Brands and branding are big business.

A handful have clearly understood this truth all along.

Now another respected voice is saying the same thing, in this from Brands in the Boardroom: Key branding issues for senior executives, a publication of Intellectual Asset Management Magazine:

The world’s most famous brands have values that can be measured in tens of billions of dollars –real sums that can be realised through securitisation and other methods of monetisation. You need only look at the interest generated today by techniques for calculating brand value to see that brands are now recognised as corporate assets to be audited and managed along similar lines as a company’s more traditional, tangible revenue generators. Employers, investors and other stakeholders expect those running companies to understand the major principles that drive and sustain brand value: after all, we are talking about what can often be the single most important asset a corporation owns.

We agree.

There is more, of course:

Without question, a brand’s ability to communicate an instant message to target audiences is where much of its power and value lie. A strong brand instils trust in consumers, making them feel confident that the choice they are making offers them high levels of consistency and quality. And a strong brand needs to have an identity and a personality that can be protected in all markets where its owners operate or may wish to do so in the future.

Could not have said it better ourselves.

[More posts about Branding Definition | More posts about Brand Equity | More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Asset | More posts about Brand Personality | More blogs about Brand Asset]

Developing a brand name for a company or product with a global footprint is both an art, and a science, as discussed in this story from the New York Times via our friends at Wordlab.

[More posts about Brand Naming | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Fragrance Branding | More posts about Packaged Goods Branding | More blogs about Brand Naming]

Zhang Ruimin, is Chairman of Haier Group. The Chinese company is the world’s fourth largest appliance manufacturer.

Mr. Zhang is focused on building a global brand, based on beliefs such as:

“Brand strategy is the most powerful weapon to defeat economic recession.”

We agree. It’s another way of saying a brand is the world’s most powerful business tool.

[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand As Asset | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Appliance Branding | More posts about Consumer Goods Branding | More posts about Haier Group | More posts about Chinese Brands | More blogs about Brand Management]

Denis Hennequin, a graduate of one of Paris’ top law schools who joined McDonald’s after deciding it would be more “fun” than being a lawyer, leads the McDonald’s effort to own the conversation in Europe. Mr. Hennequin demonstrates how a brand is your sole appreciating asset, in this report from the Los Angeles Times:

“I’m changing the story,” Hennequin says. “We’ve got to be loyal to our roots, we have to be affordable, we have to be convenient … but we have to add new dimensions.”

These dimensions include putting iPods in restaurants in France so that people can sit and listen to music, making better coffee from beans grown ethically and sustainably and introducing a “McPassport” so young staff members can work at any restaurant in Europe.

The changes seem to be working. Sales at McDonald’s Corp.’s European franchises are growing faster than in other regions. In January, Europe (which accounts for about 36% of annual profit) reported quarterly sales growth of 7.3% against 5.9% in the United States.

…The success of coffee chains such as Starbucks, which appeal as much to workers on the move as to students, has forced companies such as McDonald’s to create a more sophisticated eating environment.

…The restaurant chain recently reported [a] record annual [global] profit of $4.4 billion.

But it is developments in the European business that may provide the best guide to where the McDonald’s brand is going…

Hennequin, [President of McDonald’s Europe]…has a three-pronged strategy: Improve the experience of customers and employees, make sure restaurants adapt to local communities and be more transparent about how McDonald’s does business.

McDonald’s Europe is onto something, in thinking of their brand as the story they tell across every material touchpoint. C’est tout ce que j’aime.

[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Relevance | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Restaurant Branding | More posts about Brand Story | More posts about McDonald’s Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about McDonald’s Europe | More blogs about Brand Relevance]

A respected CEO talks of the importance of brand promise, in this from China Daily:

“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.

Good advice for any CEO, as also shared here, and here.

[More posts about Brand Promise | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Royal Phillips Electronics | More posts about Brand Positioning | More posts about China | More blogs about Brand Promise]

2nd GCC National Branding Strategies Summit
April 10-11, 2007 | Burj Al Arab | Dubai, UAE

We talk .

