Brand Building Is More than Advertising

Many Chinese organisations are beginning to realise the value of creating a global brand. As wage-price inflation increases and manufactures from other countries begin to compete with Chinese companies， managers see that the only way to maintain and grow margin is to create brands.Our work with HTC has seen them go from a manufacturer of other people’s products to the third largest smartphone maker by market capitalisation in two and a half years. They have also recently entered the Top 100 Interbrand Global Brand survey at number ninety Eight. Having created the quietly brilliant brand and helped them launch it in every market we have unrivalled knowledge of what it takes to build a Chinese global consumer brand. We want to help others do the same and see our business with China growing significantly in the coming years.We have opened an office in Hong Kong. In time we would like to extend this to either Shanghai or Beijing depending on the demand.We have found the Chinese companies that we have met and worked with are very ambitious in their outlook but sometimes unprepared for the change that is required to become a brand owner. Building and managing a global brand requires a very different mindset to that required by an ODM. You need to invest in RD， be prepared to fight battles with distributors， and focus on the long term. There are lots of Chinese businesses out there that mistakenly think that brand building is advertising. This is only ten percent of the equation. Brand building is about what you do as well as what you say.This means the whole customer experience needs investment if you are to build awareness and preference quickly.I have only been working in China for the last three years so my view should be considered in this context. There are some excellent creative individuals and companies out there but the understanding of building global brands needs to be developed. There is a great deal of emphasis on communication in the creative industries but this in only one part of the equation. The age of the internet means that the consumer pays little attention to what companies say abut themselves. They are far more likely to listen to friends， family and peers.This means that the creative industries need to broaden the service that it sells to companies. Creative people need to get involved in shaping what the company does. What products it sells， how it’s customer service teams work and with whom they partner to distribute and sell. All of these actions contribute towards consumers perception of the brand. The creative community has a role to play in helping companies to shape these.To be creative is to unlearn what you have learnt. We spend our whole lives being taught rules and this constrains our ability to think laterally. Great creative thinking is the willingness to break all of the preconceived rules and doing something that feels totally original.Here are my few suggestions for Chinese companies in creative industry- try to evolve your offer to clients away from pure communications. For the government - place creative people into organisations at a high level so that they can shape what the organisation does.