These themes were addressed by Rodney Fitch, chairman of Fitch. He began from an economic analysis. Just 200 years ago, the West and Asia each shared 50 per cent of the global GDP. Over the last two centuries, though, this has shifted hugely in favour of the West. For Fitch, this discrepancy is rooted in design.
To explain how, Fitch took the audience on a historical journey. Design, he argued was rooted in the industrial revolution, which for all kinds of political, social and cultural reasons, it did not take place in the East.
The inventions of the industrial revolution enabled people to make things, which gave birth to the consumer market. “Out of the industrial revolution came the genesis of the modern world of design, whether advertising, films architecture, design became the productivity,” he said.
But the balance is starting to be redressed. By 2020, it is expected that Asia will once again account for 50 per cent of the global GDP. It’s brands though has some catching up to do. According to WPP figures, Asia at present accounts for only 10 per cent of the world’s top 100 brands.
“The key question is: are you content to have P&G or do you want to create P&G?” asked Fitch. “It is a big decision, do you make or do you create?”
If Asia takes the latter choice, then design must become an integral part of the process. “Global brands are bedrocked by design in the modern world,” he said. “I can’t think of a successful modern business that doesn’t have design as central to what it does.”
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