Communications kick-start in Shanghai

UNICEPTA Information Consulting (China) Ltd. is celebrating its one-yearanniversary. With an office in the US and a total of 15 offices in fourEuropean countries already, Cologne-based communications serviceprovider UNICEPTA opened its first Asian office in Shanghai on October 22,2012.

The Shanghai office has done very well in its first year. The number of employeesworking there has quadrupled, and the Competence Center Asia Pacific nowcovers a lot more linguistic areas in the region than it did at the start. In addition toChinese, English and German, the languages Japanese, Korean and Indonesianare just a few of the new languages added.

"We are bringing light into the "black box", which is something that manycompanies from Western industrialized nations continue to see China as," explainsEvelyn Engesser, General Manager of UNICEPTA Information Consulting (China)Ltd. "Through our media monitoring services, we provide information on what ishappening in China in the world of politics, economics and society. Our analyses oftraditional and social media concisely indicate the standing that a Western firmenjoys in Chinese media and among consumers."

UNICEPTA China's portfolio goes beyond media monitoring and analysis and alsoincludes consulting services. Tailor-made compendia provide customers with keybackground information. The company also puts on seminars to providecommunication officials in Germany and China with a comprehensive overview ofthe structure and organization of the Chinese media landscape. It identifies theopinion leaders and offers insights into user behavior and the parallel world ofChinese social media, an extremely important place for gauging public opinion. Byoffering practical tips on how to deal with journalists, UNICEPTA China helpscompanies better manage their media coverage.

"Good preparations had been made for founding the company, but we didn't evendare to hope that things would go as smoothly as they have done," says GeorgStahl, Member of the Managing Board. The decision was the right one - both forUNICEPTA and its customers, he underlines. It is important for both sides to havea full-service communication services provider with international expertise in the world's largest growth market, and one that is based there with its own staff, saysStahl.