Best China Brands 2011

About Interbrand
Interbrand began in 1974 when the world still thought of brands as just another word for logo. We have changed the dialogue, redened the meaning of brand management, and continue to lead the debate on understanding brands as valuable business assets. We now have more than 40 o ces and are the worlds largest brand consultancy. Our practice brings together a diverse range of insightful right- and left-brain thinkers making our business both rigorously analytical and highly creative. Our work creates and manages brand value for clients by making the brand central to the businesss strategic goals. Our services include brand analytics, brand valuation, strategy naming and verbal identity, corporate identity, packaging design, retail design, integrated brand communications and digital branding tools.
About Brand Valuation

We pioneered the techique for valuing brands in 1984 and have continued to improve upon our methodology and set the pace for other approaches. Our valuation techniques have long been recognized by business, academics, and regulatory bodies as uniquely valuable strategic tools. Today, we have conducted over 5,000 valuations for clients to provide guidance in managing their most valuable asset - their brand. Voted one of the three most inuential benchmark studies by business leaders, Best Global Brands is our annual report published on the worlds most valuable brands since 1999. It o ers our insights into how these global organizations create and manage brand value.
Interbrand Best China Brands 2011
Contents
Best China Brands 2011:From Best-in-Class to World Class Jez Frampton Group Chief Executive O cer
Make your brand work harder for you Thomas Chen Executive Director of Strategy, China
How do we value Best China Brands? Interbrands method for valuing brands
2011 Best China Brands The proles of the top 50 China brands
When growth slows down Eric Shao Associate Director, Strategy, China
Industry Insights Financial Services, Real Estate,Energy, Apparel, Automotive, FMCG
How to improve brand strength: BBS Index Introduction & Comments
Contributors and Contact
Best China Brands 2011:
From Best-in-Class to World Class
We are pleased to present our fourth annual ranking of the Best China Brands. While not immune from the current ebbs and ows of the world economy, China continues to represent an engine of opportunity for regional and global growth. The scale of development is dramatic: China now possesses the largest internet population, mobile phone market, luxury market as well as the largest automotive market in the world, just to name a few. Indeed, for many global brands, China is THE long-term growth market, attracting huge direct investments with the promise of very healthy returns to corporate earnings. At the center of this sea of opportunity is the Chinese consumer, the majority of which are economically empowered with all the tools of the digital age. The good life in the major cities is now owing towards second and third tier cities, whose consumers are eager to nd outlets for their new-found wealth. However, the story of China is about more than just the overowing Chinese consumers wallet. It is also about increasingly sophisticated Chinese brands leveraging world-class business practices to create and expand into new markets at home and in some cases, overseas. These brands are developing new products, trailblazing new distribution channels, and dening new equations of value. A study of this years Best Chinese Brands list conrms many of these powerful trends. The minimum brand value required to make our list this year increased by 18 percent to 1.36 billion RMB. And the ratio between the value of the top and bottom brands is narrowing, from 176:1 in 2010 to 154:1 in 2011, reecting a more competitive domestic market less dominated by a handful of state-protected industries. Financial services and telecommunications still dominate the top of the list, but mid-size competitive brands are the ones delivering the highest growth in brand value. Internet brands are being rewarded for their exceptional market exibility and local innovation, and both apparel and electronics brands are proving resilient as they stretch their relevance into adjacent categories. These are the early signs of emerging blue-chip companies, leveraging their brands to seek growth through innovation and product/service excellence. Of course, on the minds of many observers is a key question: When will Chinese brands compete on the global stage? Many of the Best China Brands are still consolidating strength in their vast home market, learning and adapting, and preparing themselves for the next wave of development. But at the current pace, it wont be too long before we are talking about the Best China Global brands. This years study, without a doubt, already reveals a few contenders.
Best regards,
Jez Frampton Group Chief Executive O cer Interbrand
Make your brand work harder for you

Thomas Chen Executive Director of Strategy, China
As the worlds economy still struggles to get back on its feet in the aftermath of the nancial tsunami, many Chinese companies continue to enjoy substantial growth in China. Driven by favorable government policies and steady domestic consumption expansion, most of the 2011 Best China Brands have achieved new nancial records over the past year. Total prots of the top 50 of the 2011 Best China Brands increased 27% from the same period last year. Among them, we have not only seen exponential growth from booming companies in the internet sector, but also robust double-digit growth from gigantic nancial institutions. Upon closer inspection of our ranking, you may notice that many companies listed in 2011 Best China Brands are also named in Fortune 500 because of their enormous business size, such as China Mobile, ICBC, CCB, etc. While many of them have global scale, their brand values, however, are signicantly trailing behind their global counterparts. That is mainly due to the fact that most Chinese brands are not yet working as hard as global brands for their owners.
to or in the center of their business, and it is better synchronized with their business strategy. Coca-Cola is indeed an extreme case, which considers themselves as a brand company rather than a soft drink manufacturer. Most established Chinese companies, on the other hand, are either manufacturing or sales-driven. They still view branding as a part of their marketing communications function. As a result, it is much easier for global brands to mobilize their internal resources to fulll their promises for customer satisfaction; this nurtures brand loyalty and builds a price premium over time. On the contrary, most Chinese companies are struggling to deliver their brand promises consistently, so it inevitably results in customer dissatisfaction. In fact, most Chinese companies hesitate to employ a brand-oriented management philosophy for a reason. Branding has never been a part of their success story ever since China opened up its market to the world 30 years ago. Most Chinese companies manage to thrive by following a similar success formula: opportunity identication, price war, sales network, and resource acquisition. Therefore, even though they acknowledge that branding is essential to success in the market, it is hard for them to change their management mindset overnight, not to mention that it takes managements full commitment and signicant resources to transform a
company into a brand-oriented organization. Of course, there are Chinese companies succeeding in a di erent path by being more marketing0oriented. Yet, they still see branding as a part of marketing communications, and overly emphasize awareness building or instant returns on investment.
Brands create value for you and your customers

Brands create value that is not just reected in nancial statements, but also in daily operations. Brands are indeed a living asset of a company which either propel business growth or die with it. Therefore, we must proactively manage this valuable asset and make sure it is running at its highest productivity in other words, brands must drive market demand for their products on the one hand, and help their company charge a premium price for better prots on the other. Driving market demand is the basic function that a brand must render to its owner. This function becomes particularly critical today because most, if not all, companies are facing red ocean competition an oversupplied market with excessive choices. In addition, escalating production costs and diminishing returns on price wars are also forcing Chinese companies to rethink the importance of branding in their new success strategies.
Enhancing the role of brand in your business

Global brands work harder for their owners because these companies put brand closer
To build a strong brand with pull force for the companys products and services in the market, top management must shift their mind set from inside-out thinking to outside-in thinking. Inside-out thinking, which is popular among Chinese companies, tends to focus on "Who I am " and "What I want to do". It is not uncommon to see Chinese companies state its brand mission as be Chinas #1, respected and worlds renowned brand. While this type of brand mission may faithfully reect the true ambition of top management, it is totally irrelevant to consumers. Hence, inside-out thinkingbrands are often viewed by consumers as a hard sell or propaganda tool. This does not generate much pull force in the market. Outside-in thinking brands can better drive market demand. They care about their customers, not just about themselves, and they tell the market why my existence is good for you and what I can do for you. For instance, Steve Jobs started Apple with the belief that human beings are the masters of machines, so it is machines that need to learn how to communicate with people, not the other way around. This apparently provided a compelling reason to justify Apples very existence in an IBM dominated era and since then, they have been attracting millions of fans. Today, Apple is the worlds richest company with, at one point, more cash than the U.S.
government. Yet again, all the glamour of the Apple brand comes from Mr. Jobs outside-in thinking belief, not a selsh business ambition. Without this vision, the world would not have those user-centric, experience-rich, world-changing inventions such as iPod, iPhone, and iPad. In addition to driving market demand, brands also create value by enhancing the brand owners ability to charge premium prices for their products and services. This is indeed an advanced function of a brand. To do so, brands must add intangible value on top of their tangible products and services. This has evolved from simply a peace of mind and quality guarantee in the past, to an inspiring social meaning. A successful brand, that increases product and service value, must be able to help its customers express who I am or articulate what I believe to others. Most Chinese brands, however, still emphasize the threshold value: peace of mind or quality guarantee. Only a few have attempted to create brands with inspiring social meaning, but many have not yet succeeded because of the inconsistent brand experience: these attempts mostly end with words; they dont live up to what they say. They need to further improve their authenticity.
Embracing a brand-oriented management philosophy

For those Chinese brands with the ambition to become global brands, we believe embracing a brand-oriented management philosophy is essential. Only when brand strategy is fully synchronized with business strategy will your brand begin to unleash its full potential to drive the business forward: shaping your business decisions, directing your growth and ensuring that everyone in the company is on the same page to deliver a fully integrated customer experience. Interbrand sincerely hopes our annual Best China Brand ranking is a reminder for Chinese executives and business leaders that brands are the most valuable asset of a company and it takes top managements commitment and constant investment in brands to render truly sustainable growth.
How do we value Best China Brands?

