Challenges ahead for Chinese ads

Chinese advertising is tightly regulated

By Francis Markus BBC Shanghai correspondent

Advertising is playing an increasingly important part in China's economic development.

And Shanghai is a key centre for China's rapidly developing advertising industry.

In terms of consumer culture the streets of this buzzing megacity are definitely the place.

And there is tough competition to study advertising at the city's top university.

Xiexie Yang chose to study the subject because the industry is booming and many international companies have offices in China.

But he said he soon became disillusioned with the idea of advertising as a career when he found that in reality no local company in Shanghai stands a chance of getting international clients.

Expectations

From the vantage point of a multinational advertising company like D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, opportunities in China's rapidly developing advertising industry exist but require patience.

Chinese advertisers may not be making their point

Larry Ong, a Singaporean and one of the firm's creative directors, believes the problem is down to unreasonable expectations.

He joined the company three years ago and on his first day a youngster asked him for a raise and a promotion.

Mr Ong believes China's young expect success too quickly and they need to be more patient.

Regulations

When you turn on most Chinese television stations the commercials you see convey an image of an industry still in its early stages.

It is also an industry which, according to Xiexie Yang, has limited room for manoeuvre with strong regulations preventing the use of the kind of adverts that can be screened in the US or Europe.

"We cannot use a sexy feature in advertising and it eliminates a lot of fun and a lot of creative things," he said.

Chinese advertising regulations also prevent the use of comparisons in advertising.

Strategies

Add in the fact the Chinese media are proliferating so rapidly, you have an industry which is facing serious problems getting its message across, according to Shao Longtu, a local advertising agency boss.

He says his agency mostly concentrates on branding strategies rather than media advertising because there is such a huge quantity of media that the message is simply too diluted to make an impact.

Perhaps though, that is just a measure of huge challenges and opportunities which lie ahead for China's advertising moghuls.

As the country's economy is increasingly opened up to international competition, those challenges will only multiply.