It’s a great honor to be selected as one of Internationalist magazine’s “2009 Agency Innovators”. Now when I talk to all the women who have rejected me in the past I can say: “So how do you like me NOW?”
Whats better than receiving the award is simply being associated with the current and past winners, many of whom come from the upper echelons of both top 4A agencies and niche creative hot shops. It’s great to be grouped together with the best, and just goes to show that if you work hard enough at delegating all your responsibilities to others so you can make random smart-ass comments on a blog, then good things can happen; it’s always satisfying to prove a difficult theory.
The article will show up on the Internationalist website in a few weeks, and a press release will be distributed sometime this month. Here is my profile/interview with the magazine:
With a company name like Bloodyamazing and an online component called LittleRedBook in a China that has not forgotten Mao’s legacy, few would not take notice. However, Bloody Amazing truly delivers as a digital agency built solidly on research and insight, and US-born Rand Han should be considered pretty bloody amazing himself. His use of www.littleredbook.cn to build better understanding of marketing in China (and grow awareness of his agency) is clever. In addition to BA360 (shorthand for Bloody Amazing’s approach), Rand has also started a new agency just this July called ZeroDegrees with partner MailmanChina. He is in the process of working independently with several 4As agencies for the development of Branded China social media communities.
Name an innovative idea or business solution for which you are most proud.
[Rand] I’m surprised to be considered as an innovator; I’ve just followed my muse and ended up hitting on something valuable to both brands and agencies. Currently my high point is figuring out and testing a way to leverage the power of social networks specifically for brands through organizing and structuring the flow of SNS traffic to localized communities. There is still a long way to go to truly optimize this; however I am content with my current findings, and with the knowledge that we’re on the right track to ultimately derive greater value from these initial insights.
Why do people see you as an innovator?
[Rand] The ability to clearly communicate ideas today is key to innovation. Through blogs on www.litteredbook.cn and www.zerosocialmedia.com, my team and I have clearly communicated our value in an accessible way. We focus on making our ideas approachable and easy to grasp, while retaining their “revolutionary” elements.
What role does innovation play in your area today?
[Rand] Our marketing is communicating our innovative concepts and applications in China social media, so I’d say 1% online media channels via blogs and SNS and 99% innovative, value-add content to our market.
What is the biggest challenge you face in applying innovative thinking to international projects?
[Rand] The nature of innovation requires educating clients and managing expectations. There are challenges when encouraging companies to understand clearly our offering; however, many forward-looking organizations have embraced it. Another challenge for us is international expansion. The high engagement of our offering requires dedicated teams of knowledge leaders in each country. This will be an initial challenge, but something that can certainly be overcome.
How would you characterize innovation in the work you do?
[Rand] For me, innovation means to constantly question what you are doing until you cannot question it anymore. Is this right? Will people use it? Would I use it? Would I find this useful? Would I believe this? How would I think if I saw this? Once all those questions are answered truthfully and in the positive, then you’ve got something great. You’ve created something valuable; or you’ve sculpted something valuable by removing what was not valuable.
Other International Trivia:
[Rand] I moved from L.A. to Singapore when I was 14, due to my dad’s job transfer. From there, I traveled around East Asia, and then bounced back to the US for college. I also attended Shanghai Fudan University for a year of language studies. This followed a return to the US to work in Hollywood. I came back to Shanghai and have been here now for 4 years.
–
BACKGROUND ON THE INTERNATIONALIST
Created in January 2003 by Deborah Malone, The Internationalist was launched to connect the people and ideas in international advertising, marketing and media. Today The Internationalist has become a trusted source for international best practices, and is dedicated to the business needs and challenges of international marketing professionals as they participate in multinational branding and campaign building. The Internationalist is now IN PRINT, ONLINE and IN PERSON– all to better serve the needs of this community.
The 2008 Agency Innovators included:
Ian Bell of MediaCom, London; Dan Benedict of Mediaedge:cia, London; Philip Brett of TBWA\Tequila, Singapore, Shadi Bteddini of B.E. International, New York & Dubai; Christina Dagnello of Mediaedge:cia, New York; Charlotte Freemantle of Universal McCann, London; Shubha George of Mediaedge:cia, Mumbai; Patricia Gogliara of McCann Erickson Brasil, Sao Paulo; Alistair Henderson of Fuse/OMD, Sydney; Rob Hilton of The Promotion Factory, Melbourne; Christian Kugel of Denuo, Chicago; Hani Mahdi of Mindshare Interactive, London; Laura Milsted of JustMedia, London; Mark Stewart of OMD, New York; Nazeer Suliman of Univeral McCann South Africa, Johannesburg; Martin Sundberg of Mediacom, Stockholm; Will Swayne of Carat, Hong Kong; Givi Topchishvili of Global Advertising Strategies, New York; Becky Walden of Starcom, Chicago; Crystal Wang of G2 Star Echo Group, Beijing and Felix Wong of The Marketing Arm, Beijing.
