Chinese brands won’t scale?

I have been reading an interesting book at the moment Tom Doctorow’s What Chinese Want: Culture, Communism and the Modern Chinese Consumer based on his experience working with J Walter Thompson in China. There is a lot of really great stuff here, one thing struck me as odd, Doctorow under-estimates Chinese businesses in their quest to extend their brands overseas.

Lenovo managed to go global through it’s acquisition of IBM’s PC business; which is now challenging HP and Dell in the PC market. But Lenovo has cloaked it’s Chinese nature with a name that only a branding consultant could truly love.

Tsing Tao (said Ching Dow) beer makes no excuses and embraces its Chinese heritage from a ping pong ball breathing dragon in bars to posters welcoming the Chinese olympic team to their camp in Leeds.

With brands like Tiger, Cobra, Sapparo and Kirin before it who says Tsing Tao couldn’t make a truly Chinese brand go global.

Images by Mojofuel via McCann Erickson Manchester.