Our Clients
Our Success is Your Success
Over the last decade, we have helped numerous clients in Canada and China to expand their businesses by providing hands on, step-by-step support. We have done this by developing solutions built upon a solid foundation of understanding our clients’ unique attributes.
The following are just some the businesses and organizations with whom we have worked and the challenges we helped them to overcome to meet and exceed their business goals in China:
PPE
Janelle Knox, the Procurement Manager at Medavie H.S., which provides paramedical services for the four Atlantic Provinces, wrote to say, “Frank, Sherry and their Sunrise team have been so great to work with. We really can’t thank you enough.”
Erik Sande, CEO of Medavie H.S., wrote to say, ” I can only echo Janelle’s appreciation. You really helped out in a pinch. The PPE lets our team work at a high level of confidence that they and their families are well protected. Thanks again for the support and take care.”
Brian Mackie, Vice-President Finance and C.F.O. of Baycrest Hospital, one of the most highly-reputed senior care institutions in the world, stated, “We were approached by so many people who said they could provide us with this material and we ended up going with just two companies we knew we could trust: a long time Chinese supplier and Sunrise. They certainly had direct connections to excellent manufacturers of medical equipment, and we couldn’t be happier with everything they provided us.”
Marketing
COWS Creamery is a well-known Canadian brand that showcases agri-food and agricultural products originating from Canada. COWS ice cream has over 30 flavours and are all made in Canada.When the Sunrise Group was engaged by the iconic COWS Creamery brand to establish an exclusive franchise presence in the Greater China Region there were a number of significant obstacles to overcome. The dominance of long-standing market players in China like Haggendas combined with different consumer taste preferences needed to be addressed.Supported by over a year of market research, new recipe development and a strong social media strategy, the Sunrise Group focussed on the unique properties of Cows and Canada’s reputation for food quality and excellence.
When the flagship store was opened in China, over 20 mainstream media attended the opening ceremony, including traditional media such as Beijing Television Line News, and Xinhua News, also the main online media, such as Sina.com, Sohu.com and Tencent.
During the past two years, Sunrise have made COWS a recognized brand among over one hundred ice cream brands in Beijing and named one of the Top 10 place to go for ice cream by “Places to go in Beijing” Beijing Eating Hunter, with over 500,000 followers in Cow’s targeted, high-income demographic.At the same time, the Sunrise Group developed and implemented promotional strategies with events and online contests, attracting over 30,000 followers on Weibo (China Twitter) in the past 18 months.
Today, the Sunrise Group continues to bring the famous COWS brand to the world’s largest marketplace, assisting with the opening of four chain stores in Beijing, with more stores planned in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
“The China is a great international destination for COWS Inc. and we thank Sunrise Group for making it happen. Sunrise Group’s extensive resources and experience in media relations, market development and promotions, and political and business connections were valuable contributions in introducing COWS to 1.3 billion Chinese consumers. We are so proud to see COWS products in China experiencing such huge success. We look forward to working closely with Sunrise to open more COWS stores in China.”
Jackie McIntyre, President and CEO of COWS Inc.
Anne in China Inc is a unique cultural company that aims to develop and promote the globally-recognized Anne of Green Gables story in China. When the company sought to enter the Chinese market with the flagship publication as its key cultural offering, the Sunrise Group was engaged to advise and support on a variety of marketing-orientated activities. The key challenge was how to engage the broader Chinese public in the absence of a multi-million dollar direct-to-consumer advertising campaign.
Given the prominence of political leaders in the national media, the Sunrise Group developed a strategy to feature the publication of the translated version of the book as a cultural symbol of the growing ties between the governments or Canada and China during a state visit by the former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper in 2012. During that state visit, the Sunrise Group organized for Prime Minister Harper and his wife to do a reading of the book to the Guangzhou Huamei International School. At that reading, Mrs. Harper presented each student with an autographed copy of the book. In addition, Mr. Li Zhao Xing, former minister of China’s Foreign Affairs Office – now the Chairman of Translators Association of China, was responsible for writing the novel’s preface.
Following a high profile book launch built upon the initial promotional strategy, the Sunrise Group engaged three of China’s top universities to host a “Red Haired Anne” publishing conference and symposium. This event was used to launch a national essay writing contest that the Sunrise Group designed to build awareness of the Anne of Green Gables story. The three contest finalists were given an all-expenses paid trip to Prince Edward Island to experience the home of Anne.
After this successful trip to PEI, Sunrise Group and Anne in China carried out a successful media event attended by over 50 major media outlets in China for Anne In China’s National Essay Contest Awards in Beijing, The attention that the Sunrise Group was instrumental in garnering for Anne in China Inc’s publication was highlighted when the book was listed as one of the fifty most influential publications in China in 2012.
Study Abroad Canada is a leading English Language School located in Atlantic Canada. In the last decade, growing interest in western business and culture has generated strong demand among Asian parents and their children to learn English. Study Abroad Canada has long this trend. In 2011, SACLI engaged the Sunrise Group to build its capacity to increase the number of international students studying in Canada at its facilities in the Maritimes. To accomplish this goal, we developed and implemented a multi-faceted marketing and recruitment campaign aimed at generating broad-based awareness of the school as a leading destination for English language training.
