But perhaps observers are missing the more interesting story: that BBH has snared its first sizeable mainland account, just months after its official launch in China.
To some of the more cynical agency watchers out there, BBH’s launch in China was viewed as merely the latest outpost needed to service global clients such as Johnnie Walker and Unilever. The fact that it has scooped some local business — something that the agency maintains was always the key goal — now begs the question: is China’s advertising market ready for independent creative boutiques?
Wieden & Kennedy China MD Kel Hook certainly thinks so — even if he is unable to name a single non-aligned client that the agency services in the mainland. After almost two years in China, the return may look a little disappointing, but Hook defends Wieden’s performance — pointing out the that the agency had to pitch for and win the likes of Nike, Starbucks and EA, despite the global relationships it possesses with these clients.
“For the first 18 months, we did not have any clients,” says Hook. “Our focus has been with networked clients, but now we are expanding beyond that to clients who want to do great work.”
Still, others are less convinced that the likes of BBH and Wieden have what it takes to crack the mainland’s notoriously fickle client base. JWT Northeast Asia area director Tom Doctoroff, for one, believes that for the minority of Chinese companies which are prepared to consider an MNC agency, scale remains the defining issue.
“Chinese companies trust ‘big’ — it’s as much status as it is anything else,” says Doctoroff. “If they are going to change their ways of operating, they are going to want to have the reassurance of being with a large, trusted name.”
Perhaps, then, as BBH has demonstrated via FedEx and Bose, the opportunity lies with the kinds of MNC clients that may be more familiar with the creative hotshops that dominate agency landscapes further West. BBH China MD Christine Ng admits the agency’s ability to attract local Chinese clients is still nascent. “We look forward to beginning work in this area,” she says — but notes that “specialism and quality has little, if anything, to do with size.”
The other facet to the issue, of course, is the creative ethos that the smaller shops are expected to drive in the mainland. Doctoroff, however, is again unconvinced. “The creative philosophies of the smaller agencies are not aggressively sought after,” he says. “People here are looking — in general — for strategy over creativity.”
On this, there is some consensus. Unilever North Asia business director Ian Maskell notes that the industry’s reliance on formulaic creative remains a “weakness”, while Nitro China MD Stephen Drummond is hopeful that the likes of Wieden and BBH “can lift the overall standard of the work”.
But to believe Wieden’s Hook, that is already happening. “All of our work is work that I would hold up as work that is as good as anything that’s being done anywhere in the world,” he claims. Ng, meanwhile, responds firmly that to dilute BBH’s vaunted creative approach would be at odds with its core philosophy.
