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To imagine the future, brands need agencies to combine cultural relevancy, technical nous, creative flair and the agility to cope with here-today, gone-tomorrow influencers, apps or platforms.

The power of a compelling narrative is not a ‘nice-to-have’ in social, but a ‘vital-to-have’. No story means no soul, and no soul, when social is involved, means no sale. This is why Honey builds social creative campaigns that we cherry-pick from culture to tell a story via technology. We create something that has a soul, is in the moment and relevant – what people naturally are, and brands aspire to be.

To cope with the demands of an always-on, socially mobile audience, Honey looked to China for inspiration – because the real home of tech innovation isn’t Silicon Valley, it’s Shenzhen. ‘Made in China’ suspicion has given way to a ‘Created In China’ pride and an entrepreneurial zeal unmatched by any western co-working space. Honey has embraced the nation’s philosophy of continuous improvement to do something better, faster.

Our team has worked with brands from Apple, Asics and Amazon to BMW Mini, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Škoda and Under Armour. Our wealth of experience comes from consumer and B2B in sectors as diverse as finance and fashion, lifestyle and technology, media and telecoms. Think Air China, Haier and China Unicom alongside Valio, The Student Hotel, TP-Link and JBL.

There are three fundamentals that brands should adopt to get this eastern-influenced approach under their skin.

1. SHU ZI or "the numbers". We put our clients’ KPIs first and work out how social can contribute.

2. LING HUO or "adaptable". We are agile, responsive and iterative; then build those behaviours into the creative process.

3. KUAI SU or"fast". Real-time and always-on are overused phrases, but tools like WeChat and Alibaba’s DingTalk mean we deliver results faster.

This Chinese way of working gives brands an edge that was impossible until recently.

For audio brand JBL, we adopt a social creative approach to content and comms that creates hyper-relevance and authenticity with its younger audience. We transform tech firms such as TP-Link into lifestyle brands with a social-first approach that delivers awards, reviews and stories that outperform KPIs.

The Student Hotel – a complete connected community of Gen Z and entrepreneurs – shares our belief that social publishers are vital for brands. Together we’re building the ultimate international hotel brand, opening up to 40 destinations in the next three years.

This approach has earned impressive results for our clients and is recognised by the industry. Over the past year we’ve won ICCO’s Best independent agency, EMEA, and picked up gongs at Cannes, the Effies and The Social Buzz Awards, among other plaudits.

Getting social creative under the skin leads to great ideas, produced quickly, that reach millions. Brands understand the need to embrace social but still struggle with this transformation. This isn’t a simple change, but to embrace 'The China Way' will embed winning behaviour deep in your business.

Mark Terry-Lush, managing director, The Honey Partnership

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