Brand Building Challenges China Export Business

Asia’s Top 1000 Brands report found that other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea were well represented in the top 10 (Sethi, 2015). The list included Sony, Panasonic, South Korea’s LG and Canon. But two other studies conducted recently by Brandz and Brand Directory have one Chinese organization in the ninth position in worldwide rankings, and several firms from the country among their top 100s (Sethi, 2015). But this does not significantly change the fact that the bulk of electronic and consumer goods exported from China are either unbranded or produced for foreign makes such as Apple. The ongoing economic slowdown at home and shrinking export markets present a new challenge to Chinese companies. One reason why Chinese companies have generally failed in brand building is their reluctance to invest in product safety and research and development.

Serious questions have been raised both by consumers and government agencies in China about goods including contaminated milk, toys with toxic coloring and fish and meat that is either infected or colored to pass off as fresh (Sethi, 2015). Lack of consumer trust in Chinese goods both in the domestic and international markets is a significant problem, and this inhibits brand development. After all, brands only breed loyalty through trust, both regarding value for money and safety. Many Chinese retail and CPG (consumer packaged goods) products are still considered as a lower value than western brands or products (Sethi, 2015). But then, China is one of the world’s biggest markets, and success in the country should be enough to ensure a high position in global brand listings.

Chinese firms have done well in the Brand Directory and Brandz listings. Chinese companies seem to achieve high brand value at the point when their income profits are joined with buyer observation about quality, consistent quality and products worth prescribing to other people. The conviction that the legislature supports numerous huge Chinese organizations is additionally a noteworthy brand promoter (Loo & Davies, 2016). Then again, Chinese brands can confront segregation in outside business sectors and among consumers who have a low perception of China for political and cultural reasons. Branding nihilism in China persists due to the unsolved many more economic problems, but the era of wild branding is gradually disappearing, at least at the current pace of development (Alon, Littrell & Chan, 2016). The presence of fake products is a challenge that small Chinese companies face when they try to export their products.

Modern advertising and brand communications in China are built by high-class world standards, attracting the best Western experts in the field of advertising, branding, and design. So, the renowned Dutch design studio Dumbar, beginning in 2005, actively penetrated the Chinese market (Bakker, 2016). The works of the Chinese branch of the studio do not have any particular local specifics as it is entirely Western design with its standards and trends. For example, the GAP “Let's GAP Together” advertising campaign, depicting Europeans and Chinese, is considered very bold (it focused on images of young Europeans and Chinese women), even provocative, a kind of famous United Colors of Benetton campaigns had no negative consequences. Today, not only European faces, but also the imaging system itself is becoming habitual for advertising in China, it does not cause rejection among young people and the urban middle class, and social loyalty to the language of modern brand communications will only grow.

An essential component of the modern Chinese market is the premium-class brand sector, in which the more affluent strata of society, which have not been thoroughly saturated with them, are in demand. Although the government is trying to smooth out the emerging inequality by introducing bans on the advertising of luxury and luxury goods, these actions are tactical but not strategic (Loo & Davies, 2016). The premium brand market plays an important role, and it is developing at a heightened pace. Such difficulties do not arise, for example, the Kaspersky Lab did not experience problems in branding. This is not surprising because the issues of translation are determined by nothing more than the competence and professionalism of brand managers and translators. There are various ways I which the Chinese can tackle the problems facing the brands at home.