AnalogFolk Gets Shanghai'ed

Independent digital creative agency AnalogFolk has just opened the doors of a new Shanghai outpost. 

The sixth office in the network will be led by managing director and partner Wayne Fan [pictured second from right] - who has 23 years of agency experience in China working for WPP agencies Ogilvy & Mather, JWT and Isobar - and creative director and partner Tommy Liou [pictured far right] formerly ECD at Cheil Worldwide, Beijing. Fan and Liou will report into Chris Ryan, managing director and partner, AnalogFolk Asia [pictured left] and Harry Llufrio, ECD and partner [pictured second from left], respectively.

Below, Llufrio tells shots why the time was right to look East and why Chinese creativity is on the up.

Why the right time to open an office in Shanghai?

Two key reasons: existing global client demand for us to be in China, and an increasing number of Chinese brands looking for the expertise we can offer to help them with the internationalisation of their business.

The Chinese market has proven tough for western agencies to crack.  What kind of challenges are you anticipating and how do you intend to tackle them?

Actually we will be a Chinese agency in China. We may be an independent global network, with London as our place of birth, but we have a uniquely local operating model which embeds ownership in every office. That ownership model is what helps us to attract high calibre partners like Wayne Fan and Tommy Liou, and gives us an instant edge.

The challenge in the market is often related to the talent that goes into making an agency.  We already have an excellent team of professionals in our Shanghai office, and a strong pipeline of candidates. We are confident that our mission, the passion of the two directors, and their experience and our reputation and influence with people within our industry will enable us to build a world class office.  

How do you intend to complete with local agencies who have an ingrained understanding of China social and digital platforms?

We don’t see this as a challenge.  Wayne and Tommy have held agency leadership positions in China for 10+ years. They have an excellent understanding of China social and digital platforms, alongside well-established relationships with them. Furthermore, the staff they are hiring are all experienced, local folk.

In the past, Chinese advertising has been criticised for its pedestrian approach and lack of creativity.  Is the creativity improving?

Creativity is steadily improving, there has been a shift from platform-first ideas and those not grounded in consumer insight to... First and foremost, it has become locally and culturally stronger, by creating experiences that are truly relevant to their audiences. Secondly, it has been able to maintain global relevance, by providing a level of creativity that is influential to the other markets.

Can you tell us a bit about the kind of work you expect to see coming out of the Shanghai office?

Primarily our offering will focus on marketing and communications in the early days, as this is the major client need - the creation of content that captures the imagination of the Chinese consumer and contributes to building connected brand experiences. This naturally extends into experience design for service related propositions as well as complex platforms and customer interactions. We take great pride in using specific technologies and platforms that will fulfill the type of customer experience we wish to create. Ensuring that we use digital to make the analog world better.