Ogilvy entered the Mainland China market 30 years in the past, promising to leverage its world community to assist main native manufacturers broaden worldwide. Many years later, it has a secure of long-time purchasers, growth tales and Cannes-winning work to boast of.
However the established company is going through rising competitors from smaller native businesses which might be more and more scooping main purchasers. How is the stalwart company searching for to remain forward of the curve, and the way is it positioning itself to seize fast-growing home purchasers?
In an unique interview with Marketing campaign China, Chris Reitermann, the CEO of Asia and Better China for Ogilvy, particulars Ogilvy’s historic power and the “transformation journey” it has been on over the previous few months. He discusses the company’s work serving to Chinese language manufacturers turn out to be world advertising organisations, a popularity it continues to harness to win new work. We hear of how Ogilvy wooed Chinese language purchasers with journeys to David Ogilvy’s fort in France. And we fast-forward to at present, the place Ogilvy is specializing in expertise and positioning itself as a digital skilled. And eventually, Reitermann reminisces over Ogilvy’s most memorable campaigns in China from the previous 30 years.
Marketing campaign China: What are Ogilvy’s priorities proper now in China?
Reitermann: I do assume that in China we’re at a fairly good level in our historical past as a result of we’re altering and optimising our setup. Ogilvy has been on a metamorphosis journey since Andy Major joined us as world CEO about 9 months in the past. We’ve optimised our construction and established 5 enterprise models underneath one model: promoting, expertise, PR, development and innovation, and well being.
There’s additionally been lots of funding in expertise. We’ve introduced in a slew of fantastic expertise on a world and regional degree and in addition right here in China. Melinda Po returned to Ogilvy to run our promoting enterprise, Tom Wan joined us to run expertise, Chris Chen joined us to run digital transformation consulting and we established a content material hub in Guangzhou, simply to focus on a couple of.
I consider the most important problem for everyone is how digital is impacting the best way we do enterprise, and I’d say that Ogilvy is an company that has the chops and functionality to assist purchasers on that journey from a method, expertise and most significantly, operational and go-to-market perspective. A few of our largest shopper relationships are pure digital relationships the place we assist them handle the total buyer expertise throughout all digital platforms, from consciousness all the best way to conversion and gross sales.
How are you doing at constructing enterprise amongst home purchasers? Why do smaller rising home purchasers want to contemplate Ogilvy versus native businesses?
From very early on after we entered China, it was our ambition to be essentially the most native multinational company. We at all times needed to work for Chinese language manufacturers, as a result of we felt that many of those Chinese language manufacturers would turn out to be massive world dominant gamers sooner or later.
In 2005, we despatched an entire group of Chinese language corporations’ CEOs to David Ogilvy’s fort in France to attend a two-day workshop on the best way to construct a world model. Again then, there have been no world Chinese language manufacturers, and lots of of these corporations that at the moment went there at the moment are massive world manufacturers, and massive world corporations. So, that is at all times been an enormous focus of ours.
While you take a look at why these Chinese language corporations come to Ogilvy, it is due to our popularity in having constructed sturdy world manufacturers. For the work we have achieved for IBM, the work we have achieved for American Categorical, the work we have achieved for Dove. That is what they need to study. And once you take a look at the work that we’re doing for the likes of Huawei for instance, it isn’t simply inventive work—we’re actually serving to them to arrange a world infrastructure to do advertising. We assist them develop processes, present them the best way to develop work in Shenzhen and ensure it might probably work in France or Italy or Brazil. Due to the work that we have achieved traditionally for Lenovo, Haier, Huawei—now we have an increasing number of Chinese language corporations coming to us. And now, more and more, we assist lots of rising Chinese language corporations and lots of web corporations construct world manufacturers and take their enterprise abroad.
A few of these newer, rising manufacturers, we do work more and more with them and what they want from us is definitely fairly totally different from what our conventional purchasers need. As a result of lots of them do their content material manufacturing inhouse, they do not essentially come to us for inventive execution, however they arrive to us for technique. So, we work with manufacturers like Good Diary on model technique, on advertising technique, go-to-market technique, and on massive model concepts.
Speaking about home manufacturers, what are they doing proper and what’s lacking from their technique to turn out to be true worldwide family names?
More and more, Chinese language manufacturers have good merchandise. 20 years in the past, when Chinese language corporations went to Europe, their merchandise have been seen as low-cost or knockoffs, however now lots of these Chinese language corporations are very revolutionary and their product high quality is kind of spectacular, they usually’re a superb value-for-money resolution.
