PT Black - 白培德

VP, Senior Creative Director, China

PT Black is recognized as one of China’s leading creative thinkers, with a commitment to matching fresh ideas to robust audience insights. He insists that technological innovation and China’s rise are two of the three most exciting themes reshaping today’s world, and feels privileged to work with both. He refuses to identify the third theme.

PT works closely with all aspects of TMG’s creative activities, ranging from media licenses to character development and online programming. He is responsible for building TMG’s creative department in Greater China, and is always recruiting. When not leading his team in ideation sessions he can be found exploring China’s back alleys or sifting through the ever-changing Chinese language Internet.

A committed Shanghai resident, PT has been working with top marketers in China for over a decade. In that time he has earned a reputation as an authority on lifestyle and cultural changes taking place. He has been a featured speaker at conferences such as ad:tech, China Youth Marketing, and Economist Intelligence Unit’s business roundtable.  His observations have been cited in Time, The New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), and Fast Company among others, and he is a frequent contributor to Advertising Age.

Before he joined Thoughtful Media Group in February 2011, PT was a consumer researcher, providing insights to guide and inspire marketers and creative agencies. He was a partner at Jigsaw International, a Shanghai-based research firm that was acquired by Omnicom Group’s Hall & Partners division in 2008.

In his time at Jigsaw, PT helped grow the company into one of the leading research groups in China. His passion for curiosity and commitment to creativity helped make Jigsaw a favorite partner to advertising agencies as well as leading brands. PT developed a variety of tools that bring consumer voices into brand processes, incorporating trend analysis and cross-cultural modelling as well as qualitative and quantitative methods. He worked across product categories and market segments, with particular expertise in youth and luxury consumers.

Before that, PT spent two years at the mobile phone division of Siemens in Shanghai. His relationship with China goes back to the early 1990s and there are days he forgets how to use a fork.

PT graduated from Yale University with a degree in East Asian Studies.

PT Black is fluent in Mandarin, conversational in Shanghainese. His Cantonese is limited to pop songs, food ordering, and obscenities.