If you can build a high-end brand by relying solely on materials, and if you can build a high-end brand by relying solely on advertising, then many first-line Chinese entrepreneurs don’t have to worry about it, and the country does not need to mention the construction of a batch of high-end brands in the "14th Five-Year Plan". Building a high-end brand itself is an important part of the high-quality development of , and it is the innovative climb of enterprises in high-end fields.
Author | Duan Chuanmin (Strategic Marketing Observer)
The country calls for "building high-end brands"
After more than 30 years of reform and opening up , China has become a veritable world factory. Whether in the electronics, home appliances, electromechanical industries, or in the chemical industry, textiles, clothing, and shoemaking, China's manufacturing industry is leading the world.
However, for a considerable period of time, Chinese factories earned meager processing fees, and most of the profits were earned by world brands such as Apple and Nike.
A few years ago, the Chinese government proposed the " Made in China 2025" plan, aiming to form its own core competitiveness in the field of high-tech in five to ten years. The "Made in China 2025" plan is a comprehensive upgrade to China's manufacturing industry.
In recent years, the United States has regarded China as a strategic competitor, criticized "Made in China 2025" and wanted to suppress China's leading company Huawei . In 2020, despite the global outbreak of the new crown epidemic, Western countries led by the United States have become more and more severe and launched a "encirclement and suppression" of Chinese high-tech enterprises. This not only seriously affects the process of globalization, but also has a significant impact on China's high-end manufacturing industry.
With the changes in the international situation, many world brands have placed factories and OEM bases in Southeast Asia and other countries, and some brands have even retreated their factories to the United States. Against this background, the need for "Made in China" to move towards "Made in China" is even more urgent. It is worth noting that "Made in China 2025" still emphasizes the upgrading of technology, production and even information levels, and does not pay enough attention to design and marketing as higher-level brands. The situation of
is improving in 2021. On March 13, the " Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-Term Goals for 2035" (hereinafter referred to as the "14th Five-Year Plan") was announced. One of the key topics is to clearly point out the implementation of the "China Brand Creation Action", enhance the influence and competitiveness of independent brands, and "cultivate high-end brands belonging to China" in the consumer goods field.
High-end brand building has begun to appear in the national development plan like never before, and this action is extraordinary.
For example, in the past, in the prospectus of many listed companies, most of the fundraising plans were the construction of production bases, the construction of teams or channel networks, and there was often a lack of planning in terms of marketing and branding. But in fact, with the continuous upgrading of China's manufacturing industry and the implementation of satisfying people's yearning for a better life, more and more knowledgeable people have found that the upgrading and construction of Chinese manufacturing to Chinese brands has become increasingly important. Although a brand does not exist in the physical space, it exists in people's cognitive space. If we lack the importance of brand and the construction of global brands, then China's manufacturing will not be able to truly enter the global market and will only become a processing factory for multinational companies.
This is not an exaggeration.
brands are missing
On the list of the top 500 in August 2020, mainland Chinese companies have achieved a historic leap, reaching 124. If companies in Taiwan are added, a total of 133 companies in China are on the list, surpassing the United States (121) for the first time in history. However, another indicator is that Huawei is the only Chinese brand in the list of Chinese brands in the release of the "2020 Best Brand Rankings of the World" by brand consulting company Interbrand. The core evaluation indicators of this list are the sales and profits of companies outside the home country market, namely the globalization index.
Let's take a look at the "2020 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Ranking" jointly released by another international organization WPP and Kantar. Even if the company's financial performance and brand premium are only considered, only 17 Chinese brands are on the list, far lower than the 51 in the United States. The three lists of
tell us two basic facts: First, taking the Greater China market as the main body can give birth to giant enterprises and brands that are comparable to developed countries; second, the degree of globalization of Chinese brands is quite low.
The rise of major powers requires brands of major powers. China's strength is inseparable from the strength of the brand. On the road to China's rise, Chinese brands represented by Huawei tell the world exciting Chinese stories. Unfortunately, there are too few brands with international influence like this.
At the same time, high-end brands in China are even more scarce, especially in the 12 highest-end luxury goods fields, with few Chinese brands. In 2019, Deloitte ( Deloitte) announced the ranking of the top 100 luxury goods companies in the world for the year. The three mainland Chinese companies are jewelry companies ( Lao Fengxiang , Oriental Gold, Mingpai Jewelry ), and 5 of the six companies in Hong Kong in China are jewelry companies ( Zhou Dafu , Zhou Shengsheng, Liufu , Zhou Dasheng , Xie Ruilin ), and only one is clothing brand Libang Holdings.