I do assume that there is nonetheless rather a lot that Chinese language corporations have to study operating a world advertising organisation and constructing a world model. However, once you take a look at how this has occurred within the US or in Europe or in Japan, you are not constructing a world model in a single 12 months or two. This takes 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. It is a journey that we have to undergo, and it is a very troublesome one, as a result of it’s essential to arrange world groups, it’s essential to arrange a advertising infrastructure, it’s essential to study new cultures, new markets. When you take for instance Huawei, we began working with them about eight or 9 years in the past, and it has been an enormous studying curve over the previous few years for each of us. After I examine how we work now versus 9 years in the past, there’s an enormous distinction. However I’ll say, there’s nonetheless one other 10 years forward of us to study extra. I believe we’re most likely now midway via in actually establishing a real world advertising organisation, and actually getting the corporate to grasp what a world model is, the best way to function one, and the best way to behave like a world model.
It isn’t straightforward, as a result of it is a massive cultural shift for an organization to be a Chinese language firm, or to be a world firm. Most Chinese language corporations at first need to be a Chinese language firm that sells globally. Then they begin to realise that in the event you actually need to be a world model your mindset must be world. And that is an enormous change. A giant cultural change as effectively.
How does a big worldwide company stand competition-wise towards nimble, smaller businesses who could also be extra domestically linked to tradition?
To begin with, it is a good factor that there are extra native businesses developing which might be sturdy, as a result of China ought to and should have sturdy native businesses. It should not simply be multinational businesses doing enterprise in China. It exhibits that the business is getting extra mature, and that there is extra native expertise that now can run their very own businesses and do effectively.
To be trustworthy I am not too fearful about these businesses, clearly, we see that they are profitable in some locations, and a few of them undoubtedly are and can turn out to be opponents sooner or later, however I like competitors and consider for Ogilvy it is necessary to give attention to our strengths.
We need not do the whole lot, however I believe it is necessary that at Ogilvy we proceed to construct our popularity to be an company that purchasers come to if they should remedy an enormous enterprise downside via creativity. If purchasers have to construct a model, if purchasers want a long-term accomplice for development, in the event that they want the power to handle the total client expertise—they are going to come to us. Lots of the rising manufacturers and tech platforms are coming to us to assist them construct their very own manufacturers. Equally most of the native manufacturers who need a world perspective are coming to us, and lots of of our MNC purchasers who need much less fragmentation and extra of a China-specific model and advertising operation mannequin are coming to us too.
Concerning the purpose about being extra linked to native tradition, I consider we’re as linked to native tradition as they’re. We most likely have extra depth, extra strategic assets, extra analysis or extra knowledge in our palms to be extra linked.
What function does expertise play in making certain Ogilvy stays aggressive? How are you doing at nurturing native expertise? Feminine expertise? Expertise from various backgrounds?
One of many key causes Ogilvy has been as profitable in China is as a result of now we have at all times had a really sturdy give attention to expertise, particularly on native expertise. Amongst multinational businesses, Ogilvy most likely has essentially the most senior native expertise. Most of our senior administration is Chinese language: our Shanghai workplace head is native, our Beijing workplace head is native, our Guangzhou workplace head is native. Our ECD is native Chinese language, our chief technique officer is native Chinese language as effectively. That’s lots of very senior native expertise that has been with us for a lot of, a few years.
We at all times felt that if we need to be a profitable company in China, we have to localise as a lot as doable. Having mentioned that, it will be important that now we have some range in expertise and factors of view, and having some worldwide and various expertise is equally necessary to us—it’s the idea of a stable inventive setting.
While you take a look at gender range I believe we’re in a fairly great place, most likely about 50-50 of our senior administration in China is feminine and male. We have now truly extra feminine workers than male workers, whilst we go up the ranks on a senior degree it’s pretty evenly distributed. Selina Teng is our Beijing workplace head and sits on WPP’s World Range and Inclusion Council, she makes certain after we speak about range it isn’t nearly gender however cultural, ethnical and geographic range too. One among my private ambitions has at all times been to see extra Asian and Chinese language expertise taking up world duties. And we’re doing lots of actions on a China degree to help the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and practice our workers on range and inclusion.
The opposite half that I wish to point out is that we have been fortunate as a result of our senior administration has been very secure. Most of us have been working right here and collectively for 20 years or extra, so now we have a really sturdy senior administration crew, who belief one another and have one another’s again. We even have some wonderful next-gen expertise transferring up the ranks and taking up extra accountability.”
What do you assume the way forward for creativity will appear like as ecommerce turns into much more paramount? How do businesses’ manner of working have to evolve to fulfill the problem?