The Interbrand method for valuing brands is proven, straightforward, and profound. It examines brands through the lens of nancial strength, the importance of the brand in driving consumer selection, and the likelihood of ongoing revenue generated by the brand. To start, Interbrand compiles a list of global brands from our marketing database accumulated from more than 25 years of valuing brands and nearly four decades of consulting with organizations around the world. We then narrow the candidates based on the following criteria for consideration: 1. There must be substantial publicly available nancial data. 2. The brand must be positioned to play a signicant role in the consumers purchase decision. 3. The Economic Value Added (EVA) must be positive, showing that there is revenue above the companys operating and nancing costs. 4. The brand must have a broad public prole and awareness. 5. The brand is barely a ected by uncertain factors such as sector polices Based on these criteria, certain brands you might expect to see in this ranking are not included. Huawei for example, is privately held and do not have nancial data publicly available. CCTV, is state-owned media but not a business organization. Certain industry sectors are also not included in our study. An example are real estate brands, we include them in the list in 2006 and 2007, but we observed these enterprises operating performance is greatly inuenced by the polices, land cost and accounting assumptions. Therefore, the real estate brands have been not included in the list since 2010. And a similar example is the airline brands.
For brands that meet the Interbrand criteria, we next look at the current nancial health of the business and brand, the brands role in creating demand, and the future strength of the brand as an asset to the business. This method is dened on the opposite page.
Methodology
Interbrands method looks at the ongoing investment and management of the brand as a business asset. This means that our method takes into account all of the many ways in which a brand touches and benets its organization from attracting and retaining talent to delivering on customer expectation. The nal value can then be used to guide brand management, so businesses can make better, more informed decisions. There are three key aspects that contribute to the assessment: the nancial performance of the branded products or services, the role of brand in the purchase decision process and the strength of the brand.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
Financial performance measures an organizations raw nancial return to the investors. For this reason, it is analyzed as economic prot, a concept akin to Economic Value Added (EVA). To determine economic prot, we remove taxes from net operating prot to get to net operating prot after tax (NOPAT). From NOPAT, a capital charge is subtracted to account for the capital used to generate the brands revenues; this provides the economic prot for each analyzed year. For purposes of the rankings, the capital charge rate is set by the industry weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The nancial performance is analyzed for a ve-year forecast and for a terminal value. The terminal value represents the brands expected performance beyond the forecast period. The economic prot that is calculated is then multiplied against the role of brand to determine the branded earnings that contribute to the valuation total as noted earlier.
ROLE OF BRAND
Role of brand measures the portion of the decision to purchase that is attributable to brand this is exclusive of other aspects of the o er like price or feature. Conceptually, role of brand reects the portion of demand for a branded product or service that exceeds what the demand would be for the same product or service if it were unbranded. Role of brand determinations for this study derive, depending on the brand, from one of three methods: primary research, a review of historical roles of brand for companies in that industry, or expert panel assessment. The percentage for the role of brand is multiplied by the economic prot of the branded products or services to determine the amount of branded earnings that contribute to the valuation total.
BRAND STRENGTH
Brand strength measures the ability of the brand to secure the delivery of expected future earnings. Brand strength is reported on a 0 to 100 scale, where 100 is perfect, based on an evaluation across 10 dimensions of brand activation. Performance in these dimensions is judged relative to other brands in the industry, and in the case of exceptional brands, relative to other world-class brands. The brand strength inversely determines, through a proprietary algorithm, a discount rate. That rate is used to discount branded earnings back to a present value based on the likelihood that the brand will be able to withstand challenges and deliver the expected earnings.
BRAND VALUE RESULTS

The parts come together so that forecast nancial performance projects economic prots that are multiplied by the role of brand to reveal branded earnings, which, based on the brand strength, are discounted back to a present value and totaled to arrive at a brand value.
Operating Prots Taxes = NOPAT WACC = ECONOMIC PROFIT Economic Prot x Role of Brand = BRANDED EARNINGS Branded Earnings x Brand strength Discount rate BRAND VALUE
2011 Best China Brands

2010 BV rank BV rank 1 2 Brand CHINA MOBILE CHINA LIFE Sector Telecommunications Financial Services Financial Services Financial Services Financial Services Financial Services Internet Services Alchohol BV 2011 Million RMB 208,980 104,031 100,822 88,489 72,855 59,995 40,320 29,546 27,561 21,383 17,031 12,533 11,622 11,292 10,235 9,504 9,100 8,808 8,226 7,782 7,723 7,579 7,264 6,743 6,743 BV 2010 Million RMB 202,855 99,510 96,201 77,699 68,416 56,971 22,964 21,430 23,199 15,349 12,769 6,950 10,108 8,807 8,137 8,481 5,272 5,875 5,036 4,014 5,170 7,379 3,314 4,486 5,072 BV Var% (10-11) 3% 5% 5% 14% 6% 5% 76% 38% 19% 39% 33% 80% 15% 28% 26% 12% 73% 50% 63% 94% 49% 3% 119% 50% 33%
3 4 5 6 8 9 7 10 11 17 12 13 15 14 21 18 24 27 22 16 33 25 23
CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK ICBC BANK OF CHINA PING AN TENCENT MOUTAI
CHINA MERCHANTS BANK Financial Services CPIC BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS BAIDU LENOVO WULIANGYE SPD BANK TSINGTAO ANTA CITICS CMBC ALIBABA CHINA CITIC BANK LUZHOU LAOJIAO CTRIP INDUSTRIAL BANK CHANGYU Financial Services Financial Services Internet Services Electronics Alchohol Financial Services Alchoholic Beverage Sporting Goods Financial Services Financial Services Internet Services Financial Services Alchohol Internet Services Financial Services Alchohol
2011 2010 BV rank BV rank 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 20 30 19 29 26 40 31 36 34 39 35 28 44 43 32 42 50 46 45 38 DFM
Brand
Sector Automotive Pharmaceuticals Financial Services Sporting Goods Financial Services Electronics Education Electronics Electronics Internet Services Retail-Electronics Food & Beverage Food & Beverage Financial Services Sporting Goods Sporting Goods Internet Services Apparel Pharmaceuticals Financial Services Automotive Apparel Financial Services Food & Beverage Financial Services
BV 2011 Million RMB 6,266 5,877 5,724 5,163 4,349 4,345 4,319 4,111 3,870 3,611 3,216 2,967 2,898 2,820 2,436 2,387 2,167 2,119 1,850 1,824 1,786 1,778 1,709 1,695 1,360
BV 2011 Million RMB 5,333 3,813 5,771 3,849 4,126 2,640 3,743 3,118 3,306 2,742 3,287 3,947 1,799 1,994 3,348 2,096 1,151 1,422 1,747 2,850 -
BV Var% (10-11) 18% 54% -11% 13% 5% 64% 10% 24% 9% 17% -10% -27% 35% 20% -35% -12% 58% 25% -2% -41% -
YUNNAN BAIYAO CHINA TAIPING LI-NING CHINA MERCHANTS SECURITIES GREE NEW ORIENTAL MIDEA HAIER NETEASE SUNING YURUN MENGNIU CHINA EVERBRIGHT BANK PEAK 361o SOHU BELLE 999 HUAXIA BANK GREAT WALL BOSIDENG HAITONG SHUANGHUI BANK OF BEIJING
01
CHINA MOBILE
3%
popularity of its intelligent terminal and broadband mobile network, the brand knows how to provide value-added services for customers besides, which in turn sets up challenges for its competitors.
208,980 million
China Mobile enjoys the largest global network and consumer base. A variety of product brands such as GSM (global system for mobile communications), M-ZONE, Easy Own and G3, with di erent market targets, have accumulated a stable customer base for China Mobile. China Mobile launched the brand i-power to keep expanding its customer base. With the increasing
02
CHINA LIFE
5%
accelerating the development of individual insurance and bank assurance businesses. It has also retained the advantages of having the largest sales network nationwide and o cially opened its online sales channel. China Life emphasizes corporate social responsibility by spreading kindness, beneting society through two of its organizations: China Life Charity Foundation and China Life Volunteers Association.
104,031 million
As the largest life insurance company in China, China Life earned the trust of clients with its long history, stability, nationwide sales, service network and solid product line. It has built up the brand image of authority, trustworthiness, and honesty by communicating and practicing the brand slogan To Know, To Trust for many years. Facing a complicated business environment of 2010, China Life consolidated its leading position in the domestic market and optimized its operating structure by
03
CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK
100,822 million
5%
Forever and a customer-centric business concept for implementation. In 2010, CCB launched Min Ben Tong Da (meaning human-oriented growth) brand for comprehensive nancial services including cultivation of people through education and happiness of people through culture. It also won an Outstanding Dedication Award by China Red Cross.
China Construction Bank (CCB) is one of the ve largest commercial banks in China, and features medium and long-term credit businesses. It also occupies a leading position in the eld of infrastructure loans and home nancing, taking on some higher-risk projects in China. CCB has traditionally maintained good relationships with leading strategic corporate customers, major nancial institutions and government customers. CCBs brand communication focuses on the interpretation of ancient culture, and has slogans such as Pursue Excellence, Prevail
04
ICBC
14%
the minds of customers who see the brand as "arrogant" with only a "single product,. Today, much to consumers surprise, this old, established, state-owned bank is getting in touch with the digital age by utilizing micro-blogging and other social means of communication. Admittedly, ICBC will need time to to make the most of this new medium.
88,489 million
Having the largest number of customers and widest banking network, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) makes the top three on this years list. The large scale and growing branded revenue provide ICBC with a solid foundation for brand value. Moreover, the bank is actively exploring overseas markets, constructing information networks and improving products and services to shed its local brand personality and gradually reverse
05
BANK OF CHINA
6%
06
PING AN
5%
72,855 million
59,995 million
Among the four major state-owned banks, Bank of China (BoC) considers its international brand image to be unique. Its brand communication philosophy is global service, aimed at strengthening the brands equity. Recently, the bank worked with overseas partners to strengthen cooperation, consolidate its international operations, and increase the diversity of nancial products, especially in the medium to high-end personal banking. This enhanced the brands reputation and loyalty. However, the brand attribute of "internationalization, may hardly maintain its brand di erentiation in the near future.
In 2010, Ping An made signicant breakthroughs in the banking business by successfully acquiring ShenZhen Development Bank. The establishment of Ping An-UOB Fund has further enriched its product line and completed its integrated nancial model. Ping An brought corporate social responsibility to its business by promoting the concept of Green Finance and start the Green Commitment, Ping An China and Low Carbon 100 Action Plan. These initiatives combined with other CSR activities strengthened the Ping An brand image and helped grow its brand value.
07
TENCENT
76%
08
MOUTAI
38%
40,320 million
29,546 million
In March 2010, Tencent ushered in a new era by hosting more than a hundred million people online simultaneously, a major milestone in the history of China's Internet. As the largest integrated Internet service provider, Tencent launched a comprehensive open platform strategy in 2010 covering QQ, QQ Space, QQ Mall, TenPay, Tencentmicroblog, Pat and other platforms. With this approach, its slogan of "one-stop online life" has started to take shape. Tencent promotes the concepts of youth, social networking, entertainment, interaction and bases through its QQ brand, but the overall recognition for Tencent is lower without a systematic and consistent presentation of the corporate brand within other business segments.
"A state banquet with wine", this high-end brand image is the most important asset of the Moutai brand. However, this premium brand image is a double-edged sword. With high prices, the brand is no longer as accessible and has become the wine of privilege class to consumers. To eliminate this misunderstanding and improve its brand image, Moutai has made many e orts in recent years. One of the most noteworthy moments was when Moutai came up with "wine of privilege class" and "wine of culture" concept. The move allowed Moutai to position the brand on a solid foundation, and rebrand itself into a more a ordable product.
09
CHINA MERCHANTS BANK
10
CPIC
39%
27,561 million
19%
21,383 million
China Merchants Bank became the rst to make use of micro-blogging and other social media to interact with customers. This reects China Merchants Banks "were here just for you", customer-focused business philosophy. Bank customers demands for more nancial products has created more emphasis on improved service standards and communications. This, to a certain extent, has added to China Merchants Banks brand strength. However, while China Merchants Bank has improved its e ciency, convenience and friendly customer service, it has yet to explore its full potential, leading to the gradual loss of freshness in the brand.
CPIC is strategically transforming from a product-/sales-oriented to customer-oriented culture and launched di erentiated products and sales channels based on customer needs. China Pacic Insurance gradually established its brand image of honest, convenient and intimate by consistently communicating and practicing the brand slogan of Promise with Heart, Responsible with Love and the brand commitment of We will be around you anytime,
11
BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS
12
BAIDU
80%
17,031 million
33%
12,533 million
Bank of Communications is a 100 year old, national nancial services brand, but through its cooperation with HSBC, it has been a leader in introducing advanced technology and products. It continuously pursues nancial innovation, helping to enhance its image as Chinas leader in nancial reform. Bank of Communication emphasizes its brand heritage and core values of history, integrity and communications to shape its image. At the same time, it relies on personal communications and exceptional services to become more desirable to customers.
As the largest Chinese search engine and website, Baidu communicates in a simple and direct way, applying marketing slogans like, Use Baidu and you will know, and House searching, use Baidu yet? thus winning over Chinese netizens with a denitive brand image. Baidu has more than 70% market share in China and enjoys a large customer base. As an Internet brand, Baidu quickly responds to the market and continues launching new products and services to meet market needs with a wide business scope and comprehensive service content. In addition to functional search, Baidu launched community search, mobile Internet services, website, enterprise services, and online entertainment. With its online entertainment, PasteBar and Baidu Knows have resonated extremely well with users.
13
LENOVO
15%
these brands has enhance the Lenovo brand internationally among young, fashion-oriented consumers.
11,622 million
In May of this year, Lenovo Group chairman Liu Chuanzhi made a high-prole announcement, "after six years of operation, Lenovos acquisition of IBMs PC business can be said with great success." The excellent performance in scal year 2010/2011, and successful communication of Lenovos core products, such as mobile phones and laptop computers contributes to the increasing brand value of Lenovo. Although di erent product brands have di erent personalities, together, the expression of
14
WULIANGYE
28%
activities, tasting, sale terminal, and souvenir kiosks at the Shanghai Expo. Moreover, it has an excellent track record in social welfare and environmental protection causes and always puts its corporate mission of beneting society by wisdom, courage and diligence into action. Wuliangye also proactively supports its international strategy, and works hard to achieve its goal of China Wuliangye, World Wuliangye.
11,292 million
As the symbol of Chinese liquor, Wuliangye always takes the top position in Chinas high-end spirits market. Leveraging its unique ve grains brewed message has helped extend the brand into multiple product lines in middle and low-end markets, satisfying the needs of consumers in di erent regions and social levels. As a high-end liquor brand, Wuliangye consistently invests in brand communication to seize market opportunities. It strengthened its position as an industry brand leader with a full display of videos,
15
SPD BANK
26%
16
TSINGTAO
12%
10,235 million
9,504 million
In 2010, SPD Bank introduced China Mobile as its strategic partner to make its core capital ratio increase dramatically. Recently, SPD Bank became a agship nancial group entity in Shanghai, citing the citys development through transformation, and aims to become a world-class corporate brand. SPD Bank also intends to be the rst low-carbon bank in Chinas nance industry, using its nancial leverage and capital allocation to demonstrate green corporate social responsibility to its customers.
For a long time, when a consumer thought of Tsingtao beer, they would think of "a brand with a long history" and "mellow taste." Because of this, Tsingtao Beer has been exploring how to re-energize the brand, relating to young consumers. Over the past two years, we have been pleased to see the e orts of Tsingtao Beer: collaboration with the NBA, sponsoring a variety of sporting events, the use of personalized packaging and combined use of various means of communication. The Tsingtao beer brand is full of vitality and these attempts have strengthened its "Passion and Dream" brand proposition, appealing to younger consumers, but also enhancing the brand's market inuence.
17
ANTA
73%
18
CITICS
50%
9,100 million
8,808 million
As a professional sports brand, Anta adheres to a clear brand philosophy: Keep Moving. Antas sponsorship of professional sporting events with top athletes and corporations clearly demonstrates that Anta is a professional sports brand. In addition, Anta was able to quickly respond to the market by launching Anta Lifestyle and Anta Kids to meet the sporting goods needs of women and children. In terms of brand protection, a multi-brand strategy favors sustainable development for Anta.
CITICS achieved growth in 2010 and remained in the number one position. Its main businesses performed well and investment banking surpassed the CICC in underwriting results for the rst time. Inheriting a culture of innovation from CITIC Group, CITIC Securities has gradually established the brand image of steady, visionary and strong by balancing the relationship between stability and innovation, proactively enhancing business model transformation, adding customized service in its broker business, and accentuating the advantage of its research capabilities.
19
CMBC
63%
concept To serve the public and o er care to the public, which expresses its core value and social mission to serve the public with a genuine and honest attitude. Its brand position is consistent and highly recognized.
8,226 million
As Chinas rst commercial bank to complete share reform, Minsheng Bank targets private enterprises, small and micro-enterprises, and high-end customers through continuous product innovation and value creation for customers. It has been a leader in comprehensive return and risk control, and they have been honored for their e orts many times. In 2010, Minsheng Bank further strengthened its strategic focus on small businesses by unifying management practices and delivering on its brand
20
ALIBABA
94%
through its AliExpress, and 1688.com platforms. Leveraging the resource integration of the whole group, Alibaba constantly delivers on its brand mission to ''Make business easy.
7,782 million
Alibaba maintains an extremely clear position and devotes itself to growing small and medium-sized enterprises through its e-commerce platform. In 2010, Alibaba accelerated its business transformation, migrating from "Meeting in Alibaba" where it was merely an information platform for buyers and sellers to "Working in Alibaba" where it now enables complete online transactions
21
CHINA CITIC BANK

