1. BT.APR29.PG012.pdf Page 12 19/4/11, 4:18 PM
COMMENT
BIG TALK
MADE IN CHINA, BRANDED IN CHINA
China is extending the presence of its brands into Africa at the moment, but we should expect to see more global players
coming from China over the next five years at home and across other markets
Adam Joseph
Herald & Weekly Times
readership director,
News Limited
When the topic of China comes up in marketing conversations it usually seems
to be about how ‘we’ can get our brands into this booming market. For
example, Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the global WPP group recently
said: “I would like China to be clearly our third largest market”. There’s rarely
any talk of Chinese brands getting out of China – by which I mean Chinese
domestic brands being exported into Australian and global markets.
I recently read an Interbrand report ranking the Best Chinese Brands 2010.
What really surprised me was that I had only heard of three of these top 50
brands: Lenovo (computers), Baidu (search engine) and Haier (white goods).
In my ignorance, the only other Chinese brand I know is Great Wall Motors. But
then I’m no expert. I’ve never even been to China (not yet anyway – however
I’m always open to a sponsored field trip).
I suspect I’m not the only marketer or businessperson who feels out of the
loop when it comes to what’s going on in China with branding. According to one
expert on the Interbrand blog, one of the biggest challenges for many Chinese
brands over the medium term will simply be satisfying the booming domestic CHINESE BRANDS (CLOCKWISE FROM
levels of demand. For this reason, the push for global growth might not be as TOP): LENOVO, BAIDU AND HAIER
intense as witnessed from Asian countries with smaller domestic markets,
such as Japan and South Korea. But in the longer term, international expansion
will be firmly on the agenda and we should expect to see many more Chinese the Big Four – PwC, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte – would have a tough time
brands marketed here. cracking the Chinese market. For one thing, they will face increasing
Robert Rath is General Manager of Digital Sensis. He recently returned to competition from fast-growing domestic accounting firms. Perhaps in the not-
Australia after spending four years in China as CEO of Telstra Sensis China. too-distant future we’ll be talking of “The Big Five”, with a Chinese firm
Rath says: “Under the current five-year plan China is focused among other emerging as a major auditing player on the global stage.
things on taking China to the world. We see this in China’s interest in acquiring Of course, it’s not just Chinese brands that will be exported out of China in
foreign assets and businesses, along with China’s brands making a concerted greater numbers in years to come. The flow of Chinese talent, students and
push into the hearts and minds of overseas consumers, along with taking on tourists will also boom.
global giants like Boeing and Airbus.” According to Robert Rath from Digital Sensis: “With the recent
On this note, my boss Rupert Murdoch recently commented in an AFR liberalisation of travel for the mass Chinese population we will see
interview that “China is buying up and developing half of Africa”. Indeed, a tremendous outbound tourism and one thing China does well is numbers. Over
recent report on ‘The Impact of Chinese Investment in Africa’, published in the the next few years we will see ‘Brand China’ be far more visible than ever
International Journal of Business & Management, observed: “China’s African before and the influence of China in tourism and global politics increase.”
policy is being driven by its domestic development strategy. First, it wants to Perhaps the most telling evidence of brands Made in China can be found in
access energy resources. Second, it wants to establish export markets for its the recent BRANDZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2010 report. Five
light manufacturing, services, agro-processing, apparel and communications years ago, just one chinese brand made the BRANDZ global top 100.
offerings. Already, Africa is full of low-cost motorcycles, electronic and According to the most recent report, seven of the top 100 most valuable
consumer goods sourced from China” brands are now Chinese. These include China Mobile, Industrial & Commercial
Africa awash with Chinese brands? Who’d have thought it? Funnily enough, Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China, China Construction Bank, PetroChina,
I discovered one such example while watching a documentary on the ABC. If Baidu and China Merchants Bank.
you ever go to the African national of Mali and visit the capital you’ll be struck If you haven’t already spotted it, four of the seven are in financial services.
by the sheer number of mopeds on the roads, and the dominant brand of The chessboard is already in play, Erlier this year the ICBC launched a chinese
moped is Power K. which is made in China, and ridden all over the largest takeover of a US retail bank, buying 80% of Bank of East Asia’s American unit.
country in West Africa. This acquisition gave ICBC ten branches in California and three in New York.
Africa aside, one Chinese brands said to be destined for Australian shores According to Bloomberg, the acquisition “will enable us to establish a solid
in future might be NE Tiger, which describes itself as “China’s leading luxury presence in the US,” according to ICBC chairman Jiang Jianging.
brand”, specialising in furs, leather and haute couture. And looking beyond For now, the banks are branded “Banks of East Asia” – but I wonder if in
physical goods, what about Chinese service brands? five or ten years’ time americans might know them instead as ICBC, just as we
A recent story in BRW looked at the accounting industry in China. It argued are famiiar in Australia with a bank branded HSBC. ■
12 BANDT.COM.AU APRIL 29 2011