As the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity rolls around for its 65th edition China’s presence at the festival continues to grow in terms of attention, delegate numbers, and sponsorship. For the second year in a row there will be a day dedicated to China related talks.
第65届戛纳国际创意节即将拉开帷幕，中国在戛纳的参与度越来越高，不论是外界关注，还是参与人数，抑或是赞助都如此。去年戛纳第一次专门设立了一整天的中国演讲，今年这一传统还会延续。
Is it that Chinese agencies and brands do not place a high value on foreign awards shows or perhaps there are deeper questions to ask such as how is creativity and innovation different in each country and culture. Could it even be that international award shows like Cannes are fundamentally biased against the type of creative work coming out of new giants like China?
然而，从获奖荣誉来看，虽然中国递交的作品数量不少，广告市场也很巨大，但是获奖数量却不尽如人意。是什么阻碍了中国在国际广告市场的认可度呢？是因为中国广告机构和品牌不够重视国际大奖赛吗？还是要深入挖掘其中的原因？比如说不同国家和文化在创意和创新上有什么不同？甚至，又是不是因为戛纳这样的国际大奖从根本上就对新崛起的中国创新有偏见？
SHP+ asked local creatives, producers, and designers in China’s creative industry a few of these questions. Leading up to the festival we will feature these interviews. The second interview comes from Peter Shen, Ricelebrate Founder and CCO.
SHP+提出了几个小问题，询问中国创意人士、制片和设计师的看法。在戛纳到来之际，我们将给大家带来系列访谈。下一位受访者是Peter Shen, CCO/Founder, Ricelebrate 生米组成 首席创意官／创始人。
Peter Shen
RICElebrate 生米组成 | CCO/Founder 首席创意官／创始人
1. How do you define or understand the word creativity 你如何定义创意？
Creativity has always had a close relationship to advertising. Now as new media channels and technology flourishes in the communication field, creativity as we traditionally think of it and its relationship to advertising reaches far beyond this. Anything that can be used as a platform for communication can be seen as an advertising method. Therefore I feel that the definition of creativity leans more towards innovation. By innovation, agencies still aim at the same goals or KPIs but with different methods, on levels beyond standard communication.
创意往往和广告紧密联系。但在当下，媒体的传播有各种渠道，技术的渗透在传播领域，各种只要能够作为销售或传播的平台，都算是大范畴意义上的广告。创意已经不能被“广告”二字覆盖，更多在创新。创新服务原来的基本kpi或者目标，但是手段与以往有很大的不同，不仅仅停留在沟通层面。
2. How much do you feel your cultural background impacts this definition or your understanding of creativity? 你认为自身的文化背景对你的定义有何影响，对你对创意的理解又有何影响？
China is without a doubt the world’s most vibrant market. Most people agree that this is where the most opportunities are, which also means thers is the fiercest competition. The foundation of advertising is serving commercial interests, whether that is through traditional methods of advertising or unique business models, as long as it is about boosting a brand’s exposure. We see enterprises in China growing into some of the world’s largest corporations, we’ve seen Alibaba expanding beyond Amazon, WeChat getting smarter than Facebook, so I think Westerners need to adjust their perspective on the Chinese market, not the other way around. In China, creativity needs to be more realistic and result-driven. Leading Chinese creatives are used to this result-driven work pattern, so I don’t think that our cultural background has restrained or impacted our creativity, it is just that in China, things operated a bit differently than perhaps what the West has already standardized as ‘normal’.
中国是全球最活跃的市场，大家都认为有很多机会在这里，但是竞争的激烈也大于任何别的地方。广告的基础就是服务商业活动，只要能够促使品牌发展的手段，不见得在创意，也在生意模型。中国的企业在过去几年，迎头赶上全球最资深最庞大的企业集团。我们拥有全球最大的电商－阿里巴巴，它一点也不逊于国外的亚马逊；我们的微信也在很多程度上比Facebook更加智能。其实是西方不能理解中国对于创新及创意的看法。中国是更实际的，在发展的过程中，追求的是结果。中国第一线的创意人，接受也习惯了这种方式的运作，或者是一些跟企业改造有关的创新。所以这并不会影响我们对于创意及创新的理解或者看法，只是运作的方式不太一样。反而西方需要更好的理解中国。
3. China often is accused of being a copy-cat, is this a misunderstanding of China’s creative industry development or do you find this to be a genuine issue in China’s market? 中国总被人说成是山寨，你觉得这是对中国创意产业发展的误解吗？还是事实确实如此？
The “copy-cat” issue happens everywhere in the world and undeniably in China as well. With China’s huge number of brands there are of course different kinds and sizes of agencies, so sometimes when creatives research for references they may have a different understanding of the term “reference”. Sometimes the client makes the decision that they want something completely the same with the “reference”. Smaller agencies in China also need to deal with accounts more efficiently, so at other times, they opt for being a “copy-cat” to save time and sell to clients directly.
