Getting your brand right in China is tough - Tom Doctoroff

Tom Doctoroff by Fantake via Flickr

Foreign brands in China have seen huge successes and massive failures. Tom Doctoroff gives in Gulf News his take on the difficulties of building a brand in this booming economy. Gulf News:

After setbacks for brands such as Home Depot, Best Buy and Barbie, which have closed stores or withdrawn after failing to win over Chinese consumers, the lessons of Huai Hai Road are germane.
"Anybody who comes into this market and thinks they can just plant their brand and let it grow will be sadly mistaken," Tom Doctoroff, north Asia chief executive of JWT, the advertising agency, said.
"Any [foreign] business model needs to be brought into alignment with Chinese cultural and consumer imperatives."
He points to Pizza Hut, Starbucks and Haagen-Dazs as the gold standard for foreign brand success in China. They took products alien to Chinese tastes and made them popular.
Pizza Hut and KFC, both owned by Yum Brands, localised their menu.
But adjusting to local tastes is not just about food, Doctoroff says. Pizza Hut, Starbucks and Haagen-Dazs all focused on eat-in, rather than carry-out, in China. "Barbie just got plonked down in China."
Even luxury goods companies have had to adapt their model, he says. The Chinese market for luxury goods is "broad and shallow".

More in Gulf News.

Tom Doctoroff is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When  you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

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Better worry about China's brands - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Chinese brands have started to beat the foreign ones, tells Shaun Rein in CNNgo. It is time for the foreign brands to get worried about 'made in China'.

“There’s definitely been a shift in perception [of Chinese brands],” says Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group. Targeting youth, he says, is the key.

Take China’s version of Kappa.
“Sports apparel is premium purchase for a lot of younger consumers, so they gravitate towards Kappa, whose Chinese incarnation puts the European brands to shame.”
Ditto Septwolves, the menswear brand from Fujian.
“It does very well in third- and fourth-tier cities,” says Rein. “In fact it beats the foreign companies investing out there.”...
So what’s the lesson for the multinationals out there looking to China to save their bottom line?
“Be worried,” says Rein.
“Up-and-coming Chinese brands are no longer positioning themselves as ‘cheap but good enough,’" he continues. "Younger brands are impressive and ambitious and can go head to head with foreign brands on equal footing.”

Read more: 'Made in China’ is finally cool | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/shop/chinese-design-made-china-renaissance-807794#ixzz1DM97bxyN

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

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China brands suffer from 'made in China' stigma - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Many upcoming global brands in China still suffer from their 'made in China' stigma, Shaun Rein tells CNBC.

“The ‘Made in China’ stigma is serious,” flagged Shaun Rein, managing director of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group, adding that Chinese brands need to establish an element of trust with consumers, which will require higher quality control and more attention to the packaging of products.

“One bad case of poor quality products like a TV blowing up or a wall being found to have carcinogens will destroy these brands forever.” China has faced a series of scandals at home and abroad including lead-containing toys, tainted medicines as well as contaminated milk.

But that might change, Rein adds:

“Within a decade, Americans need to be prepared to see Chinese brands and not just the ‘Made in China’ label on store shelves.” 

However, for the majority of mainland brands, Rein believes it will be a lengthy and difficult process before they are “accepted by Western consumers," citing Japan’s Sony and Korea’s Samsung as examples of companies that struggled to attain their status as the world’s leading electronics makers.

Chinese companies, for the most part, are just learning how to brand in their home market, he said.

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Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

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Chinese brands moving up the value chain - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein   by Fantake via Flickr

Chinese brands might have been competing on prices and distribution in 2005, in 2010 they are moving up in the value chain and worry Western brands, writes Shaun Rein in Forbes. Quality and image-building have entered China's board rooms.

Look at Google. Our research suggests that Google failed in China in large part because consumers believed that Baidu had far better Chinese-language search capabilities, not just because of an unfair playing field. In head-to-head search comparisons we conducted, Baidu's results weren't necessarily much better than Google's, but its branding as the site that knows Chinese better than Google and that has technology as good has helped it dominate. Unused to serious local competition, Google was slow to roll out local services and marketing campaigns that would resonate with Chinese consumers. Similarly, Ctrip, an online travel site, is beating up Expedia, and Taobao, the online auction site, remains far ahead of eBay. They are better branded, and they fit the needs of local consumers better.

 More trends multinational companies have to watch out for in China in Forbes: rising labor costs and the new focus on domestic consumption.

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Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

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