Customer Reviews

Billions: Selling to the New Chinese Consumer

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I am a local Chinese living in Beijing and work in a Korean company that manufacturers and markets consumer electronics. Most foreigners don't understand us and think they are better than Chinese. That causes big mistakes! Remember the time Nike ads got banned??? :-) But the author really knows Chinese people (its scary) and even seems as to admire us. This book is very perceptive it's hard to believe a loawai wrote it.

The marketing universe described in Doctoroff's book seems both familiar to Americans (its size, scale and ambitiousness) and utterly foreign. Its Confucian view of the world is brought home with a series of insights that can be used to build a strong brand. One that I particularly liked described how American mothers want their babies to grow bigger, faster, taller. In a bit of marketing mumbo jumbo, Doctoroff calls this "transformational benefits." Chinese mothers, on the other hand, are more concerned about the dangers of the world and therefore seem immunity and other "protective" benefits. This is just one example and there are loads more.

Doctoroff's analyses of many "sub" markets -- youth, men, women -- are pretty fascinating and eye opening. Almost like a parallel universe. The middle section is probably the least accessible to non-marketing types but the rest of the book is surprisingly accessible and easy to understand.

A really good -- even fun -- read.

Standing in the bookstore, the jacket of this book caught my eye, so I decided to thumb through it and then buy it. I have an interest in China, largely because I see the country as a very important part of all of our futures. Still, I know very little about China. So, I wondered whether "Billions" would be accessible to me. Boy, was it! To my great surprise, a book on consumer marketing opened my eyes to, and brought to life, an entire culture that, as Mr. Doctoroff describes it, is both utterly foreign and worthy of great respect. The book is sharply written. It is also quite lively. Looking through the prism of advertising, one through which all readers can gaze (given that we are exposed the medium on a daily basis), China comes alive. We see how its history, religion, values and psychology are all profoundly different than our own. The thing that comes across most clearly is that, while Chinese want to be modern and successful, they definitely don't want to be western. They value their own rich culture too much. Certainly, advertisers hawking their wares in China will be at a loss if they forget this lesson (or ignore this book). But, so too will politicians, diplomats and anyone else who endeavors to interact with or understand the Chinese. In writing this book, Mr. Doctoroff has provided truly a valuable service. Of course, he gives us a basic but far reaching tutorial on advertising, one that unlocks many of the profession's secrets. (The lessons Mr. Doctoroff has learned from his lengthy tenure as an advertising executive in China literally spew forth from the book's pages, albeit in a way that is quite digestable.) But in treating China as the next vital frontier, in allowing us to understand the mysteries of this distant but omnipresent land, Mr. Doctoroff allows us to better grapple with the challenges and opportunities ahead. I loved this book.

I've been amused by Doctoroff's blog blitz. His team hit the blogosphere with 12 'Facts' about the 'Confucian Consumer.' Obviously, given our aversion to cultural generalizations, he was bound to step into some doo doo. Many of his conclusions were maligned.

I thought, however, they had the ring of truth and ordered the book. "Billions," contrary to some complaints, doesn't claim that there 1.3 billions consumers march in unison. The first several chapters cover different market segments. But the book is pretty clear in arguing that a "Chinese worldview" does exist and, what's more, is relevant when marketing Western goods in China. (Don't Western values reflect a "Christian Worldview," despite the fact that many of us are lapsed church goers.?) The insights Doctoroff reveal are, I think, pretty compelling and are rooted in Confucianism and Daoism. Doctoroff has actually written a deceptively important book.

As I write, Google has just announced that it will censor Internet searches in order to gain entry to China, the fastest-growing Internet market on the planet.

Many Americans are shocked --- just as they were shocked when Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to similar restrictions.

On another day, you could count on me to be shocked and dismayed. I'm not. That's because I've just read 'Billions.' And I now understand something that liberty-loving Americans don't: Individual freedom is just not that important to most of the 1.3 billion Chinese people. They are still living according to the codes of Confucius, who died 2500 years ago. And while they may not hold to Confucian beliefs for another 2500 years, they are not abandoning them any time soon.

But isn't China the fourth largest economy in the world? Isn't China an enormous shopping and manufacturing mall, home of the labels in your shirt and the parts in your hard drive? Isn't the Chinese middle class growing as if it's on steroids? Isn't China, in short, very much like America when we were in a great growth spurt?

Yes to all but the last question. And that's where the China story gets really interesting. The Chinese may be anxious to bankroll the America dollar, they may be thrilled to do business with us, but they are not like us in very fundamental ways.

Tom Doctoroff, head of an American advertising agency's China division, studies the Chinese market to see how products are sold and how they might be sold better. Those who think advertising is just a matter of inventing clever phrases and making eye-catching commercials have a big surprise in store for them --- the key to success is insight. Deep sociological insight.

Another Amazon reviewer has described this as 'a deceptively insightful book.' Just so. It's not what you'd expect from an advertising exec. Or, for that matter, from a sociologist. Instead, it's the work of a world-class cultural reporter, who assembles a thousand interesting facts and then fits them into a conclusion that's the furthest thing from a slogan or easy truism. In the process, he delivers --- almost as an afterthought --- the best look at Chinese life I've seen in years.

Consider: Successful Chinese buy Buicks, a brand all but dead here. They prefer the Audi to the Mercedes. They almost went nuts when Toyota made a commercial showing Chinese stone lions bowing to the Japanese car. They like SUVs, especially the Lincoln Navigator, which is called 'The President' in China. They adore Montblanc pens, but mostly for the way others can see the white star when the pen is in your pocket.

