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ASIA-PACIFIC – SHANGHAI, CHINA, JUNE 2011 – TBWA hosted its ‘Let’s Talk Disruption’ seminar in Shanghai for 400 of China’s senior marketers on May 26. The event was crafted around the arrival of TBWA’s Global Executive Committee for their first collective meeting in China. The lineup brought together the most effective campaigns, philosophies and methods that have been driving growth and success for brands both globally and in China.
Speakers included TBWA\Worldwide Chief Marketing Officer, Laurie Coots; Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director of Shang Xia, Jiang Qiong Er; TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles’ Chief Creative Officer, Rob Schwartz; and Publisher and Creative Director of Modern Media’s ‘Life Magazine,’ Rocky Liang.
“As global brands recover from the financial crisis many businesses are looking to countries such as China where the growth potential is highest,” commented Tom Carroll, Chief Executive Officer of TBWA\Worldwide. “Our Executive Committee came here specifically to understand more deeply how Chinese consumers operate and to support and develop our Greater China agencies so we’re maximizing this potential for our clients.”
The ‘Let’s Talk Disruption’ seminar enabled marketers from Shanghai and around China to understand fully TBWA’s philosophy of Disruption and Media Arts, and how it drives growth for the business and differentiation in advertising and marketing.
Commenting on the success of the Disruption event, Coots said, “From the attendance and the questions asked, it was clear that there is a desire to move our business to the next level. As a market, China is growing bored with being literal in marketing and communications, and there is a powerful wave of creativity coming our way that brand owners seem to be open to.”
“This event was the first of its kind and the presentations very inspiring to me and, I believe, to the audience,” said Modern Media’s Liang. “It’s great that TBWA is now bringing it’s global expertise to China and refusing to compromise on its methods when completing clients’ work. They will lead the advertising and marketing industry to new and exciting places.”
The event closed with a panel discussion including Coots, Jeff Ma, Managing Director, TBWA\Shanghai; Alan Yau, New Media CEO, Modern Media Group; Tracy Ren, Head of Marketing, Pricing and Customer Analytics, Standard Chartered Bank China; Pierre Berard, Marketing Director, Pernod Ricard China; and Ellen Hou, Head of Planning, TBWA\Greater China.
“All of the marketers on our panel have clearly benefitted from challenging the status quo, whether to rewrite the rules of media, reframe the role for a financial services institution, or play a bigger game in their spirits category. It was refreshing to hear their personal stories about success,” added Coots.
