His trip had a clear purpose. Dumont’s brother, the China expert in the family, was planning to establish a public relations (PR) company in Beijing, and Dumont came to help find a suitable office for the venture. The PR company that his brother opened later helped some very famous foreign brands to operate in the Chinese market.
Before China entered his life, the young man, from a small town near Paris, had spent five years in Brazil, working for a travel agency that developed tourism links between France and countries in Latin America. It was, as he remembers, a carefree and liberating period. Fresh out of university, he relished the openness of the work, which broadened his horizons and left him with lasting memories.
Beijing in 1986, however, felt worlds apart from the passion and intensity of the colorful Brazilian life he had grown accustomed to.
“Beijing in winter didn’t have a lot of colors, and people dressed mostly in blue and green,” he told Beijing Review. His first impression, by his own admission, “was not great.”
“When I arrived in China, I had no expectations at all,” Dumont reflected. At first, he planned to complete his brother’s task and return to France immediately.
His first visit took place several years after China launched its reform and opening-up policy in 1978, and the market was full of opportunities. Two months after the visit, Dumont changed his mind and decided to stay longer in Beijing. Eight months after that, he made a whirlwind trip back to France to pack his belongings, and began a life in China that has lasted nearly four decades.
“My career was all developed around the PR industry in China,” he said.
Looking back, Dumont, now widely regarded as a pioneer of China’s PR industry, said he could never have predicted where that decision would lead. Over the years, he has worked with several leading international PR firms and today serves as a senior advisor at Finn Partners.
“I would never have imagined where I am today,” he said. “These experiences have shaped who I am, and they have given me a deeply fulfilling career and life in China.”
Deeper understanding
Dumont reflected that, over the past 40 years, he has worked alongside people who tried to predict where China was heading, yet no one could have anticipated how fast the country would move, or how broad and diverse that transformation would be.
“Colors, food… diversity of everything is everywhere. People have embraced technology, and they’ve moved quickly from rarely traveling abroad to learning from the rest of the world, and teaching the rest of the world many things in return,” he said.
For Dumont, every single day in China brings “an aha moment.” “Every conversation reveals a new aspect of the culture or the people that I didn’t know before. That’s what excites me about this country,” he said.
He likens his work to cooking. “In cooking, you bring together all the right ingredients with passion to create something unique,” he explained. “In PR, it’s the same: You need the right ingredients, the right measures and the right timing to deliver the right results.”
He believes that PR, wherever it is practiced, always comes back to people. “You need a deep understanding of the cultural background, but also of all the new things happening in real time,” he explained. “You have to keep your fingers on the pulse of the country, the consumers, the people and government strategies to do meaningful work for your clients.”
Evolving industry
Dumont’s early projects in Beijing offer a window into the beginnings of modern PR in China. He recalls his deep connection with the China World Hotel, which opened in the late 1980s and quickly became one of the city’s premier venues.
“We were involved with everything from the hotel’s opening events to activities around the Beijing Asian Games in 1990,” he said. “It was a very hands-on period that shaped the industry and our approach to PR.”
Today, with the support of his team at Finn Partners, Dumont has expanded far beyond the early focus on travel and hospitality, extending into healthcare, hi-tech and corporate communications. Services have evolved from traditional media relations to fully integrated digital and social media campaigns.
Over the decades, the PR industry in China has evolved dramatically, shaped by both global trends and distinctive local factors. Dumont notes that China’s digital landscape sets it apart. Social platforms like Douyin and Weixin allow companies to link communication directly to sales in ways that are largely unmatched elsewhere in the world.
“Today, companies really have to innovate,” he said. “They need to secure a bigger share of voice and capture the attention of the audiences they want to reach. That requires deep thinking about what the company stands for, and innovation at every level, from mini apps and online campaigns to experiential events. Everything that can engage people and make an impact.”
He also sees personalized services as a major future trend in the industry. “AI allows us to target audiences individually, which will have a huge impact on how we communicate,” he said. This applies not only to digital platforms, but also to every touchpoint in retail or consumer interactions. “Now, we don’t have to blast messages to everyone; we can communicate personally, meaningfully and effectively with the people we want to reach,” Dumont added.
Chinese companies, he observes, have grown stronger and more ambitious in recent years. Their increasing market share at home has given them the confidence to think globally. Yet expanding abroad is not straightforward. “We are in a complex environment now, with Sino-U.S. and Sino-European relations shaping perceptions,” Dumont explained. “Chinese brands need to approach international markets thoughtfully, strategically and with care.”
For PR professionals, these complexities bring both challenges and excitement. The pace of change, the creativity required and the opportunities to make a real impact, he said, are what keeps this industry fascinating. –The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