49%
further expand its scope of customer service and provide high-quality and e cient online nancial services by 2011. Promise and keep it became China CITIC Banks business message, emphasizing its commitment to customers. However, a uniform, clear and in-depth brand message will be hard to deliver in the near future because of a weak link between brand and customer experience, as well as inconsistent communication platforms.
7,723 million
As one of the earliest emerging commercial banks in China, China CITIC Bank is the rst commercial bank that participated in raising funds in nancial markets both at home and abroad with great success. After more than 20 years, China CITIC Bank has achieved outstanding growth in private banking and excels in such emerging businesses as custody, investment banking and auto nancing, thus laying a solid foundation for rapidly developing itself into a national commercial bank with a competitive advantage. Relying on the technical superiority of Alibaba and customers in e-commerce, China CITIC Bank will
22
LUZHOU LAOJIAO
3%
23
CTRIP
119%
7,579 million
7,264 million
In 2010 LuzhouLaojiao continued its strategy of "dual-brand building and multi-brand operation" put forward in 2009. The high-tier brand image was leveraged by Guojiao 1573 and LuzhouLaojiaoTequ specically for the high-end market, at the same time, these product lines were optimized through multi-brand operations to ensure the supply for markets of di erent levels and to enhance its brand presence. The relevant brand associations should still be communicated more e ectively while the distribution of its activities is strongly positioning the social responsibilities of its enterprises.
As a leading online travel service brand in China, Ctrip.com serves more than ten million registered members with hotel reservations, airline ticket booking, holiday travel booking, business travel management, merchant recommendations and travel information. Ctrip.com targets the mass market of business and independent travel with fast, cost-e ective products and reliable services. With erce competition, Ctrip.com needs to rene and di erentiate its brand proposition and deepen its brand assets in respect of travel, to become a stronger brand.
24
INDUSTRIAL BANK
50%
Trust Ltd. and reached a cooperative agreement with partners including China United Network Communications Limited and Hang Seng Bank in many elds. This will help Industrial Bank advance in comprehensive management, nancial service ability and brand inuence.
6,743 million
Industrial Bank was established for 23 years ago and has developed into an outstanding bank with a unique positioning in the market. With balanced principles, Industrial Bank uses green credit, energy saving and emission reduction as competitive o erings to di erentiate its business strategy and support its image of being the Pioneer of Green Banking. In addition, Industrial Bank has taken the lead in establishing a bank-to-bank cooperation platform and is innovative in terms of inter-bank services. From the end of 2010 to the beginning of 2011, Industrial Bank has purchased and controlled the shares of Union
25
CHANGYU
33%
its large underground century-old wine cellar are known as one of the Asian Miracles and have become famous local attractions. In March 2010, Changyu International Wine Town was opened as a national AAAA grade scenic spot. It will be an important outlet for the communication of wine culture, as well as a great touch point for Chengyu to accumulate brand assets.
6,743 million
As the largest wine-producing enterprise in Asia, Changyu creates a co-branding model with its alliances with world-famous vineyards. The cooperation focuses on branding, technology and marketing where Changyu shares prots and markets with partners while leveraging their brand equity to consolidate its high-end brand image. Changyu has always been the industry leader in the popularization of wine culture in China: both Changyu Wine Culture Museum located in Yantai Shandong and
26
DFM
18%
maintained its leading position through cooperation with world-renowned engine and technological manufacturers and has sustained investments in independent innovation. In the passenger vehicle eld, successful collaborations with a number of international brands have contributed to its solid reputation, but it still lags behind in its own brand's performance in the overall market due to its late development. However, the success of Dongfeng Xiaokang, which is characterized by precise positioning and clear communication, helps reinforce the companys condence in its own brand.
6,266 million
As one of the three largest auto companies, Dongfeng Motor started with the production of medium-sized trucks. After 40-years of development, it now manufactures a full series of commercial and passenger cars, engines and auto parts. In 2010, due to the combined e ects of various policies for encouraging consumption, China's automobile industry experienced rapid growth and Dongfeng Motor's sales reached 2.6 million, which ranked them in second place in the domestic automobile industry. In the eld of commercial vehicles, especially medium-sized commercial vehicles, Dongfeng Motor has always
27
YUNNAN BAIYAO
54%
health preservation, Taibang in the eld of bandages and rst aid, Tianzihong in the eld of womens drugs and Tongqiaoqiao in the eld of childrens drugs. All of these sub-brands are continuously developing in both depth and breadth, while Yunnan Baiyao rules one single eld traumatology. Its multi-brand strategy strengthens the value proposition of each brand and rmly occupies consumers minds; at the same time, it reduces the risk of a single brand by avoiding dilution of its core brand value.
5,877 million
A century-old brand, Yunnan Baiyao is billed as the Treasure of China and Power Cure as a result of its unique and amazing curative e ects. Yunnan Baiyao makes skillful use of its dynamic brand asset hemostasis to extend products to wound treatments, aerosols and toothpaste. It also promotes its products among young consumers by sponsoring Olympic Games and holding street basketball games so that the brand can get close to young consumers and project vitality. Yunnan Baiyao carries out a multi-brand strategy, with Yunfeng in the eld of typical natural drugs, Qiancaotang in the eld of health and
28
CHINA TAIPING
NEW
overseas businesses. After years of e ort in integrating brand resources, it has successfully established awareness and inuence as an ambitious industry challenger. With an 80-year history in both domestic and overseas markets, it reects characteristics of both oriental and western culture, further supportings its brand di erentiation. Now its key challenge is bringing that di erentiation to life in concrete communications and branding practices.
5,724 million
China Taiping, formerly named China Insurance, is the oldest insurance company in China, covering life, property, casualty, endowment, reinsurance and asset management through a network of direct consultants, brokers, and agents. As the only Chinese insurance company with headquarters in Hong Kong and a long history of overseas operations, China Taiping insists on international standards, and has a leading position in the Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. China Taiping returned to the domestic insurance market in 2011 while it strengthened its
29
LI-NING
-11%
30
CHINA MERCHANTS SECURITIES
5,163 million
4,349 million
13%
As a leading sports brand in China, Li-Ning, relying on the Beijing Olympic Games, surpassed Adidas market share in 2009 and ranked second (after Nike) in China. Li Ning launched a complete rebranding campaign in 2010 which targets the 90s generation as its core consumers. However, so far, the new positioning, changed logo and slogan have not yet brought Li-Ning the expected growth it envisioned. Therefore, does Li-Nings brand strategy, aimed at the 90s generation, need to make a change?
"Investors should have the right to choose" is the brand belief of China Merchants Securities. It o ers a variety of products and services to meet the demands of individual, institutional and nancial clients, challenging the traditional brokerage model which focuses on business customers. In 2010, China Merchants Securities has established a sound risk control system and solid technical support platform. With prudent investment and long-term prospects, China Merchants Securities has also rapidly developed its asset management and investment banking businesses.
31
GREE
5%
energy technology as a supplier of central air conditioners, which provided a good example of is international promotion e orts. In its brand communication, Gree has consistently focused on professionalism, technology and quality, but the lack of emotional associations with the brand combined with repeated air conditioning explosion scandals have damaged the brands perception of quality.
4,345 million
In recent years, Gree has shown its dedication to independent innovation with its new slogan: Grasp the Core Technology. In 2010, Gree released three self-developed core technologies, which lled a technological vacancy in the domestic air conditioning industry that reached international levels. During the World Cup in South Africa, it enhanced its image considerably due to the stable operation of its high-quality products the application of low-carbon
32
NEW ORIENTAL
64%
33
MIDEA
10%
4,319 million
4,111 million
As China's rst, overseas-listed educational institution, New Oriental has been in the market for ve years. New Oriental is extending its network of schools to fourth tier cities and is expanding its business to a wider area, such as online education, education product development and media publishing. New Oriental is also using social media, such as Renren to close interact with its target audience, and to win the brand a broader and more positive reputation. This has managed to enhance its brand, further contributing to New Orientals brand being in a top position.
Despite a high degree of homogeneity in the white goods industry, Midea hopes to gain a competitive edge through service and building the best service brand in the industry. In 2010, Midea invested 200 million RMB to upgrade its service and actively promotes service standards for the industry. In March 2011, the on-site cleaning service standard of refrigerators and washing machines was formally adopted by the Ministry of Commerce, setting the standard for household electrical appliance enterprises. In brand communications, Midea has been advocating the concept of "Life can be better."
34
HAIER
24%
home appliances, it ranks rst in the world. This success reects its innovative ability to satisfy consumers individual needs as well as take the leading position in green trends. In 2010, Haier took the EXPO opportunity to o er sponsorship and marketing strategies for pavilions of many countries; it promoted home appliance modernization by virtue of its Internet of things to further strengthen Haiers status as the rst brand of global consumer appliances and also as a Global leader.
3,877 million
By adhering to the concept Sincerity is Forever when it was established 27 years ago, Haier has been diversifying beyond its core business of manufacturing home appliances. The idea of individual-goals helped Haier to make the transition from selling products to selling services and to become the Representative of Chinas home appliances. 2010 is the fth year of Haiers implementation of its global brand strategy. Representing 6.1% of the global retail volume of large
35
NETEASE
9%
cooperates with international gaming companies to foster many popular, high-quality, online games that greatly increase its value.
3,611 million
