Forward!
No, that’s not a misprint. The title ofthis foreword is indeed FORWARD!A fitting title I’m sure you will agree;not least because The BrandZTop 50 Chinese Global BrandBuilders 2018 are on a mission.
David Roth
CEO, The Store WPP, EMEA & Asia
[email protected]
Twitter: @davidrothlondon
Blog: www.davidroth.com
| Increasingly those responsible forbuilding China’s brands are movingoutward as fast as they are marchingforward. Their sense of purposeis palpable and transcends theircommercial objectives. There is a highercalling that is providing the impetus tonot only build global brands, but to buildinnovative, higher-value global brands.
The catalyst for this high-octanepropulsion of China’s brands on to theglobal stage is President Xi Jinping’s2013 proposals to build a “Silk RoadEconomic Belt” and the “21st CenturyMaritime Silk Road”. Five years on, the“Belt and Road Initiative” is not onlysupported by more than 100 countriesand international organisations, itcontinues to be backed by China’sbusiness leaders and the companies andbrands in their charge.
The impact of the ‘Belt and RoadInitiative’ extends far beyond thegeography of the ancient Silk Roads’trading routes. Why stop at Europe,Africa, the Middle East, South-EastAsia and South Asia? The scope of theInitiative’s call-to-action has been clearlydefined as ‘going global’.
As well as championing the ‘Belt andRoad Initiative’, China’s brand leadershave also embraced the country’sinnovation-driven development strategy.‘Going global’ today is as much aboutdelivering quality-innovation as it isabout extending reach.
The core objective is not just forChina’s companies and their brands toreach a global audience, it is for thosecompanies to change the way thatpeople around the world think aboutChina’s brands. Increasinglyinnovative and better quality brandsare confronting the old Chinastereotypes.
Although the number of people whothink ‘Made in China’ is a pejorative termis reducing, there is still much work to bedone. The entrepreneurs and businessleaders behind China’s brands are up forthis challenge.
Miinster Zhu Qin spoke about theupward shift in the value of whatChinese companies sell internationallyin his address at an event at the UK Houses of Parliament to celebrate theachievements of the ‘BrandZ™ Top 100Most Valuable Chinese Brands’. MinisterZhu talked about moving from “made in”to “created in” China.
Anyone who questions thedetermination of China’s governmentand business leaders to deliver onthis should read President Xi’s speechat the five-yearly party meeting inBeijing, in October 2017, in whichhe uses the word “Innovation” nofewer than 24 times. Most telling isthe opening sentence of the “MakingChina a country of innovators” section:“Innovation is the primary driving forcebehind development; it is the strategicunderpinning for building a modernizedeconomy.”
As well as building economies andbetter lives for people, innovation buildsbrand value. As you can read in thepages that follow, many of China’s BrandBuilders believe that ‘people-centric’innovation is the springboard of theirglobal expansion, and consequentlythe underlying reason for their globalsuccess.
There are still many challenges that needto be overcome. These are being boldlytackled, at an international as well as atnational level by Chinese Brand Builders,who are passionate about improvingtheir brand’s, business and countriesperformance.
I am fortunate that I spend a lot of timetalking with China’s Brand Builders,I sense that there is an increasingappreciation of how data can help;because analysis of ‘good’ data canfacilitate a better understanding ofwhat’s required to improve things.
There is also a sense that the old ‘rules’and conventions of online and offlinemarketing are breaking down, and thatthe two disciplines should be looked atholistically. These challenges are bestovercome by making better use ofbetter data – and building a marketingcommunications plan around the realityof the audience’s daily life.
Go to brandz.com to learn more. |