There is also much less time for “over-thinking”. I find that Western advertisers operating in China often bemoan what they see as a lack of strategy: clients in China rush to execution without the due diligence that might be applied in the West. Yet rather than laziness and a lack of rigour, might this be a sane response to shorter attention spans and the fragmented media – trends we’re likely to see more of in the West? Time will tell whether Chinese advertisers are right to think less, do more. The export of China’s social and digital innovation is a trend certain to continue. Chinese advertisers may even have reason to be smug, as their Western counterparts rush to make sense of the changes on the way. What can we then learn from Chinese marketers already succeeding in this world? 1. Social as a mindset Successful Chinese brands have, on the whole, skipped the setting up of separate social, or even digital, departments within their organizations. In doing so they’ve avoided the silo structures that often stymie success in the West. Social in China, more than anywhere else, has the power to make and break brands. In this most connected nation in the world, 91 per cent have at least one social media account. This massive population follows an average of eight brands via social, which gives these users enormous influence over the brands choices their peers make. VISIT BRITAIN