lunch, an old friend from Monash undergrad days.  He took me to the Oyster Bar, a massive barn of a place at Grand Central Station, with several sections including what looked like an authentic saloon bar!  We had a lovely catch up over a long leisurely lunch which just about took me through to beer o'clock, when I caught up with another old friend, Gerry from school, who is now over here working for MTV.  We met at Havana Central at Times Square and had another great catch up.

Meeting the Googlers

Today's visit was to Google.  We had to sign an NDA so I can't really say too much about it here, but we were first given a tour around the office by a very amusing site reliability engineer who has been around the traps long enough to appreciate the culture and way of doing things at Google.  It was interesting to see that EY introduced some of the same initiatives when we moved into the new Melbourne building, however Google just takes it to a whole other level.  We then received a presentation from a Google sales analyst who discussed emerging trends in search marketing - online advertising, consumer and market trends. 
The weather was pretty filthy today - horizontal driving rain - so I had a pretty quiet afternoon after enjoying Korean hot pot for lunch, as the hotel is in Little Korea, followed by a bit of shopping then people watching from the Starbucks balcony in Macys.

New York, New York!

The flight from Paris to New York was fairly uneventful - American Airlines wasn't as bad as I was expecting, although $7 for a drink on an international flight is a bit steep - however security at Paris and immigration at JFK were extremely painful - TWO pat downs and bag searches in Paris, not just one, then a bus from the aerobridge to the plane, which was different.
So that took care of most of Sunday, but we did get out for a quick walk to Times Square then ribs & burgers at TGI Friday's, before crashing into bed after a loooong day.  The weather was surprisingly mild though - around 7 degrees when we landed, and not too bad at night. 

Free day in Paris

Unfortunately the weather was not the best today, with light rain, mist and a top temperature of five degrees, however a small group of us, capably led by our fearless tour directors Sandra and Carla, set out for a walking tour of Paris to make the most of our last day here.  First stop was Place de la Concord, followed by the Tuileries Gardens, photos outside the Louvre, lunch just off the Avenue des Champs-Elysses, Les Places des Voges (which I quickly realised I had visited with Bridget back in 2001) with an afternoon tea stop for a decadent hot chocolate and creme brulee (it was the last day here so why not), finishing up at Notre Dame, where there was actually a mass being held, so it was different to see the cathedral full of worshippers.

Cars, cars, cars...

After a morning wander around the area near our hotel including the Galeries Lafayette precinct (and it was interesting to note the prominent Gap store across the road from Galeries Lafayette has disappeared - victim of the GFC perhaps?) we headed to the Avenue des Champs-Elysees for company visits to the Citroen, Renault and Peugeot concept stores.  These were all quite different with Citroen probably standing out the most, due to the building itself, which is much more modern than most, if not all, of the other buildings along the Avenue and also apparently the only one to allow the public to view the Arc de Triomphe from the top floor.  The Citroen concept store is currently dedicated to the upcoming launch of the all-new DS3 model, and there were some very clever ideas such as the webcam game and also the photo booth where you could email a picture of yourself superimposed in a DS3 with your choice of options. 
Renault's concept store is currently set up as a museum celebrating the success of Renault's light commercial vehicles, while Peugeot's was the smallest of the three and only had four actual vehicles in it, however six(!) shelves of the retail area were given over to Renault salt & pepper shakers!!
We returned to the hotel for a quick rest then headed up the hill to Montmatre and Sacre Coeur, the view from which was stunning as always, and the inside of the basilica is also absolutely beautiful.  We then had dinner and sampled some of the local wines at Les Coulisses, which was a little bit touristy but still nice.

A very hectic 48 hours - Madrid-Milan-Paris

We are in Paris now after a pretty awful overnight train from Milan to Paris - we were crammed into tiny cabins with three storey bunks & windows that kept banging open, and one of our tour directors was robbed, we assume by the same two blonde men who tried to break into another room but ran off when one of our group woke up. Not the experience it was meant to be - it is the first and last time trains will be added to the itinerary I think.  Suddenly makes Iberia look a whole lot better, too....
As a result we were all less than our sparkling best for the L'Oreal visit today (we weren't able to check into our rooms so only a few of us managed showers), but it was still really interesting. We were treated to a champagne lunch then received presentations from four different managers of various parts of the business.  The case studies around the success of Kiehl's in South Korea and the recent launch of a new Garnier Fructis 2-in-1 shampoo plus oil in India were particularly interesting. 

