In a new professional reality show on China’s advertising industry by Tencent Video, BBDO China will be featured as the world’s only panel of advertising mentors. The show will premiere on August 18.
“Sweat, drama, creativity and the thrill of competition, yes, the show has it all,” BBDO China said in a statement.
According to the agency, career-related topics have recently become increasingly popular on Chinese social media platforms, with a variety of reality shows featuring the workplace being produced.
As part of this growing trend towards workplace reality shows, Tencent decided to create a show called “Next Promotion”, taking a look at the working lives of people in their thirties, spanning different industries.
Featured BBDO Frameworks
- Beck You, CEO of BBDO Greater China
- Wai Foong Leong, Chairman and CCO at BBDO Greater China
- Nicole Ma, CCO at BBDO Shanghai
- Harry Chen, Group Planning Manager at BBDO Shanghai
The latest upcoming show features 12 young, yet mature and hungry advertisers looking for career advancement opportunities in the advertising industry. Only by performing a variety of tasks in the workplace and using their own rules of survival can they receive opportunities to move up the career ladder.
“I am very happy to facilitate this cooperation with Tencent’s ‘Next Promotion’,” said Beck You, CEO of BBDO Greater China.
“I hope through the show everyone can witness the excitement of working in the advertising industry and the type of people who work in it. I hope the show will attract more young people in the industry, will pique their interest and encourage them to participate.
Wai Foong Leong, President and CCO of BBDO Greater China, added, “I call this experience ‘advertising for the advertising industry.’ In recent years, the value of the advertising industry has always been distorted in various ways. This not only discourages new blood from our industry, but also causes some in-service peers to lose enthusiasm and leave the industry, resulting in a talent crunch situation in the industry. Through this reality show, I hope more people can understand the charm of this industry, so as to attract new blood and encourage the perseverance of their peers to build a better advertising industry.
BBDO Greater China sent four members of management as mentors to help 12 contestants in their growth and transformation throughout the show.
“A lot of people thought it was risky for us to be on this reality show about the advertising industry because good advertising is very subjective, has no standards and needs to be judged,” Nicole said. Ma, CCO at BBDO. Shanghai..
“But while good publicity is subjective, good publicists have standards. Coming onto the show, we all hoped to attract some awesome publicity peers to join BBDO, and we’ve certainly met some really talented people. Now that the broadcast, we hope people across China will take notice of the advertising industry and those, especially with a creative spirit, will see it as a career path where they can do what they love. and do well, be Creative.”
Harry Chen, Group Planning Director at BBDO Shanghai, added, “One of the reasons I join advertising is because it’s fun. Sure, some days are tough, but I love that no two days are the same. There are great opportunities for people who are both creative and analytical, which is rare. It challenges me to think outside the box, to think of new ideas that aren’t in the market, and I hope the show captures this exciting, diverse, and fun industry as I experience it.
How will things go for the 12 candidates as they rise through the ranks? Only time will tell.
To see the show (only available in Chinese), go here. The first episode will air at 8 p.m. (China time) on August 18.
