Omnicom shows off its universal omniscience

In terms of the numbers, China is already the leading mobile advertising market in the world, considering its 420 million mobile Internet users, 238 million smartphone users and 8 million tablet users. "Every day, 140 million people watch content on a mobile device," he said.

A total of 880 million people, or two-thirds of the population, own at least one mobile phone. That number will pick up to 1 billion in 2014, which is one-third of the total users in the world who will be accessing the Internet via their mobile devices.

Taking a historical perspective, Dumont attributed the incredible development partly to the fact that Chinese people are able to adapt to new technology very quickly.

"When I first started business in China in 1985, there were very few fixed lines. Then people leapfrogged from no telephones straight to mobile phones."

He recalled that he used to have the very first generation mobile phone, which was "big like a weapon". "Even foreigners didn't know what it was because it was not yet in use in many other countries."

But now as the country with the world's largest online population, China is at the front of development in areas such as e-commerce, which Dumont said will be another key driver for the future growth of Omnicom.

"For advertising agencies, that means we need to constantly keep up to speed in terms of the evolution of the digital landscape," he said, adding that staff from Omnicom agencies have been actively undertaking training programs to make sure they are digitally savvy.

China's middle-class population is rising by 1 percentage point per year, which means that in 10 years one-third of the Chinese population will be middle class, according to Dumont.

"By 2020, you'll have 280 million affluent consumers, with a disposable household income between $20,000 to $1 million. Advertisers must adapt to the change to make advertising resonate with the higher taste of Chinese customers," he said.

Chinese companies have begun to pay more attention to building a better brand image to attract sophisticated local customers, which provides opportunities for Omnicom.

Interbrand, an agency under Omnicom, releases the best Chinese brands ranking every year. The one for 2013 is about to come out. "When you look at the results, some companies have already made a transition from being big to being great," Dumont said.

On the 2012 table, in terms of brand value, some consumer brands with active brand promotion have consolidated their position, such as Haier at 30 , Lenovo at 15, Baidu at 13 and Tencent at 8. State-owned enterprises, IT companies and consumer brands were still among the top by Interbrand ranking.

"I've never had any doubt that a strong brand will emerge from Chinese companies," said Dumont. "In order to build a brand effectively, you have to have a mixture of disciplines, which is what Omnicom offers to clients."

For a company entering a foreign market, there are added difficulties, especially when it comes to Chinese companies. "Because their brands are not well known among global customers - and neither are their CEOs - the level of awareness needs to be raised," said Dumont. "These issues can be overcome, but you have to have good resources to address them. A global network could help you locally in the markets in which you operate."

One of Omnicom's agencies, Fleishman Hillard, launched in 2011 what it called a Global China Practice program specializing in helping Chinese companies to build brands and maintain reputations in new overseas markets.

Using its strong economic power, China is also trying to extend its global influence on the cultural side, but Dumont pointed out Rome wasn't built in a day.

"If you want to project soft power, you have to have an overarching strategy," he said.

"You cannot change a country's image in 30 seconds. You need to have a combination of activities and public relations."