This month marks a major event on China’s advertising industry calendar, as a delegation representing London’s leading production companies brought by the Advertising Producers Association will come to Shanghai for the Shanghai London Advertising Forum 2015.
The two-day event, on October 20th and 21st, will feature seminars given by the best of British production, as well as local Chinese creative talent.
The delegation will be in Shanghai for a full week, also appearing at a pair of evening receptions and visiting various agencies around the city, in addition to the two-day main event.
The Forum program includes a veritable dream team of Chinese creative industry leaders, including ECDs of Ogilvy, BBH, W+K, Legas Delaney and FCB, CCOs from TBWA, Publicis and DDB, local production leaders Stink and the best in Shanghai postproduction (MPC). From London, the leaders of such production industry luminaries as Pulse, Glassworks, Framestore, Media Monks, Knucklehead and Rushes will all make presentations.
The event represents a unique opportunity for Chinese and UK companies to learn about the opportunities and challenges in working together and to find ways of cooperating that will benefit both them and the agencies’ clients.
Andy Chan (ECD, FCB Shanghai) Graham Fink (ECD, Ogilvy China), Sheena Jeng (CCO, Publicis China), Yang Yeo (ECD, W+K China) will all speak at SLAF 2015 陈汉辉 (FCB上海执行创意总监), 樊克明 (奥美中国首席创意长), 郑以萍 (阳狮中国区首席创意官),杨耀淙 (W+K中国区执行创意总监)
The Advertising Producers Association [APA]
Masterminding the event is the Advertising Producers Association [APA], a trade body for commercial production, post-production, editing and music production companies for commercials in the UK. Their objectives is to help UK production companies to understand, promote themselves and take advantage of opportunities in new markets overseas. The APA launched the Shanghai London Advertising Forum (SLAF) in 2007, after an initial visit to Tokyo in 2004, followed by visits to Beijing in 2009, Mumbai in 2011 and Silicon Valley, USA in 2013.
Shanghai London Advertising Forum 2007
APA Chief Executive Steve Davies explained the objectives of the first Shanghai event in 2007, “The aim was for everyone to learn from each other, about the work they’re doing and the obstacles that needed to be addressed in order to work more with China. Typically agencies and production companies overseas will be interested in working with the UK but they’ll raise issues like time, costs and cultural understanding. We know we have to work out ways to address those issues.”
Indeed, a key component of all the APA’s international programs is addressing overseas perceptions about UK production, including dispelling myths that all UK work is done with big budgets. The aim is not to persuade China or any other country to shoot in the UK, but rather to encourage them to make use of the UK’s expertise to produce wherever is most appropriate.
Attended by some of the best of the London and Shanghai advertising industries, the 2007 event is still talked about as one of the most valuable events to be held yet in the city.
SLAF 2007 laid strong foundations for future cooperation between UK and Shanghai companies. Indeed, in the fifteen months following the Shanghai event, UK production companies generated £30 million of production turnover from the partnerships, with many more long-term relationships initiated.
Steve Davies, Chief Executive, Advertising Producers Association APA
Returning in 2015
The rapid growth of the Chinese advertising industry has inspired the APA to return to China’s commercial capital. Davies outlined the key changes he has observed since 2007 and how they will be reflected in this year’s event, “In 2007 it was a 100% TV-focused market. Now, other areas like interactive, experiential and digital work have become really important. Agencies know they need to be doing that kind of work, but many don’t have the expertise, so they’re interested in engaging with British companies to help them. That’s a big focus of this event.”
He was keen to stress that TV will still play an important role across the two-day program, “I’m sure TV will remain extremely powerful in China, so we don’t want to downplay it. [TV and digital] often complement each other.”
In July of this year, Davies returned to Shanghai with a small delegation to meet with local agency ECDs and heads of productions. He outlined his takeaways from the meetings, “I’m always impressed with the quality of the creative work from Chinese agencies. What they’re struggling with is bringing their clients along with them, making them understand the value of creative work.”
