My brand journal

By Weiwei Li

Content

• Editor’s letter

• Brand positioning ----at the heart of marketing strategy

• How to leverage Chinese brand?

• Marketing luxury in digital China

Weiwei Li 115807760

liweiwei09s@gmail.com

ca.linkedin.com/pub/weiwei-li/31/904/316/

What is a brand & the value of a brand? To answer this question, I first clarify the differences between a product and a brand:

How to leverage Chinese brand?May 8th

Product BrandSits on retailers’ shelves Exists in consumers’

mindsQuickly outdated

 Timeless

 

Easy to be copied Unique

After our first day of brand class, I know that brand is what is experienced and valued by customers in everyday social life.There is a soul of a brand, a distinctive identity that resonates with its consumers. Driven by devise factors, such as the rapidly expanding middle class all over the world, Chinese brands are on the road to global expansion. We all have to admit Chinese brands have potential impact on markets worldwide. Then what should be Chinese brands’ approaches?

http://www.wpp.com/wpp/marketing/branding/the-top-50-most-valuable-chinese-brands/

China TOP 50 Brands

Cases of plagiarism have been happening in the past several years within China, apparently this is not a good strategy for Chinese brands to be alive in global market.

To answer the queistion: How to leverage Chinese brand?I have some ideas:1) Implement local strategies, differentiate themselves from

the international competitors.2)Determine the appropriate media platforms to invest in.Example 1The first successful Chinese brand comes to my mind is Weibo---- a Chinese version of Twitter. Weibo has firmly established itself as the leading Chinese microblogging platform. To compare with Twitter:

Weibo is more of a Twitter-Facebook hybrid than a pure Twitter clone.

Collaboration with Taobao, the biggest (B2C and C2C) e-retailer in China, which enable these two parties to achieve online marketing and explore potential in social online shopping.

May 15thSuccessful Chinese brand

May 22ndHow To Build StrongBrand?

Thousands of successful brand

stories prove that understanding the needs and wants of consumers and devising products and services to satisfy them are the heart of successful market. How should we build, measure and manage brand equity?

Differential effects Brand equity arises from differences in consumer

response. • Brand knowledge Marketers need an insightful way to represent how brand

knowledge exists in consumer memory. -brand awareness: The strength of the brand node or

trace in memory, measure consumer's ability to identify the brand under different conditions. Many Chinese brands operate on a mass scale and their names may be familiar but few of them have developed strong emotional relationships with their consumers.

-brand image: consumers’ perception about a brand Consumer response to market

CHITOPIA

Qingyang Liu, a 80’s Chinese girl successfully created a famous brand image without using conventional advertising. CHITOPIA has strong associations to Chinese elements and stamps through its products. The young designer knows that to make sure that some strongly held brand associations are not only favorable but also unique and not shared with competing brands. Unique associations help consumers choose the brand.

Target market Nature of competition How the brand is similar to these competitors How the brand is different from them

Brand positioning---- at the heart of marketing strategy

May 29th

International Brands In China

Apple Sees Slowdown in China http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/07/23/apple-sees-slowdown-in-china/

The Cupertino, Calif., company said on Tuesday that its revenue from China fell 14% from a year earlier to $4.6 billion in the quarter ended June 29. The figure, which represents a 43% decline from the previous quarter, marked the first time revenue fell for the region, which includes Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, since the company began breaking out numbers for Greater China in the quarter ended Dec. 29, 2012.

My thoughts: (4reasons)• Intense competition from cheaper smartphones that run Google Inc.’s Android operating system• The economy of China is wobbling• The duration between the launch of iPhone 4S & iPhone 5 too short• Apple needs to build more retail stores in China

June 5thLiving in an era of hyper change.－－－－ Keep an eye on your competitor

Article:Pure boffinry: We peek inside Nokia's miracle cameraphonehttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/15/nokia_lumia_1020_technical_walkthrough/

My thoughts:Nowadays, the distance from innovation to commodity is getting shorter. Good camera quality may attract small portion of market, however, it is far away from helping Nokia to regain top position in the smart phone market. Why? Nowadays, in the consumer market, the functionality, usability and UI design are the top considerations when people choose smart phone. In the enterprise market, security remains the top concern. My advice to Nokia is: Wake up, Look at what is happening around you!

Jun 19th How to communicate your brand?——Marketing luxury in digital China

Online luxury retail, which has been growing rapidly in China, had already reached billions dollars in the past several years. Can such fast-paced growth be a boon or a bane for luxury brands? In my opinion, to luxury brands, such rapid growth is a ”double-edged sword”. On one hand, it enables these enterprises to grow in China; On the other hand, it is hard for these brands to maintain their value. In the digital world, how can these brands keep their service experience?

My thoughts on online luxury in China

Jun 26th

How to communicate your brand?——Marketing luxury in digital China (Cont’d)

GOOD EXAMPLE

How are digital technology and content changing traditional channels and how can we benefit from it? A recent study from IBM asserts that, “The next 5 years will hold more change for the advertising industry than the previous 50 did”. Arguably, the ability to master these shifts from traditional marketing to digital marketing is a defining issue for a generation of marketers. Actually, digitization offers possibilities beyond Internet.

The opening of flagship store of Burberry is a good example. Burberry China made full of social media to connect with their fans. In addition, the most advanced digital technology allows them to accomplish a fabulous fashion show. Finally, this opening event turned out to be a visual feast.

July 3rdSocial Media Article:

MOBILE ADS DRIVE FACEBOOK STRONG Q2 PROFIT, REVENUES

In my view, social media is changing the way consumers interact with companies and products. So I am not surprised at this news. What I am worried about is the great interaction may result in increasingly pressing issues about consumer privacy, consumer data and marketing intrusion. This issue is not just for Facebook, but for the social media in China. Let’s see how these companies will face this problem.

My Comments

http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/media-news/mobile-ads-drive-facebook-strong-q2-quarter-profit-revenues-84499

July 10th

In one of the 30-second videos a young man waiting patiently in line at the supermarket checkout suddenly sees the shopper in front of him yell for all her relatives to cut in line as she is about to check out. The aggravated young man bursts into a snail and slowly inches toward the checkout. The two other videos show similarly unpleasant grocery shopping scenarios such as carrying heavy grocery bags home and going through tedious product exchange/return processes, but with dramatic yet lighthearted endings.

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/3hS02c6gHG4/?resourceId=0_06_02_99http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDIyODMzNTcy.html

China’s Online Wal-mart

July 17thChina’s Online Wal-mart Cont’d

Companies make acquisitions because they wish to grow and expand their business. In making acquisitions, a company has to determine what it feels the acquire brands are worth. In China, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has acquired Yihaodian, and treats it as online Wal-Mart. Yihaodian makes full use of Wal-Mart’s complex supply chain system, has become one of China’s leading e-commerce websites.

The booming development of e-commerce in China allows urban consumers to place orders online or by phone and to have products delivered to their doorstep all on the same day. This eliminates the inconvenience of having to navigate crowds, standing in long lines and carrying heavy bags home. Yihaodian is a big player in the e-commerce sector.

By Weiwei LiTHE END

Great brands are not accidents; they are a result of thoughtful and imaginative planning. Branding is not for the faint of heart -- it takes a long-term investment and the courage to stick to one's guns in the face of short-term sales challenges from one business unit or another.

THANK YOU, MIKE, FOR YOUR EXELLENT CLASS.

谢谢！