Building Chinese brands to compete in global market

Dong Jun / SHINE

A China-made train is exhibited at the Exposition on China Indigenous Brand.

City officials pledged to strengthen brand-building efforts as China Brand Day and the Exposition on China Indigenous Brand kicked off at the Shanghai Exhibition Center on Monday.

In a keynote speech, Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang said enhancing brand influence is necessary for China to become a strong manufacturing nation.

"We will devote more effort and further leverage the brand power to upgrade the city's manufacturing capacity, product and service quality, so more Chinese brands can compete internationally," Li said.

This year's theme "China Brand, Global Sharing; Focusing on Dual Circulation, Leading New Consumption" is meaningful and timely as Shanghai is enhancing the development of the digital economy to empower local businesses to stay connected with the latest consumer trends.

Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Yin said brand building plays a crucial role for the city to enhance functions and boost economic growth.

The city is dedicated to building brand awareness and enhancing commercial services, infrastructure and core urban functions, Chen added.

Dong Jun / SHINE

A visitor is enlightened by the sight of indoor plants exhibited at the expo.

Li Daokui, dean of the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking at Tsinghua University and a former Central Bank advisor, called for the government to adopt a long-term approach to encourage brand building and lett the market play its role to make brands grow and prosper.

"Building up a favorable business environment would also help brands prosper," Li said. "Although Chinese companies' brand value increased in recent years, most of their operations are still focused on local markets. Building strong brands would ensure a smooth economic restructuring process."

Chen Jianghe, or Sukanto Tanoto, an overseas Chinese businessman and chairman of Royal Golden Eagle International, sent a video message to the forum that called on domestic brands to continue leveraging local infrastructure and Internet connectivity to serve the huge mass consumer market in China.

"Despite temporary interruptions, the trend toward globalization will not stop, and Chinese brands should seize the opportunity to build an international platform to enter the global market," he said.

He encouraged local companies to transform the image of Chinese brands, create competitive advantages and form international partnerships that cater to overseas market trends.

Top Chinese brands experienced a continued rise in brand awareness and purchase intention in overseas markets in a latest joint study released by Kantar and Google today.

Consumer electronics, mobile gaming make up nearly half of the brands in the top 50 ranking, and transportation mobility services, cars, and e-commerce are doing particularly well in emerging markets.

"We have been urging Chinese brands to take their unmatched logistics and innovation capabilities and use them to create a brand positioning that made them meaningful, different, and salient and their efforts over the years have paid of off," said Doreen Wang, Kantar China President & Global Chair of Kantar BrandZ.