China is often discussed in sweeping terms. Too big to ignore. Too complicated to understand. But for Mike Golden, President of Brandigo in China, the reality is both more nuanced and, in many ways, more familiar than most marketers assume. Having built hundreds of brands and led agencies across China for over 16 years, Mike brings perspective and hands-on experience. His view cuts through the myths and replaces them with practical insight.
On Monday 30th March, Mike shared his journey and reflections on the Chinese market with the global AMIN WORLDWIDE network, speaking from StrategiQ’s London offices.
What emerged wasn’t just a story about scale or complexity, but a grounded look at what it really takes to launch and grow brands in one of the world’s most dynamic and fascinating markets.
Mike’s road to China
Mike grew up in Maine, studied Asian and Japanese studies, served as a US naval officer, spent four years in Japan and eventually moved to China to start a business with a friend. That venture – a lifestyle magazine – lasted six issues. His marketing agency, which eventually became Brandigo, has lasted considerably longer.
Their first ever client call, he told us, was from Hooters. They weren’t sure what to make of it. They took the work anyway. The client list grew and diversified from there.
Read on for Mike’s key takeaways for brands and businesses thinking about setting up in China.
1. China is not one place – or ‘that’ cheap
The first myth Mike wanted to dispel: the idea that China is a single, uniform market. With 56 recognised ethnicities, vast geographic range and enormous variation between cities and regions, treating China as a monolith is the first strategic mistake brands make.
The same applies to assumptions about wealth and cost. China is often framed as a cheap manufacturing hub – a place to cut costs. This hasn’t been accurate for some time.
Average monthly incomes sit between roughly £1,200 and £1,500, with Shanghai commanding considerably higher rents. Property prices in major cities are significant: a four-bedroom home in many urban areas now runs into millions of pounds sterling.
This isn’t exactly a low-cost market, and it shouldn’t be treated as one.
2. Chinese consumers are brand loyal and price sensitive
A related myth is that Chinese consumers are primarily motivated by price. Mike was quick to complicate this. Yes, there is price sensitivity – as there is in every market – but there is also strong brand loyalty, sophisticated consumer behaviour… and a growing appetite for premium. Brands that enter China assuming they can win on price alone often find themselves undercut by local competitors who know the market far better.
And on innovation: China is no longer the copycat market it is sometimes portrayed as. In electric vehicles, for example, China is a world leader. Nearly half of cars on Chinese roads are now electric. This is a country that is shaping categories, not just following them.
3. The platforms are different – but it’s still ‘just marketing’
“People can get hung up on the platforms. But in my opinion it is still just marketing. The fundamentals haven’t changed that fundamentally,” says Mike.
All major Western platforms are blocked in China. Google, LinkedIn, Instagram – none of them can be accessed. In their place is a rich and fast-moving ecosystem: WeChat, Rednote (小红书), Baidu, Douyin (the domestic version of TikTok). Each has its own logic, its own content formats – and its own advertising mechanics.
WeChat, in particular, deserves your attention. It’s not simply a messaging app. It contains mini-apps for gyms, clinics, delivery services and more, replacing what in Western markets would be a dozen separate platforms. Long-form blog-style content performs well there. It’s how people communicate with friends, family, clients and suppliers. In many ways, it’s indispensable – and that makes it both an opportunity and a challenge, since it’s not always the right channel for B2B advertising, and setting up ad accounts requires a registered entity in China.
Live-streaming is enormous – running all day, across every channel. Influencer marketing is similarly significant. At the peak of the format, the so-called ‘Lipstick King’ of China moved 1.7 billion pounds’ worth of goods in a single 12-hour stream. The market has since evolved towards micro-influencers and more targeted content, but the scale remains striking.
Mike’s advice for brands tempted to jump straight to a platform strategy: step back. Understand your audience first. Talk to partners and suppliers. Set the foundations before you chase the channels.
4. You have to prove yourself all over again
Being a category leader in your home market earns you no automatic credibility in China. Consumers are careful and somewhat sceptical of inbound foreign brands. Your European-market personas won’t translate. Your brand story will need to be rebuilt for a new context, with genuine understanding of how interest, aspiration and trust look locally.
