Working with British accessories retailer Accessorize for some months now, the Bite Shanghai team was looking for ways to step up our game when we stumbled upon China’s Got Talent! With its own healthy dose of drama and quirky characters, the program is one of China’s most popular and became an international sensation when in 2010 armless pianist Liu Wei won the competition for his rendition of “You’re Beautiful” (or watch it on Tudou if you’re in China).

For Accessorize, Bite negotiated for the opportunity to work with Cai Xiuqing, who came third in last season’s competition. The possibility of fitting her with a pair of Accessorize earrings became a source of intense debate both at the Bite and Accessorize offices due to Cai’s unusual appearance, which at points was likened to the “Susan Boyle of China.” Jokes aside, the episode made me think about product placement in China.

As we all know, Shanghai is not Hollywood and mainland films do not nearly have as many strategically placed soft drink cans, branded t-shirts or chocolate wrappers as their American counterparts. Nevertheless a quick glance at last year’s domestic blockbusters such as Go Lala Go! reveals that product-placement is well on its way to becoming the next hot thing here. Continuing with the Lala example, the Devil Wears Prada-esque romantic comedy was just as much about a young, attractive female climbing the corporate ladder as it was about her Lipton cup of tea and Lenovo computer. Despite being a mega hit Go Lala Go! was also regarded as a source of irritation for viewers who felt that they lost track of the plot as a result of the constant barrage of brands. Similarly I have read that TV shows that were at first extremely successful in China soon got lost in obscurity when audiences got sick of that bottle of Slek shampoo which simply refused to go away or stopped believing that the Dove chocolate tasted out of this world.

While China’s audiences are getting more sophisticated or even more jaded, companies it seems are far from discouraged. Last year, Cadillac announced that it would be the official sponsor of the film “Birth of the Party” which is, as you might have guessed, about the birth of the Communist Party. Not to be outdone, domestic sports brand Meters/bonwe recently paid an undisclosed amount to have its logo flash in the Transformers sequel, indicating that local brands are looking to play the game both at home and abroad. On TV screens, companies have toned things down and Ugly Wudi (yes, she was inspired by Betty) which features occasional Dove product placement has enjoyed extremely high ratings. All of this brings me to my final point which is that in China quality has long trumped quantity in almost all aspects of life and business. While the rules of successful brand strategy in China are still a work in progress, what remains certain is that a formulaic approach and a short-term outlook to just ‘sell your product’ no longer works.