Netease repeatedly highlights its core concept Power to People, by marketing entertaining and practical services like online gaming, free email accounts, Picasa Web Albums, online videos and microblogs. In recent years, Netease has achieved rapid development in online gaming because it develops gaming platforms based on its research and development ability and
36
SUNING
17%
devotes itself to providing customers with excellent services covering pre-sales, sales and after-sales, to create a great shopping experience. In 2010, its e-commerce platform, "Suning Tesco" was formally launched. Thanks to Sunings accumulated advantages with suppliers and backstage facilities, Suning Tesco's market share in e-commerce has constantly increased, surpassing a number of well-known e-commerce websites that have been in the market longer. This fully demonstrates Sunings great brand appeal.
3,216 million
Suning is the leading electronics retail chain, as well as the largest commercial enterprise group in China. With nearly 1,500 stores in more than 300 cities nationwide and a persistent investment in advertising, it has gained great brand awareness. The brand slogan of "Bring Happiness Home" is gradually becoming familiar in the marketplace. With its focus on consumer demand and its constant innovation of store models, it has transformed its rst-generation air conditioning franchise stores into seventh-generation Expo Super Flagship Stores and developed a portfolio of multi-format stores for various market segments. Suning believes that service is its most important product and
37
YURUN
-10%
38
MENGNIU
-27%
2,967 million
2,898 million
In 2011 with food safety incidents in the meat processing industry, Yurun was not immune to the industrys challenges. Through rapid response and crisis control, Yurun managed to reduce the negative impact on its brand. However, with consumers concerned about food safety issues, and the gradual increase in information transparency, Yurun must carefully adhere to the "food industry is a moral industry" philosophy and abide by stringent production guidelines in order to establish a truly high-end, reliable food brand.
Mengniu replaced its brand communication of Every Day for Tomorrow with Good Quality and Green Life, which demonstrated its determination to implement a quality-based green strategy. Mengniu set up funds with relevant state ministries to realize the ecological forestation of the grassland and communicated green ideas to the public through its pavilion during the Shanghai World Expo. However, as is evident from the student milk scandal in April 2011 and the microblog disturbance afterwards, Mengniu's crisis has not yet subsided.
39
CHINA EVERBRIGHT BANK
40
PEAK
35%
2,820 million
NEW
2,436 million
Based on Customer centric and Service and solution drives, China Everbright Bank makes active attempts to transform itself from a product bank to a customer bank. The bank succeeded in listing A shares in 2010, which will help the brand achieve new development in the future. It is worth noting that China Everbright Bank recently invested heavily in its brand to form a uniform and clear image between key businesses and marketing communications.
Since its establishment, Peak has built a clear brand philosophy focused on basketball both in its marketing and promotion, and has established a cooperative partnership with world-famous basketball leagues, events and players. The close integration with basketball has given Peak an edge over other sports brands in China. Beyond basketball, in 2010 Peak has placed greater emphasis on expanding into running, tennis and football. Peak expects to foster an international and professional brand image among Chinese consumers with this new brand strategy.
41
361
20%
42
SOHU
-35%
2,387 million
2,167 million
As a leading domestic professional sports brand, 361 always adheres to building and investing in their brand, and encourages all young consumers to engage in sports. Beneting from the continued expansion of its retail network, innovative marketing methods and other factors, 361 has witnessed robust growth between 2010 and 2011. By sponsoring the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, 361 associates its brand with professional sporting events and uses One Asia, One Love as its slogan. With its strong brand communication and passionate following, 361 communicates with consumers more directly.
Sohu is committed to making networks an indispensable part of the Chinese way of life. In 2010, with its "Rebuild Sohu" strategy, it emphasized the synergy of its video (media), search engine, game, Web2.0 and other businesses to enhance its competitiveness across a wide range of products. Although it missed the rst strike in microblogging, Sohu still regards microblog as a key product to compete with Sina and Tencent. The Sogo restructuring and the cooperation with Alibaba also indicates its attention to the market potential created by Googles exit.
43
BELLE
NEW
44
999
-12%
2,119 million
1,850 million
Belle is a newcomer to the list of best Chinese brands, and this is not by accident. With the nancial crisis and weak growth in domestic consumer markets, Belle International's multi-brand and channel strategy has played an active role in this market environment. With more than twenty private brands and brand agencies, Belle International plans to cover all market segments, increasing its anti-risk capacity. Meanwhile, after more than 30 years of hard work and construction, Belle's sales channels have penetrated rural areas and fourth-tier cities. It is worth mentioning that Belles brand of communication through distinctive branding, exible and reasonable strategy has caused the target consumers to have high awareness and positive reputation of the brand. The combination of these factors pushes Belle's rst appearance on the list to occupy a good position.
China Resources Sanjiu is the leading company in the over-the-counter (OTC) industry and and innovator of traditional Chinese medicine prescription drugs. Its core products are based in domestic pharmaceutical markets where they have high market share and strong recognition. In 2010, they continued to focus more on research and development, enhancing intellectual property protection for core products and laying the foundation for sustainable development. However, due to criminal charges the brand faced in 2010, its reputation was badly a ected. Sanjiu advocates paying attention to the adverse e ects of western medicine and highlights the safety of traditional Chinese medicine in its branding e orts to create brand di erentiation. The brand lacks imagination by only focusing on general Chinese medicine attributes instead of core consumer demands. In addition, after it was renamed "China Resources Sanjiu", it has been considering whether it should leverage the brand equity of its major shareholder.
45
HUAXIA BANK
58%
46
GREAT WALL
NEW
1,824 million
1,786 million
Huaxia Bank is the fth listed Chinese bank and advocates a human-focused corporate culture and values of integrity, standard, harmony to enhance its social reputation and sustain its development capability. The strategic orientation of Huaxia Bank is to o er services to small and medium enterprises. Its dragon boat plan includes a series of high value products and services targeted to this specic segment of the market. Given Huaxias focus, the awareness and identity of its brand needs further enhancement and external expression to fully clarify its unique market position.
Great Wall Motor, a private auto company with great potential for development, has focused on its international and domestic market development strategy for years. Its hero brands Haval and Wingle continue to be China's top sellers and exporters in their respective market segments; they also accumulate abundant brand equity for the main brand thanks to their excellent quality. In 2010, Great Wall Motor launched its rst sedan, Voleex C30, which has high-quality features and was an instant success in the market. This marked its initial strategic transition into the car market and fully reected its brand appeal. Due to its long-term pursuit and condence in quality, Great Wall Motor launched its brand tagline "The Great Wall Car Made in China", which represents the sentiment of a private enterprise ready to serve its own country. In 2010, the Great Wall Motor team participated in the Dakar Rally and established a pragmatic voice in the world with an ultimate challenge to consistently deliver superior quality.
47
BOSIDENG
25%
48
HAITONG
-2%
1,778 million
1,709 million
BOSIDENG has adopted new strategy to accurately position segmented markets and e ectively develop multiple brands and seasonal product transformation. It launched six core brands of down apparel and two non-down MAN apparel brands to cover a wide range of age groups and styles. In 2010, BOSIDENG has made great e orts to become a top global brand. by accelerating its entry into the international marketplace when Bosideng MAN entered GREENWOODS, the famous UK retailer, and established franchise stores in the UK enhancing its international brand image. In 2010, BOSIDENG cooperated with many famous e-business websites to facilitate its brand message in new media.The establishment of large agship stores in many domestic, large cities also e ectively promoted the overall brand image of the group.
Hai Tong has enjoyed a good reputation in the business sector with its stock and bond underwriting, and mergers and acquisitions, especially, with a strong competitive edge in small and medium-sized stock underwriting. Under the pressure of the commission war in domestic brokerage in 2010, it sought to transform the brokerage business from trading channel-centered services into comprehensive customer-centered ones. Because of this, the brokerage service brand of the Rainbow Club was launched to improve customer satisfaction and meet customer needs. At the same time, Hai Tong has strengthened its investments in new industrial projects, captured the market of stock index futures trading and made breakthroughs in consulting on nancial and overseas emergency sales.
49
SHUANGHUI
-41%
50
BANK OF BEIJING
NEW
1,695 million
1,360 million
With mainstream and social media extensively reporting on quality issues,Shuanghui is facing declining consumer condence. Because of its brand strength, Shuanghui still remains on the Best China Brands list. After the crisis, Shuanghui presented a new brand slogan, "We are in action", but it still faces serious quality issues which include consumer distrust and resisting the sentiment related to internet blogging and other social media, further escalating problems with the brand. Shuanghui will only maintain its position through courageous reection, a successful business strategy and solid actions in order to secure a top spot in next years list.
Founded in 1996, Bank of Beijing achieved rapid economic development with a strong base of high-quality customers, and adherence to its market positioning "to serve the local economy, SMEs and the people." It quickly grew into a unique commercial bank with a business philosophy to be customer-centric. It has had an outstanding performance in the nancial sector in recent years, playing a lead role in the support of SME development, environmental protection related credit business and cultural and creative industries. In 2010, it signicantly improved its total prots, risk prole, and cooperation with other nancial institutions, and it made its retail nancial business a major priority of future development. "Sincerity" is the core focus of its messaging, and it is on the way to building a brand image of "a modern, international and service-leading commercial bank'' by emphasizing its goal of "reliable, high-credit and meeting the needs of local customers.
When growth slows down

