Advertising by Leon Berger, one of the most awarded creatives in Canada and the U.S. in the 1980s and '90s, isn't seen much in Canada these days.

That's because Berger, 58, has led Chinese agency Oriental and Rende (known as O&R) as president since 2003, traveling regularly from his home in Montreal to spend half his year in Beijing to lead major agency projects and mentor the growing staff in the expanding agency.

Berger doesn't live in China full time, since part of his job is to bring global experience with new ideas and fresh marketing concepts to O&R - something he feels he can't do that if he's always in China. Further, his long-time partner Cristiane Bourbonnais operates a brand consultancy in Montreal. And he likes to indulge his passion of writing novels in the quiet of their home, filled with photos and mementos from their travels.

"How do I manage? I don't do administration, finance, or recruiting at O&R," he says. "I don't even supervise the smaller projects like test drives or event planning because these are 'doing' jobs, not 'thinking' jobs, and the agency is perfectly capable of handling that bread-and-butter stuff on its own. I travel to China about 6-8 times a year for varying lengths from 2-6 weeks to lead the major projects."

In the meantime, he keeps in touch by e-mail - and if there's an urgent client meeting in China, hops a plane. ("I feel that I should own shares in Air Canada," he says, with the sense of humour for which he is known.)

O&R's administrative details are handled by Liu Qilan, owner and CEO, while day-to-day operations are handled by Sun Lei, vice-president general manager. But under Berger's leadership, the agency has built the FAW-VW Jetta into China's top selling car, launched the VW Caddy, won the pitch and developed strategy for 361° sportswear manufacturer and retailer, and earlier this year pitched against Ogilvy and Lintas to win the assignment to launch the Magotan - destined as the flagship of FAW-VW in China.

Although as a private company the agency's finances are confidential, Berger estimates that O&R has grown 500% since 2003. It now has a total staff of 200, and, in addition to its headquarters in Beijing, has opened offices in Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenyang, and Changchun. It soon will be in Shanghai.

"Leon has great listening skills, is very focused, and by the time he speaks, you'll be the recipient of great ideas," says Louis-Eric Vallée, president, Saint-Jacques Vallée Young & Rubicam, Montreal. "He's an excellent problem solver, is very inspirational and has the great ability to detect talent."

"I don't think in language," says Berger, who knows only a few words of Mandarin. "I think conceptually, and then the creatives and others take the ideas forward."

"Leon has maturity and a great understanding of different cultures," says Daniel Rabinowicz, president of TAXI's Montreal office.

British-born Berger learned Asian culture when he spent several years based in Singapore as senior vice-president executive creative director at Dentsu Young & Rubicam, with responsibility for the Pacific Rim. In his early career, he worked at several London agencies and then took the international route, moving to Montreal as the senior creative at, progressively, Ogilvy, JWT and Y&R producing memorable ads for such clients as Kodak and Lipton. Then it was on to New York as Y&R's international creative director with worldwide responsibility for Colgate-Palmolive in 60 countries, followed by his stint in Singapore.

He won the Cannes Grand Prix in 1996 for Volvo Japan, along with two other golds and three silvers at Cannes. He also has won Y&R International Campaign for the Year for KFC, a UNDP Gold from the United Nations in New York, in addition to various Clios, Obies, Mondials, and a long list of awards in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bombay, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur.

He returned to Montreal to head creative and strategy at Marketel McCann-Erickson and worked with Cohésion Strategies in brand identity and development while becoming a published author. When time permits, he's now working on his fifth novel.

In 2003, Marina Brunelle, a mutual art director friend, introduced him to Mme Liu, who was visiting Montreal where she and her family had lived for several years. Mme Liu was looking for a senior westerner who understood all facets of the communications business, and had experience in China.

"We met in spring, 2003, in my garden in Montreal (with an interpreter) and talked for two days," says Berger. "At the end of that time, I agreed to give a one week seminar to O&R about modern marketing communications. When I arrived, I found it was a bunch of juniors - in what was basically a brochure design shop - who'd managed to land a piece of car business and had no idea what to do with it.

"Learning this, I decided to make the seminar of practical use by focusing, not on vague theory, but on the car itself. Over the week, I sent them out into the streets of Beijing to do consumer interviews, we took videos, brainstormed core values and came up with a positioning. The agency and I found we liked each other on a human level, which counts for a great deal.

"I was then invited back to lead the first major client session for the car, during which we presented our 2004 plans. This was a big success and from that point on we never looked back. Since then I've led just about every major presentation and major new business pitch."

Berger says that, rather than being a partner, an employee or a consultant, "You could say we are in association together. In China, trust and personal commitment are extremely important and this is perhaps the best way to define our relationship. My task is to lead the work and, although we have department heads in each field (creative, client service, public relations, media relations, event planning, interactive, design), as president I have final responsibility for everything."

