5.0 out of 5 stars
Ways to Profit from the Seeming Contradictions in Chinese Society, Sep 12 2006
Confucius, Daoism, Communism, Industrialization, Urbanization, One-Child Families, Great Leap Forward, Education and Profit Is Good: What do these themes mean for those who wish to sell in China? They are all important influences which you need to understand. Each Chinese consumer is uniquely influenced by the combination. The result includes some pretty interesting apparent contradictions such as prudishness about sex in advertising in a country where sexual trade is wide open at the street level.
In this insightful book, JWT Greater China CEO, Tom Doctoroff explains those influences and how they operate today. That's just the beginning.
From there, he shows you case history after case history of how global and Chinese companies have done well and poorly in acknowledging those influences. I found seeing the actual advertisements to be extremely helpful in understanding the books points.
If that weren't enough, Mr. Doctoroff goes on to provide excellent perspectives into management challenges of properly serving 1.3 billion consumers in China.
Most books about China are filled with glittering generalities that leave you just as uninformed as you were when you started. Through careful description, segmentation and exposition of specific marketing challenges, Billions makes you feel as at home in China as you would feel in marketing a new video game to American teens.
As an example of how focused the book is, Billions provides:
-- Ten basic tips for effective Chinese advertising
-- Five mistakes most often made by multinational companies in China
-- Five structural barriers within Chinese corporations that harm the development of strong local brands
-- Three areas of Chinese domestic brand stagnation
-- Three areas of Chinese domestic brand progress
-- Six effective MNC-counterattack strategies to offset the domestic Chinese brands
-- Ten ways to shape international brands into global icons with Chinese characteristics to serve the Chinese community world-wide.
I thought that the description of how the Beijing Olympics should be pursued as a branding opportunity was worth the price of the book alone.
Usually, companies send second-raters to markets like China. JWT obviously sent its best when Mr. Doctoroff took over. Read and learn to profit!
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