What are the challenges facing multinationals that want to build their brands in China —I think the first thing is ignorance. There’s a huge (1) of the complexity in China, which is more complex than Europe. There are different rules of law, which (2) a significant factor. There are different (3) , Cantonese and Mandarin and lots of others in (4) , and dialects like Sichuan versions. You have problems of distribution. (5) Chinese brands have been (6) local because of the size of the market and the transportation system, What’s (7) built up there is a sort of a pride in localness.
How can companies build their brands in China —China is a place where (8) have to be very patient and you’ve got to build (9) time. You can’t go in (10) invest short-term and then pull out (11) then try to get back in (12) . It’s about being consistent, steady, building (13) reputation, building confidence and then rewards will (14) . It’s a consistent ability to anticipate need. It’s insightfulness that helps brands to (15) ahead.
How are local Chinese brands doing against the multinationals —China’s been built (16) local brands and there are a billion of them and they are (17) spending sums of money locally that really dominate the (18) . But the future is Chinese brands moving outside of (19) and marketing globally, because China’s got to move from a commodity economy to a (20) sophisticated economy, which fundamentally (21) brands. There isn’t a major economy in the world that (22) based upon producing great brands, because they provide far better margins and more sustainable (23) .
Has Asia produced any truly global brands —Japan has. Some of the major companies (24) do really very well with brands. In Korea, some of them (25) but some of them need to catch up in terms of understanding how to really build global brands.
+mgh