Chapter 5 How do Chinese brands go global?

Tsingtao beer is on the tables of Chinese restaurants around the world, from New York to London to Sydney.But until today, apart from Tsingtao Beer, few Chinese brands have really gone out of China.In the minds of consumers, this brand does not have much inherent characteristics or emotional connotations, but just a Chinese name on the bottle.However, in the past ten years, with the help of a lot of TV advertising, there have been a number of outstanding brands in China.Many business leaders view the internationalization of brands as part of their broader globalization strategies.In addition, Lenovo and TCL are not only acquiring companies but also brands internationally.After acquiring brands, they also need to cultivate and develop these brands to earn returns on their investment.

While many CMOs in China (if they have one) and their senior colleagues are ambitious and globally minded, they also don't know how to get started.Just like when multinationals entered China a decade ago, these companies have yet to find a cultural "anchor" that would allow them to move away from unwise choices in brand-building investments, whether in terms of near-term financial returns or long-term branding.Most of the early Chinese companies involved in international operations underestimated the risks of overseas brand building, but only applied their domestic brand management experience and made changes while trying.They think that the wrong impression can be quickly corrected by changing the content of the advertisement or changing the medium.Quite the contrary, as is often the case, a poor first impression and inconsistent marketing positioning can only make things worse in the minds of potential consumers.

For example, a Chinese company sells to large international companies.The company is often a major sponsor of industry events, hoping to create brand awareness this way.But the effect of his keynote speech was not good, it failed to resonate with the audience, and because of the excessive exaggeration of the company's capabilities, the impression it gave customers was contrary to its original intention.In another example, a large Chinese company published a print advertisement in Europe, but the translation materials provided by the Chinese side were very poor, and only a Chinese phone number was left.What is exasperating is that when you call from this number, the recipient can only speak Chinese.While the company acted quickly upon learning of the situation, first impressions were hard to shake.

The most serious question facing the chief marketing officer of the enterprise is, what kind of return can the marketing investment bring to the enterprise?These challenges are compounded by the diversification of marketing channels and the constant evolution of consumer behavior.In fact, many multinational companies are also exploring some tools, looking for a good entry point.However, many chief marketing officers in China blindly increase investment in TV advertising, relying on the original power of TV advertising, and lack the experience in creating international brands based on scientific analysis and marketing art that is needed to shape international brands.Chinese consumers often associate the importance of a brand with the amount of TV advertising, but in many Western markets, the opposite is true, and the repetition of the same ad on TV can make viewers suspicious.Promotions at retail stores are commonplace in China, whereas in the West they may be banned.

If one wants to look for exemplary practices in building international brands, the reference value of other Asian countries and regions is also very limited for Chinese chief marketing officers.Taiwan's Acer has managed to build a strong lead in Europe, but not in the US and mainland China.Many branded products in Taiwan (such as Delta's plasma TVs) are difficult to achieve natural growth, and the investment threshold required to form a certain scale is too high.BenQ's acquisition of Siemens' mobile phone business and its brand represents a leap-forward change, similar to Lenovo and TCL's moves.South Korea's success stories are more positive, especially Samsung, LG, and Hyundai, which have enjoyed great success in both developed and developing countries, although they have also found that brand building requires The input is truly astonishing.

Some leading companies in China have chosen to take the acquisition route, such as: Nanjing Automobile Group acquired Rover, TCL acquired Schneider and RCA, and Lenovo acquired IBM's Think brand.At this time, the need to quickly master brand management skills is even more urgent.The intrinsic value of the brands acquired by these companies can be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and if the brand strategy or execution is slightly wrong, it can quickly depreciate in value.Enterprises should make a choice, whether to use the brand for profit, or to consolidate the brand?Is it to adopt a mass brand attitude or a high-end brand positioning?Essentially, keep a brand, or just keep the name?

Looking ahead, in order to develop their own international brand strategy, China's chief marketing officer should follow the following principles. First, ensure that the brand strategy and brand connotation are consistent with its business strategy.Samsung and LG, for example, both started out as high-quality, affordable brands.But then, in the long run, both companies decided to enter the premium market and become premium brands.Second, allocate corresponding expenditures for channels corresponding to different regions and product categories, and for key bottlenecks in the customer purchase process, so as to build brand awareness, familiarity, purchase and loyalty.Third, identify processes, assess existing performance, and make improvements.Finally, the marketing team should include talent with international experience.Focusing on the last point, companies must try their best to find a chief marketing officer who has international experience and is suitable for the Chinese market.Chinese companies must learn fast, attract top talent, and take on the branding challenge—they have no choice but to do so in order to successfully transition from a domestic brand to a global one.