What Chinese Want

China watchers tend to fall into one of two broad camps: ‘China is going to take over the world', or ‘China is going to implode’. Doctoroff’s view is rooted in a deep understanding of Chinese culture. Here is how he puts it.

'Will China rule the world? No… Confucian regimentation and an insecurity-driven world-view have always prevented the Chinese from fully leveraging their considerable assets. They are constrained by conformity that militates against bottom-up innovation and by an embryonic civil society in which economic interests remain institutionally unprotected.'

He is a tough friend and unafraid to call out China’s weaknesses when it comes to the sorts of people who may well also be his clients. Take this: 'China is not, and may never be, a fertile ground for conceptual exploration.' And this: 'Marketing departments are beholden to sales mandarins, most of whom view low price and not added value as the ultimate competitive advantage'.

The Apple brand could not have been invented in China. Chinese companies are much more likely to buy up western brands than create them or, failing that, they do an imitation. There are many trainer brands in China with logos that look suspiciously like the Nike’s famous swoosh, Youku sounds a bit like YouTube, and so on.

There are good explanations as to why international brands often have to be repositioned to succeed in China: 'The public display imperative leads to fundamental positioning differences from western markets. Benefits should be externalised not internalised. Even for luxury goods, appeals to individualism do not work'.

So this book is necessary reading for anyone who is interested in brands and business in China – Doctoroff has packed it with his years of experience as CEO of JWT. Yet there is another book here fighting to get out – a book for the general reader who is interested in Chinese society and culture. There are fascinating and pithy chapters on all sorts of subjects, such as an explanation of why Chinese wives will often tolerate their husbands having affairs, and the Chinese relationship with food: 'The country’s cuisine is a manifestation of a civilisation that has never taken survival for granted.'

No wonder the Chinese have such a visceral relish for food. The section on Chinese society is only 30 pages long but is full of insights.

This book deserves a wider audience. Dust jacket quotes from the great and the good in marketing and advertising tend to position it as a business book. But the general reader will find much that helps him or her to navigate a fascinating, complex, fast-changing society with a deeply ingrained sense of its past.

This review was taken from the September issue of Market Leader. Browse the archive here.

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