This includes something as fundamental as your name. If your brand doesn’t have a Chinese name, consumers will create one for you – and it may appear in the press and across platforms in a form you haven’t approved and can’t control. Brandigo has trademarked client names in Chinese specifically to give brands the ability to guide how they are referred to. It’s a small thing that matters a great deal.
Airbnb’s Chinese name, for example, was constructed around the concepts of ‘love’, ‘togetherness’ and ‘welcome’ – a deliberate attempt to localise. And let’s just say the interpretation wasn’t universally clean. Airbnb subsequently exited the Chinese market. The naming challenge alone doesn’t explain that, but it shows the level of care required.
5. Brand mistakes have consequences – fast ones
Mike ran through several cases where brands misjudged the cultural and political landscape and paid the price.
Dolce & Gabbana released an ad featuring a lavishly dressed Asian woman attempting to eat Italian food with chopsticks, accompanied by commentary that many viewers found condescending (including mansplaining how to ‘properly’ eat the dishes). “Is it too big for you?” mocked the voiceover when the woman didn’t know what to do with a large cannoli, for example. The backlash was swift and severe, and the brand’s reputation in China took years to recover.
In 2018, Mercedes-Benz posted an Instagram caption quoting the Dalai Lama alongside a luxury car. The quote was innocuous enough – relating to perspective and openness – but the association violated Beijing’s political stance on Tibet. The post was deleted, multiple apologies were issued on Weibo, and the company committed publicly to deepening its understanding of Chinese culture.
Marriott had its website shut down for a month after listing Taiwan and Tibet as separate countries in a dropdown menu. The lesson? Brands can unwillingly find themselves in the middle of a boycott that will have real ramifications for how they take bookings or do business.
Mike was clear: this is a reason to do the work carefully when operating in the Chinese market. His team at Brandigo checks flags, country listings and political sensitivities for every client before anything goes live.
6. The speed is real, and the future is already here
Delivery to your door in 30 minutes is standard in China. Payment by palm print is already operational. Autonomous vehicle taxis are moving from trial to active rollout. And factory automation is advancing faster than almost anywhere else in the world.
For Mike, this relentless pace of change is a defining characteristic of the market.
On the digital frontier, much of what we’re seeing globally is mirrored in China. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is quickly becoming a priority, just as it is elsewhere. Chinese AI platforms are evolving at speed, shifting attention toward how brands show up within large language models.
The challenge – and opportunity – lies in visibility within platform ecosystems like WeChat and Rednote, each with its own AI layer, rules and behaviours. For marketers, success will increasingly depend not just on being present, but on being discoverable within these AI-driven environments.
7. Localisation is the job, and it is genuinely hard
“True localisation takes effort. It’s hard. But that’s the same everywhere.”
China can seem uniquely complicated, but the core challenge – understanding a market deeply enough to communicate with it authentically – is universal.
What makes China distinctive is the scale, the speed, the regulatory environment and the consequences of getting it wrong. What makes it approachable is the fact that the underlying marketing logic still applies.
Know your audience. Build trust. Choose the right channels. Have something worth saying. The execution looks different. The foundations don’t.
Our take? It’s always strategy
Mike’s words reinforce our core belief: Invest in strategy. It pays off, and none more so when entering a new market, so you aren’t going in blind.
References and further reading
- BBC – Germany’s Daimler issues ‘full apology’ to China over Dalai Lama
- BBC – China shuts Marriott’s website over Tibet and Taiwan error
- Business Insider – China’s Lipstick King sold an astonishing $1.7 billion in goods in 12 hours
- Time Magazine – Dolce & Gabbana Issues Apology to China After Backlash Over Ads
- Ember (2025). The EV leapfrog – how emerging markets are driving a global EV boom
- ElectroIQ (2025). WeChat Statistics and Facts (2025)
- Statista (2024). Number of monthly active users of WeChat Mini Programs in China, September 2018–May 2024
- Statista (2024). Market size of live streaming e-commerce in China, 2019–2023 with estimates to 2026 (in trillion yuan)