Thur Post #1: MAC Marketing admits they mislead CBC-TV, BC-CTV and all their viewers/customers

Yesterday, on Facebook, a reader of this blog asked MAC Marketing Solutions about our Tuesday post suggesting that there may be some media manipulation going on by MAC.

The news stories showcased two sisters from China, Amanda and Chris Lee, and told us their parents would be coming to town for Chinese New Year's to buy them a Condo in Vancouver.

The story outlined how Asian buyers have been active in our dead market in recent weeks, that they were looking for many of the same things locals look for in real estate - and they're taking the plunge and buying.

The not-so-subtle message?  You should too.

Just one problem.

Not only does one of the 'sisters' happen to be a MAC employee (Amanda), but  according to her Facebook profile she's recently married. Scroll through the approximately 10 Facebook wedding photos and you can't find her 'sister' anywhere.

(Note: Amanda's Facebook account was closed to the public after it was prominently featured on this blog yesterday. Last night it had another 'alteration' when the account's last name was changed from Amanda Lee to Amanda Chu)

Yet according to the news stories arranged by MAC for CBC-TV and BC-CTV, we are to believe that Amanda Lee is looking for a condo with her 'sister' and that their parents will be coming to town to buy it for them?

Riiight.

It was all a fabrication, of course.

And in the face of the overwhelming evidence gathered by the local blogosphere, MAC had no choice but to fess up.

Chinese New Year is indeed a busy time across many of our communities. Last year at Maddox we experienced increased sales volume during our Chinese New Year efforts and this year have already sold a number of homes with several more expected. We do admit we should have been more transparent about the fact that a MAC Marketing Solutions employee was included in this story. We apologize for any misunderstanding that this may have resulted in.

Basically MAC used actors to stage a commercial for their condo development and then duped the news media to air their promotion on the 6:00 o'clock news for free.

The ethical line that has been crossed here cannot be understated.

MAC Marketing Solutions manipulated the news media to perpetuate a stereotype, then attempted to created hype around that stereotype which they hope will leverage phantom demand to encourage local buyers to "buy now before the Asian surge prices you out of the market"; all while portraying their fabrication as "news."

As one contributor noted,

This is truly insulting to thinking Chinese people. They must feel infuriated when they are stereotyped as they are in (the CTV.CBC) clip. A bimbo portraying a grown woman, waiting for parents approval to buy a home on a timeline predicated by some superstition?  

I would imagine that in reality, when a business plan is put into place by the Chinese, that no more consideration is given to the Year of the Snake than Warren Buffet gives to the horoscope.

CBC-TV reporter Matthew Black has advised me that he is following up on MAC's Facebook acknowledgement of the fraud.  

He has confirmed that he has brought the issue to his editor's attention and he was the one who posted to the Facebook thread asking for an accounting from MAC (click on image to enlarge):

Presumably there are plans, in the absence of a reply from MAC, to show up with camera's on their doorstep for some answers.

And who can blame them.

I imagine that since CTV-BC made this their lead story on last Saturday night's news, they will be keen to beat CBC to air with exposing this blatant exercise in media deception.

I mean nothing could be worse for a news outlet than finding out how your own reporters were duped by watching it explained on your rival's supper hour broadcast.

   

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Wed Post #2: Covering your tracks?

Is there a mad scramble on right now to remove some of the evidence about MAC Marketing Solution's Administrative Assistant Amanda Lee?

Yesterday we showed you Amanda's Facebook page which shows that there is an Amanda Lee who works at MAC Marketing Solutions. She bears a striking resemblance to the Amanda Lee who was profiled in numerous TV news pieces on the weekend. In those stories we were told she was  a young Asian buyer of real estate at a development promoted by MAC Marketing Solutions.

No mention was made in the newscasts that she actually worked for the company.

As several faithful readers have pointed out, it seems that her Facebook profile has undergone a 'cleansing'.  

Gone is the reference to her current employer MAC Marketing Solutions (replaced by her former workplace). She has also removed her profile picture as well as public access to her photo albums.

Amanda's LinkedIn profile still shows up, a profile linking her to both MAC Marketing Solutions and to the very Maddox condo development where she was portrayed as an overseas buyer...

It will be interesting to see how long before that is changed as well.

Does it serve as confirmation that the Facebook Amanda Lee (employee of MAC Marketing Solutions) is the same Amanda Lee presented to the media as an eager Asian customer for their condo development?

On another interesting note, the google search link to this LinkedIn profile doesn't lead to a profile anymore:

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

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Tues Post #2: Meet Amanda Lee on Facebook

Email inbox today is alive with links to a Facebook page for an Amanda Lee who works at MAC Marketing Solutions.

This, as you know, is a result of our earlier post today detailing how an Asian buyer profiled on a CTV story for Chinese New Year has the same name as an Administrative Assistant who works for the same marketing company selling the Condo development that CTV profiled.

'Sweety Amanda' (the url link to her profile name) has a number of photos set to public viewing (provided you are logged in to Facebook on your own account), so let's check them out (click on all images to enlarge).

The two above photos are from 2009, four years ago.

This is the Amanda Lee from the CTV news story:

Are they one and the same? You decide:

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Tues Post #1: Media Manipulation? You decide.

