November 12, 2025. Shanghai — As Chinese enterprises accelerate their global expansion, their effective transition from simple “Made in China” products to internationally recognised global brands has never been more critical.

With this in mind, the most effective global strategies for media marketing are those delivered in a locally relevant way, with cultural resonance as the ultimate lever, said Rupert McPetrie, CEO of WPP Media China, at the latest CEIBS Executive Forum held today on our Shanghai campus.

Themed “Beyond Sales, Are You Ready for Building a “Glocal” Brand?”, the event brought together CEIBS students, alumni, and business leaders to explore the deep shifts reshaping global advertising, major challenges for Chinese brands going global, and what it takes to achieve sustainable growth through authentic brand building.

From selling products to building brands

“84% of purchase decisions are made before we shop. Whether it's on a commerce platform or in-store, it’s all about brand fame, trust, reputation, resonance, and the relevance that comes with brand,” Mr. McPetrie noted. “We should do all we can to win before the game begins, and that starts with establishing a brand.”

Having been active in the Chinese market for 30 years, WPP, a world-leading marketing services company, has witnessed the changing global perception of Chinese brands over time across key dimensions including relevance, esteem, and knowledge.

“There's been a pivot in the last few years, which has been an evolution from a classic short-term sales approach into something much richer, much broader around building brands, long-term brand equity, long-term brand trust in market,” he explained.

However, while Chinese enterprises have made significant strides in scale and international presence, Mr. McPetrie highlighted that a gap remains between business size and brand strength, evidenced by the fact that despite there being 133 Chinese firms on the Fortune Global 500 2024 list, only 11 are listed among Kantar BrandZ's global top 100 most valuable brands.

“China businesses have tended to be very outcome focused. There's a relentless focus on short-term ROI,” Mr. McPetrie said, suggesting that many companies remain over-reliant on short-term performance marketing, whereas markets in North America and Europe are increasingly rewarding long-term investment in brand performance.

A new era of Chinese companies “going global”

Mr. McPetrie went on to outline the three eras of Chinese companies’ global expansion to date: Production-oriented (1978-2000), Quality-focused (2001-2019), and Globalisation (2020-present).

“Initially, Chinese businesses leveraged low cost of labour, price advantages, and classic OEM supply based around the manufacturer. The second stage is not only about price, it's building things around quality; quality of product, quality of service, becoming a more consumer-centric model. Then, after COVID, it’s all globalisation, a much more balanced view of products and services that are going overseas and a much more balanced view on how to land those products and services overseas. Because the quality is higher, the build is better, the retail footprint is stronger, the distribution is there, the after-sales service support is there. So it's a much richer, broader dynamic,” Mr. McPetrie explained.

Solutions for Chinese companies going global

He then shared five strategic imperatives for Chinese enterprises expanding abroad:

First, “glocalisation” – achieving cultural resonance by adapting global strategy to local culture and consumer insight, exemplified by the case of the video game Black Myth: Wukong, which became a global cultural phenomenon and one of the fastest-selling single-player games ever worldwide with 14 million copies sold in the first week, aided by their marketing partnership with WPP Media brand Mindshare.

“For us, it was all around a globally unified approach, the go-to-market theory that we orchestrated from Shanghai, but then localising it from an influencer point of view that led to locally relevant amplification and identifying very specific locally relevant formats for media— the right content, right environment, in the right place,” Mr. McPetrie said, highlighting the importance of presenting authentic Chinese storytelling using local KOLs, native-language content, and market-specific formats.

Second, capturing micro-insights – identifying niche opportunities to establish differentiation through deep understanding of consumer behaviour. Chinese audio product brand Soundcore’s global success with sleep earbuds, for example, emerged from recognising that over 27% of people worldwide struggle with sleep disorders, enabling the brand to build a new category rooted in real human needs.

Third, premiumisation and value anchoring – moving from price-driven competition to valued recognition. Smart home brand Eufy, for example, successfully repositioned itself in overseas markets by highlighting its tech-driven and pioneering functions, premium position, lifestyle enhancement, and long-term capital rather than functional specifications alone.

Fourth, investing in brand – balancing performance and brand building. Mr. McPetrie illustrated this through the case of a Chinese 3C brand in the US that transitioned from conversion-only marketing to connected TV advertising, using addressable TV to target high-speed charger ads precisely to iPhone users in selected geographies. This strategy leveraged the accountability and measurement of digital while harnessing the reach and credibility of TV, bridging short-term conversion with long-term brand building.

Fifth, intelligent orchestration – leveraging AI-led platforms like WPP’s own WPP Open to streamline the full spectrum of marketing activities, from creative generation and content publishing to audience insight and campaign analysis. He emphasised that WPP is already deploying this platform in real-time for global campaigns, helping Chinese brands adapt content to platform, market, and cultural context while maintaining accountability and consistency.