I do assume that creativity turns into much more necessary in at present’s digital world. The notion of creativity is altering although, as a result of traditionally businesses have been very a lot targeted on communications: doing a TV industrial or doing a marketing campaign after which making an attempt to take this marketing campaign and push it throughout many alternative channels. That’s now not the suitable strategy, as a result of once you take a look at China, there are such a lot of totally different channels, and each platform is a form of ecosystem in its personal proper. So what you do on Tmall or what you do on Douyin may be very totally different. All our work now could be made for a digital world as that is the place our customers stay and work together. An company in China is barely related if digital is absolutely embedded in its DNA and if it is ready to produce work that stands out within the platforms the place customers stay.
Creativity now needs to be rather more particular to platforms and rather more than simply communications. We have to totally perceive platforms like Douyin, Bilibili, Kuaishou, and many others—know the ins and outs of those platforms, whereas additionally constructing a story for the model general.
All of us see that sturdy manufacturers carry out higher in ecommerce as a result of they’ll stand out. Creativity is necessary to make manufacturers stand out, to inform a narrative, to get an emotional connection. I’m fairly hopeful and assured about the way forward for our enterprise as a result of all people over the past a number of years has been speaking about digital transformation. Many corporations spent some huge cash on expertise, on establishing infrastructure, knowledge, knowledge warehouses. However they really uncared for an important half which is the best way to guarantee that their model exhibits up in the suitable manner, on the proper time, within the locations the place customers interact with the model. We now spend lots of time with our purchasers to assist them pull this collectively, to assist them make the perfect use of expertise to achieve their customers extra successfully, however on the similar time, guarantee that the content material is related and fascinating, and helps change individuals’s notion of manufacturers.
Equally, customers now more and more need to see the aim behind an organization. They need to know if the corporate aligns with their beliefs and beliefs earlier than they purchase. So, I do consider creativity and telling these tales in an fascinating and trendy manner will certainly be extra necessary, not much less necessary.
Ogilvy’s most memorable China campaigns from the previous 30 years
We requested Ogilvy and Reitermann to pick and touch upon some highlights from the final three a long time.
1991 Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive | Santana
Reitermann remembers this marketing campaign very clearly: “One which we’re very pleased with is when VW (Volkswagen) entered China,” he mentioned. “We produced the primary advert that they ever did in China for Santana and launched the Santana again in 1991. That was a beautiful marketing campaign, even by at present’s requirements, based mostly on some nice native perception. It mirrored the sentiment in China at the moment.”
The 1991 TVC exhibits a VW Santana cruising via totally different elements of China, from city to rural areas and deserts to rivers. The marketing campaign’s slogan, “With Santana, there is no such thing as a concern wherever you go”, was used for practically a decade. It grew to become one among China’s best-selling fashions.
The early Nineties KFC | Print posters
For long-time shopper KFC, Reiterman does not recall a single marketing campaign specifically, however reasonably that it has been a shopper of Ogilvy’s “each day of our presence in China”.
“KFC might be one among—if not essentially the most—profitable multinational model in China. They’ve achieved a tremendous job to localise the enterprise and have been tremendous profitable as a model.”
2003 China Cellular | M-Zone
This marketing campaign was memorable as a result of it scooped Ogilvy’s first Cannes Lions in China. Ogilvy created the M-Zone model from scratch as a youth-focused telecom service. It developed a totally built-in marketing campaign that includes Jay Chou. The M-Zone model received greater than 10 million subscribers within the 12 months it was launched, rising to greater than 100 million in three years, and helped China Cellular acquire share within the youth market.
2006 Motorola | RAZR Reduce Via
Ogilvy’s Motorola campaigns travelled from China to different elements of the world. “We did iconic campaigns with them they usually have been among the many purchasers that basically dared to push the envelope,” Reitermann mentioned. “Motorola was the primary handset model in China again then, and we launched the long-lasting RAZR and lots of different fashions. We did all the worldwide work for Motorola out of our Beijing workplace at the moment.”
2012 Coca-Cola | Coke Arms
‘Coke Arms’ is “one other key milestone”. Developed by the Shanghai workplace, it received Ogilvy’s first Cannes Lions Grand Prix out of Asia. “It’s a easy however wonderful piece of labor. It acquired us lots of nice popularity, for the work itself and the way it was conceived,” Reitermann says.
Coca-Cola’s signature ribbon was reimagined in a easy but highly effective outside and print advert. The ribbon is remodeled into the putting picture of two palms becoming a member of collectively to share a Coca-Cola bottle, selling the model’s beliefs of togetherness, unity and connection.
Afterwards
Extra not too long ago, lots of the digital and commerce work that Ogilvy is producing for the likes of Huawei, Nescafe, Shiseido or Mercedes is “one thing we’re additionally very pleased with”, Reitermann says.
Huawei 5G Kungfu Showdown
Wyeth Illuma (a Nestle model) Voice Doodler
Marketing campaign Asia-Pacific’s Jessica Goodfellow and Matthew Miller contributed to this text.