Growing Against The Crisis: JDBC HONG KONG

It’s a tired stereotype, the Chinese characters for crisis: danger and opportunity. And still, we’re looking for opportunities where we can find them, go for business where we find it, and that may not always be close to our offices in Singapore and Jakarta.

So for a while I had been discussing possibilities in my favourite city, Hong Kong, culminating in a recent incorporation of our new Hong Kong company and office, effective immediately.

Hong Kong is an amazing place, with a lot of business and business potential. Its financial credentials are impeccable, and trading from there extends into China and across the globe.

I am lucky to have found Max, Hong Konger, former colleague (at DDB and BBDO) and good friend, who has the experience and contacts to make it work. Max has always been interested in brands, and for some time – on the client side at PCCW and the agency side at several blue chip agencies – helped build and communicate them. Our shared claim to fame, I guess, is our involvement in building the FedEx brand across Asia while we were both at BBDO Hong Kong. Max will be heading up the Hong Kong office, liaise with a research partner we have found, and also support our up-and-coming China operation. (More about that later.)

Cynics may say our Hong Kong office is just an excuse for me to travel to my favourite city more often – well, maybe, but I do believe in diversification, and have spoken enough about cross-cultural branding and communication (recently in a two back-to-back 2-day-branding-seminars in Singapore and Hong Kong) to realise that local knowledge and contacts are vital – to help brands find a positioning that is both differentiated and locally relevant. And with China’s importance growing every day, having a presence in the gateway city (with all its conveniences and infrastructure) will help our growth in the North Asia region.

If you have a business proposal or want to find out more about how we can help you in Hong Kong, email Max at max.mak@jorgdietzel.com. If you want to send flowers and chocolate, the address is

Jörg Dietzel Brand Consultants Ltd
Room 2912, Shell Tower, Times Square,
1 Matheson St, Causeway Bay
Hong Kong

This Sunday morning, Bruce and I will board a Cathay flight to Shanghai (via Hong Kong where Max will join us), in order to meet some potential clients in Ningbo. Our ‘man in China’, Alex, has secured several promising client projects there, and together with our new Chinese partners we will be working on building the structure and local team we need to execute these branding projects. More about those later (once contracts have been signed), but let’s just say there are quite a few companies in second tier cities like Ningbo that are in need of branding and communication, with no (Western) agency around to help them out. The Inter*brands and Future*brands of this world prefer the cosy confines of Shanghai and Beijing. That’s why we have adopted a second-tier-city China entry strategy and will build the client portfolio from there. Watch this space for more.

Exciting times. Tough but fun.

Jörg