Did you know there are at least 150 manufacturers of air-conditioners in China and what that says about Chinese industry? Do you understand why the airports look great, but are, in essence, made of tin foil-covered cardboard? Do you grasp why there are sex shops all over the place but no sex in Chinese advertising? Why Chinese TV shows are anything but reality-based? How a local brand can wipe out a multi-national giant? And how the Beijing Olympics in 2008 are 'the most ambitious brand-building exercise in history'?

Doctoroff has fascinating answers for those questions and more. But most valuable of all, he explains the schizophrenia at the heart of middle-class life in China --- the split between Confucian allegiance to order and rank and targeted ambition on one hand, and raw Westernized individualism on the other. How will it resolve? It may not. As Doctoroff reminds us, the Communist party is still the biggest brand in China.

From shampoos sold to the poor in rural villages to luxury cars and fancy apartments in Shanghai, Tom Doctoroff covers it all. His book is like a visit to China with an excellent guide --- just without lung-burning pollution and street-vendors trying to sell you the latest DVDs. If you're at all interested in China, are thinking of traveling there or are contemplating doing business with the Chinese, this book is required reading

This book makes me recall why I went into advertising in the first place. It's written from a psychological and athropoligical point of view. Doctoroff gives the impression that China is, from an brand building point of view, virgin territory, not a market where tactics are everything or we obsess about splintered communication while losing focus on the big idea and big insight.

How do I get a job in Shanghai?? The book made me want to pack my bags.

No, we're not. This is the accurate conclusion of Doctoroff's book. Too many Western companies think we are and, as a result, make big mistakes. A quote from p. 2 says it all...

"...We (Westerners) are moral absolutists and they are relativists. We value social dynamism, they value order. We view history's march as linear. They view it as cyclical, driven by fate. We believe society is "good," they believe it corrupts. We are monotheists...and they are atheists, unified on a spirial plain by a belief in Chinese 'culture.'"

What's amazing about the book he Doctoroff makes it clear what this also has to do with marketing soap, cars and diamonds.

A must read for foreigners trying to make it

I read about 30 nonfiction books about consumer culture each year and Tom Doctoroff's "Billions" is among the five best I've read in the last two years. He instructed and entertained me about the Chinese and how they think, eat, shop, live. It is both a marketing primer and a snapshot of modern Chinese life, and is vital for students, business people, and even upper middle class Americans planning a trip to the PRC. The most interesting twist for me was a think about the Beijing Olympics; will it be the marketing moment of the first half of this century? Now I'm wondering?

Love this book. Focus group, quantitative analysis, qualitative research, or any else you learned in the Marketing Research course at the MBA curriculum, may not work in China. WIth 1.3 billion customers, this is the dream market for any multinational corporations: Unilever, Ford, Nokia, Motorola, Sony, Samsung, Protor Gamble, DeBeers(DTC), VW, Shell, Pepsi, Coke, Nestle, Avon, Nike, Siemens, IBM, Dell.... While they are compeitng, the locals are copying quickly: Haier, TCL, Konda, China Mobile, China Unicom, Lenovo, CNOOC, Yili Diary, Sedrin beer, 999 Pharmaceutical..... hundreds of them doing shampoo, shoes, ....every thing under the sun. How can you win? That is the beauty of this book. It got many strategies laid out in the step-by-step fashion. It is a must read for any one who is doing business in China. The book will be better if more comparison can made on the effectiveness of the ad such as Motoroal vs a Chinese brand.

Confucius, Daoism, Communism, Industrialization, Urbanization, One-Child Families, Great Leap Forward, Education and Profit Is Good: What do these themes mean for those who wish to sell in China? They are all important influences which you need to understand. Each Chinese consumer is uniquely influenced by the combination. The result includes some pretty interesting apparent contradictions such as prudishness about sex in advertising in a country where sexual trade is wide open at the street level.

In this insightful book, JWT Greater China CEO, Tom Doctoroff explains those influences and how they operate today. That's just the beginning.

From there, he shows you case history after case history of how global and Chinese companies have done well and poorly in acknowledging those influences. I found seeing the actual advertisements to be extremely helpful in understanding the book's points.

If that weren't enough, Mr. Doctoroff goes on to provide excellent perspectives into management challenges of properly serving 1.3 billion consumers in China.

Most books about China are filled with glittering generalities that leave you just as uninformed as you were when you started. Through careful description, segmentation and exposition of specific marketing challenges, Billions makes you feel as at home in China as you would feel in marketing a new video game to American teens.

As an example of how focused the book is, Billions provides:

-- Ten basic tips for effective Chinese advertising
-- Five mistakes most often made by multinational companies in China
-- Five structural barriers within Chinese corporations that harm the development of strong local brands
-- Three areas of Chinese domestic brand stagnation
-- Three areas of Chinese domestic brand progress
-- Six effective MNC-counterattack strategies to offset the domestic Chinese brands
-- Ten ways to shape international brands into global icons with Chinese characteristics to serve the Chinese community world-wide.

I thought that the description of how the Beijing Olympics should be pursued as a branding opportunity was worth the price of the book alone.

Usually, companies send second-raters to markets like China. JWT obviously sent its best when Mr. Doctoroff took over. Read and learn to profit!