Our CEO will address the GCC National Branding Strategies Summit hosted in Dubai April 10-11, 2007. Summit organizers indicate speakers will address “leading edge tactics to create, build and maintain a successful brand.”

If you happen to be in the neighborhood this April, drop in.

[More posts about Brand Opportunities | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Datamatix Group | More posts about Gulf Cooperation Council | More posts about Brand Conferences | More posts about Dubai | More blogs about Brand Conferences]

Good brand strategy is good business strategy.

One Chinese company understands this fact as it prepares to expand their presence in global markets, as seen in this story from Electronic Engineering Times Asia:

By global standards, the only thing truly big about Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co. is its name. Nevertheless, it has big plans. Like dozens of companies across Asia, Huaqi aspires to follow in the footsteps of regional giants like Sony and Samsung to be a household name with cutting-edge technology.

That’s the dream. The reality: Huaqi is a PC peripherals and consumer electronics company that does a little more than $300 million a year in revenue. Outside of China, it is unknown. Its most popular product lines are low-margin MP3 players and USB flash drives. It faces tough competition at home and a steep learning curve abroad.

But Huaqi, like other wannabe giants in Asia, has some of the ingredients to make a run: a low-cost manufacturing base, a growing emphasis on R&D and a newfound respect for building a worldwide brand.

Too often companies are slow to grasp that an organization’s most valuable asset is it’s brand. In contrast, by grasping the strategic importance of brand development, Huaqi is off to a promising start.

[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about China | More posts about Beijing | More posts about Aigo | More blogs about Global Branding]

A struggling Chinese manufacturer [and] the remnants of a failed British automaker…plan to pool their resources to rescue the iconic MG sports car from the automotive junkyard. This and more from the Los Angeles Times:

A consortium led by Nanjing Automobile Group announced a $2-billion plan Wednesday to construct a state-of-the art production facility in China, reopen a shuttered MG factory in England and open an assembly plant and a distribution center in the small town of Ardmore, Oklahoma…

In particular, experts lauded Nanjing’s decision to base its expansion on a globally recognized brand, because Chinese companies generally are stronger in manufacturing than in innovation and sales…

The acquisition of the MG brand name and tooling — combined with the low-cost advantages of manufacturing cars and parts in China — will give MG Motors North America Inc. an advantage in the competitive U.S. market, said Duke Hale, president and chief executive…

“Our competition, they’re going to bring cars specifically and exclusively designed in China,” Hale told reporters Wednesday at a news conference in Oklahoma. “We’ve got cars with European styling, European engineering, European flair and, oh, by the way, the big bonanza: a brand name called MG.”

In a classic example of the Law of Borrowed Equity, Nanjing and perhaps as importantly, China as a nation brand, stand to reap the benefits to their reputation among American consumers if they get the product right, when new MGs begin to roll off the Oklahoma assembly line in 2008.

The New York Times offers this powerful example of emotions still associated with the MG brand, an automotive badge absent from the U.S. market since 1980:

“It’s the first sports car that I remember as a child,” said Paul Fucito, who grew up around the corner from an MG dealership in New Jersey and remembers its closing.

Mr. Fucito, 34, a spokesman for George Washington University, has never lost hope that he will one day own an MG, although the company’s bankruptcy last year raised doubts for him about the chances of that happening. He participates in several online forums devoted to the brand and fantasizes about a new MG, painted British racing green, with wire wheels and chrome accents.

“It’s been that dream car that I’ve always wanted,” he said.

If the built-in equity of a decades-old brand can evoke similar feelings across a mass market, MG’s return to America can be hugely successful. To evoke the emotion and demonstrate the compelling difference needed to throw sales ahead of projections, MG should listen to this advice.

