Big appearance in a big country
Outdoor Advertising I Despite a sharp rise in spending on television and print advertising, billboard advertising in China continues to grow.
Outdoor advertising I Despite a sharp rise in spending on television and press advertising, billboard advertising in China continues to grow.reindeer pulling Santa Claus on a sleigh through the snow adorn Beijing's Dongchang'an Jie boulevard, which runs past the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square, on highly visible posters. The Finnish tourist office advertises a vacation in wintry Finland in the Chinese province. In just eight hours, Finnair jets fly from the Chinese capital via the Siberian route to Helsinki, the Scandinavian hub from which the Chinese can reach Switzerland in just under three more hours*. Like Finland and Finnair, many Western companies are flying the flag in the Chinese market with posters; hardly any major company does without the traditional medium of outdoor advertising.foreign labels generally enjoy a high status in China; indeed, a large proportion of consumers in the Middle Kingdom are convinced that all the products of the admired global brands in showrooms and on supermarket shelves are manufactured abroad. "Made in China" does not rank highly as a purchasing argument, but more and more Western brand products, from cars and computers to H&M textiles, are being produced in thousands of joint venture companies in China. The 200-square-meter poster for Adidas does not tell passers-by where the shoes are made - for them, it is a renowned Western brand.
Advance of Chinese brands
However, more and more Chinese labels are also entering the market with logos that are usually completely unknown in the West. In addition to the Chinese Tsingtao beer, which is well-known beyond the borders, there are, for example, Lenovo computers, Geely cars and Bird mobile phones, which are also advertised excessively on billboards in China. In 1999, 6.5 billion dollars were spent on advertising in China, in 2003 it was already 24 billion, as Business Week writes. Although television and advertisements in newspapers and magazines account for the lion's share, a glance at the streets and walls of China's major cities shows that the use of billboards continues unabated; indeed, these advertising spaces are taking on ever more gigantic proportions. China has a long tradition of large posters; since Mao's Long March 55 years ago, the Communist Party has constantly hammered its messages into the people via huge posters; and it still does so today when it comes to propagating the one-child family or warning against Aids.
Posters are also very important in neighboring countries such as Vietnam and North Korea. In the North Korean metropolis of Pyongyang, however, political posters glorifying the "workers' paradise" and the "dear leader" dominate; commercial advertising is still extremely rare here.
Advertising for consumer goods in China made use of posters early on. Even on our first visit to Shanghai and Beijing twenty years ago, the huge posters for Pepsi-Cola or Rolex watches, surrounded by crowds of cyclists, were astonishing.
Switzerland is also presentEven in 2004, these huge advertising spaces have lost none of their topicality. They draw attention to newly built luxury apartments, toothpaste or cars. Or for trips to distant countries, which have moved closer for millions of Chinese thanks to new visa facilitations and increased incomes. Switzerland, with the Jungfrau and Matterhorn, which advertise Swiss products and the country as a tourist destination, is also visually present in China's major cities.
Many Chinese companies realize their advertising in-house; others employ established agencies in Hong Kong or their offshoots in Shanghai, Beijing and Canton. The major labels usually adapt their international campaigns for China, often showing Western faces, which increases prestige.
With the triumph of the meritocracy, China, once a country of shortages, is now experiencing the phenomenon of overproduction with corresponding pressure on prices. In this highly competitive scenario, advertising is often the decisive factor. Advertisements in newspapers and magazines and, of course, television commercials are part of the repertoire of Chinese advertisers, but the billboard has even increased its presence with the economic boom.
* The pictures for this article were taken on a press trip with Finnair.
Big, bigger, biggest: Whether for apartments, vacations in Finland or Rolex watches - the billboards in China draw attention to goods in mega dimensions.
Werner Catrina
Advance of Chinese brands
However, more and more Chinese labels are also entering the market with logos that are usually completely unknown in the West. In addition to the Chinese Tsingtao beer, which is well-known beyond the borders, there are, for example, Lenovo computers, Geely cars and Bird mobile phones, which are also advertised excessively on billboards in China. In 1999, 6.5 billion dollars were spent on advertising in China, in 2003 it was already 24 billion, as Business Week writes. Although television and advertisements in newspapers and magazines account for the lion's share, a glance at the streets and walls of China's major cities shows that the use of billboards continues unabated; indeed, these advertising spaces are taking on ever more gigantic proportions. China has a long tradition of large posters; since Mao's Long March 55 years ago, the Communist Party has constantly hammered its messages into the people via huge posters; and it still does so today when it comes to propagating the one-child family or warning against Aids.
Posters are also very important in neighboring countries such as Vietnam and North Korea. In the North Korean metropolis of Pyongyang, however, political posters glorifying the "workers' paradise" and the "dear leader" dominate; commercial advertising is still extremely rare here.
Advertising for consumer goods in China made use of posters early on. Even on our first visit to Shanghai and Beijing twenty years ago, the huge posters for Pepsi-Cola or Rolex watches, surrounded by crowds of cyclists, were astonishing.
Switzerland is also presentEven in 2004, these huge advertising spaces have lost none of their topicality. They draw attention to newly built luxury apartments, toothpaste or cars. Or for trips to distant countries, which have moved closer for millions of Chinese thanks to new visa facilitations and increased incomes. Switzerland, with the Jungfrau and Matterhorn, which advertise Swiss products and the country as a tourist destination, is also visually present in China's major cities.
Many Chinese companies realize their advertising in-house; others employ established agencies in Hong Kong or their offshoots in Shanghai, Beijing and Canton. The major labels usually adapt their international campaigns for China, often showing Western faces, which increases prestige.
With the triumph of the meritocracy, China, once a country of shortages, is now experiencing the phenomenon of overproduction with corresponding pressure on prices. In this highly competitive scenario, advertising is often the decisive factor. Advertisements in newspapers and magazines and, of course, television commercials are part of the repertoire of Chinese advertisers, but the billboard has even increased its presence with the economic boom.
* The pictures for this article were taken on a press trip with Finnair.
Big, bigger, biggest: Whether for apartments, vacations in Finland or Rolex watches - the billboards in China draw attention to goods in mega dimensions.
Werner Catrina
