Vantai's Blue Ocean: Jiang Nanchun's Creative Myth

Author: Liu Shiying
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: A 33-year-old single man pursuing pure beauty, yet owning nearly $690 million in wealth; a successful CEO in the business world whose greatest interest lies in writing romantic and aesthetic poetry. This is not a fictional character from a novel, but a real-life individual. He is the Chinese person who rang the opening bell of the NASDAQ stock market! He dominates China's building advertising market, pioneers a new era of targeted communication in China, and builds the largest media group for urban life in China. This book narrates the mythical success story of Jiang Nanchun and his company, Focus Media, recommended by a cast of renowned figures including Yang Weiguang, Li Jun, Xiang Bing, Liu Donghua, Huang Shengmin, and Sun Xianhong. The book introduces Focus Media, currently the most focused-on media by major media outlets, and its young CEO, Jiang Nanchun. For this legendary outdoor advertising media company and its leader, the book follows the establishment, growth, and development of Focus Media as the main timeline, while intertwining Jiang Nanchun's personal entrepreneurial journey. The narrative is not just about Focus Media's rise to prominence, nor is it solely a biography of Jiang Nanchun, but rather weaves both into an invisible tapestry of time and space. Readers can gain insights into the conditions that enable a company's growth and success, as well as the essential qualities, management skills, and inevitable factors that contribute to success for young entrepreneurs, managers, and organizers. The book is richly illustrated with some previously unpublished photographs; it is well-researched, with many firsthand sources; the content is substantial, the language is elegant and fluid, the stories are vivid and touching, making it highly readable. This allows readers to experience Focus Media's corporate culture and Jiang Nanchun's personal charm from multiple dimensions, enjoying a rewarding intellectual feast.
Replacing dull print ads with dynamic video ads, Jiang Nanchun adopted a completely different approach to capture investors' attention. As a result, he created a new daytime television market, excluding family time. Similarly surprising is that Focus Media has only been in business for three years. At a summit forum featuring Focus Media as the main subject, Tian Tao, vice president of CTR (China Research & Evaluation), pointed out: "Among Hunan Broadcasting Group's $1 billion in revenue in 2005, $600 million came from introducing Dae Jang Geum and creating the 'Super Girl' phenomenon. Meanwhile, Focus Media achieved nearly $700 million in revenue in 2005." This shows that Focus Media's performance has already rivaled the influential traditional media outlet, Hunan TV. So, what enabled a company to rise so rapidly in just three short years, and how did this young CEO quickly grow into a professional advertiser with billions in net worth?
As John Wanamaker famously said, "I know that half of my advertising is wasted, but I don’t know which half." This adage has long been popular in the advertising industry. However, today, Chinese companies should feel this acutely. As advertising spending increases, its effectiveness decreases, and many businesses fall into the trap of advertising waste. In marketing costs, the investment in advertising media is undoubtedly the largest. Regardless of the tens of millions of dollars spent by international giants, domestic brands have been competing fiercely to hire celebrities for endorsements, with costs ranging from tens of millions to billions. While intensive advertising bombardment can indeed make a brand household names, for some products, spending a fortune may result in "shooting a cannon at a fly." Many companies face the following dilemma in marketing: segmenting the target audience is not difficult, but the challenge lies in finding the right communication vehicle to effectively reach that audience once the target is defined. Advertising still relies on the most common and widely used tools—television, print, and outdoor media.
Due to these reasons, China has seen the rise of various forms of targeted and niche media in recent years, such as lower-end bus TV and higher-end direct-mail magazines and in-flight advertising. Jiang Nanchun's China Business Building Advertising Network (FOCHSMedia) targets white-collar workers who frequently visit high-end office buildings.
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