Design Bridge and Partners' Nikki Lin on sustainability, powerful design and leading with drive

When Design Bridge and Partners (DB&P) was officially launched in April this year, following the merger of Design Bridge and Superunion, Campaign sat down to chat with the global leadership team on what was to come. This included a chat with Nikki Lin, former managing director of Design Bridge Shanghai. 

Today, Lin now leads China as managing director for DB&P. Having started her career with Weber Shandwick in Taipei, and later moving to Beijing and Shanghai, Lin joined Design Bridge in 2020, before that she worked with Interband and Fitch.

From the Stary Forrest exhibition in April, (which coincided with the official launch of the newly merged brand Design Bridge and Partners) as one of their most significant works, to the 'Land of Warriors' (see below) Lin has watched the evolution of DB&P over her last three years there, growing from strength-to-strength in their market. 

Six months from our initial chat, Lin sits down with Campaign again to share her thoughts on where design can really make an impact on sustainable development goals for brands, the post-Covid Chinese ad landscape, and reflections on leadership as one of the top female leaders of a global agency network in China. 

The Forest wall banner
 

Land of Warriors main posters
 

It's been a few months since the merger. How have you worked to expand the DB&P team in China, and what're your current ambitions for the country?

We are in the first year of the merger, so it's not about the size of the team. In my opinion, it’s really about how to bring the two agencies together and play to our combined strengths. Our ambition in China is to keep building longer and deeper client relationships, based on our expertise and knowledge. This is particularly important during the economic downturn when brand owners tend to be more cautious and need reassurance.  

The DB&P Shanghai team recently held a panel event on how to establish a meaningful connection between brand building and sustainable development through the power of design. What were the key takeaways / challenges / opportunities from this session?

Challenges are opportunities if presented with solutions. We were very touched by how brands have taken action and the increased awareness amongst the general public. That’s a meaningful first step.  Moving forward, we will keep helping brands raise awareness through inspirational ideas, distinctive brand expressions, and engaging brand experiences to achieve sustainability goals one project at a time.  

Can you give us any examples from your agency on how you're helping clients solve sustainability challenges?

There was one project with a leading home care brand to redesign their bottle to meet the brand’s internal sustainability goals. And recently, we have been challenged by a leading premium spirit company to consider how to keep its high-end experience, whilst reducing primary and secondary packaging. We welcome both challenges. We believe this is where design can really make an impact.  

How can design be used as a powerful ‘weapon’ to achieve sustainable corporate development—not only to reduce waste in production and packaging, but also to create meaningful and vital marketing experiences that serve consumers?

We believe design is an organisation’s most powerful means of driving positive change. When we talk about design, there are two important parts to that conversation.  

Firstly, what design is. We know that craft and great execution is very important to design, but it's more than that. Design is a powerful means of driving change, and in order to achieve that, it requires great thinking, understanding, partnership and creativity. 

Secondly, is what design can do. Design, at its core, is a strategy. It has an incredible ability to connect strategy to people’s experience of the world. It does this by making experiences real. And those real experiences connect with people at the emotional level—them to react, inspire them, move them, and make them think. In this way, design brings strategy alive. Through superb craft and creativity, the experiences embody the strategy and make it felt in the heart as well as the mind, and in ways that may go beyond rational analysis. This is something that no management consultancy can offer. Design also has an inherent bravery to it. Because design is focused on finding the very best solution to every challenge, it is not afraid to challenge conventions, expectations or the brief.  

Design never starts by supposing what the final answer is. It often finds unexpected solutions.  And brave or unexpected solutions are very often the key to making the biggest breakthroughs and driving the most change. Behind all that is design, is a wonderful sense of humanity. Our work is about people and how their experience is made better—in how they live and how they work. 

Apart from sustainable development, what are the other key trends that you believe are worthy of highlighting in the Chinese market for design?  

We have recently [for the first time] received briefs about brands who want to reposition themselves to target the mass population from their original premium positioning. We have also noticed a slowdown in new product developments. In general, we can see a reaction to the economic downturns, and it’s a challenge [to figure out] how we can keep up with meeting consumers' already-elevated experience [needs] and sophisticated tastes, whilst maintaining the quality of products and services without wanting to pay a premium anymore. 

Given that Covid is now behind us, how is the brand landscape looking in China now? Have there been any major changes over the past few years from your observation?

It requires a lot of focus and strategic thinking in what brands do and how to do it, in order to survive through this economic downturn. Strong brands will keep thriving if they keep engaging consumers the right way: Distinctive, consistent and inspiring.   

What work from Design Bridge and Partners are you most proud of?

There are so many! I am particularly happy with a project where our industrial design items helped a [client's] marketing team engage with their trade partners successfully and achieve a win-win! I love ideas that happen in a meaningful way.  

There are few female leaders in the creative industry in China. Being one of them, how has this affected your perception on what's important when it comes to leadership?

In my whole career, I've had more female leaders than male. I find good leadership for the future generation is empowerment, through bringing out the best in people and playing to their strengths.   

Finally, as a female leader, what drives you to do what you do, and how do you use it to support other female creatives in your organisation? 

A good leader is a good leader, no matter the gender really. China is a big market, and is a very complex one. I often say China is not really one market, but many different markets in itself, and that’s why it’s so challenging and exciting, and that’s what drives me.  

There are certainly difficult moments that are mostly cultural. I have learned over the years that active listening and powerful questions help me overcome most of the difficulties. I am lucky to have two ECDs and one of them female. Our company culture is generous in spirit and collaborative in nature. It is a solid foundation for talent to grow, female or male.