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China enters opportune time for building global brands
New report examines challenges across categories and countries
David Roth
CEO, The Store WPP, EMEA & Asia
David.Roth@wpp.com
Twitter: @davidrothlondon
Blog: www.davidroth.com
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I remember my impressions when I first visited China, in the
1990s. As the marketing director for a large UK retailer I was
charged with creating our China entry strategy. After months
of focus groups we concluded that Chinese consumers
would welcome our western brands and products. We
prepared for an immense and exciting opportunity.
What a difference 20 years makes.
Today, western consumers are
increasingly looking to China for the
newest products and brands. Brand
China, formerly associated with low
quality, is becoming synonymous
with innovation, especially among
young people. This transition is most
apparent in technology, such as
smart phones and home electronics.
The movement of ideas and product
leadership across continents is not
reversing its course. Rather, it is
beginning to move in all directions, as
it has throughout most of history. For
these reasons, this is an opportune
time for Chinese brands to reach new
audiences by expanding abroad and
competing with their global and local
country market peers.
To realize this potential, however,
Chinese brands need to overcome
many challenges. First, Chinese
brands are still relatively unknown
outside of China, and building
awareness, especially in developed
markets, requires market insight and
communications expertise. Second,
New report examines
challenges across
categories and countries
awareness is only the start. The
messaging and media for getting
consumers to consider a brand can
vary significantly market-by-market.
That is why we have produced,
in conjunction with Google this
groundbreaking report, the BrandZ™
Top 30 Chinese Global Brand
Builders 2017. We analyze consumer
perceptions of Chinese and non-
Chinese brands across nine product
categories and seven countries.
Then we identify the gaps in Chinese
brand performance, and provide
recommendations for building brand
strength.
We based the research on WPP’s
BrandZ™ database, the world’s
largest, consumer-focused source of
brand equity knowledge and insight,
and we partnered with Google, to
leverage our proprietary BrandZ™
resources with Google Surveys and
Google search capability. The result is
must reading for any Chinese brand
owner who is considering expanding
overseas or who is already overseas
and contemplating the next moves.
The time is now
That’s how I’d summarize all the
knowledge, original findings
and insights that we packed into
this report. The time is now. The
winning Chinese exporters will act
with boldness and speed to build
valuable brands, consistent in core
values and meaningfully different in
each market served.
But I invite you to draw your own
conclusions. I suggest first reading
the introduction. It begins with an
overview of key findings, continues
with a historical context for China’s
export experience, and concludes
with 20 takeaways, practical ideas
for overseas brand building. When
you have more time, read through
Part 2 for consumer perceptions
of Chinese brands compared with
global and local brands.
If you are wondering how all
this knowledge and insight gets
applied in the real world, go to Part
3 for our interviews with c-suite
executives from six of the BrandZ™
Top 30 Chinese Global Brand
Builders 2017. These confident
leaders share some of the elements
of their success. And they describe
how the consumer perception of
Brand China is changing.
For additional knowledge about
China and Chinese consumers, I
direct you to our library of BrandZ™
reports, including: BrandZ™ Top 100
Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2016;
Unmasking the Individual Chinese
Investor; The Power and Potential
of the Chinese Dream; The Chinese
New Year in Next Growth Cities; and
The Chinese Golden Weeks in Fast
Growth Cities. To download these
and other BrandZ™ reports, please
visit www.brandz.com. For the
interactive BrandZ™ mobile apps go
to www.brandz.com/mobile.
At WPP, we’re passionate about
using our creativity to create and
build strong, differentiated brands
that deliver lasting shareholder value.
To learn more about how to apply
our experience and expertise to
benefit your brand, please contact
any of the WPP companies that
contributed expertise to this report.
Turn to the resources section at the
end of this report for summaries
of each company and the contact
details of key executives. Or feel free
to contact me directly.
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