The Blue Ocean of PEG - The Creative Myth of Jiang Nanchun

Author: Liu Shiying
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features: A 33-year-old single man pursuing pure beauty, yet owning nearly $690 million in wealth; a successful CEO who commands the business world, with his greatest interest being 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 for the NASDAQ—Jiang Nanchun! He leads the building advertising market in China, pioneers a new era of targeted communication, 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, endorsed by Yang Weiguang, Li Jun, Xiang Bing, Liu Donghua, Huang Shengmin, and Sun Xianhong, among others. The book introduces Focus Media, the most closely focused media company by major media outlets, and its young CEO, Jiang Nanchun. For this highly legendary outdoor advertising media company and its leader, the book follows the establishment, growth, and development of Focus Media as the main timeline, while also intertwining Jiang Nanchun's personal entrepreneurial journey. It tells not only the rise of Focus Media but also Jiang Nanchun's growth biography, weaving both into an invisible narrative of time and space. Readers can learn about the conditions that enable a company to grow and thrive, as well as the essential qualities, management skills, and inevitable factors for success that a young entrepreneur, manager, and organizer should possess. The book is richly illustrated with some previously unpublished photographs; it is well-researched, with many firsthand materials; its content is substantial, the language is elegant and fluent, the stories are vivid and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 astonishing 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: "Of Hunan Broadcasting System's $1 billion in revenue in 2005, $600 million came from introducing Dae Jang Geum and creating Super Girl. 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, Hunan Broadcasting System. 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 wealth?
As John Wanamaker famously said, "I know that half of my advertising is wasted, but I don’t know which half." This quote has long been popular in the advertising industry. However, today, Chinese companies should feel this even more deeply. With increasing advertising spending and declining effectiveness, many businesses have fallen into the trap of advertising waste. In marketing costs, the investment in advertising media is undoubtedly the largest. Regardless of the hundreds of millions or even billions spent by international giants, in China, from the once-glittering "CCTV Super Brand" to the recent exorbitant fees paid by domestic brands to hire celebrities for endorsements—ranging from tens of millions to billions—all highlight this issue. While intense advertising bombardment can indeed make a brand household names, for some products, spending a fortune may result in "shooting flies with cannons."
Many companies face the following dilemma in marketing: segmenting the target audience is not difficult, but the challenge lies in finding an appropriate communication medium to effectively reach that specific audience once the target profile is defined. Advertising still relies on the most common and widely used tools—TV, 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, flight ads, and more. Jiang Nanchun's China Business Building Advertising Network (FOCHSMedia) targets white-collar workers who frequently visit high-end office buildings.
P4