By Ernie Tadla

This is the story of an entrepreneur building a profitable business by beating all the global big guys.
 
Dan Mintz was born and raised in Brooklyn, and was the youngest person to be accepted into the New York Academy of Performing Arts. He started in the movie business as a student extra in the movie Fame. He went to Los Angeles where he furthered his education and experience in film production and created good connections with some of the major movie studios.

In the early ’90s, he went to China to set up a joint venture for a major movie studio. This was shortly after the Tiananmen Square fiasco and the climate for partnerships with American firms was cold, if not frozen, particularly with the Ministry of Culture, which would have to be involved.

He observed that the 4A global advertising agencies doing campaigns for U.S. multinationals sent the film production for the TV commercials to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore because the quality of work in the Chinese production houses was sub-standard. Film production, like many businesses, consists of hardware (the equipment) and software (the skills to use the equipment). Dan saw an opportunity. He was the software — and it is easy to hire from his LA network contacts — and he could get the hardware. In March 1993, he began Pacesetter Pictures International (PPI) on his apartment dining room table in Beijing.

Thirteen years later — with 450 people in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Los Angeles, and New York — PPI had become DMG, an international, independent full-service advertising and communications agency specializing in the greater China region generating more than $100 million US a year.

The big boys — Microsoft, McDonald’s, Boeing, GM, and Dell — were all there. They had deep pockets, global operations, pricey lawyers, accounting firms, and consulting firms behind them.

He developed DMG into China’s hottest creative, independent agency. He then added an events and public relations firm, ICN, and nailed international global accounts along with a portfolio of high-profile Chinese companies wanting to keep pace with the advertising expertise of their American competitors.

He’s a charismatic, creative genius in tune with the Chinese culture. He has never worked for a Western agency, didn’t attend college, but with street smarts, talent, an uncanny ability to handle diverse personalities and cultures, earned the respect of the domestic and international advertising world.

How did he beat the global 4A agencies to capture the creative account for Volkswagen-Germany’s first Chinese brand campaign in addition to a four-year Olympic marketing assignment for VW, a national sponsor of the 2008 Games in Beijing?

He did it the Chinese Way.

The others, the global hotshot 4A agencies, do business in China the way they do successful business in other countries. They are successful all over the world, but not in China.

Let’s break that down.

Mintz began with two Chinese partners. DMG chairman Peter Xiao had a deep and wide financial background and connections, tons of guanxi at high levels of the central government and the banking system.

Wu Bing, VP of DMG, has drive, determination and the operational savvy to get things done quickly in a society of bureaucracy and censorship. She was born in Beijing and at an early age was selected by the government to be trained as a gymnast for international competitions. When she was six, she was sent away to training facilities for grueling national competitive training, and eventually became a coach for international team competition.

While in Hong Kong, she met martial arts and action movie star Jackie Chan and appeared in movies with him. Dan was doing film production scouting in Hong Kong and met Jackie and Wu Bing.
 
Using the guanxi of Peter and Wu Bing, DMG targeted First Automotive Works (FAW) as the company they wanted to do business with. They made many trips to Changchun, delivering gifts liberally and personally, hosting banquets, developing deep friendships and cultivating relationships with the many Chinese managers, many of who ascended to high positions of authority and decision-making power over the years.

The three partners were unyielding in their demands on their staff to provide the highest levels of customer service and to exceed customer expectations. Their demands and expectations caused high turnover, but resulted in corporate relationships that were cemented to last. The true Chinese business objective — mutual benefit, win-win, and long-term relationships — was met with dedicated, committed staff.

Ernie Tadla, www.odysseychina.net

Excerpts from How to Live and Do Business in China: Eight Lessons I Learned from the Communists.

Next Week: Another Case History
An outstanding successful executive in North America, but not in China.