O&R is one of several businesses in China under the holding company Hengdee. Mme Liu's sisters head real estate, distributorship and toy companies, and two are police officers.

"The first time I went to Changchun to meet the FAW-VW client, I was met at the small airport of this provincial city by a mature woman in a high ranking police uniform who escorted me like a major foreign official through the crowd and out to the waiting black Audi," says Berger. "I was immensely impressed - until I learned later that this Colonel in the Changchun police department is actually one of Mme Liu's sisters, who had merely come to the airport to give me a ride into town while she was off-duty. Her uniform guided us through every toll booth and security barrier instantly, and got us the best restaurant seating."

Berger works closely with Sun, who speaks English, Leo Leow, agency executive creative director - a Malaysian who speaks five languages - Dong Xiao Rang, a journalist who heads the public relations division, and a young staff across numerous disciplines. He says, "People learn by osmosis. The staff is extremely competent. I bring the strategy, research and brainstorming, and I try to teach them that marketing is common sense."

"He's a teacher, a coach and a leader for us," says Sun in Beijing. "He brings a special perspective. He encourages us to higher objectives and to be ambitious, better and more successful."

"Because of my global career experience, I can do pretty much any job in the agency, so I can buckle down and brainstorm strategy, creative concepts, PR ideas, designs, or anything else that's required - and very often I do," says Berger. "This is both fun and useful because sometimes the people get stuck for ideas, like in any agency. In addition, I usually format the presentation myself to make as powerful a client show as possible.

"I know China extremely well for a foreigner - its ways, its culture, its aspirations, its problems, its opportunities and its faults - and I understand the basic structure of the Chinese language which gives me an insight into how people think. And with my global knowledge, since I can relate to a great many cultures around the world and have had on-the-ground, practical experience on every continent, I can talk at length about similarities, differences and valid case histories in order to advise colleagues and clients. Very often I find I can predict with some accuracy what will work in China or what the pitfalls might be.

That came in handy recently. China's manufacturers like to use English names on their products to be 'chic' and 'cool', and sometimes use odd words or translations from Chinese software that make little sense. Berger had to explain something difficult to 361°, its sportswear client. The company had printed the single word 'Speed' on a whole line of athletic clothes and he had to explain that, in western subculture, this is a very common word for a kind of drug - the last thing 361° wants to be associated with!

When the agency was awarded 361°, a sportswear manufacturer and retailer with 4,500 stores in mainland China, the company wanted to find its niche in a market where it competes mainly with Nike, Adidas, Li Ning and Anta.

"Make us look like a global brand," O&R was told. Berger led a brand audit and research for several months, researching in eight cities and compiling a 300-page presentation.

As a result, 361° launched a 'Degree of Challenge' campaign built around the 'degree' symbol of its name and focusing on 'serious sports for real people' with ads showing young people practicing various sports as they really do: on the streets, courtyards or roofs. (The English tagline translates as 'Dare to be'.)

"And, to make sure its message gets out, 361° bought a ton of time on CCTV5 sports channel at the upfront auction," says Berger.

"Advertising in China is really different than in North America," he says. "There's not a lot of humour or emotion or scenes of local life. People always aspire to the next level of status. Using scenes from real life makes 361° stand out."

For FAW-VW in 2005, Berger and the team launched the Caddy, handling market analysis, competitive analysis, strategy, positioning, advertising, PR, design, interactive and events. Television advertising used Jackie Chan as spokesperson.

"Our agency doesn't work like multinationals agencies with individual profit centres which compete for the client's business," Berger says. "When a client comes in, we give whatever services are needed, and it doesn't matter from where. There are no competing divisions. It's all non-biased. Everything is done on a fee basis."

Current clients include: FAW-VW (Jetta, Caddy, Magotan), 361º sportswear, Microsoft, Bayer, DQY (organic farm egg marketing), Air Media (airport LED media), Xinjiang beer (design), Mercedes-Benz (launch of a corporate customer center), Hyundai (After Sales Service), Audi (to conduct an SUV test drive for VIP's), and Toyota (specific PR events). Other projects have been completed for Jeep, Mistubishi and GE.

"It's all about the constant flux," says Berger. "It makes the expression 'change management' seem slow and moribund. In China, an entire strategy can change in five minutes. The analogy I often use is about strong waves at the beach. If you stand your ground and let them hit you, you'll be knocked over time and again. But if you bounce on your toes, then you can successfully ride each wave up and down as it comes in. I tell people that working in China is all about 'bouncing the waves.'"

Berger's novels include: Tabloid Trash: A Murder Mystery; The War Criminal; Globo Sapiens; The Berlin Dossier.

(July 30, 2007)