A Six Degree World
Shanghai, March 28, 2011 –President and CEO of DDB Greater China Group Dick van Motman was a keynote speaker at this year’s Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (ADFEST 2011). Titled “A Six Degree World”, van Motman discussed how the power of social creativity and the “six degrees of separation theory” is increasingly being demonstrated in the world today, and how marketers needed to look at the world with different perspectives. The power of social creativity and six degrees lies with each individual, and when mobilized behind a common cause, can jumpstart movements and change things overnight, be it for brands or for countries.
Using the recent events in Egypt as a compelling example, van Motman explained how it took Egyptians 18 days to change their future, aided fundamentally by social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. It was a dramatic demonstration of the power of social networks.
“Digital technologies are changing the way we live, work and play. In the post-consumer era, consumers are in charge – able to access information, join communities, and participate when they want, where they want, and how they want. Today’s consumer engages with multiple media simultaneously. Couple this change with the groundswell of social media and the ability it gives consumers to connect and you have greater opportunity to engage people with brands,” said van Motman.
Word of mouth has been proven to be the most effective form of media, but the Internet has opened up its reach and access. In the world today, people have come to trust each other more than they trust marketers, and therefore it becomes critical that creative work doesn’t simply have “ad value” but “share value” – work that people want to participate in, play with and pass on.
DDB’s work has shifted from motivating people to connecting people with brands, and also connecting people with people. Traditional ideas like 360 degrees of connectivity are now obsolete, replaced by much more effective ones like 6 degrees.
“360 degrees only takes us in circle whereas 6 degrees drives us a step forward. Never in our history could our ideas have moved so quickly if it were not for the existence of the Internet. But more than that, if not for the connections they had with one another - connections of trust. That is the power of six degrees. I hope [we will all] throw off the ‘head cuffs’ of old thinking and see the world from a new angle – a six degree one,” concluded van Motman.
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About DDB Greater China Group
DDB Greater China Group is a full service agency incorporating DDB, Tribal DDB, RAPP and DDB Guoan, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Each of our units provides the best creative solutions in its specialty areas. They work as an integrated team or individually, depending on the client's needs. Tribal DDB is a digital marketing specialist, RAPP focuses on direct marketing, and DDB provides advertising solutions.
With over 550 staff amongst five offices in Greater China, DDB Greater China Group helps grow the value and influence of leading brands around the world. The agency has a deep knowledge of both local and international markets and provides expert services tailored to each companies’ needs. DDB Greater China Group strives to create solutions to address our clients’ business issues and challenges. We believe that “creativity is the most powerful force in the business,” and we use creativity to develop ideas that people want to play with, participate in and pass on. Ideas that connect people with people, not just people with brands. We call this Social Creativity, which results in ShareValue, the powerful combination of influence within social communities and tangible business performance. The Group has achieved numerous awards and accolades: in 2010, DDB China Group was named Campaign Greater China Agency of the Year and Ad Age China’s Agency of the Year. It also won a Gold Cannes Lion, the second gold won by mainland China in the history of the festival.
The Management Team consists of President and CEO Dick van Motman, President of DDB Shanghai Jesse Lin, President of DDB Guoan (Beijing) Richard Tan, President of DDB Hong Kong and Guangzhou Simone Tam, Co-Presidents of DDB Taiwan Roy Soetanto and Sheena Jeng, Co-Heads of Strategic Planning Tim Schlick and Milo Chao, Vice President of Tribal DDB Eric Phu, Vice President of RAPP Ross Gearing, and Director of Operations Teo NeeChuan.
For more information please contact:
Camille Daubenton
Corporate Communications Director, DDB China Group
Main: (86 21) 6151-3300 Direct: (86 21) 6151-3681
Email:
www.ddbchina.comwww.rappchina.comwww.tribalddb.com
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DDB Greater China Group
Park2Space, 4th Floor, Building 2, 169 Mengzi Road, LuwanDistrict, Shanghai, 200023 China
Phone: (8621) 6151 3300 Website: www.ddbchina.com