Marketing Special: Starcom set to focus on Chinese market

SHANGHAI: China's growing significance in both the global economy and international politics has attracted an increasing number of multinationals to establish or expand their presence in the country. Similarly, an increasing number of Chinese companies are keen to go overseas and flex the country's economic muscles in new markets. At present, one media planning company is poised to help companies in both situations achieve their goals.

Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), a subsidiary of the Paris-based advertising giant, the Publicis Group, is committed to developing its Chinese presence. It has identified China as a strategically important market for its future business development, giving it a higher priority than even its business interests in North America, according to Laura Desmond, SMG's CEO.

Desmond said SMG aims to help both multinationals coming from the US and Western Europe to establish themselves in China and to assist Chinese companies looking to enter the US and Western European markets.