[More posts about Brand Opportunity | More posts about Brand Rehab | More posts about Nation Branding | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about MG | More posts about Nanjing Automobile Group | More posts about China | More posts about Oklahoma | More posts about Emotional Branding | More posts about Laws of Branding | More blogs about Brand Opportunity | More blogs about Brand Rehab]

Two marketing managers, one with Samsung and the other with Hewlett-Packard, offer these comments on the importance of building brand equity in the Middle East:

“It is the brand that is bought by the consumer and the product is made in a factory. While competitors can copy a product, a brand is unique.”

“Building brand equity is very important. Research shows that more and more customers are buying brands rather than a product, so effectively communicating brand values is essential.”

True in any market, anywhere on the globe.

Read the entire interview with these and other corporate marketing managers in Channel Middle East.

[ More posts about Brand Equity | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Brand Relevance | More posts about Hewlett-Packard | More posts about Samsung | More posts about the Middle East | More blogs about Brand Equity ]

This news from AME Info.

A rebrand effort ever more confusing the more often it is read, and a distraction from the worthwhile organization the brand represents.

When the export economy of a country faces competitive pressures, what is the solution? As reported in the Taipei Times, according to a leading economic think tank in Chinese Taipei, the answer is branding:

Taiwan must shift its focus from contract manufacturing to branding to keep up its export competitiveness, Chen Tien-jy, president of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said yesterday.

“Taiwan has to be alert to the fact that it needs to change its business model now, or it will inevitably suffer trade deficits [in the future],” Chen said.

The nation’s economy depends mainly on contract manufacturing, which is especially common in the electronics sector, Chen said.

But according to the latest government data, more than 37 percent of Taiwanese contract manufacturers…moved their production bases abroad, particularly to China, in pursuit of cheaper labor and lower production costs, he added…

In comparison, South Korea chose to build an own-brand business model in the mid-90s and has now started reaping the rewards, with brands like Samsung gaining popularity worldwide, especially in the emerging markets like India…

In any industry, effective branding is an example of how the best defense against competitive market pressures remains a good offense. Branding confers a market premium to what might otherwise be viewed as a commodity. Starbucks is one example.

Contract manufacturers often differentiate themselves by functional capabilities, claiming to offer more and to be better than competitors. We previously discussed the pitfalls of the More/Better approach.

When a More/Better strategy is employed, rather than brand strategy, most any OEM (original equipment manufacturer/customizer) seeking a contract manufacturing option will focus on price first in their decision-making. Serving as an outsourced expense and without a discernable brand, a contract manufacturer remains at the mercy of OEMs viewing manufacturing partners as a commodity.

For a contract manufacturer viewed as interchangeable with any number of competitors, and thus highly sensitive to supply chain price pressure, the OEM will chase the lowest price available.

To fight back, not only to maintain market share but also to grow it, the answer is the use of the powerful thinking behind an effective brand strategy. Only then is one fully armed with the world’s most commanding business tool.

A potent weapon, for any export economy.

Finet Group Limited, a Hong Kong based financial services company, announced adoption of a new corporate identity. The company’s press release quickly devolves into a labored explanation of the new identity to “reaffirm the company’s commitment to serving and bringing values to global Chinese through the provision of integrated financial services and information solutions.” And it continues in that vein:

The center point of the new identity is a new logo — the traditional Chinese character of China or ‘’hua'’ in calligraphy engraved on a sea green foundation, representing Finet’s relentless focus on inspiring connections with global Chinese communities. The Chinese calligraphy is the work of a veteran calligraphist who had inscribed Finet’s Chinese name in the previous logo; his graceful yet forceful brushes unleash a sense of balance and dynamism that has been embodied in Finet’s culture to achieve long-term growth and success…

We propel the financial growth of institutions and individuals with our unique capacity to interconnect comprehensive financial information, advanced technologies and value-added services….

‘’The new identity recognizes Finet’s past and demonstrates its direction for the future…. Elements from the previous logo including our corporate color and the Chinese calligraphy have been retained to reinforce this advantageous position of Finet whereas a clean, powerful design successfully invigorated the whole corporate identity to better underscore our ambition to capture the sizable customer base of global Chinese, especially in the PRC market,'’ Dr. George Yu, Finet’s Chairman and CEO commented.

