How China to Holland road trip became showcase for Chinese brands

Thinking big can really pay off. You come up with an idea for great adventure, find someone to pay for it all, and then parlay that experience into an enviable new job. That, in a nutshell, is the tale of Maren Striker and Rogier Bikker, two young Dutchmen who had been working in Shanghai.

The friends had lived in China for some time and were mulling over a few beers last year the possibility of going on a road trip from China to the Netherlands.

"We always had the idea to drive back home; we had a couple of drinks and then more, and then we decided to do it," says Bikker, then the Shanghai chief of creative agency Energize.

They would have to quit their jobs to undertake the trip which brought with it the problem of money, or lack of it.

Inspired by a shared interest in "the rise of China and Chinese brands", Bikker and Striker came up with a clever, ambitious scheme to fund their travels - they would seek sponsorship from mainland companies, figuring their idea to use only Chinese products during the entire journey would be excellent publicity for home-grown brands.

"We wanted to do something extraordinary, an adventure," says Striker, an urban planner. "We didn't want to be two hippies on the road, so we turned a dream into a plan. And we wanted to share with the world the China that we see every day around us. A China that is cool, innovative and that can also make quality products."