Eric Shao Associate Director, Strategy, China
We have become accustom to Chinas booming growth, but we seldom ask ourselves whether the growth is sound and what unseen costs might exist. When growth slows, how will our thinking and actions fundamentally change?
Fears of Chinas domestic ination, the U.S. credit crisis, and the consequent reactions in the nancial marketthese are just some of the many problems signaling the slowing pace of the global economy, which could also a ect China. Under this expectation, will the Best China Brands continue their miracle stories in the future?
As a responsive indicator, growth rate will directly a ect brand value, when a brands protability decreases. Markets had high hopes for Chinese brands in the past given its size and growth. The theme of our BCB 2010, Riding on Chinas Growth, told the same story of how Chinese brands leveraged market growth. However, when the trend slowed, values returned to where they should be. In particular, nancial brands are more vulnerable to the outside market, as well as government policies. Many brands like Tencent, China Merchant Bank and China Pacic Insurance can still maintain strong growth momentum. These rapidly growing brands proved their strong potential for achieving high economic return, and they sustained it through this past year.
Re-thinking the growth pattern

The top ten most valuable Chinese brands grew eight percent, exactly matching the GDP trend, but the number was slightly lower than 10 percent for the overall top 50. Ranked rst, China Mobiles value increased by three percent, as the brand faced a erce smart-phone battle last year. Other top leaders achieved limited growth last year. What is happening to the leading brands? Based on branded revenue, Interbrands brand valuation model is an important step in projecting future brand earnings, for which the factor g (prot growth rate) is derived from the averaged estimates of a few investment banks. When these banks lower their growth expectation on a brand, its value has to be adjusted accordingly. Sometimes, the adjustment can have a very negative result.
in Million RMB
Internet Services
Education
Pharmaceuticals
Telecommunications
Sporting Goods
Alcohol
Banking
Bifurcated value growth by industry

Internet service and education are the fastest growing industry sectors with above 60% growth, followed by automotive, securities and sportswear. The brands in these industries also achieved great nancial performance and high growth expectations. IT service brands such as Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba and Ctrip, grew to be more open, condent and strong in their service o erings. For instance, Tencent grew to be the largest Internet service portal; Baidu is striving to take the place of Google in its absence; and Alibaba and Ctrip are continuing to add innovations to their e-commerce businesses. New Oriental Education, the only brand in the education service sector, is a weather vane for the whole sector, indicating an unstoppable trend, as education moves away from the old administrative system and takes risks to redene itself. Food & Beverage faced many challenges with health and safety issues. Brand values were hit because they did not address consumers concerns and respond appropriately. Although they placed their hopes on advertising, it was not enough, especially since problems existed in their material sources, manufacturing process and quality standards that are fundamental to the supply chain. In apparel, brand values have gone up and down during the past year; Metersbonwe left and Belle joined the list. As a shining star, Bosideng was awarded for its e orts on transforming its young fashion apparel brand. The brand denitely needs to design for the dream and lifestyles of its target consumers, not just simply design clothing for them.
Electronics
Insurance
Alchoholic Beverage Securities
Automotive
Retail
Food & Beverage
Apparel
BSS as the indicator of growth quality

