LBB Partners with CAA's Modern Advertising in China

For the last few days I’ve been in Beijing and I’m super pleased to announce that Little Black Book has finalised a deal with The Chinese Advertising Association (CAA) and its ad industry publication Modern Advertising. 

As a truly global platform for creativity, we knew it was essential to work with the ever-evolving Chinese market. It is a market that is of such interest to the rest of the ad world but rarely covered in publications read in the western world. It is a market of huge interest to brands, agencies and production and post companies and we want to help the world better understand what is happening there. Creativity and tech are growing and evolving quickly and there’s lots to learn from the Chinese industry.

 

We felt to do the right thing in China it was critical that we worked with those who were tapped in right at the top, those closest to the agency world. That’s why we have created this deal with Modern Advertising, a local ad publication funded by The CAA. 

 

It was an honour to meet with Modern Advertising’s editor in chief, Liu Wenzhe. The magazine is a cornerstone of the Chinese industry, with its print, web and social platforms, as well as events like Media Marketing Awards, Interactive Creativity Awards, China Interactive Advertising Summit Forum.  

 

The arrangement really is a win-win. While the team at Modern Advertising will represent LBB in China, helping Chinese creative companies share their news, work and insight with the world, at the same time, Modern Advertising have exclusive rights to LBB’s content in China and will be using LBB’s content to educate the local market better on what is happening internationally. We really couldn’t be more excited and readier to get to work.

 

What’s more, for all existing LBB members this arrangement is of MASSIVE importance. It means our editorial content and some members’ news will be translated and used on local platforms in China. Our dream at LBB has always been pretty straightforward – we wanted to build that platform that informs the creative world about what is happening globally and that dream really is becoming a reality.

 

It is also obvious to us that many of the associations and countries that we work with have a real appetite to showcase what their countries are really doing. They really want the rest of the world to better understand the work they create and the local nuances. We think this approach will help others to see why local ads work and on what channels. China is a great example; they use many different tools and their work is informed by unique cultural and social insight, but it often does not get the recognition it deserves from the international advertising community. I think it is now time for others to see and understand more of that work. 

 

On a personal level, this week has been wonderful, as I got to know the team at the CAA and at Modern Advertising. Together we went out to meet fast growing brands like Zhiho to share our plans and listen to theirs. We also spoke at BBDO Beijing to a collective of agencies and local brands.

 

China is a market we are very excited about. We are now also accelerating these relationships in other markets with a new partnership scheme we have created to benefit associations in other countries. In fact we feel for the first time in LBB’s existence, we have a proposition that can benefit us, associations, and their members equally and it’s exciting to see this come into play in China.