抄袭的问题全球都有，中国当然也有，这无法否认。中国的品牌无数，各种级别的代理商都存在，大家在做功课的时候，深浅程度是有差别的。有时候，给客户看了reference, 客户就直接指定要做一样的；有些略小的代理商，想要快速处理案子，就通过抄袭的方式说服客户，这些情况都时有发生。
4. Why do you think Chinese brands and agencies have not received many international awards? 你认为中国品牌和广告公司没有斩获太多国际大奖的原因是什么？
I find that this situation has changed in the last couple of years. We do see works from China getting awarded at Cannes, LIA, New York, I think great works at award shows really require the client’s active support. But I also think this situation is going to improve even further particularly now with China’s official “One Belt One Road” policy, with this Chinese brands are really encouraged to go international. Now there’s even a China Day at Cannes, the first of any country in the world. I sincerely hope that China’s brand can take advantage of this opportunity to be on the world’s center stage for advertising.
在过去的两三年内，这个情况有一些改变，在Cannes, LIA, 纽约，亚太区的奖项中国也有一些优秀的作品，也是博人眼球。优秀案例的数量不够多，和品牌是否想要积极参与是有关的，这个状况随着中国的政策会有改变。比如，戛纳从去年开始有了中国日，这是别的任何国家都没有的待遇。希望中国的品牌在世界舞台上占有一席之地，我们拭目以待。
5. How do you define the difference between creativity and innovation? 你如何界定创意和创新之间的区别？
Creativity is about finding a smart way of combining and using existing solutions, in order to achieve communication; while innovation is searching for brand new elements to create communication opportunities, it is a whole new invention, while creativity is more about digging deeper on existing methods.创意是在原有的解决方案里面找到聪明的组合方法，形成沟通。创新是有全新的元素，去做传播上的努力。一个是全新发明的，一个是在旧有的基础上深挖。Many of my friends’ works recently has stood out as creative and innovative, including work of my own. We combine creativity and technology and have won for the innovation category in many award shows. For example, China did quite well in Cannes last year. China particularly stood out by works using technology innovation, and that is quite different to traditional award categories such as print and video. It is always good to try and take steps forward in innovation.我们自己和其他的伙伴，透过创意和技术的结合在过去一年内在国际奖项里斩获也不太少，中国去年在戛纳的收获不小，更多是在创新及数字方面，这和其他国家在传统奖项类别里拿奖的状况不太一样，尝试跨出创新的一步总是好的。
6. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the growth and development of creativity in China’s ad industry?对于中国广告产业的成长和发展，整体来讲，你是乐观还是悲观？
I am generally optimistic because the Chinese market is very vibrant. Talented creatives have stood up and opened a number of “creative hot shops”, while 4A agencies continue to operate sucessfully as well. I believe it is a time of “blooming flowers” (百花齐放). There’s going to be competition and as long as there’s competition, there’s good works, good innovation, and good creativity. This “blooming” state will continue for a while as the Chinese market continues to open up.
我是持乐观态度的，因为中国的广告行业它很活跃。优秀的创意人纷纷涌现出来，开了无数创意热店，4A公司也持续运作，呈现出百花齐放的状态。百花齐放中间就会有竞争，有竞争就会有好的作品，和好的创新和创意。这个状况可能还会因为中国市场的持续转型，持续好一阵子。基本上我是乐观的。广告圈在中国包括很多：电商、自媒体、网红、明星、技术创新产出的各种媒介应用，这些和面相国际相比，都处在蓬勃的状态。
Advertising in China also includes e-commerce, self-media, celebrities, online celebrities, technology innovation and other media developments, they are all in a blooming form compared to other markets right now. At the same time, public welfare and CSR projects have gained powerful support from both the Chinese government and Chinese society. It is also an opportunity for creativity and innovation, more integration of creativity and technology. Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether creativity still lies within advertising but that is indeed happening.
另外，像企业社会责任项目，也在中国受到政府和社会的有力推动，可能也是发展新的创意创新的机会，会有更多创意和技术的融合。有时，你已经很难去判断这些是否仍在广告的定义里面，但他们的确都已经在发生。
Check out below the work RICElebrate submitted to Cannes Lions this year under the CSR category, entitled Brave Babe. The campaign raises awareness about child sexual abuse in China and gives a solution for schools to implement with this interactive poster campaign.
下面是RICElebrate戛纳国际创意节CSR企业社会责任类别递交的作品，名为《Brave Babe》。作品旨在提高中国人对儿童性虐待的意识，让学校找到解决办法，贴上RICElebrate制作的宣传海报。
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