Interbrands Brand Strength Score (BSS) uses ten factors which create a comprehensive framework for evaluating as well as managing brands. There are four factors from an internal perspective and six factors from an external perspective which provide a view a brands long-term ability to secure future brand earnings. In our BCB study, we found high BSS variance in industries such as consumer electronics, Internet services and pharmaceuticals. It could be said that branding is not sophisticated enough in these industries without enough clarity, commitment, protection and responsiveness in managing the brand on a daily basis. On the other hand, top brands still have a lot of room to increase and improve competitiveness by fully leveraging the power of the brand. Today, the average BSS of Best China Brands is relatively low: 48 out of total of 100. If the BSS average of Chinese brands were improved by ten points, the total value of all Chinese brands would increase 44 percent. If so, Best China Brands will achieve another miracle by improving the fundamental quality of branding, rather than leveraging the sales growth or positive expectations. From this excercise, we can see that Chinese brands should focus their attention on quality improvement with patience and openness, since it is a long journey for any brand who wishes to be as competitive as Best Global Brands.
Industry Insights
Financial Services
Simon Meng Brand Consultant, China
need to make good use of brands to strengthen customers belief in their long-range business while practicing basic skills. Second, in order to strengthen the ability of resisting cyclical risks of the economy and to form synergies, more and more nancial institutions have dened the business strategy of comprehensive operation. Financial conglomerates represented by Ping An, CITIC Holdings and China Everbright Group have been playing more and more important roles in the whole Chinese nancial sector and need to shape a uniform image of army group via brands to highlight their unique advantages. Third, regardless of developing towards nancial conglomerates, the boundary of such traditional industries like banking, insurance, securities and trust have become vague. The cooperation and competition between them becomes increasingly frequent so that nancial institutions are The nancial service industry, as the lifeline of national economic development, is actively transforming itself due to the changes in both the international and domestic situation of the Post-Financial Crisis Era. This raises new challenges for brand building of nancial institutions. First, as a result of the nancial crisis, risk control awareness and related capacity building have been enhanced for the whole nancial system; however, nancial institutions still required to achieve customer orientation, further subdivide market and provide specialized and meticulous nancial services that meet customer needs. In this scenario, the brand becomes the important tool for them to accurately communicate with their target audience showing their understanding about customer needs and their own distinctive competence. In 2010, the global nancial crisis began to ease little by little. The world economy continued to be on the di cult road to recovery while developed economies witnessed slow growth and emerging market countries su ered from high ination. The reform of the international nancial system and regulation accelerated, and the deeper impact of the global nancial crisis was gradually changing the pattern of the global economy and nance. In the international scene, China accelerated the transformation of economic development patterns and adjustment of the industrial structure, thus continuing to maintain steady and rapid economic development. However, the pressure from restraining ination and maintaining growth built up and the monetary policy of China was adjusted from moderately easy to stable and steady.
Insurance
In 2010, facing great impact from the nancial crisis, China improved the basic construction of the insurance market. The insurance market continued to keep good momentum on development, fundamentally driving the rapid development with total assets increasing by 22 percent and premium income increasing by 30.4 percent. However, Chinas insurance industry is still puzzled by over-centralized products and imbalanced channels, so it is facing pressure on structural adjustment; reform policies issued by the supervision department can have a distinct guiding e ect. However, improving the ability of enterprises, educating and guiding the market by brand - to let insurance products return to guarantee and develop more innovative channels accepted by consumers - is the only way to fundamentally solve their problems. Although Chinese-funded insurance enterprises are protected by national policies, they have already faced great challenges from foreign-funded and joint-venture insurance enterprises. In this erce competition, many Chinese insurance enterprises began to seek the strategic transformation from product orientation to customer orientation and provide customized products and services according to the di erent needs of consumers based on market segmentation. The transformation of business strategy needs to incorporate brand strategy, thus allowing brands to become the core power of business development through unique brand positioning, proper brand expression and continuous communication so that enterprises can move ahead in the competition.
Securities
In 2010, a ected by the gradual decline in incentive policies adopted by the government, the expected rise of ination and the European debt crisis, Chinas overall stock market witnessed violent uctuations and the total income as well as net prot of the securities industry slowed down. As the competition in traditional businesses that depend on heaven for food became increasingly intense and small and medium- sized securities companies launched more e orts, the degree of concentration of brokerage and underwriting further decreased. The prot model with service homogeneity is hard to carry on and the transformation of prot model of the securities industry is extremely urgent. It can be seen that the income structure of the industry has presented the characteristics that the income from brokerage greatly decreases while the income from underwriting increases. Compared with traditional businesses, for such new businesses like investment consulting, asset management, direct investment and security nancing, professional service capacity is needed. However, it is a hard choice for customers due to their lack of understanding of the capacity of professional service. At the moment, brands can play a crucial role they can help enterprises establish di erentiated cognitive abilities and thus win the trust and preference of customers. Therefore, in the period of industry transformation, securities companies, while making greater e orts to raise customer demand, shall focus on strengthening brand building and seize the opportunity of new businesses by brands.
Banking
The nancial crisis had a severe e ect on many internationally, renowned banks. Given this opportunity, Chinas banking industry has been accelerating its international development. However, domestic banks will not change their status or consider the mainland to be their main battleeld in terms of transforming economic development of the State. Their goal is to further achieve careful and intensive cultivation to meet the all-around competition of foreign banks in the Chinese market. As the Central Bank strengthens liquidity management and credit control, domestic banks need to enhance nancial innovation, rapidly develop intermediary business and promote continuous optimization of both business and prot structures. As intermediary services require less for such tough targets as interest rates, limit and number of outlets, they will conversely require more for such soft power as professional competence and customized services; the support shall be won from many brands for intermediary services. Therefore, domestic banks need to deeply explore customer demand, make the targeted response through brands and in turn, win the preference and loyalty of customers. Many domestic banks aim at constantly expanding the scale and realizing nationwide operation, yet they will obtain negative results if they indulge in the pursuit of size instead of their own features. According to the successful experiences of American Express and Wells Fargo, the operating philosophy of Small but Beautiful can also win the favor of the market over the Large and Comprehensive approach. The nancial services of small-sized enterprises and rural areas, currently supported by the State, provides banks which lack size with the opportunity of achieving the Small but Beautiful mentality. They do have the opportunity to construct core competitiveness based on a specialized segment of the market and to make use of brand to di erentiate themselves from competitors.
Real Estate
Ruby Wang Senior Strategist, China
Based on Intrinsic Requirements and Stick to Brand Proposition -the Inspiration of Real Estate Industry in 2010 Over the past year, China's real estate market has undergone the most stringent regulation in its history and the whole industry continues to face deep adjustment. The real estate companies focused on high turnover and greatly promoted product sales to seize market share, while home buyers were increasingly cautious, are taking a wait-and-see approach. As people tend to be more rational when purchasing homes, the real estate enterprises with strong brand competitiveness are taking this opportunity to capture more market share. In the end of 2010, Vanke exceeded the 100 billion RMB mark in global residential sales by breaking the original benchmark and became the industry leader. What kind of customer recognition and brand is needed for such an enviable market performance? For the past three decades, it has adhered to the human-centered idea of experiences and insights of life as the principle of construction and service. In this sense, Vankes brand can always pull its determined weight in any market environment. When customers can personally experience all the user-friendly details, naturally, they will express constant wariness judging on the value. Poly Real Estate, which ranked second in annual sales performance for 2010, (its annual sales rose by 53% to 66.3 billion RMB) launched a new service brand: "harmonious home in the same year, which triggers nostalgia of courtyards. This aims to further disseminate the service spirit of harmonious, cozy and a ectionate solitude in communities. In recent years, Poly has maintained its strong business performance by continuing to stick to its core brand philosophy of incorporating traditional Chinese culture, which nourishes the wisdom of branding, after the continuous collisions with the needs of the times. Likewise in 2010, China Overseas Estate, the Engineering Leader, reected on the incompatibility between population growth and resource consumption. They developed fth-generation, top-quality products focused on the promotion of low carbon. They have always maintained a pragmatic and stable attitude and devoted themselves to the pursuit of quality products with the brand idea of "timeless top-quality". The product promotion
resulting from the trend of the low-carbon era, undoubtedly pours new brand power into the concept of Top-quality. As we can see, these enterprises which steadily forge ahead, have the ability to adhere to composure in the midst of restlessness; they have faith and they are constantly pouring new ideas in line with the new era. This is the insistent power of the brand. When people attach importance to practical value with the rational regression of the market, realize real feelings with the entire mind, and persistently respond to the intrinsic requirements of construction users, then inevitably, they are on the right road to ever-lasting brand prosperity.
Energy
Lawrence Chen Senior Strategist, China
Energy is closely interrelated with national security, industrial structures, and our daily life. It has an extensive range in terms of energy forms and types, like oil and coal. It also includes public utilities like: gas, electric power and water. Moreover, new energy, which has been developing rapidly over the years, includes solar energy, wind energy, biomass energy, nuclear energy, geothermal energy, hydrogen energy and other forms which are included in the scope of big energy industries. On the other hand, in terms of the value chain of the energy industry, mining and excavation, generation, transportation, distribution, storage, application, management and regeneration also involve the complicated technology and wide-range scientic applications. The energy industry in China is witnessing a period of dramatic change. With the scarcity of traditional energy sources and serious e ects on the environment, energy development and energy e ciency improvement draw more and more scrutiny; especially, technological advancement and the market application of new energy. New energy can serve as a supplement to traditional energy as well as e ectively reduce the inuence on environmental safety. Even though the development and use of renewable energy and new energy sources started relatively late in China, a series of supporting administrative rules and measures (Law of Renewable Energy in 2006, and energy policies during 11th Five Year Plan) issued by the government stimulated, encouraged and promoted rapid development of new energy. The scale of energy production and the range of energy use is expanding throughout the whole energy industry.
The energy industry is gradually developing from a manpower resource and capital-intensive industry into a skill and knowledge-intensive industry. Today, brands have becomes more important and sometimes even key assets. Companies in traditional energy industries, such as SINOPEC, CNPC, CNOOC and Shenhua Group Corporation, those in public utility elds, such as State Grid, China Southern Power Grid, Beijing Gas and Towngas, and the new energy solutions providers, such as ENN, Goldwind, Suntech Power and Yingli Solar, are all exploring to build the overall strength of their brands. Jumping from traditional thinking models and placing more emphasis on customer communications, they strive to win greater market penetration. Interbrand made the following conclusions based on observations and analysis of branding development throughout the energy industry: 1. Brand will become the language describing the future of the energy industry. We are in a new era to dene the New Energy industry. In this historic moment, energy enterprises describe the whole picture of better life through Brand and interpret their important role in the new energy industry. 2. Branding is used to guide society to accept new energy concepts. To grasp the opportunity of industry changes and coming trends, as well as to enhance the authority, energy enterprises started to change their previous communication channels, which only relied on transaction businesses. They will now start using branded communications to highlight the benets to society. In addition, they will e ectively integrate the value proposition of the brand and energy theory to educate society to gradually accept new energy concepts. 3. Customers decisions rely more on the understanding of the brand. The energy industry is developing in a more complicated and abstract way and more and more traditional energy enterprises are devoting themselves to clean energy, solar energy, biomass energy and energy services. Therefore, more e orts shall be made on branding to establish communication with customers, partners and even the public to improve the role of brands in the decision-making process.
4. Branding of the energy industry will bear more responsibilities for social services. As the consciousness of health, environment and safety (HES) management grows, thebrand of the energy industry will bear more responsibility for social services. Establishing a foundation, developing research sponsors, promoting a green economy, providing community education and carrying out sustainable development can strengthen the master brand of energy enterprises. In terms of business communication, the energy industry is a very typical B2B model; therefore, enterprises will attach more importance to stable business relations with the government, large-scale customers and partners. However, branding communication di ers from business communication, and as more emphasis is placed on the intrinsic and long-term demand of the core target population, expectations for an ideal energy state in the future will rise. The whole energy industry in China is reaching a stage of rapid development, but at their speed of development they will also have to think about how to improve the quality of their enterprises and their social responsibilities. Therefore, systematic brand building and more active market-oriented brand communication become tasks which enterprises cannot avoid. Only in this way, business development can be coordinated to aid a new round of development.