We visited Mediaset in Milan yesterday, which was also very interesting and contained very up-to-the-minute info on the pay TV market, the switch to digital TV, and the relaunch last week of a website which allows viewers to download full episodes of TV shows.  It was also interesting to see the use of branding extend to the company logo (the white flower) being used on steps as a warning, instead of the yellow strips we generally use.  We then had the afternoon free in Milan, our only taste of Italy on this trip, which was just beautiful. We managed to fit in a nice lunch, the Duomo and the Castle, coffee and gelati, then a group dinner before the train. And yes, it's still cold - Milan seemed to hover between -1 and 1 the whole 24 hours we were there, which was a bit of a shock to the system after Madrid!

We finished off our first day in Paris with a cheap and very cheerful meal at Chartier, just around the corner from our hotel, the Hotel Opera Cadet, which is in a very pretty traditional street. 

We finally have internet again so I  promise to upload more pics (and work out how to add more than one per post) very soon, but need to catch up on some sleep now.

Xanadu

No, not the film – today’s company visit was to Xanadu mall, which is slightly south of Madrid, and is Spain’s largest shopping centre. It comprises both leisure and retail areas, with anchor tenants including Snow Zone, an indoor ski slope which the one in Dubai was based on, and El Corte Ingles, Zara, H&M and others – in all it has 20 anchor tenants. We received a presentation from the property manager then had three hours to check out the centre ourselves, which wasn’t long enough!


Have now arrived in Milan after a VERY hairy landing thanks to more fog – how the hell they let us land without diverting I don’t know, but it was the first time I’d heard a captain ask everyone to make sure they turned off all electronic devices as we were doing a precision approach due to “meteorological conditions” and it was important not to have any electronic interference. At that point we didn’t know it was fog so a few people got a bit freaked out, and it would seem that some people down the back pulled their lifejackets out just in case – not sure what good that would have done as Milan is fairly landlocked I would have thought....

Anyway, we are here safely so it’s off to bed before another busy day tomorrow. I believe the Monash website (http://www.mimsp.com) is being updated with more pics as I write so check them out too. I will try and put more up soon but internet access and free time have both been very limited!!

Zara HQ

Another very early start today for our flight to La Coruna and a visit to the Inditex Group, which owns Zara, Mango and several other labels. They are a huge employer in the region and the office & factory complex are vast. It was a comprehensive visit which started with a presentation from in a very comfortable corporate briefing room and continued with a tour through the offices, design studios, concept stores, pattern cutting area, pressing area, picking and packing, and final dispatch. It was fascinating to see the scale of it all but at the same time the three ambulance bays outside the factory sick bay were a sobering reminder that factory work can still be dangerous.


After a tapas lunch we travelled to Santiago de Compostela for a walking tour of the cathedral and old parts of town. The cathedral was incredibly ornate inside, with lots of gold leaf, and we walked down into the crypt to see the tomb of St James and his two disciples, then around the back of the statue of St James, behind the high altar, where it is traditional to hug or touch his back.

A sleepy bus ride to the airport then flight from Santiago de Compostela back to Madrid finished a very long but worthwhile day.

London to Madrid - first major weather today

Unfortunately the winter weather caught up with us today – Madrid airport was closed by fog for several hours, so we had a lengthy delay at Heathrow and lost our half-day of sightseeing in Madrid. We finally arrived at the hotel after 7pm so quickly checked in then walked up to Gran Via for a look at some of the Inditex shops(gold sequinned bra & knickers at Oysho, anyone??) before a group dinner at La Paella, apparently Madrid’s second-best restaurant (no. 1 was closed because it was a Sunday). The paella was spot on and the sangria went down well too.

More soccer and old friends...

Saturday in London continued with more socialising, starting with a lovely brunch at Le Pain Quotidien in South Kensington with two old school friends, Julie & Jodi. Once again it was great to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for a while and the organic pain au chocolat was pretty good too!