The 2007 Agency Innovators included:
Damian Blackden of Universal McCann, London; Adnan Brankovic of Initiative, New York; Chris Carmichael of Mindshare, London; Peter Colvin of Mediaedge:cia, London; Hamish Davies of Mediaedge:cia, London; Rupert Denny of Banner London; Andrew Fair of Ogilvy, New York; Torie Henderson of OMD, Hong Kong; Philip Jabbour of Starcom Mediavest, Dubai; Michael Jones of Mediaedge:cia, Miami; Elie Khouri of Omnicom Media Group, Dubai; Silas Lewis-Meilus of Mindshare, London; Christophe Mayer of ZenithOptimedia, Paris– now of LVMH Paris; Hiroshi Ochiai of TBWA/Hakuhodo, Tokyo; Tonia Perretta of Initiative, London; Anna Ringsberg of Carat Business, Malmo; Patrick Ryan of Mediacom, London; Sesh Sampath of BBDO Asia, Singapore; Jacqui Seddon of Just Media, London; Latha Sunderam of Starcom, Chicago; Jill Toscano of mediaedge:cia, New York; Hanne Tuomisto-Inch of Banner, London and Magnus Wretblad of Low Brindfors, Stockholm.
The 2006 Agency Innovators included:
Jorge Irizar of MPG, Paris; Stuart Clark of MPG, London-now of MPG, Singapore; Diana Sevillano of Optimedia, Miami; Andrew Swinand, Starcom, Chicago; Joe Warren of Universal McCann, New York; Matt Eaton of mediaedge:cia, Tokyo; Lori Senecal of McCann WorldGroup, New York; Somak Chaudhary of Leo Burnett, Bangkok; Matt Dyke of Tribal DDB– now at his own agency, London; Carolina Jimenez-Garcia of Mindshare, New York; Mark Boyd of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London; David Desocio of OMD, New York; David Mayo of Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore; Tom Brookbanks of mediaedge:cia, New York; Asuka Mogi of Beacon Communications, Tokyo; Jimmy Liang of Leo Burnett, Guangzhou; Rob Hughes of Mindshare, Beijing; Steve Traveller of Starcom, London; Ean Shearer of Dentsu, Inc., New York; Kavita Kailash of Leo Burnett, Mumbai; Sean Finnegan of OMD Digital, New York– now of Vibrant Media; Mark Jones of ZenithOptimedia, San Francisco– now of MTV.
Related Posts:
- Artist ‘Beck’ gets it better than most advertisers. It is amazing how many ‘brand managers’ just don’t understand the motives of consumers or simply what drives consumers to websites. Musician ‘Beck‘ gets it and is reeling in more fans that ever – his website is up 500% since...
- Hello ZeroDegrees. After a week of heavy pitches, mixed with management of current projects and re-branding ZeroDegrees site; I’m happy to say I’ve made it through the gauntlet and finally got ZeroDegrees new website up online. Now bear in mind, I’m not...
- “Does Zhang Ziyi Represent Chinese Women?” Hey All, the below is from Veronica who is writing about Zhang ZiYi, a famous Chinese movie star and whether she represents Chinese women. It’s an interesting culture article and a good way to get quick insight into the heart...
- Hello Tiger Baby. Wishing you a happy year of the tiger; hope this year brings you happiness, success, or wealth; and if you’re lucky maybe you’ll get all three. I’m out in California now, which partly explains the laziness in updating LRB recently....
- Tencent; Hail to the King of China’s Copycats. Picked this one up via Danwei and Thomas Morffew; it’s a cover story from China Computer World bashing Tencent, the very powerful internet company behind QQ and numerous others. As you can guess, it’s not very flattering. Danwei goes on...
Mao Ruiqi
Benton Roatch
k10
Tait
S. Rein
Rand
thomas
baobabs
jeff
C. Maoxian
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats, you monkey!
lol – thx kai
Congratulations ! Happy for you – and for me as it confirms I can spot talent when I see one! Seriously I think the key is that you give away a lot of xlnt insights
Guess where’s gonna be your next feature?
@ rebecca – thx
ya I agree, it’s all about being generous with insights and helping others before (or instead) of asking them to help you. To me this is the future of marketing – constant build up of value-add goodwill rather than immediate upfront aggressive push-advertising.
Great job! Congrats!