Finet’s CEO is a victim of insider-speak, along with another victim we recently chronicled, Ricoh.

Insider-speak is a language of relevance only to those inside a company, and will fail to engage the audience a company such as Finet seeks to influence and develop as customers.

Rather than sounding like most other financial information providers (”integrated financial services and information solutions” or “interconnect comprehensive information” or “value-added services”), Finet should instead focus on what it is they offer that eases a significant pain point of their target market, relevant and compelling to that same market, and 180 degrees opposite the direction of their competition. The result would be a uniquely differentiated brand, one full of emotional immediacy, and a demonstration of how to “propel…financial growth,” rather than the labored explanations of insider-speak.

With a uniquely differentiated brand would come competitive advantage for Dr. Yu and his company, driving revenues and margins. For capitalists in any culture, that’s a lot of emotional immediacy.

Effective branding is about being smarter with what you have.

The beauty of world class branding is the best answers are often the most simple and least expensive, IF working with brand strategists who truly understand the human mind.

This understanding is critical for countries with emerging economies intent on gaining share of market. Effective brand strategy, by creating competitive advantage, drives economic growth as recognized in three reports from Turkey, China, and Malaysia.

Republic of Turkey officials understand the importance of effective brand strategy in attracting foreign investment, as reported in the Turkish Daily News:

Industry and Trade Minister Ali Coskun…noted the reality of globalization and said the only way for Turkey to survive in today’s world was to increase the country’s competitive advantage by creating new brands through the innovation and designs of Turkish entrepreneurs.

“We have undertaken initiatives to open the way for investors by fostering a modern environment. Efforts to heighten awareness of the importance of brands have also intensified,” [said Minister Coskun].

China intends to increase exports and attract foreign investment through use of brand strategy, according to the China 2005 Draft Plan for National Economic Development as reported by the People’s Daily Online:

Striving to raise the quality and level of opening up and making better use of both domestic and international markets and resources…[w]e will implement a name-brand strategy and support and increase the export of products and services…bearing our own brand names….

We will encourage foreign investors to invest in new and high technology industries, advanced manufacturing industries, modern services, modern agriculture and environment-friendly industries and to participate in the reorganization and technological upgrading of state-owned enterprises. We will encourage and attract multinational corporations to set up R&D and purchasing centers, regional headquarters and advanced manufacturing bases in China…

And in Malaysia, the Prime Minister personally encourages businesses to develop brand strategies–with government funding to assist–as detailed in this story from the Daily Express:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called on companies to seriously consider brand development in their overall business strategies and make use of the RM200 million brand promotion grant.

The Prime Minister said…the grant was made available in 2003….

The Prime Minister said brand development and brand building were investment intensive and for that reason the government had decided to allocate the amount for the grant….

The Prime Minister said…both [the private and public sectors] can work together to make Malaysia a truly competitive nation.

These governments each recognize that for their developing economies, one of the smartest means of developing competitive advantage and encouraging capital investment is by becoming smart through use of effective brand strategy.

As the world becomes more connected and layered with multiple communications channels, owning mental real estate in the mind of the market is vital to attracting investment and driving growth.

Otherwise, whatever a country or organization may say about itself or its product runs the risk of never rising above the white noise of global contemporary, even global, culture.

When a brand becomes the first thought within the mind of the market for any industry or category, that single brand owns valuable mental real estate, and thus secures for itself enormous competitive advantage.

And, first-rate brand strategy need NOT be investment intensive. One powerful benefit that comes with the intelligent use of brand strategy is the potential to decrease, and even eliminate, advertising expense. For any entrepreneurial CEO, or even Prime Minister, this benefit carries with it the ability to materially accelerate the growth cycle as precious early-stage cash may be diverted to other pressing needs, such as infrastructure development, rather than advertising.

Very smart.

Vanderbilt University, an internationally recognized research university in the United States, attracts a high percentage of student enrollment from Asia. A number of students attend Vanderbilt from China and Taiwan.

