The rise of China in the late 20^th and early 21^st Century is a phenomenon known to most people. A country poorer than the continent of Africa 50 years ago is now the second largest nation by GDP. If you look at PPP (Purchasing power parity), China has already surprised the GDP of the United States. Although in recent years the Chinese economy has slowed down, being unable to meet its aggressive 7% growth of GDP per year. Things in China though are looking up, the transition to a service economy is going well.

Manufacturing, which has been the staple of Chinese economic growth is struggling in recent years. And due to that struggle, Chinese companies have been getting incredibly creative. Forgoing the previous business model of OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) and starting their own global brands. This transition can be observed clearly by looking at the newly positioned brands on the top 100 brands of the world list, with both Lenovo and Huawei becoming global players with massive brand recognition and market share in western and eastern markets.

China is now on the pursuit for thinking creatively, building brands and global recognition. The “Made in China” that you see on products is going through some incredible changes. The thought of Chinese products being manufactured cheaply is a dying concept with most Chinese companies looking to build long term customers through their own brands.

The biggest harbor of this transition is Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of China. In a recent report, Shenzhen and Hong Kong have now surpassed Silicon Valley in terms of innovation. But the Chinese don’t believe in innovation only on the hardware front. The Chinese are also innovating marketing, branding and design. Trying to become global leaders in establishing brands not only for the Chinese markets but also for western markets, by tying in their own creativity.

Two Shenzhen Marketing agencies, ITTIZ and Global from Asia, recently launched the “Take Over America Campaign” on July the 4^th in China and America. Aimed at trying to persuade Chinese companies to think creatively to compete in western markets. The campaign went Viral within 12 hours of its launch in both China and the USA. With many large publications covering the story. This is one of the first marketing campaigns out of Shenzhen to be recognized globally. Which goes to show that Chinese companies understand the concept of marketing, branding and design, something people thought was a western concept for a very long time.

“ITTIZ and Global from Asia sent red envelopes containing the bills to 500 of the biggest companies in Shenzhen, including LENOVO, ZTE, MEIZU, HUAWEI, HAIER, OPPO, DJI, and others. All of the bills are actual U.S. currency notes, ranging in value from $1 to $100, with a removable sticker of a Chinese emperor covering the respective U.S. icon’s image.”

ITTIZ, a Chinese company based in Shenzhen, came up with the idea for the campaign a few months ago when considering the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. Sean Davis, CEO of ITTIZ, said that with the current state of globalization and the general interconnectedness of countries, the likelihood of China’s rise is as probable as ever and pulling back isn’t a reasonable option. This is ITTIZ’s second campaign; the first one was in April last year and impacted around 15 million people.

Both Davis and Michelini (CEO of Global from Asia), are supporters of Shenzhen and have lived in the dynamic city for over a decade.

“One of the other reasons we ran this campaign was to showcase the creative abilities currently available in Shenzhen. A lot of the time there is a large focus on hardware, while the creatives are left out in the cold. We wanted to show that Shenzhen is not only a place for hardware innovation, but for innovation on all fronts, such as, in our case, marketing, branding, and design,” said Davis.

“We see Shenzhen being a technology hub for the 21st century. We feel that creative ideas will only accelerate this movement. The future is coming at us quickly, everything in today’s economy is up for grabs, and Shenzhen is ready to grab hold and take it!”

New York might be the home for marketing agencies, but Shenzhen is quickly catching up.

Michael Michelini is host of the GlobalFromAsia.com podcast, an online radio show to help business owners grow their companies in Asia and around the world.