The corridor note
One email a month. What moved, and what it means.
Trade, policy, platform and regulatory changes that affect a brand crossing between Britain and China, in both directions. No pitch, unsubscribe any time.
At a session for CKGSB students at Ipsos in Shanghai, I asked the CEO of Ipsos China why British brands resist localising. His answer was that you do not have to, if ten buyers is enough. I also asked about something from our own work: founders who say our AI videos look too perfect.
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Ten people or ten million
At the 2026 UK Investment Conference in Shanghai, a moderator asked four advisers the same question: what do Chinese companies underestimate about Britain? A banker, a lawyer, a tax partner and the London Stock Exchange gave four answers that turned out to be one.
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You are not that famous here
At a closed-door lunch in Beijing in June, Le Yucheng told a founder that going abroad does not run on price logic. The UK's new entry rules, and twelve months of trade data, say exactly the same thing.
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Price logic does not travel
Every week something moves in UK–China trade that changes the answer to "should we go, and how". We are going to write it down, in both languages, for the founders who have to decide.
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Why a corridor note
Every note starts in a room one of us was in: a panel, a lunch, a site visit. We write down what was said, check the numbers against the primary source, and say what it means for a brand crossing between Britain and China.
Book a 30-minute consultationMarket entry
Localisation
Trade data
Companies House
Brand trust
AI marketing
Regulation
London – Shanghai