Indeed, it’s in this area that the APA feels the UK production companies can be of most help, “It’s up to us to help make great ads that really benefit clients, that will inspire other clients to want to follow that example.”
Nils Andersson, President & Chief Creative Officer, TBWA Greater China will speak at SLAF 2015
Besides learning, he emphasized that the Forum also offers valuable networking opportunities and the chance to build relationships, “I think by bringing people and making sure they have opportunities to meet, you build relationships where agencies and production companies can trust each other to work on projects”.
Acknowledging the busy schedules of advertising professionals, Davies stressed that it wasn’t essential to attend the full two-days, but urged would-be attendees to take advantage of at least one day of the event. He summarized the opportunity, “We’ve set up a program where production companies can meet all the best people and learn. The idea is to provide a platform that people can build on, to have meetings that will hopefully lead to partnerships. All they’ve got to do is get themselves out there.”
Date & location:
-
Tuesday 20th & Wednesday 21st October 2015
9am – 5pm
Sigma Film Club @ Cool Docks, 601 Waima Rd, 3a floor, Huangpu, Shanghai, China
No registration required, but please RSVP at SLAF 2015 RSVP日期：2015年10月20（星期二）—2015年10月21（星期三）
时间：上午9点—下午5点
地点：上海黄浦区外马路601号Sigma Film Club
不需要登记，但是请提前到 SLAF 2015 RSVP 预约
这个月，中国广告行业将迎来一个重要活动。广告制作协会（Advertising Producers Association）带领的，由伦敦最前沿的广告制作公司组成的代表团，将会来到上海，参加2015“上海-伦敦广告论坛”。
论坛将持续两天，在10月20和21日举办。届时，英国广告制作的最佳代表和中国本土的创意天才们将开展系列研讨会。
代表团将在上海停留一周。除论坛活动外，还将出席系列晚宴，并参观上海的各类代理商等。
中 国创意行业领先的“梦之队”将参加本次论坛, 出席名单中包括奥美（Ogilvy）、百比赫（BBH）、W+K、李戈斯雷尼广告(Leagas Delaney)等广告公司的执行创意总监，TBWA、阳狮集团（Publicis）、恒美广告（DDB）、上海本地优秀制作公司玩味广告 （Stink）、以及优秀后期制作团队MPC的首席内容官。伦敦方面，参与本次论坛的广告行业代表来自Pulse、Glassworks、 Framestore,、Media Monks、Knucklehead 和Rushes等行业领先的广告公司。
此次论坛对于中英两国的公司而言，都是一个难得的学习机会。在交流中，双方可以更加了解合作中所面临的机遇和挑战，同时寻找到不仅能使双方、更能使广告客户获利的机会。
Simon Gosling , Global CEO, Happy Finish will speak at SLAF 2015
