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People from both East
and West all share the basic needs
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| Unilever China's marketing director Mike Shepherd |
"As a good marketeer you have to be very curious. So I not only visit the big tourist sites, I go on the little side roads to see everyday life
LUX soap is called "lishi" (strong man) in China.
Omo is associated with hard work and ruggedness among Western consumers, but their Chinese counterparts see their washing powder as "Ao Miao" (magic or mysterious).
The different meanings of brand names is one aspect marketing director Mike Shepherd has to be aware of when marketing Unilever's products in China.
"You have to learn again, you cannot bring Western perspectives to China, you can bring only values, don't bring assumptions," he says.
It took Shepherd a year to convince his bosses to send him to Shanghai. After working in Brazil for five years, the category director picked China as his No. 1 place to go, because of the rapid changes in the country.
So in April 1997 he arrived. And his expectations were exceeded.
There can be very few Shanghai households that are not familiar with Unilever's famous brands like Omo, Dove and Hazeline.
"East or West, all share the basic needs. People want to be clean and girls want to be good-looking" is his simple explanation for Unilever's success in China.
"But you also have to keep your mind flexible, for Shanghai is changing so rapidly."
His personal life turned out very well, too. Three years ago he married his Chinese wife. And now he is the proud father of 9-month-old Sophia. Together with his wife he does a lot of travelling around China.
"As a good marketeer you have to be very curious. So I not only visit the big tourist sites, I go on the little side roads to see everyday life."
And as a good marketeer, he realized that the Forbidden City made a great location for shooting the advertisement film for Zhonghua toothpaste.
"Only seven film crews have got permission to film in the Forbidden City so far. Being one of them among people like Oscar-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci makes me very proud," he says.
After all he has seen and done, Shepherd strongly hopes that Chinese people will preserve their cultural heritage, not only ancient sites like the Forbidden City, but also their spiritual values.
China should not become too Westernized, he says.
For the Western newcomer to Shanghai he has the following advice: "Come with your eyes and mind open and your mouth shut. Listen and learn a lot. After a while, open your mouth."
In his opinion, this will help most foreigners to overcome their Western prejudices about Chinese people being inscrutable, cold or closed.
"Chinese people are reserved at the beginning, but once you make friends, friendship will be very deep," he says.
If one day the Shepherd family goes to England, they will leave behind many good friends in China.
But Shepherd already knows for sure that every year he will bring "home" their little daughter to celebrate Chinese New Year.