The key challenge was how to brand a location in Canada’s smallest province as the best place to learn English against a backdrop of better known, more urban centres such as Toronto and Vancouver. The Sunrise Group’s strategy was to capitalize on PEI’s unique properties that they knew would appeal to parents of the children considering studying in North America. To this end, Study Abroad Canada was positioned as Canada’s “safest place” to learn English in light of the Province’s status of having among North America’s lowest crime rates. In addition, the small size of PEI was depicted as a plus as students would have the least distance to travel from their homestay accommodations to their School and classes. Both of these attributes have helped fuel the school’s international enrollment, leading to an expansion in 2016.
Investment Analysis
CEFC Energy Company Limited is a Chinese Fortune Global 500 company that had an interest in establishing operations in the Canadian natural resources sector. The company’s key challenge was that it did not understand the detailed jurisdictional, regulatory and trade issues associated with the natural resource sector in Canada and how these factors would impact their capacity to operate as a foreign multi-national. The Sunrise Group was retained to conduct in-depth market research in relation to the evaluation and establishment of operations within the Canadian natural resources sector. We provided our client with comprehensive industry analysis, including market trend assessments, financial risk evaluation, and strategic advice on specific market development directions that would allow them to minimize their risk while optimizing their financial returns.
The Juneyao Group is a well-recognized private enterprise in China, focusing on industrial investment with three main businesses: aviation transport, commercial retail, and financial services. Juneyao Group owns Juneyao Airlines, which mainly operates the domestic air transport of passengers, cargo and mail, business and tourist charters, as well as flights to Hong Kong, Macao and neighboring countries. The company also covers the fields of education services, information technology, real estate development, and investment.
Trade Development
The Council of the Federation (COF) is a pan-Canadian intra-governmental organization that brings together Canada’s Premiers to address issues of national concern. In 2014, the Sunrise Group was retained to provide professional logistics services to the Canadian Premiers Mission to China, which was led by three Premiers and had a delegation of over 300 people. This was the largest mission to China ever organized by COF and the challenge was how all of the logistics could be managed in a tight timeframe with minimal COF staff. In response to this challenge, the Sunrise Group staff in China and Canada provided turn-key professional services, including; identifying mission goals, market research and analysis, documents translation, pre-departure briefings, logistics management, in-market support, on-site trouble shooting, political/business meeting interpretation, budget management, and post-mission reporting.
Despite the tight timeline, the Sunrise Group successfully accomplished the mission goals and delegates were impressed with the high level of professionalism and the careful management of all aspects of the mission.
“The team at Sunrise did an excellent job in managing the logistics for the 2014 Premiers’ Mission to China. With over 300 participants, this w a large mission that demanded expertise in coordination as well as knowledge of the local market. Sunrise not only met our expectations, they exceeded them in terms of sharing their knowledge and providing us with a first-rate team of professionals to work with.”
Loretta O’Connor, Executive Director – Council of the Federation
When the Government of the Northwest Territories sought to build profile for its fur, mining, and tourism sectors in the potentially lucrative markets of Japan and China they had little understanding of how to go about showcasing their what they had to offer. They retained the Sunrise Group to support their trade development activities. In January of 2015, the Sunrise Group coordinated a Provincial trade mission involving industry and government leaders. Our services included logistics management, in-country support, business translation services, as well as media relations. Sunrise Group has also facilitated the Government of Northwest Territories to promote and market of their wild fur in products at the 41st Annual Fur and Leather Show.
“The Government of Northwest Territories looks forward to continuing to develop and strengthen our relationships with China and Japan, and this mission was an important step. The dedicated and professional manner of all the staff at Sunrise was invaluable in making this mission a success.”
Robert McLead, Premier of Northwest Territories
Atlantic Canada Seafood Companies are keenly interested in the lucrative Chinese market for opportunities to sell their world class products. The challenge was that in order to serve the Chinese market with fresh, live Atlantic Canada products, industry players needed to find partners with appropriate holding and logistics to handle rapid distribution. The Sunrise Group was retained to assist the industry with an Atlantic Seafood Trade Mission to the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo in Qingdao in 2014. Our company coordinated all pre-mission activities, developed mission itineraries, offered on-site assistance on chef station, and took care of all the logistical tasks for the mission.
In this mission, Sunrise Group helped market and promote the presence of the Atlantic Seafood Trade Group at the expo and ensured operations ran smoothly while in China. In addition, we organized a successful Atlantic Seafood Reception in Qingdao, including; venue selection, menu development, catering management, RSVP design and printing, design and production of event collaterals, and multi-media support. We aslo coordinated with Atlantic Chefs to showcase Atlantic seafood products, including; lobster, mussels, sea cucumber, and oysters to Chinese buyers and business owners.
A key mission outcome that the Sunrise Group was able to achieve was to successfully connect Alibaba Group to meet with Canadian Premiers and Atlantic seafood sector delegates to explore the opportunity of using the e-commerce platform for the promotion and distribution of Atlantic Canadian seafood.
“The professional team of Sunrise Group has demonstrated their extensive experience and wealth of resources in both Canadian and Chinese markets. We were impressed by Sunrise’s unique insights in international market development and look forward to working collaboratively with Sunrise to bring premium Canadian seafood products through T-Mall and Taobao, the leading e-commerce platforms of Alibaba.”
Yijie Peng – Partner of Alibaba Group