广告制作协会（Advertising Producers Association简称APA）
本 次活动由广告制作协会（APA）策划。作为一个贸易机构，APA专注服务英国各类广告制作、后期制作、音乐编辑和制作的公司。他们的目标在于帮助英国制作 公司了解自我、提升自我，在新兴的海外市场把握机遇。2004年，APA访问东京；之后的2007年，APA举办了上海-伦敦广告论坛；2009年，协会 访问北京。在2011年和2013年，APA还分别访问了印度孟买和美国硅谷。
2007年上海–伦敦广告论坛
APA 的执行长斯蒂夫·戴维斯（Steve Davies）这样解释2007年首届广告论坛的意义：“论坛的目的在于让大家彼此交流学习。了解中英两国的同行各自正在做什么；同时，也向英国公司指出 他们在同中国企业的合作中会遇到的阻碍。海外代理商和制作公司对同英国企业合作都很有兴趣，但他们同时也提出了如时间、费用以及文化理解等诸多问题。我们 明白，我们必须寻找到解决这些问题的方法。”
的确，APA面临的主要问题在于，如何修正海外客户对英国制作公司的观念，例如纠正他们认为英国制造意味着高额预算这样的错误认识。活动的主要目的并不在于劝说中国或者其他国家的团队到英国拍摄，而在于鼓励他们利用英国的经验和技能，在最合适的地方去制作他们需要的东西。
2007年论坛的出席者都是伦敦和上海广告行业的精英人士, 那次活动被称为是迄今为止在上海举办的最具价值的活动之一。
2007年“伦敦-上海广告论坛”为今后英国和上海公司之间的合作打下了坚实的基础。确实如此，在论坛结束之后的15个月中，英国的制作公司从合作伙伴处得到了3千万欧元的制作费用，并开始建立更多的长期合作关系。
SLAF 2007年代表团 Delegates: Debbie Turner (MJZ), Kath Sawzak (Marshall Street), John Murrell (Finger Music), Jordan and Di Redvers (both Partizan) and Tim Thornton-Allan (Marshall Street)
相聚2015
中 国广告业的迅猛发展，让APA将视线转回到了中国的商业资本。戴维斯阐述了本次论坛和2007年论坛的主要不同，并系统讲述了这些改变在本次论坛上的具体 体现。“2007年时，整个市场100%都是以电视为导向。而现在，互动、体验和数字作品已变得十分重要，代理商知道他们应该去面对这些改变，但他们中很 多都并不具备相应的专业技能。因此，他们对英国公司十分感兴趣，希望能从中获得帮助。这是我们本次论坛的重要关注点。”
他强调，在这两天的活动中，电视媒体依旧扮演着重要角色，“我相信电视在中国依旧拥有非常强大的影响力，所以我们不会轻视它。电视媒体和数字媒体常常是相互补充的”。
今年7月，戴维斯带领一个小的代表团回到上海，会见了上海当地代理商的执行创意总监及主管。他如此概述自己在这次会面中的所得：“中国代理商做出来的高品质创意工作总是能让我刮目相看。他们现在面临的困境是，如何让客户也能跟上他们的脚步，真正明白创意的价值所在。”
确实，APA认为英国的制作公司就是在这方面能够提供最大的帮助,“制作出精彩的广告，以帮助顾客真正获益——这取决于我们如何去做。而我们的成果也会影响其他客户，他们会来跟随这些成功的案例。”
Kitty Lun, CEO, Lowe China, Kevin Lee, ECD, Leagas Delaney, Johnny Tan, ECD, BBH Shanghai and Jimmy Lam, CCO, DDB China will all speak at SLAF 2015 陈伦洁莹 睿狮广告(Lowe) , 李兆光 李戈斯雷尼广告(Leagas Delaney), 陈奕俊（BBH上海区执行创意总监）及林俊明（DDB中国区首席创意官）
除了交流学习外，戴维斯解释道，本次论坛同样提供珍贵的机会供双方建立联系。“通过这样把大家都聚在一起，彼此才会有机会见面并建立关系，代理商和制作公司可以这样建立起彼此信任的合作关系。”
鉴 于广告行业人士的行程表异常繁忙，戴维斯强调，两天的研讨会不必全书参加，但他建议出席者至少参与一天的活动。“我们创造了这样一个机会，让制作公司可以 遇见业内顶尖人士，并相互学习。我们希望能打造一个平台，参与者可以在此平台基础上见面从而有幸达成合作关系。他们需要做的，只是来全心参与。”戴维斯总 结道。
2015 上海–伦敦广告论坛
- 日期：2015年10月20（星期二）—2015年10月21（星期三）
- 时间：上午9点—下午5点
- 地点：上海黄浦区外马路601号Sigma Film Club
- 不需要登记，但是请提前到 SLAF 2015 RSVP 预约
BAM Music Library Brings Edgy, Indie Sounds to Chinese Creatives