Apparel
Maggie Ren Senior Brand Consultant, China
The clothing market in China is currently undergoing drastic changes. On the one hand, rapidly developing market prospects means unlimited opportunity: as the middle-class grows and expands, consumption generated by the integration of personal consciousness, consumerism and social circle leads to the unprecedented increase in demand of personal identity expressed through clothing. The clothing industry is expected to become a giant market with 1.3 trillion RMB in sales projected over the next ten years. Facing the future ten golden years, Chinese clothing enterprises are eager to make their own mark, eventually solidifying their place in the fashion market. On the other hand, the future is full of variables and uncertainties. As we begin to see many of the international traders swiftly enter into tier-II and tier-III markets, consumers fashion aesthetics and consumption experiences are undergoing deep changes. Mainstream fashion has developed into a more mature style. A ected by the impact of emerging fashion networks, consumer demand is increasing. As a result, questions are being raised in response to this rapidly emerging movement. What can brands do for the long-term success of such enterprises? How can we keep up with the ferocious appetite of consumers? Should we still attract the attention of consumers by building retail experiences with trendy styles, constantly launching faster, and more novel products, dazzling brand advertisements, celebrity endorsements and television advertising campaigns? Maybe, we can ponder the e ects of VANCL which ourished out of nothing.
1. It would be better to directly relate to consumers current mindset and lifestyle than to make assumptions on their life status with advertising, thus creating a brand proposition with attitude and value. Especially, the post 80s and 90s generation whose personal awareness and attitude towards consumption has reached a historic stage. They are willing to mark their own attributes with consumption and corresponding to their value concept is the vital point by which to determine whether a clothing brand will play a role in the industrys more segmented future. 2. The success of a brand does not rely on the fast launch and innovative design of the products of the season, but rather conveying the essence of brand so that design style relates to peoples demand. The success of a brand does not rely on advertising placement or celebrity endorsement, but rather the consistency between the ideal worlds in advertising and the real world experience in the store. As a matter of fact, distribution, products and retail environments will experience the ow process, which starts with the brand and ends with the brand. This means that each detail will become the experience concerning the brand after merchandise, to reect core messages of the brand and nally reaching positive brand association. Therefore, marketing on and o the line, product development, shop displays and story advertising shall center on the brand to form a circular theme so as to follow in a proper sequence and achieve organic growth.
3. While the traditional marketing channels do a good job in pushing ideas, online interaction and public participation provide new possibilities for brand loyalty and passion. Brand communications have increasingly become a powerful outlet of free speech, which can no longer be denied. In the future, it should be good to invest in online channels for both communication and sales purposes. Predictably, when product lines expand, communication channels become more three-dimensional and the levels of communicating information grow more complex; the competition grows and intensies. The brand image can either make or break the business; it all depends on whether the brand is the red thread, core, through the business.
Sports wear
Compared with other types of clothing, sports wear brands made in China seem to be more successful. Li Ning is currently the second largest sports wear brand in the Chinese market, surpassing Adidas. Also, Anta is currently valued at over 30 billion RMB and has ambitiously declared a plan to open 10,000 shops. The industry considers this quite normal for double-digit growth. However, if we review the superb sales gures concerning sporting good brands made in China over the past few years, most companies have selected to keep away from the mainstream nature of international brands. Instead, these companies have taken a di erent business approach by using the rural areas to encircle the cities. These Chinese brands choose to grow their business in public markets rather than establishing brands in professional markets to achieve success by proposing sports-irrelevant brand propositions rather than o ering professional benets. At any point, should international brands decide to enter into the tier-II, tier-III and tier-IV markets, local brands will be threatened as a result. Someone once described what makes local brands worried: although consumers buy the local brand, they are still thinking of the international brand; once the budget is not a problem, these consumers will turn to international brands sooner or later. In fact, celebrity endorsements, TV advertising and rapid expansion of franchises and outlets have become the one and only way to push digital growth of sporting goods brands made in China. The high cost of advertising maintains growth prosperity and delays the uproar of sporting goods brands made in China. However, it overdraws rational construction of local brands. What have sporting goods brands made in China accumulated over all these years? As advertising replaces technological innovation and unique design style, local have brands always drifted towards an empty inner brand core which lacked su cient brand support factors. The brand cycle of belief and action is the core problems local brands have to face. In terms of sports belief or philosophy, sporting goods brands made in China need to make a rich and close connection with the public. Li Nings tagline, Make the change, nally gets rid of embarrassment and accomplishes the change of from daring to think, to action. Besides a magnicent slogan-change, news conferences and a round of advertising releases, what really matters is that Li Ning learned how to translate brand spirit into real, professional and daily story. The key is to convey the message of deep meaning in the brand so that people can develop all kinds of associated images of di erent sports states or life philosophies. This will help a brand move and win the favor of the consumer. Action, technological breakthroughs, star products and the real impulse to engage in sports are the necessary coming-of-age scenarios for developing truly great sporting goods brands. Chinese sports brands will gain success with the progress of Chinese sports, including sponsoring outstanding athletic elds in Chinas Sportsdom, focusing on the di erentiated sporting talents of Chinese people, and making true contributions through technological breakthroughs. Proven success came from the rise of Nike and Adidas. This could pave the way for sporting goods brands made in China to achieve long-term success. Here is an interesting comparison: in 2010, when Anta was full of condence in promoting its annual highlight - elastic rubber, Li Ning carefully explained why it had only a 5% shop growth plan. Leaders of local brands began to remove the process of single handedly relying on extensive growth and attaching more importance to intensive growth. Maybe the future is full of variables, but Keep Moving can always Make the change.
Automotive
Eric Shao Associate Director, Strategy, China
Laggard behind after service After sales service is a very critical part and important source of revenue. It also contributes to brand recognition in the automobile business. Global car brands after-sales service is able to sell 2nd and 3rd cars to customers and is part of their business strategy. After-sales service is not a matter of quantity nor is it about the completion of the service range, after-sales is about the brand experience for customers who care about the brands promise throughout the entire journey such as repair, maintenance, insurance, re-sales, nance, training etc. Chinese car brands have neglected the importance of after-sales service. Even though they have their slogan hung above their work shop Customers rst, customers do not believe it so Chinese car brands loose to independent stores or small repair shops. Chinese auto brand Making Chinese Lantern There has been a great leap for Chinas automobile industry. It is projected to be the largest auto market in the world. The momentum is triggered by huge demand, favorable government policies and the strong foundations of the industry as a whole. As the miracle continues, more and more Chinese brands will arise following their predecessors Geely, Chery, Greatwall, and BYD. They have come at a perfect time. Why? IMarching to the Quality of Growth When Santana brand was introduced to China in the middle of 1980s, the industrial foundation of Chinas auto industry was still in the era of the 60s. From assembly line to all kinds of auto parts (windshield, lights, seats etc), there was almost nothing available domestically. However, 30 years later, China has developed a few huge auto industrial clusters, where hundreds of OEMs are established and low cost labor is readily available. The whole industry was built with the prerequisites of large scale production, huge domestic demand and the development of modern management. Cost leadership and national networks require the strategy of being big, while modern management is a must. All of this is the result of competition, because lean manufacturing, automation and logistic distribution are the source of competition and manufacturing management is the most critical part. Lack of core technical competence Without the patents and knows-how, making a car resembles a Chinese lantern it is beautiful outside but it is just made of di erent pieces and materials inside. Likewise, Chinas automobiles such as the passenger car, truck, and coach are assembled with the parts from same OEMs and even the exterior part has a very similar look. Lack of di erentiation encourages price wars and tightens the margin of auto manufacturers. When there is a product defect, customers have to come to OEMs for help or claim. Particularly for trucks and coaches, engines, chassis and transmission the technology is controlled by OEMs. Now, Chinese brands are looking for the technology all around the world. M&A seemed like a viable quick solution. For example, Geely acquired Volvo, but their attempts failed in the case of Rover and Saab
Lack of creativity in the ads Local brands are proud to introduce brands with connections to western heritage, or imported technologies, and even in some cases, some unbelievable technical features. As matter of fact, this phenomenon reects embarrassing situations because Chinese brands do not have car culture and consumers are not very sophisticated. Lack of creativity is not the true weakness in the automobile industry. It indicates that Chinese car brands do not understand their customers and their needs. Even though Chinese car makers did research on their customers, they have neglected their feelings and did not meet their needs. A car is not an indicator of transportation and social status, but represents many things from culture to the lives of their customers. Next milestone The future of Chinese car brands is splendid especially after seeing the models which recently debuted at Shanghais show. The journey is long and it is just the beginning for Chinese brands, with new arenas to compete and challenging global rivals such as green energy, environmental protection and public transportation.
FMCG
Doris Ho Head, Consumer Branding, China
Chinese consumer brands tend to invest heavily on a single core brand and stretch it across as many products and categories as possible. With a vast domestic market, it is a viable strategy for swift market expansion; however, there is a limit to how much a brand can be stretched meaningfully. As a result, Chinese consumer brands tend to be regionally focused and do not reach signicant business scale. This is a risky strategy in many ways; brands become over-leveraged and extended to a point where familiarity, and not relevance, becomes the key driver for purchase. International brands, with more focused product portfolios and brand strategies, can then quickly snatch market share from them through stronger emotional engagement with consumers. Chinese consumer brands need to switch from building capacity to building real brands. This includes an evaluation of how they could build their business around a broader brand portfolio, rather than just one or two single brands. This is especially helpful in tackling the diverse regional needs of the vast Chinese market a broader portfolio of brands will allow for climate, taste and lifestyle di erences. If you take a walk down a supermarket aisle in China, you will see many popular local brands in every product category. Many of these local brands, however, have already been acquired by international companies. These acquisitions do not seem to be ceasing with Nestles recent plans to acquire Hsu Chi Fu a move that will net Nestle a signicant amount of market share in China. These acquisitions play a strategic role in the localization of the brand and business strategies for international companies in China. This is achieved through a broad portfolio of both international and local brands that cover di erent price tiers, as well as di erent target audiences across each price tier. Chinese companies are also acquiring international brand names as well in a reversal of roles (Bright Foods is in the process of negotiating a stake in Manassan Foods Australia). These acquisitions may be primarily motivated by international technical and knowledge acquisition, as well as by the acquisition of new global brand assets, at the moment; however, it is also hopefully also going to lend to scale and portfolio range that would see more Chinese consumer brands making their way into the Best Chinese Brands league table within the next few years. Safety issues continue to plague the fast moving consumer brands this year as many of these companies that made the Best China Brands table this year saw their standing fall from previous years. With the exception of Tsingtao, their brand value also declined across the board. This fall in ranking and value are due to several factors: Consumers in China face safety challenges in many aspects of their lives from sub-standard processes, poor ingredients to even harmful substances there have been scandals linked with many products, especially in food and beverage categories. While they are still stoically consuming, there is general skepticism as it is a market environment where even reputable brand names are not a guarantee of quality. This has a tangible impact on market value with share prices performing lower. Against this background, consumer brands are viewed more critically: How fast are they at addressing consumers crisis of condence? (Responsiveness); Do they articulate a clear direction or show transparency in their operations? (Clarity); Do they hold true to the same values and standards that consumers can rely on? (Consistency); These aspects are directly reected in key components in our brand strength analysis. For consumer brands, they face a tougher job in building brand reputation with consumers. In China, product or brand claims that are not substantiated su ciently, or are too broad are seen as exaggerated and unbelievable. It is a delicate balancing act for brands in creating di erentiation from competition, and evoking desire from consumers, while maintaining credibility. Chinese consumer brands are also limited by their portfolio of products and brands. Their products and brands are often focused on a single product category. This puts their entire business at risk if their product, and therefore the whole category, faces a crisis. Even as they diversify, they are still doing so within the same product category. Mengniu, for example, has created a more premium milk range under an independent brand, Telunsu, with no visible link to the Mengniu brand; this has however, still not helped diversify their revenues and risk signicantly from their core brand. Can we expect to see more consumer brands on future Best Chinese Brands charts? There is certainly high potential, but this may require a change of mindset and strategy for local consumer brands.
How to improve brand strength: BBS Index Introduction & Comments

