Firms work on their international brand image

By Liu Baijia (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-03 09:12

All of these moves have helped expose Chinese companies to the world.

And innovation, which often goes hand-in-hand with brand image, has become vital for Chinese companies.

China Mobile, with a brand value of US$3.55 billion according to Interbrand and the 85th most valued brand in the world, has been a leader in the use of data services among mobile operators.

It has about 300 million subscribers slightly more than the population of the United States and these people send 1 billion text messages per day.

Working with Google, the world's biggest mobile carrier in terms of subscribers and market capitalization will also launch new services like a mobile search.

But there are still many potential pitfalls for this newcomer to the global stage.

Many Chinese companies focus on the tangible aspects of brand-building.

They spend a lot of money on ads in the global media, print new name cards with new logos and give out gifts with their new logos at exhibitions.

"You need to have a promise in the brand to your customers," said Gerard Kleisterlee, chairman and CEO of Royal Philips Electronics, whose brand value has risen by more than 50 per cent since it began repositioning in 2004.

Chinese companies still need to follow global changes closely.

With the popularity of the Internet, blogs and Wikipedia, communication has become a person-to-person process, rather than the old model between mass media and the public.

Frampton said that this change means some control in branding has shifted to the hands of consumers and failure to recognize this trend could be dangerous.

While blogs have become an important vehicle for circulating brand image, Chinese companies still prefer TV channels, newspapers, and Internet portals.

1

2

3

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)