It was then back to the hotel to add some layers and then head out to the soccer. We saw Chelsea at home to Sunderland, and while it was a bit of a one-sided game with Chelsea winning 7-2, the atmosphere was fantastic and it was better than watching a nil-all draw.

We returned to the hotel for a quick shower and change then the socialising continued with a dinner with Brooke, a Sydney EY pursuits person currently on secondment to global, at a local pub, the Kensington Arms, then we met the rest of the group for drinks & dancing at Kensington Rooftop Gardens, Richard Branson’s club for the rich and beautiful, which is just around the corner from the hotel. Another fun night was had by all and it was very tough to get up for the early start the next morning.

Arsenal and old friends....

Today’s company visit was with Arsenal at their new stadium, the Emirates Stadium, which they moved to in 2006 as they had outgrown their old one at Highbury. Highbury has now been redeveloped with housing built around the original pitch. The apartments were marketed to members who wanted to have the same view from the seat they held on their season’s ticket. The new stadium also includes housing in the development of what was previously a waste depot, including affordable housing for London’s “key personnel” – firemen, nurses etc who can no longer afford London’s housing market. The tour started in the Diamond Club, Arsenal’s top tier of membership – the annual fee is 25,000 pounds and members must commit to a minimum 35 year contract to demonstrate their allegiance. We were also shown through the corporate suites, the dressing rooms, the press rooms and the tunnel onto the pitch. We finished in the largest of several retail stores at the ground, where the group enthusiastically contributed to Arsenal’s revenue!


We returned to London and I headed into the city to catch up with a couple of EY friends for a lovely night at the Horniman’s at Hay pub on the Thames near the Tower Bridge. I had the address of the EY Global building, Beckett House, and a scratch map I had copied from the website, but as it was already pitch dark at 5pm, I still wasn’t sure it was the right building until I was right outside – there was only a small ‘Ernst & Young’ sign at ground level, and no neon illumination at all, which made me realise that there is really not much neon in London at all, in stark comparison to Hong Kong. It was really lovely to see Margie & Anna, two former level 26 buddies, and it was a great night.

The snow is melting....

It was a bit warmer today (although it's all relevant!) so most of the snow has melted. We were also inside for most of the day so that helped - I am really not a fan of the cold.
We had two company visits today - Marks & Spencer and JCDecaux. The M&S visit was very interesting and particularly relevant for our research topic, as we were presented to by the director of Plan A, which shows what can be done if a company is really serious about CSR. The initiatives go way beyond just paying lipservice to sustainability and have proven to be beneficial to the bottom line as well. It was interesting to see how some ideas which didn't work led to better ideas and initiatives which were ultimately very successful. An example of this was recycling plastic bottles initially for polar fleeces, which was not successful as customers would not pay a premium to cover the extra cost, to recycling bottles as polyester filling for homewares, which has been very successful.
We then travelled to JCDecaux and were taken on a tour of some innovative outdoor advertising concepts, including the Cadbury Creme Egg goo game bus shelter and some cute floating rubber ducks for O2.
We finished the day with dinner at Ikkyusan in Chinatown.

Snow, snow everywhere!

We arrived in London at 5am this morning and somehow managed to land early despite the snow! It started snowing as we left the airport and has not really stopped since. I'm not sure what the actual temperature was but I'm guessing in the minuses - certainly as cold as Chicago was when we were there in January last year.

The overnight flight was not a lot of fun (despite travelling in a group of 26 I somehow ended up wedged between two large-ish random strangers in a row of three seats - not happy) but we had a bonus when we arrived at the hotel and were able to check straight in to our rooms, not wait the six hours we were expecting, and on top of that they threw in a hot breakfast for all of us.
So, feeling much better after a shower, we set off for a day of exploring in the snow. We started off on the hop-on hop-off bus but soon got off to check out the snow in Hyde Park. From there we wandered down Oxford Street then went in a number of different directions. I continued down Regent Street before getting back on the bus and taking the scenic route to the Natural History Museum, which included Trafalgar Square, the fountains of which were completely frozen over, Big Ben, with snow on top, Westminster Abbey, Belgravia, Hyde Park and Harrods. I was keen to go to the Natural History Museum to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, and it didn't disappoint. I then walked back to the hotel via Royal Albert Hall and Kensington Gardens for an early night.

