Battle of the Brands: Tom Doctoroff Talks Advertising

Tom Doctoroff is a China hand, a China watcher, a China guru and a China analyst. He does all this from his desk in Shanghai, where he also runs advertising firm JWT. His latest book, What Chinese Want, peers into the psyche of the Chinese consumer.

Apple is a hit. And its advertising is very basic (and globally produced, for the most part). The brand succeeds because of exquisite products that make Chinese people feel cool and empowered. But could the brand be more successful if it infused Chinese elements? The same goes for Nike. The “Just Do It” spirit is appealing because it’s rooted in human truth – i.e., the desire to transcend the limitations of society. But Nike still doesn’t touch the heart of Chinese desire because, until quite recently, the advertising and marketing felt very Western, espousing an American definition of individualism.

And some brands just get lucky. Budweiser’s Ants campaign (again, globally produced) is actually quite Chinese. There’s a team effort going on, and a specific goal that people work towards. Chinese consumers responded quite enthusiastically to this work because it, serendipitously and amusingly, addresses the Chinese need for trust facilitation through collaboration.

I love Mad Men. The production design is exquisite. The characters are nuanced and realistic. The depiction of the ad industry during the ’60s feels right. And a fundamental truth – existentialism that accompanies excessive self-driven individualism – drives the show’s narrative.

In China, materialism is not superficial. It’s a sign of progress and hope for the future. Brands are vessels of this optimism and also tools of success …. They are important means of self-expression within the context of a very regimented social structure. True, over-the-top materialism is dangerous on many levels and will no doubt recede as consumers become more secure in their identities. So I’m not cynical about brands because I think – really, I do – they make people happier. To boot, successful brands make companies more prof i table, and that’s good for society, assuming profits are distributed fairly between shareholders and employees.

The best China book I’ve ever read? Hands down it’s Jonathan Spence’s Search for Modern China. He makes a strong argument in that China’s expansive land mass, disaster-prone since time immemorial, explains much of China’s preoccupation with stability. He further posits the country’s indigenous philosophies (Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism) reinforce the sublimity of order and the evil of chaos, albeit on different levels (sociological, cosmological and governmental). His book was very important in teaching me that Chinese culture is deeply engrained and will not be blown away by ten years of WTO membership or Barbie and Ken fantasia.

I adore the spicy spontaneity of Beijing people. They are fun and funny. But Beijing is a bureaucratic city – home to the central government and the largest state-owned enterprises. Hierarchical considerations are everywhere and people buck against them. Being a “national city,” many locals are excluded from the power structure. This leads to bursts of frustrated emotionalism, given the dragon many Chinese have in their hearts. It also explains the extremely powerful appeal of blatant status projectors – even more than elsewhere on the mainland – such as watches and cars. (One in three Beijing families now owns an automobile!) In the South, luxury goods such as cognacs sell as trust lubricators and transaction facilitators. Shanghai is more open to the world. The sky is higher and the sense of possibility broader. I find the people more pragmatic, more able to conform to the imperatives of multinational corporations and more self-protective, perhaps because they feel they have more to lose.

As people become more sophisticated and international, they tend to outgrow old-style ostentation and other one-dimensional cliches. I have a good friend who just bought and decorated a 10,000 square foot mansion. To any Westerner, the decor is over the top, chock-a-block with brass and other expensive fixtures, including two-story tall red velvet drapes. However, he is proud of its understatement. He takes pride in how every piece of furniture is top of the line in terms of quality and design. And nothing “shines.” My point is that rococo eruptions are less prevalent now than a decade ago but they’re still there. Cultural roles are being contemporarized but they aren’t being abandoned. Advertising must reflect this evolution.

The three clichés of Chinese ads that I find most tiresome are booming voiceovers that pierce ear drums; dancing grandparents who demonstrate vitality; any handshake scene that signals the conclusion of successful business negotiations.

My team makes fun of me for my predilection for men and women “gliding forward, with confidence in every step.” I also like on-top-of-the-mountain shots, because it reflects the boundless ambition of the Chinese, but such imagery is, indeed, cliche.

What Chinese Want: Culture, Communism, And China’s Modern Consumer is available at The Bookworm.

Click here to see the September issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photo courtesy of Tom Doctoroff