Do you use some software to block the ads on websites when you surfing?
Good question! No I don’t use a blocker but if surfed more on Chinese sites then I certainly would. My daily news and email websites are yahoo.com, iht.com and spiegel.de. Yahoo is an expensive international media buy and it is very interesting to see who is advertising for what on a global level. I then sometimes go into UK or USA content to see more local banners there. Sometimes there are some really great ads to see and it also helps me stay up to date with the “banner culture” in that country.
On the International Herald Tribune you also get very international ads, brands similar to those which advertise in Time magazine. And Spiegel is one of the biggest German weekly’s and I need to know which big account are doing what campaign at the moment. If you run a big campaign in Germany you cannot get around spiegel.de
Do you think the core of ads changed when we release them on internet while not newspaper, radio or television?
No, the core of an ad shouldn’t change according to the choice of media. Within the creative process we have to communicate a message, this message is at the core of everything. The way we communicate it is with a strong idea. If the idea has to be communicated in different media, then it should be either so strong that it works across all those channels, or there are several ideas that work differently in different media but all together they bring the message across. Both are good approaches, it depends on the nature of the campaign.
But here is the biggest difference between traditional media and the internet or actually all digital channels. Traditionally, a creative team could come up with an idea, say for a print ad, write the ad, shoot the ad, and then pass it to the media. You could see the ad in magazines, newspapers, outdoor, in stores etc etc. Digital media on the other hand is defined by its constantly evolving use technology, and while we could put a print ad into a banner, we would all agree that this is not the best way to use the media. The strongest digital advertising is actually made specifically for the medium or location they appear in. In fact, more and more often times advertising defines the channel or medium. For example a widget can be advertising. Yet the widget works only as a widget.
You joined O&M Beijing in 2001, what have you seen about the changes of Chinese interactive market since then?
When I arrived in China, we had a total of 18 million internet users and most of those were dialing up with their modem or were sitting in universities. Today we are well beyond the 250 million and almost everyone has a broadband connection. Chinese netizens want to be entertained, they download music, share videos, chat in forums. The internet in China is not longer dominated by the affluent, the early adopters or an intellectual audience. The internet in China evolved into a serious mass medium. It is in fact a very popular and populist medium, much more so than in other countries. The Chinese net community by now has a certain power and influence over the whole nation. Opinions are formed quickly and news spreads like a wild fire. The internet I believe is probably China’s very own and unique pop culture.
It is also interesting to follow the trends visible on Chinese internet. From the early flash videos on flash8 or flashempire to the crazy content on the video sharing sites to the new importance of kaixin and xiaonei, the usage of the internet in China evolves constantly.
You once said “technology only affects the execution aspect of ad, while the increasing of internet users is the back force to push internet advertising forwards.” What’s your insight about these increasing users in China?
Yes I still remember saying this and it holds still true. As the internet user base grows in China, we now have a variety of different consumer types and classes online. It becomes increasingly more difficult to find the right audience for a specific brand. The more users are online, the more sophisticated internet advertising has to be to find the right ones to target. Once we know where they are, we then have to do much more than a few years ago to win their minds and their hearts. We have to play with all new applications like social networking, video sharing etc to make sure we do our best to bring them closer to our brands. And in order to do so, we have to find smarter ways, push the standards higher. Both the agencies and the clients are waking up to this and investing more time and money in their digital efforts.
Since we still don’t have any certain way to measure the result of interactive ads, do you think there is a certain standard to judge interactive ad is good or not?
An ad is successful if it sells our client’s products or at least helps to build our client’s brands. Measurement online is a very deep topic. Some like to see everything measured from click through to impressions; some just want to build a brand and create impact. For every direction there are different KPIs to use.
We know you served lots of clients like Motorola, IBM, Audi, China Mobile…if the course of innovation is experimental, how did you persuade clients to put their money on it?
Every client is different and so are their consumers. Insight-studies into different consumer profiles reveal different behavior and preferences online.
Technology clients like Motorola or IBM cater to a technically very sophisticated audience. These users know a lot about internet technology and they need to be impressed with innovative ideas. Clients know their consumers very well and they understand when it makes sense to go for a more innovative and experimental route. Other clients like Lipton or McDonalds cater to a broader range of people, here social trends like online entertainment or social networking play a big role and these brands don’t shy away to try something new.
In the end the sophistication of our online experience is to a large part shaped by the kind of campaigns big brands roll out. So for example the car industry contributed a lot to the way we shop or look for information online. Product configurations and high end website production is largely a result of the automobile industry realizing that their consumers research a lot online before buying a car.
Brands have a certain responsibility to push things further, and who doesn’t want to set the bar so high that it blows the competition away?
Which work is your favorite one among all those works you every done in China?
I am proud of every campaign we did. No matter which team I work with or for which client the campaign is for, we always push the standard a little bit further. The last campaign is normally always the best.
You attended quite lot activities like OneShow to help train the young creatives, that’s really great. In your opinion, which abilities that a creative person has to obtain in interactive aspect?
Of course the most basic of all skills is mastering the tools of the trade. If you are a designer, then your photoshop and illustrator skills should be perfect. If you are an art director, then you should have a great knowledge of styles and trends and photography and fashion and so on. As a copywriter, your crafting of words and your flexibility in styles and tones should be unmatched. But, of course this is only where it starts. Many young Chinese creatives do not realize the potential that lies beyond these skills.
The most important thing to learn in our industry is conceptual thinking. The persuasive and inspiring power of an idea is something that is hard to get and only once you had a few yourself will you realize that it is the most beautiful and fulfilling part of your job, to sit down and think and have an idea. Over time you will learn the differences between ideas and big ideas, between weak ideas and relevant ideas, between ideas that can sell a product and ideas that can build a brand. I think this is the most important ability of a good advertising creative, and it doesn’t matter if he or she works in traditional media or in digital media. An idea is always the most important part of any campaign.
Tribal DDB in China is not known for many people yet, what is your target in the coming years?
Tribal DDB is a young agency in China, we opened our office in 2006. We are not big, but also not small, and we are lucky to have the resources, brains and creativity of the DDB Group in China behind us. We are also part of the Tribal DDB worldwide network, and this network truly works. We have access to all kinds of smart people from around the globe that do anything to help us out if need it.
Recently Tribal Shanghai left the first major footprint on the China digital marketing scene with the McDonald’s Cheer for China campaign. This campaign really created noise in the market and also won us a China Gold Effie. For the future, we will continue to grow and expand our offering. Our creative vision is to be the best digital creative agency in China, and we have some great clients that appreciate creativity and support us to get there. To be the best sounds ambitious but the team is extremely passionate and everyone is committed to giving the best.
