What can Western companies learn from Chinese approaches to building and managing powerful brands? This question was at the center of Björn Ognibeni’s guest lecture at the Marketing Center Münster.

The Hamburg-based digital strategist, consultant, and keynote speaker joined the Master’s course “Brand Management,” taught by Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau and Dr. David Jütte, to offer insights into current developments in Chinese brand management. A central message of his lecture was that many Western brands are increasingly governed by adherence to KPIs rather than creative leadership.

Björn Ognibeni encouraged the students to take a closer look at how Chinese managers build and run successful brands. Many of the approaches applied in China are based on established brand management principles that have already proven effective and are also central to the Brand Management course. While these principles are often neglected by Western management in favor of efficiency measures these days, Björn argued, Chinese companies are applying them in new, technology-enhanced ways.

Rather than suggesting that Western companies should simply copy Chinese practices, Ognibeni used developments in Digital China as a lens for questioning established assumptions about digital transformation and brand management. Digital China has become a central focus of his work, including developments in platforms, social commerce, retail, artificial intelligence, mobility, and customer engagement.

Ognibeni also has a close connection to Münster: together with Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, he co-founded the XRLab@MCM in 2021 and serves as its Strategic Director. His guest lecture provided a particularly tangible practical perspective on key concepts covered in the course and invited students to reconsider the roles of creativity, leadership, and technology in building strong brands.

We would like to thank Björn Ognibeni for visiting Münster and for sharing his inspiring and thought-provoking perspectives with our students!