Derek Huang Senior Strategist, China
Today companies value brand strength more than ever before. In the past, due to segmented market responsibility and pressure from such evaluation indexes as ROI or brand perception, many brand owners sidestepped some basic principles of brand management. These results conrm the fact that many brands are currently subject to consequences from short-term targets. For example, some Chinese brands in the food industry merely focus on how to launch eye-catching products and obtain more market shares while overlooking quality issues, which are the cornerstones of building brands. Interbrand Brand Strength Score consists of 10 indexes, which are equally important for generating brand value. We use this score system to calibrate essential focus on brand management. It covers nearly each aspect of brand management such as employee, product, positioning, channel, communication, partnership, etc. making it is an important approach to accurately understand brand strength management and evaluating brand value.
Commitment
The heights to which a brand is held in organizational decision making. The extent to which the brand receives support in terms of time, inuence, and investment. One recent survey for the banking industry shows that the brand satisfaction of small banks is generally better than that of big banks in China. Moreover, the brand images of small banks are more clearly perceived than those of big banks. This highlights the great gap in terms of the focus on brands among various banks. For example, China Merchants Bank has always been pursuing its well-accepted brand philosophy of We are Here Just for You and using new products and media to promote this idea. Positioned as Your Wealth Management Bank, the Bank of Communications has been striving to seize better opportunities. Through recent investment in its brand, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank is striving to build an advanced international brand image and provide helpful services by following the concept of New Thinking and Hearty Service. It is great to see that most renowned Chinese companies, in all sectors besides the banking sector, are becoming more and more committed to their brands. We believe that this is not only brand owners passive response to erce competition both foreign and local, but also their strong will and initiative. One notable point is that some excellent B2B brands are taking the lead in brand commitment.
Protection
The approach to securing the brand across a number of dimensions: legal protection, proprietary ingredients or design, scale, geographical spread, and CSR initiatives. Chinese brands are going through great challenges with regards to brand protection. Whether it be naming, patent and product redenition necessary for going global, escalating M&A battle in domestic market or SNS tracking in this new era, brand owners are inevitably facing the problem of how to e ectively protect their brands. This involves many legal issues, as well as the test of skilled and capable brand management. When thinking globally, the practices adopted by the Apple brand may be the most enlightening case to study. Apple not only highlights its product series by naming the products as i+ category name, but also legally registers specic product names, such as iPad. It is even trying to register all the products under its brand from the ipod prototypes to the desktop icons of its operating system. These early protective measures not only eliminate copycats, but also build loyalty from Apple customers.
Clarity
What the brand stands for in terms of its values, positioning and proposition. This must be articulated so that everyone knows it when they see it or hear it. Generally, good brands can facilitate clear and consistent association. To some extent, clarity measures how and to which extent the brand and its owner denes its target group. Only when the requirements of the target group are clearly understood can we build powerful brand. This means that our communication and other business activities (like product, personnel and channel, etc.) should clearly respond to the requirements of target group. Therefore, brand managers should not only fully and clearly interpret the brand meaning, but also provide brand understanding for and discuss relevant application with each business unit, so that they could have adequate clarity about the brand. PING AN is well positioned to build a globally leading comprehensive nancial service brand. Guided by this concept, PING AN actively integrates di erent brand positioning of newly merged and established business units and uses a uniform brand image for external communication. In contrast, when expanding globally, some Chinese companies have a rather vague understanding of brands or even let go of brand development, thus the original brand value is gradually diminished.
Responsiveness
The ability to respond to change or proactively create opportunities that is driven by a sense of leadership and a desire to constantly evolve and renew itself. The challenges brought by the electronic technology industry today best illustrate the role of brand responsiveness. With the fast development of smart phones, especially new rounds of upgrades driven by the emergence of such brands as Samsung and HTC, customers interests have been undergoing some dramatic changes. Change always means that new opportunities will be created. Excellent Chinese brands as Lenovo and HUAWEI have seized these opportunities in terms of new technology to build their own smart products so that can march forward and become global brands.
Authenticity
The notion that the brand is soundly based on an internal truth and capability. It has a dened heritage and a well grounded value set. It can deliver against the expectations that customers have of it. As the basis on which a brand is built, authenticity is also the origin of customers condence. Although most Chinese leading brands have long histories and good reputations, the fear is that some Chinese brands seem to dilute their authenticity. For example, since last year, some Chinese brands in the food and dairy sector have been under the greatest criticism due to food health and safety issues. Once condence in a brand is disrupted, it is extremely di cult to rebuild the brand.
Relevance
The t with customer/consumer needs, desires, and decision criteria across all demographics and geographies. In a fast-changing world, brands should be relevant to the needs of target customers, which entails well-segmented and positioned target strategies. For example, targeting to the needs of di erent segments, TSINGTAO Beer has introduced di erent product series, so as to grab the attention of each customer. Recognizing the continuously upgrading needs for quality and exterior design in the home appliance sector, HAIER has been striving to build high-end sub-brands and achieve good performance in terms of relevance. In addition, as smart phones and tablet
Similarly, for expansion or even Meanwhile, in the internet industry, cloud computing has become the next, world-wide focus. Chinese internet brands like BAIDU and ALIBABA have been moving toward this direction. However, for these brands highly connected with science and technology, it will be the brand managers next key issue to e ectively integrate responsiveness of technology with the brand so as to keep pace with, or even anticipate, customers needs. cross-industry expansion, brands will inevitably face some fundamental challenges. If these challenges are improperly handled, the brand will give limited impetus to new business, or even result in breaking brand condence for original business.
computers are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese customers, many Chinese brands in banking and internet sectors etc. have set up appropriate terminal platforms. These measures can help promote brand connection with target groups.
Understanding
The brand is not only recognized, but there is an in depth insight of its distinctive qualities among customers and employees. Understanding means that the customer will not only choose your brand, but also properly help to promote it. For example, almost every liquor drinker can tell the di erence between MOUTAI and WULIANGYE. This is closely related to continuous publicity and experience of these brands. YUNNAN BAIYAO is a well-received brand among customers because it integrates traditional Chinese medicine and updated modern medical technology. When experiencing the products e cacy, customers remember the brand, YUNNAN BAIYAO. Based on good brand knowledge, YUNNAN BAIYAO achieved great success in promoting products based on its brand philosophy.
Consistency
The degree to which a brand promise is experienced without fail across all touchpoints or formats. When it comes to consistency, we can easily refer to the retailing and hospitality industry, as both industries are in the greatest need of maintaining a consistent brand image and are susceptible to the pressures of complex local markets. As a representative retailing brand in China, SUNING has adopted various store types for di erent markets and plans to expand into 3rd and 4th-tier cities or even town market. With such plans for the future, maintaining a consistent brand will be a major challenge for SUNING; however, considering complex markets does not necessarily disrupt brand consistency. For example, McDonalds launched special products in di erent markets to t local taste, as brand consistency was discovered in this diversity; the preferences of young people is now recognized in di erent markets. Consistency is also reected through various point of contact. Like NIKE, the brand statement behind the tick logo can be quickly updated overnight while maintaining great consistency by using various touch points, from advertising to websites and from products to stores.
Presence
The degree to which a brand feels omnipresent and is talked about positively by consumers and customers, opinion makers in social media and employees. The emergence of social media is a good opportunity to promote brand presence. Customers today are more inclined to share their opinions about brands through the Internet, which can help quickly build brand inuence as well as expose brand issues promptly. For better or for worse, this is an era of mass information and complex communication. For brand managers, the Internet was seen as a channel through which to push information to certain target customer groups in the past, but today, it has become an open platform where customers and anyone else can talk about products, business and brands. For most people, the Internet is perhaps the (only) means through which most people are associated with certain brand for the rst/second time or consistently. Brand managers should fully understand that a brands target group is the same whether online or o ine. Though SNS has quickly become a critical component of brand strategy, it is still a tool for personal and professional communication, and brand strategy itself is the key response to a business challenge. SNS tools should be consistent with the brand and business strategies.
Di erentiation
The degree to which consumers/customers perceive the brand to have a di erentiated positioning distinctive from the competition. Be it in banking, home appliances or the apparel sectors, many Chinese brands are developing unique di erentiators. For example, this year GREE has taken the initiative to launch its brand appeal as core technology acquired, to seek di erentiation in the homogenous home appliance market. However, many Chinese brands still focus on relatively internalized and vague publicity on such things as large-scale and quality. This will not only make it di cult for customers to make purchasing decisions due to vague brand di erentiation, but also pose constraint on the direction of future business growth.
Authors and Key contributors Jez Frampton Group Chief Executive O cer Jonathan Chajet Executive Strategy Director, Asia-Pacic Katie Zhou Managing Director, Beijing Thomas Chen Executive Director of Strategy, China Chuan Jiang Creative Director, China Doris Ho Head, Consumer Branding, China Eric Shao Associate Director, Strategy, China Derek Huang Senior Strategist, China Tim Yi Senior Designer, China Chen Chen Designer, China
Contributors Andy Payne Global Chief Creative O cer Stuart Green CEO of Interbrand Asia Pacic Lawrence Chen Senior Strategist, China Ruby Wang Senior Strategist, China
June Cao Strategy Assistant, China Echo Zhang Brand Analyst, China A very special thanks to the valuation, analytics and design teams that contributed to 2011s Best Chinese Brands report. In particular, thanks to Nik Stucky, Sean Mead, Jennifer Bassett.
Contact Maggie Ren Senior Brand Consultant, China Simon Meng Brand Consultant, China Haohao Zhou Strategist, China Gloria Yan Associate Strategist, China Audrey Guan Verbal Consultant, China Giulia Chiara Rocca Associate Strategist, China Echo Xie Associate Strategist, China Thomas Chen Executive Director of Strategy, China Email: Thomas.chen@interbrandcn.com Tel: +86 21 61925212 Address: Unit 902, Ascendas Plaza, 333 Tian Yao Qiao Road, Shanghai 200030 P.R.China Eric Shao Associate Director, Strategy, China Email: Eric.Shao@interbrandcn.com Tel: +86 21 61925215 Address: Unit 902, Ascendas Plaza, 333 Tian Yao Qiao Road, Shanghai 200030 P.R.China

Best China Brands 2011

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Best China Brands 2011

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

About Interbrand

About Brand Valuation

Interbrand Best China Brands 2011

Industry Insights Financial Services, Real Estate,Energy, Apparel, Automotive, FMCG

How to improve brand strength: BBS Index Introduction & Comments

Contributors and Contact

Interbrand Best China Brands 2011