Ogilvy Consulting wins two brand advisory mandates in China

Ogilvy Consulting has won two new brand advisory mandates in the Chinese market.

The first project win is for the Mengtai Group, an industrial and agriculture group that is venturing into a completely new segment: the production of whiskey. Mengtai has selected Ogilvy Consulting to lead brand consulting for the company’s new Chinese whiskey brand.

Mengtai aims to become one of the strong players of the international whiskey scene along the likes of well-established brands from Ireland, Scotland, the United States, Canada and Japan.

China’s whiskey sector is undergoing rapid transformation, turning from simply being a whiskey consumption market into a whiskey production region. The Ordos plateau, situated in the southern part of Inner Mongolia and where the Mengtai Group’s distillery is based, is gifted with a similar climate as Scotland, making it an ideal region to launch a high-quality whiskey brand.

Operations of the Mengtai Distillery is expected to start in 2022. “As whiskey enthusiasts, just like many other Chinese consumers, we are looking forward to being able to taste domestically produced whiskey. Leveraging Ogilvy Consulting’s strong brand building capabilities, we believe we will be able to create a true world-leading Chinese whiskey brand,” said Ao Bo, Vice Chairman and Vice President of the Mengtai Group.

Ogilvy Consulting’s remit includes activities such as market research, segmentation, product portfolio definition, as well as brand positioning, naming and visual identity.

Meanwhile, Ogilvy Consulting has also been selected by Tongwei Group, one of the leading enterprises in agricultural industrialisation in the country, to create a new premium pet food brand called Pjoy.

While nutrition, health and wellness have gradually become a key focus for Chinese consumers, until recently their pets were mostly stuck eating the same highly-processed kibble, day after day. Pjoy was born out of a desire to provide consumers’ beloved four-legged family members with a variety of holistic and nutritious food.

Pjoy’s product line currently includes 16 different types of cat and dog food that can be mixed and matched to suit the animal’s preferences and diet needs. All products are free of additives, artificial colourings, preservatives, and cooked through three different methods to ensure high-nutritional value.

Ogilvy Consulting has been working with Tongwei Group for several months now, among others supporting the brand launch just ahead of this year’s Singles’ Day festival.

The consulting firm was commissioned to craft the new brand and chart a business roadmap based on robust market analysis and consumer research. In delivering the end-to-end offering, the firm’s consultants worked closely together with Ogilvy’s advertising, experience and public relations teams.

Commenting on the two projects, Sandy Ng, President of Ogilvy Consulting in China, said: “We are very proud of our partnership with the Tongwei Group and the reception that consumers gave Pjoy upon launching. Pjoy is a true testament of how Ogilvy’s offerings across capabilities can work seamlessly together to help support our clients and give birth to a new brand starting from market opportunity analysis all the way to the brand communications execution.”

“And we are honoured to be working with the Mengtai Group’s leadership team on paving a new way for the Chinese whiskey industry. The brand creation project truly exemplifies the breadth and depth of our consulting offering, from data-led brand positioning and architecture design to product visual identity and naming, all the way to portfolio and integrated communications strategy.”