Last day in Honkers

We had a fantastic session this morning at Ogivly & Mather then a free afternoon after we came back to the hotel and checked out. We were going to catch the Star Ferry but came across the Aqua Luna, which was much cooler, so we cruised around the harbour in comfort, before heading back to the hotel via Nathan Road, and dropping into the Peninsula Hotel for a stickybeak at the beautiful lobby and the hoi polloi having their high tea.

Yesterday's rain has gone and the sun has warmed things up, but the smog is pretty bad again.

We are heading off to the airport shortly for an overnight flight to London so I will upload more photos once we get there. The official Monash site for the tour is also here for those of you interested in a broader perspective and more pics.

The study part begins....

I will flesh out this post later but just wanted to add some brief info now - we started the study component of the tour today with a visit to Time Warner this morning, followed by a yum cha lunch in Central, more shopping at the IFC Mall (I was determined not to buy anything today, until I came across a pair of black boots at Nine West, and that was the end of that plan... I did however manage to resist the pair of Christian Louboutin heels I also saw on sale, which would have gone perfectly with a certain handbag....)
We then backtracked to the building we started at this morning for a visit to Jack Morton which was really interesting, particularly from my recent event management perspective and also for the work they are doing with clients internally around employee engagement.
After a quick rest at the hotel we headed out to the Ladies' Market for a look, followed by famous Hong Kong mango pudding. It was amazing to see how many people were still out and about at 11pm on a Monday night - the shopping culture is alive and well here. This was illustrated from the minute we got on the plane - the Cathay Pacific in-flight shopping guide is almost twice as thick as the regular in-flight magazine, in stark contrast to Qantas, and the sat nav map which shows you how far you have to go on the flight was regularly interrupted by ads!

Day 2 Hong Kong

Study tour is going well, although we haven't started the "study" part yet - that happens tomorrow with two company visits. We have had a good day today with a Hong Kong city tour this morning, which included Peak tram, Stanley markets (was interested to note the 7-Eleven in this upmarket area had Moet prominently on sale behind the counter!) and a sampan ride around the Aberdeen fishing village (and as you can see from the pic, we got the cool sampan with all the hanging lanterns!), finishing off with a visit to Elements, a fancy shopping centre. Tonight we are planning to have dinner locally then watch the light show. We don't have internet in our room at this hotel so I haven't been able to post photos yet, and yesterday's post is still sitting in my notebook in draft form, but I will do that as soon as I can. (Chinese Windows is also presenting some challenges!!)

Hong Kong here we come!!

Well Day 1 of the study tour is finally here and we have arrived in Hong Kong! I don't have much to say about the flight except it was a shock to the system going back to economy after our recent run of good luck with upgrades, and Cathay Pacific's seats are not built for people with long legs. Leg room was OK but the seats were too short and don't recline - instead the (very creaky) inner shell just slides back and forth, eating into the leg room but not encroaching on the passenger behind you.
Upon arrival we were met by Irene, our local tour guide, and transferred to the Kowloon Empire Hotel, just around the corner from Nathan Road, which is one of the few places I remember from my last visit here 25 years ago. We had a couple of hours to settle in then met in the lobby and walked around the corner for a welcome dinner at Heaven on Earth in Knutsford Terrace (which is part of the King Parrot Group - there is no escaping them! And yes, the name of the street also caused a few snickers amongst the group). After a cheap and cheerful meal of shredded beef pancakes (Peking duck-style) and fried rice, we jumped in taxis and headed through the harbour tunnel to the LKF Garden Bar in Lan Kwai Fong. However the early start and the time difference caught up, so it was a fairly quiet night for most of us.

Two days to go!!

Well with two days until departure, the tour has come around very quickly and I am madly running around doing last-minute stuff, which mostly involves gathering together cold weather clothing!
As part of my pre-reading though, I have come across a very interesting book: 'Women Want More - How to Capture Your Share of the the World's Fastest Growing Market' by Michael Silverstein (who also wrote 'Trading Up' several years ago). Worth a look for anyone interested in some recent research. (I couldn't help thinking the management at Myer could learn a few tips from it when I was standing in a ridiculous queue on Tuesday, either).