Over 150 years ago, the exhortation to anybody who wanted to make their fame and fortune in the rapidly developing US was ‘Go West young man’ .

Today, given the phenomenal growth of the Chinese economy  and the opportunities that this growth creates, the new clarion call seems to be ‘Go East’!

Earlier this year, I therefore made my first trip to Beijing with a sense of excitement and some trepidation about what I’d find there.  Apart from the shock of the scale of the pollution problem  the thing that most made an impact on me was the sheer energy of the city.  Everywhere I looked there seemed to be some form of industry.  From the myriad of cranes that were erecting skyscrapers as far as the eye could see, through to the numerous people on the street thrusting flyers into my hands for a new mobile phone service or housing development, the sense of energy and endeavor was palpable.  And what was quickly apparent to me was that the Chinese economic miracle is only in its infancy; there’s far more growth to come.

It was off the back of this trip that we decided that China did indeed represent the opportunity we suspected and we quickly went about establishing a plan for our entry into the marketplace.  Now, having been operating in Beijing for nearly six months, we’ve already learned some quick lessons.  The main one is that, if we thought it was hard to find talent in the markets where we’ve operated for a while, it’s nothing compared to the challenge in China.  With PR being such a relatively new industry, the talent pool really has not had chance to develop.  As agencies rush to open offices the fight for the best talent is therefore extreme.  And the upshot of this shortage of talent is that salary expectations are growing rapidly.  So we’re learning that we’ve got to be careful about how we find and keep talent but also how we make sure that we are able to deploy it profitably on behalf of clients.

The good news is that we believe the market for us to attack is already sizeable and likely to continue on a swift upward growth curve.  We’re certainly looking to make the most of this opportunity and are confident that our decision to ‘go east’ will be a wise one!