A reality worth facing is that the largest market for luxury goods in the world comes from Asia—the center of which is focused on China. According to statistics, Chinese consumers accounted for 35% of the total global personal luxury goods consumption in 2019, far exceeding the 22% share in the United States. Moreover, the market from China is expanding rapidly, with the growth rate of China's luxury consumption in 2019 being 26%. According to data released by Boston consulting company , Chinese consumers' demand for luxury goods increased by 30% overall in 2020, while markets in developing countries such as Europe and the United States not only failed to grow due to the impact of the epidemic, but also shrank.
, on the one hand, is China's growing desire to consume high-end brands, and on the other hand, is the reality that domestic high-end brands are seriously lacking. This "contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and the unbalanced and inadequate development" has truly fallen into the key link of the lack of high-end brands.
If you ask a few people on the street: Which Chinese brands do you think are high-end brands? I guess most people answered no more than ten brands. This phenomenon occurs in China, a "manufacturer country". It cannot be said to be a sad thing, but at least it is an embarrassing thing.
cannot be said that Chinese companies have not made any efforts. In recent years, a number of companies have begun to build high-end brands. The mobile phone industry includes Huawei, home appliances, Casarte , liquor includes Moutai, Wuliangye ; water has Kunlun Mountain, milk has Telunsu , and software home furnishings has Mousse Bedding ... However, they are either sub-brands of a large brand or limited to the industry's channel-based brands. It is rare to truly operate high-end brands that are facing consumers independently, and high-end brands that carry out global operations are even rare.
China's economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development, and high-quality development should include the construction of high-end brands. This is an urgent task.
Innovation climbing in high-end fields
In my observation, the Mousse bedding, which is being actively prepared for the listing and has attracted much attention from the public, is an excellent representative of high-end brand building.
At the beginning of the new century, at the world factory Dongguan , which is famous for its " three to one supplement " model, it even more surprisingly created a high-end brand - Mousse . This company, born in 2004, not only has a strong brand awareness since its birth, but also is determined to build China's global high-end brand.
In China, building a brand is originally a relatively luxurious dream for many entrepreneurs, let alone creating a high-end brand and a global high-end brand. The quality of quality and low price is the general perception of Westerners as Chinese brands. The reason why this perception is deeply rooted is related to the business routes of many companies.Most companies would rather make a fuss about price in order to quickly obtain orders and survival opportunities than risk entering high-price and high-value fields and take the high-end route.
After the "three come and one supplement" model failed, Chinese manufacturing began to upgrade, but it was limited to the upgrade from processing to manufacturing, and price was regarded as the most important weapon for international competition. Over time, cheap goods and cheapness have become another advantage after the "upgradation" of Chinese manufacturing: any product, as long as it is "baptized" by Chinese manufacturing, will immediately reduce the price significantly.
Against this background, Moosie Bedding has begun its own unique exploration of high-end Chinese brands. This is a difficult commercial adventure, because high-end brands are not superimposed by high-end materials, but are also picky because of the wisdom of high-end people. This involves interdisciplinary professional knowledge and abilities including design, communication, management, psychology, strategy, culture, sociology, etc., and is also driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of innovation.
If you can build a high-end brand by relying solely on materials, and if you can build a high-end brand by relying solely on advertising, then many Chinese first-line entrepreneurs don’t have to worry about it. There is no need for the country to specifically mention the construction of a number of high-end brands in the "14th Five-Year Plan". Building a high-end brand itself is an important part of high-quality development and is the innovative climb of enterprises in high-end fields.
In the home furnishing industry, selling things expensive is not a single Moos Bedding, but it can create a unique brand and expand high-end brands from the distribution end to the consumer end, which arouses strong awareness of consumers. Moos Bedding is the only consumer brand. What is particularly valuable is that Moos Bedding has expanded its high-end brand business overseas in recent years, and has begun its overseas journey of high-end Chinese brands in Western developing countries such as Australia, France, the United States, and Canada. Such a brand deserves our respect, care and cherishment.
Unlike Moutai, it has a moving brand story, deep cultural heritage, scarce ecological environment, and unique manufacturing technology. Mousse was born from scratch almost in the long shadow of the world's factories; unlike many sub-brands created by many large companies, Mousse sows the seeds of Chinese high-end brands from the beginning; unlike many companies only have high-end products but no high-end brands, it spent a lot of effort to directly communicate with consumers, establish relationships, and shape a unique brand image...
It can be said that although Mousse bedding is not the most powerful, largest and most technologically advantageous company, it is a Chinese company that can be regarded as a benchmark in building high-end brands.
coaching consultant - the way to double performance
paragraph 4 pass-through , a strategic marketing expert, a researcher across the three worlds of enterprises, professionals and media, is known as the "researchist in practice and the practical in research". He has served as a strategic marketing and development consultant for many companies for a long time.
advocates "coach-style consultant - the way to double performance". Through five steps such as "setting direction, building teams, finding ways, allocating resources, and implementing the ground", it focuses on the three major modules of "targeting, execution, and integration" and is based on results to assist enterprises in achieving the goal of rapid performance growth.
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