Carat has expanded its media-buying network in China to include
secondary cities in the inland areas of the country.
It is the first media specialist agency to set-up a network of offices
outside the main hubs of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
Carat has also established a presence in Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan,
Chengdu, and Fuzhou as part of a US$12 million investment.
The expansion is in reaction to the fact that China is one of the most
fragmented media markets in the world.
Mr Alex Abplanalp, the agency's regional director, told MEDIA that the
move to expand was also client driven.
"China is not a single market, more a region. Our core business is to
deliver advertising messages to consumers efficiently and effectively
across a huge and fragmented geography," he said.
"On-the-ground execution is essential. It directly reflects the changing
requirements of clients whose distribution channels have been extended
across the whole of China."
Mr Abplanalp added that clients have for some time now been pushing for
media agencies to set up offices in the inland areas of the country.
"The geographical coverage of the main media dependent agencies is still
predominantly concentrated in Shanghai and Beijing, and reflects the
infrastructure of their creative agency parents rather than the
requirements of delivering on media," he said.
"Clients have been questioning this for years, since they themselves
have distributors and sales people on the ground (in secondary and
tertiary cities)."
Ms Winnie Lee, former executive media director of Leo Burnett China, was
appointed Carat China managing director in July last year and will
oversee the expanded network.
