SPH's Lianhe Zaobao eyes English segment with e-magazine on China

Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) Lianhe Zaobao has launched its own English-language e-magazine titled ThinkChina. This magazine will carry in-depth reports and analysis that are selected from Zaobao, along with contributions from invited writers. According to SPH's Chinese Media Group head Lee Huay Leng, ThinkChina aims to give English language readers a deeper and broader understanding of China and its influence in this region.Zaobao also looks to break the language and culture barrier, and provide perspectives to the understanding of China among English-language users in Singapore and around the world. Sister newspaper The Business Times will also share selected articles from ThinkChina weekly and aid in expanding the ThinkChina readership.Lee explained that while thinking of an English name for the magazine, the team translated "ThinkChina" into 思想中国. According to Lee, 思想 is a two-character word, and as a noun it could mean “thoughts”, but each character is also a word on its own carrying overlapping meanings as in “to think”. She said that 心, or heart, is a part of the character 思, as well as 想, therefore, in the Chinese way, it is about putting one's heart into thinking.Local artist Oh Chai Hoo was the designer behind the magazine name and also the Chinese logo. The “思” is slightly tilted, mimicking a person’s tilted head while thinking, while “想” is made up of three parts - “目” (eye) is carved horizontally to resemble an eye, and the idea is for one to stand beside a tree (木), see with our eyes (目) and ponder with our heart (心).Recently, SPH brought on board former Courts marketing director Joanna Ho as the new head of business planning and operational efficiency, to handle areas such as organisational development on both the talent and training front, and advertiser outcomes integrating both offline to online and eCommerce. Meanwhile, SPH CMO Ignatius Low will also now take on the new role of chief commercial officer of SPH media solutions.The news comes shortly after Marketing broke the news of industry veteran Helen Lee taking on the role to head up its product development and innovation. In addition to the new hires, former GroupM talent Linda Lim’s role will be expanded to head of content solution and market development.[Digital Marketing Asia Conference 2019 in Singapore is back! Join us on 8-9 October as we hear from experienced practitioners and thought-leaders on how they are managing complex digital transitions and reimagining new ways for their marketing to become more customer focused, agile and interactive. Check out the agenda and book your seats today.]