China top brands 2014

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China top brands 2014

One has to have a certain amount of scepticism about the science that goes into brand lists but they do serve a purpose to show how marketing changes. Brand Z (part of the WPP Group for which I also ultimately work) have released their top 100 Chinese brands of 2014. Here is what I thought were the most interesting takeaways on China top brands 2014 were from the document:

  • Chinese brands are considered by Chinese consumers to have equivalent ‘brand equity’ to foreign brands. This is huge as increasingly nationalistic considerations will kick in as part of the future envisaged by likes of Xi Jingping
  • Chinese brands have managed to improve in terms of relevance, performance and presence, but lag in terms of bonding (emotional attachment)
  • They also struggle with overseas awareness, a lot of this is down to poor media investment and hubris that Chinese creative will work elsewhere
  • Two of the top three most trusted brands were online brands: Baidu and Ctrip
  • Private enterprises on the list tended to spend more on print and online advertising compared to State-Owned Enterprises

Challenges for brands

Challenges for brands identified by Brand Z include:

  • Building and maintaining trust
  • Developing a distinctive brand personality
  • Being more human as a brand
  • Older brands need to put a greater value on their heritage

There is a nice infographic that goes with all this
Brand Z China's top 100 brands
More information on China top brands 2014 – Brand Z Top 100 Chinese Brands 2014 (PDF). More branding related content here.