20th October 2021

Mindshare China’s Huddle Unlocks New Growth Opportunities

In the world’s most advanced digital marketing landscape, marketers and brands in China are facing mounting complexity as they look to unlock new growth. To cater to this, on October 18th, Mindshare China held its inaugural Huddle event, attended by over 450 of the industry’s most influential leaders at the W Hotel in Shanghai, as well as by 6,395 livestream participants. Over the course of the day, Mindshare’s team of experts uncovered myths, navigated complexity and inspired, with the day followed by cocktails overlooking Shanghai’s skyline.

Mindshare China CEO, Benjamin Condit, opened the day with ‘Winning in China’, a session that set the stage for the day’s Huddle by exploring China’s growth story and navigating key shifts across platforms and commerce, to changes in culture and consumer segments. Condit was joined on stage by Mindshare’s Managing Director, Carey Wang, as well as Strategy Partner, Jerry Perez.

In the day’s second session ‘Winning in a Platform-First Market’, General Managers Vanilla Qian and Richard Jin took a refreshed look at China’s platforms, from traffic sources and landing, to data, tools and new privacy regulations.

When it comes to retail, China’s landscape is ever-changing, from eCommerce to Social Commerce. In the day’s next session, ‘Unlocking New Retail 2.0’, Managing Director Colin Xu and Strategy Partner, Chaojie Miao took a deep dive into this world, guiding the audience through its evolution, as well as the defining factors of its rapid growth – from dynamic trends and channel proliferation, to new data and technology – ending the session with a glimpse of where New Retail is headed next.

Experience is becoming an increasingly valuable touchpoint for brands, particularly as they seek to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of GenZ. What’s more, online and offline experience continue to converge, changing their role in the consumer journey. In the day’s fourth session, ‘The Future of Advertising is Experiences’, Chief Product Officer, Akanksha Jain and Head of Experiences, Matt Nolan covered the trends, implications, and best practices for brands to navigate opportunities in an evolving world of brand experience, from URL to IRL.

Next in a two-part structure, ‘Influencing the Influencer’ delved into both the method and the magic behind China’s ever-evolving influencer landscape, presented by Managing Director of Unite, Jacque He, as well as Content Partner Echo He, known as Mindshare’s very own Virtual Idol Queen and most recently named as Campaign Asia’s Women Leading Change ‘Creative Captain’. The session was concluded with a panel session featuring Unilever Media Director for China and North Asia, Flora Ma, bilibili’s Vice President, Zhendong Zhang, as well as bilibili uploader, Conan Lin.

In the age of Digital Transformation, it has become imperative for brands to consider content transformation, a key component to growth. During the sixth session of the day, Mindshare China’s Managing Director of Content+, Mindshare’s bespoke Content unit and the world’s most awarded eSports content team, Bolin Wang, delved into how brands can pinpoint the cultural drivers of internal growth, deconstruct consumer culture with context and IP innovation, and drive full-fledged business growth via a content strategy. The session highlighted Mindshare’s award-winning IP case studies, including the evolution of KFC’s Colonel KI, the world’s second most awarded campaign (WARC 2020).

In session seven, ‘Find Your Next Consumer’, Strategy Partner, Aw Qinxin and General Manager of Unite, Ada Li, spoke on how brands can not only better understand two of China’s most critical consumer segments, Generation Z and the Silver Generation, but also harness experiences to connect with them.

The Huddle’s final session of the day involved a deep dive into China’s lower-tier markets. While often incorrectly considered a homogenous, single group of people, Mindshare’s Chief Client Officer, Jessica Zhang and General Manager Tracy Ta took the audience through this dynamic and diverse world in the final session, ‘The Real Opportunity in China’s Lower-Tier Markets’, helping brands to unlock lucrative growth amongst these groups.

To conclude the day, Mindshare China’s Executive Chair for Greater China, Linda Lin, recapped the key learnings of the day, thanking Mindshare’s clients for their continued close partnership and trust, walking hand-in-hand to unlock the growth of today, tomorrow and beyond.

Commenting on the day, Mindshare China CEO, Benjamin Condit, said: “The innovation covered during our inaugural Huddle was truly world leading. It is an honor to be China’s leading agency, as we harness the rich and vibrant opportunities offered to brands in this market, together setting the benchmark for the rest of the globe. We look forward to continuing to partner with our clients as we drive long-term, sustainable good growth together.”

Mindshare Greater China Executive Chair, Linda Lin, added: “Winning in China cannot be achieved alone. This exciting, complex and fast-paced market requires full-spectrum integration, possible only thanks to our close relationships with our trusted clients, valued partners, and inspiring wider industry community. As China’s largest and most awarded agency, we see it as our duty to continue to lead the industry, driving good growth for not only our agency, talent and clients, but also for the wider industry and country as a whole.”

Throughout the day, Mindshare recognized its close partnerships with industry publishers via its inaugural Huddle Partner Awards. These awards, which recognized collaboration and innovation across social, eCommerce, content and more, paid tribute to partners who had played a critical role in delivering success to Mindshare’s award-winning work.

During the day’s lunch, Mindshare’s sponsors, Linmon Pictures x Streamland and WANDA Media held two interactive workshops. Linmon Pictures x Streamland shared a range of impressive cases, inspiring marketers on how they can harness drama marketing instead of simply turning to product placement. WANDA Media held an exclusive panel helping brands to understand how they can work together with media to satisfy consumers’ needs for offline immersive experiences.

Mindshare’s Huddle was supported by Linmon Pictures x Streamland, WANDA Media, Weiboyi, as well as our PR partner, bilibili and tech partner, iFlytek. Mindshare thanks its partners for their support and close collaboration.