Chinese brands are winning global acceptance
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Two years ago I wrote a column on "Where are the Chinese brands?" This was after an article in The New York Times claimed that Chinese companies were terrible at branding, mainly for cultural reasons such as the lack of a capitalistic instinct.
I thought then – and still do – that the argument was overstated. While Chinese brands tended to have a low profile in America, the influence of Chinese companies globally, and particularly in Asia, was significant and growing. Eventually, American consumers’ awareness of Chinese brands would catch up.
Well, the annual BrandZ report on the most valuable global brands was recently published and two major trends are clear – the rise of Chinese brands globally, and the impressive growth in the purchasing power of Chinese consumers.
What’s more, increasingly competitive Chinese brands are now looking for alliances as they expand internationally. And there are opportunities for overseas brands – including Thai names – to ally with Chinese brands to penetrate the Chinese market.
Fourteen Chinese brands made the BrandZ top 100 versus only one 10 years ago.
The highest-ranked, at No 11, is Tencent. At 13 is fellow e-commerce provider Alibaba, whose US$22 billion (Bt750 billion) IPO and listing on the NYSE late last year did wonders for its public profile and moved it into the top 100 for the first time.
Internet search engine Baidu is at 21, while others in the top 100 are China Mobile, ICBC, CBC, Agricultural Bank of China, China Life, Sinopec, Bank of China, PetroChina, Ping An, Huawei and China Telecom.
Chinese brands also made up eight of the top-10 Asian brands – Samsung (sixth) and Toyota (eighth) were the other two. The closest Thailand came to being in the top 100 was through its connection to Austria’s Red Bull, which listed at 94. The most valuable brand was Apple with $247 billion.
Perceptions of Chinese brands in the West continue to change – for the better. BrandZ’s analysis notes that Chinese technology brands in particular are no longer tainted with a low-cost, low-quality image. And for Chinese consumers, Western brands no longer have quite the same mystique and automatic allure they once had. The comparable foreign brand is not automatically perceived as better.
In the future I expect to see even more Chinese brands in the top 100, and I would be delighted if some Thai trademarks landed in there too!