An MBA student conducting the equivalent of a brand audit discovered over a dozen Chinese translations for the term Vanderbilt University. Here’s what happened as a result, as reported in the Nashville Business Journal:

Vanderbilt University is honing its identify in China through creation of a single brand name that will identify the school in different Chinese dialects.

Shih-Ping (Nancy) Wang, a Taiwan native and second-year [MBA] student…initiated the move…and suggested administrators standardize a name.

‘Fandebao,’ a Mandarin word that translates to ‘place of academic excellence’ or ‘academic center of virtue,’ will be registered with educational ministries and trademark offices to represent Vanderbilt.

The close phonetic match of ‘Fandebao’ to ‘Vanderbilt’ should ease the association process, say school administrators. And Mandarin is the main official language of China and Taiwan.

A brand audit frames a point-in-time snapshot of brand effectiveness within a competitive market. Expertly performed, a brand audit reveals whether the brand is working as intended for both owner and consumer, identifies brand opportunity within an industry or market niche, and often reveals gaps between actual performance and expectation. The brand audit is a tool serving as a reset device for any good brand.

As with Vanderbilt University, a simple brand audit can often expose significant market opportunity.

We recommend Brand Audits be performed at least annually.

And the benefits? Just ask Vanderbilt University.

A growing number of Chinese consumer goods manufacturers are relying upon an alternative two-way approach to accelerate attempts to gain global market share. The first is by acquisition of existing brands to acquire brand equity within markets targeted for entry. The second is by selling products as generics to companies with established retail brands and distribution systems, such as Wal-Mart and Target.

According to Oded Shenkar, a professor of international business at Ohio State University, these efforts have just begun, as reported in the New York Times:

A Chinese company’s plan to acquire I.B.M.’s personal computer division is just one example of current Chinese efforts to buy or build recognizable brand names in the United States….

Two Chinese companies, Haier and Kelon, are looking to establish brands for appliances in America. As recounted by Professor Shenkar both “started with niche products, such as small refrigerators used mostly in offices…. They already are opening manufacturing facilities in the United States.” He speculates either company could purchase General Electric’s appliance business unit, or might target a company such as Maytag or Whirlpool. He continues:

“[Chinese companies are] entering [the U.S.] market at a much earlier phase of development than the Japanese or Koreans. They are looking for a shortcut, which is where this brand acquisition strategy is coming from. Instead of developing your own brands, which takes many years and costs billions of dollars, you buy an existing brand. The idea is to use the acquisitions to leapfrog.

“[Many] Chinese companies start as no-name makers of generic products. If you lack marketing capability and distribution and don’t have a global supply chain, which is the situation most Chinese companies face, you sell to Wal-Mart or Target and they will do all that for you. That [market entry] capability didn’t exist when the Japanese entered [the U.S. market]. Sony had to build a brand name [in America]. They didn’t have a choice.”

Of course, both strategies work if a company’s market capitalization or balance sheet permits growth by acquisition, or if the company prefers to risk margins that may be sacrificed through a relationship with super-retailers.

However, we respectfully disagree with Professor Shenkar, as developing a brand need not take many years and cost billions of dollars. In the absence of the two brand-building options he describes, the best, quickest and smartest way to grow a company or product line is to create an evocative and memorable brand strategy for a target audience.

In any market around the globe, world class brand thinking leads to a brand that will [1] provide separation from your competitors, [2] demonstrate to the world you are different, [3] create a positive and lasting engagement with your audience, [4] be unforgettable, [5] propel through the world on its own, becoming a no-cost, self-sustaining PR vehicle, [6] provide a deep well of marketing and advertising images, [7] rise above the goods and services you provide, and [8] completely dominate your industry.

Whether for an early stage organization yet to build a significant balance sheet or a Fortune 500, crafting effective brand strategy is the business of creating balance sheet assets to drive topline sales.

It’s the business of being smarter in connecting with your audience and creating separation from your competitors, at a far smaller Yuan cost than that of an acquisition.