Lu Zhenggang, founder and chairman of Chinese digital imaging company Crystal CG, is excited about his company's role in creating a "digital extravaganza" that will be featured in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

"Creative digital images will be used more extensively in the opening ceremony. We are looking forward to a sleepless night," Lu said.

Lu's company, the official digital image supplier for the London Olympics, previously impressed global audiences with animated graphics supplied for the Beijing Olympics held four years ago.

This time, the company is producing material for the London Olympic mascots, as well as promotional videos for the Olympic torch relay and images of UK landmarks.

Lu said Crystal CG had also won bids to create promotional videos for Russia and Qatar, respectively, in support of their own bids to host the 2018 and 2011 World Cup games.

Lu's company, established in Beijing in 1995, plans to use its presence at the London Olympics as a springboard, and open new animation workshops in Beijing, Shanghai and London.

"Creating a film to launch our mascots was an easy decision when you have a supporter like Crystal CG onboard," wrote Paul Deighton, chief executive officer of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralymic Games, in a letter of thanks presented to Crystal CG.

"They worked tirelessly alongside our teams to create what I think is a world-class piece of animation, telling the story of how (Olympic mascots) Wenlock and Mandeville came to life," says the letter.

In the eyes of domestic industrial analysts, Crystal's expanding overseas presence has been both inspiring and thought-provoking for many Chinese companies that wish to move up the global value chain.

"Unlike traditional Chinese manufacturers, whose prosperity mostly depended on cheap labor, Crystal CG is a fresh and avant-garde manufacturer in the digital era," said Qin Hefang, a researcher at the Tsinghua Center for Leadership Development and Research.

"The fact that the company has grabbed headlines is a testament to its rarity. Generally speaking, Chinese cultural companies are less globally competitive than their overseas peers. The soft power of China remains feeble in the global arena," said Qin.

Although the cultural and creative industry has become an engine of growth for Beijing's economy, the sector's overall contribution to China's total gross domestic product remains as low as three percent, according to official statistics.

"Lured by vast domestic demand, China's cultural enterprises are less motivated than traditional manufacturers to go overseas. That explains why few cultural enterprises have stood out abroad," said Qin.

The goal of expanding overseas has been central to Crystal CG's success, according to Lu.

"From the very beginning, we aimed to be international and focus on brand-building," he said.

Recalling a failed bid for a project in Dubai, Lu said Crystal CG lost to a British rival simply because of its low profile at the time.

The failure spurred Lu to lead his company to become one of the four sponsors of the Beijing Olympic Games Bidding Committee in 2000.

"That was a huge challenge for us. But we went all-out and gained a good reputation after supplying the Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo," he said.

Chen Shaoshu, general manager of the Beijing-based Huajiang Culture Development Co., Ltd. (Honav), which has secured exclusive franchise rights for the London Olympic mascots, said there is a lot of commonality between the successes of his company and Crystal CG.

"We have both attracted local talent and recognized the power of localized management in cultural innovation," Chen said.

Established in 2008 with just 22 regular employees, Hanov has landed exclusive franchise right for the mascots of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and inked separate global supplier agreements with British Airways, British Petroleum and several banks.

Lu said Crystal CG has decentralized its decision-making and employment rights to a British subsidiary and always encouraged local employees to adjust their work according to local market conditions.

Jia Wei, president of Beijing-based design company Lkk Design, also hopes to make London a springboard to the international market.

Recalling the last two years after the company's London subsidiary LKK Innovation was created, Jia said the vitality and originality of the cultural industry comes from openness and the fusion of cultures.

"Talking about going global in Beijing is different from venturing into a foreign land, as the differences between domestic and overseas markets are enormous," said Jia.