'Let's build the Chinese Dream together' challenges Lord Nat Wei of Shoreditch to create a 'global dream'
Lord Nat Wei, UK Government adviser for the Big Society has called on British brands and businesses to work with China to help develop the Chinese Dream in a way that can improve the world and become a global dream.
Speaking to an event organised by the international marketing network WPP, Wei used the opportunity to address a room of British and Chinese media professionals and brand marketers to call on them to partner to help develop the Chinese Dream for the good of the world.
The phrase 'Chinese Dream' is one coined by the country's president, Xi Jingping to describe the developing aspirations of his nation.
Lord Wei echoed an earlier point made by WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell as he agreed in his belief that the Western media, which ' shapes the understanding' of the UK on the development of China, as being "often negative".
He added: "Maybe there's envy or anxiety of China's rise. But much of the evidence that we see about the Chinese Dream is actually positive. The Chinese people increasingly see that what is happening is increasingly benefitting their lives, raising them out of poverty and helping them provide aspirations. What I am interested in is the cross over. At what point will we in the west and the western media, start to recognise that success and that those dreams are also part of our dreams as well. Something we can take hold of and something that will benefit us."
Lord Wei described the globalisation of Chinese companies as a gradual process that would "inevitably" emerge within Britain and America.
"As Chinese companies start to use research and development, working with the West as a partner to develop for the Chinese consumer, we are going to see those moves become more global," he claimed.
Lord Wei concluded by asking how the Western World should react to this growth and what role should it aim to play - if indeed it chose to play any part at all.
"Are we just going to be anxious about what is going to happen or is there an opportunity to work together towards what is going to happen to make this not just a Chinese dream for Chinese consumers, but a Chinese dream that the whole world can benefit from. A global dream coming out of the Chinese Dream," he questioned before comparing the notion to that of the American or British Dreams that had previously captured the imagination of the world.
"Is there a way that we can work together to help China and the Chinese Dream to both build the Chinese Dream but also to help to build it into a global dream that has internal appeal but also external appeal too? There's a great role for British businesses, for Western organisations, and for young people here in the West and the young in China who are embracing brands in a global way.
"What should we do as British investors? How can we help business people and brand earners in China to merge and acquire here? To buy into the quality and history or British brands and Western brands? What can we do to harness the great content that we have here in Britain and the West to enhance the Chinese Dream? And how can we enhance the innovation and the experiential capacity of our people here who really understand the latest trends globally, to work with their counterparts in China to develop truly global high-tech that consumers everywhere will want to embrace? That is something I yearn for and am looking forward to coming true."
He concluded by calling on the room once again to build the Chinese Dream happen together.
Lord Wei was speaking at the WPP Most Valuable Chinese Brands summit which aimed to analyse the growth of China and the effect it is having on the western world.
The annual Top 100 BrandZ Poll was released in December and once again saw China Mobile named as the most valuable brand in China.