Took a break for the long weekend, but let's pick up where we left off.

On Thursday we talked about all the hype in the real estate world with the upcoming Chinese New Year.

We told you about an article in the Vancouver Sun:  Realtors prep for Lunar New Year upswing in sales - In previous years, industry gets a bump during holiday time in China.

 “It’s hard to say what’s going to happen this year, but I expect we will see a bump in sales activity during the month of February,” said Cameron McNeil, president of project-marketing firm MAC Marketing Solutions.

Take note of that company, MAC Marketing Solutions. We'll be coming back to that shortly.

For now, back to the Sun article

McNeil said Asian buyers have been more active in the Metro Vancouver market in recent weeks than they were through the middle of 2012.

Asian buyer have been more active in the Metro Vancouver market in recent weeks?

We laughed at that on Thursday.  Smacks of media created hype to us, another lame attempt to generate phantom demand as a lever to encourage buyers to "buy now before the Asian surge prices you out of the market".

McNeil said his salespeople are seeing an increase in activity, including from Chinese buyers.

“To me, (Chinese buyers) are a leading indicator,” McNeil said. “What I mean is, when Chinese buyers are active, it is a little bit of a bellwether (for the overall market), and the Chinese are active.”

Buyers are taking their time, McNeil said, but for developments in good locations with “fair values, prices aren’t coming off and are selling very well.”

He added that locations with established neighbourhoods, good schools and proximity to rapid transit are popular

As frequent poster, Bo Xilai, noted:

Yeah, I can see wealthy Mainland Chinese buyers consider proximity to rapid transit as being SUPER important to their buying decision.

Why take the Bentley when you can ride the Canada Line?

Maybe Mr. MacNeil is trying to get his real audience – brokeass first time home buyers – off the fence.

That is exactly what we think the entire 'media campaign is all about, manipulating local first time home  buyers off their collective butts to get into the market.

All weekend long, articles appeared promoting this thread.

Perhaps the best was this one over on CTV. The title of the news piece: "Year of the Snake nets condo sales: developers"


CTV takes us to the Maddox condo development in downtown Vancouver. Maddox is being marketed by MAC Marketing Solutions... yes, the same MAC Marketing Solutions from the Vancouver Sun article on Thursday.

In the Maddox display suite, CTV introduces us to two potential Asian buyers.

Chris Lee, who moved to Vancouver from China two years ago, said she and her sister are looking to buy a hip downtown condo, and now that their parents are in town for two weeks celebrating Chinese New Year, they have financial help. 

“If we like this place we have to tell them and they make the decision,” Lee said. “Usually Chinese people like to buy during this time.” 

Condo developers embraced the influx of offshore buyers, with some companies bringing in additional Chinese-speaking staff to help sell units.

Chris does all the talking, but the two sisters are identified in the story. They Amanda Lee and Chris Lee.

So let's summarize here for a moment.  

The market is in a deep slump, but we get a big media blitz for Chinese New Year telling everyone the market is suddenly "alive in recent weeks with Asian buyers." Asian buyers who are looking for the same sort things in real estate that local buyers are looking for.

At the heart of the media blitz is MAC Marketing Systems. They conveniently back up their media campaign with two classic children of wealthy Asian parents, parents who are coming to town to buy them a condo for CNY.

See?  The market is alive and well... the overseas Asians are buying again, are you going to be left out?

Hmmm.

Not so fast though. These 'overseas wealthy Asians' might not be as 'overseas' as we have been lead to believe.

I know when I first saw this clip, the spidey senses were a-tingling. Didn't we see something like this last year when one of Cam Good's salespersons posed as a groupon condo buyer for Global TV? 

Other skeptics were having their doubts too. Over on VCI, Saint Patrick dug up an interesting profile on linkedin (click on image to enlarge):

Yep... you read that right.  

Coincidence of coincidences, MAC Marketing Solutions has an Administrative Assistant named Amanda Lee who not only works for MAC Marketing Solutions - but her current background says she's attached to the Maddox Downtown condo development. 

You don't say?  No ethic issues here, move along... I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

The weekend was topped off by an interesting email in my in-basket which I have only gotten around to reading early this morning.  It is from Matthew Black, a reporter from CBC-TV:

Hello, 

My name is Matthew Black and I'm a reporter with CBC Vancouver TV. 

I 'm looking to a 'myth busting' style piece on the supposed spike in real estate sales during Chinese New Year. I was quite interested by your blog posts on this subject. 

Would you be available to chat sometime today? I can be reached at 604.XXX.XXX or on my cell at 778.XXX.XXX 

-Matthew Black CBC News Vancouver

Appreciate the email, Matthew.  But the reality is that an anonymous blogger may not be the best interview for a TV reporter (kinda defeats the whole 'anonymous' thing).

But if you're up for it, I'd be willing to bet Amanda Lee would make a great focus for a 'myth busting style news piece.'

If the CTV Amanda and the MAC Marketing Solutions Amanda are both one and the same, why is the media standing by while the public is blatantly manipulated by the real estate industry in this fashion?

See if you can get her parents too. I understand they're in town this week.

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