From Chinese Brand Culture to Global Brands

Insights from aesthetics, fashion and history

W. Zhiyan, J. Borgerson, J. Schroeder

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781137276353
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

From Chinese Brand Culture to Global Brands examines branding from the Chinese perspective, and predicts that China's greatest brands are poised for global dominance.

1 Global Branding, Fashion Systems, and Historical Culture

Global brand culture includes “the contention that culture and history can provide a necessary contextualizing counterpoint to managerial and information processing views of global branding’s interaction with consumer society” (Schroeder, 2007, p. 351). In other words, international marketing managers need to pay more attention to both the cultural and historical context of brands and branding practices across the globe. In light of the fact that global brand culture derives in part from the impact of society and history on consumer culture, one could argue that the understanding of global branding would only benefit from perspectives that integrate managerial, social, and cultural perspectives. Consumer researchers Julien Cayla and Giana Eckhardt have shown how the Asian world can be understood via brands that reanimate and repackage historical culture to reveal a more modern and multicultural Asia (2008). From this perspective, brands can be treated as cultural forms by researchers. This chapter explores the cultural role of brands and aspects of brand culture in the global marketplace. The following sections enumerate managerial and cultural perspectives, global branding, brand culture, historical culture, and fashion systems.

Exploring brands in their cultural context

Culture is often perceived as a resource upon which branding processes and practices can draw, but less acknowledged are the ways in which branding processes and practices – and brands themselves – co-create culture. Indeed, brands are ubiquitous in everyday life, and they engage multiple actors in processes and practices that produce cultural meanings. Various aspects of the media, such as television programming, online content, magazines, movies, and books, as well as other stakeholders, such as labor unions, retailers, sports, brand professionals, and brand researchers participate in brand myths, brand meaning, and branding activities – from product placement and endorsement to social media target marketing. While companies painstakingly employ time-tested strategic branding techniques, for example in generating brand myths, consumers of all varieties invest brands with particular meanings by consuming them in socially negotiated ways. As brand researcher Susan Fournier has argued, brands can act as companions that co-create and contribute to life experiences (1998).

At a basic level, a brand is a mark that communicates a proprietary ownership of something that others might wish to possess and from which they are specifically excluded, but also an invitation to, or recognition of, inclusion through a sharing in the value of the mark. This tension between exclusion and inclusion, outsider and insider, fuels a movement basic to human needs, wants, and desires. Co-constructed by various brand actors, brand meanings are closely determined by relationships and context. In keeping with this paradigm, brand culture shifts and changes through repeated interactions between various actors across time and space.

These conceptual connections notwithstanding, most studies on international marketing and consumer culture have paid scant attention to precisely how brand development adapts to market conditions and contributes to public discourse, and thus much research lacks focus on the cultural analysis of brand development. In contrast, this book investigates the possibilities and processes of developing global brands via a cultural approach. In the same vein, the cultural analysis of brands attends to brand “actors” and the various discourses that pertain to the cultural meanings of brands (Bengtsson and Östberg, 2006; Holt, 2004). In his model of cultural branding, brand researcher Douglas Holt draws upon consumer perspectives from varied cultural contexts and joins historical and cultural analysis to reveal patterns of brand success, as well as the problems faced by brands (Holt, 2002, 2004). A key example of a cultural approach to brands examined the Starbucks brand myth to show how brands can take on ideological and political roles that influence an entire industry (Thompson and Arsel, 2004). The cultural approach towards brand development highlights the cultural richness of brand meanings and brand myths, thereby revealing the diversity of brand culture.

Arguably complex and difficult to define, culture might be understood as “the way of life of a group,” and meanings that arise as part of this way of life, including “the transmission, communication and alteration of those meanings, and the circuits of power by which the meanings are valorised or derogated” (Kendall and Wickham, 2001, p. 14). In this definition, culture encompasses meanings embodied by symbols with “an historically transmitted structure” and “a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms” that allow communication, development, and perpetuation of knowledge and relevant attitudes “toward life” (Geertz, 1973, p. 89). Because human activity alters these symbolic meanings, meanings are necessarily susceptible to both change and stasis. Consequently, culture is “continually produced and reproduced by means of which the human subject modifies his physical environment and bends nature to his will” (Berger, 1990, p. 6). In other words, culture is a process by which “people try to make sense of their own lives and sense of the behavior of other people with whom they have to deal” (Spindler et al., 1990, p. 2). Not least, culture refers to products that exist in material cultural forms, but also as artefacts in their capacity as texts with symbolic content. These artefacts include brands and branding processes.

In the cultural analysis of brands, brands are treated as symbolic forms enabling companies to compete gainfully, and enabling consumers to achieve optimal identity projection. Ostensibly, in an attempt to satisfy consumers, brand-owning firms create and execute systematic strategies aiming to convince consumers that brand consumption adds value to life, such that brand implementation has turned into a distinctive cultural form, which to all intents and purposes encapsulates brand builders’ worldviews (Cayla and Arnould, 2008). Branding activities engage brand myths that are meant to graft brand builders’ worldviews onto consumers’ unmet desires and needs, recognizing that in some cases consumers are brand builders.

In brand development, consumers become key brand actors and assume co-creative roles. In other words, a company’s capacity for creating brand meanings enjoys only limited success, because the world in which it functions is dominated by the power of consumers who, in turn, engage brand meanings in ways that serve their own identity projections. The ways in which different groups of consumers develop meanings around brands vary, and these meanings have the potential to differ from what sponsoring firms may have intended in branding activities (e.g., Kates, 2004; Kozinets, 2001; Muñiz and O’Guinn, 2001).

Although cultural resources provide potentially productive areas for pursuing brand development, many marketing scholars have yet to take notice of historical culture’s important role in brand development research. Nevertheless, one ground-breaking paper from consumer researchers Eric Arnould and Craig Thompson went further, and called for more non-Western studies to address gaps emerging from local differences and contingencies of global consumer culture (2005). Taking up their challenge, this book focuses on the Chinese context, deploying a cultural approach and examining particular narratives and potential pathways regarding ways in which Chinese brands globalize. We draw on existing notions of cultural branding, brand culture, and brand actors’ roles in brand development in order to mobilize these specifically in terms of cultural forms. In so doing, this work seeks to emphasize the potential of brand culture in the global marketplace.

The focus on China acknowledges its steady rise as a global economic power, with the cultural, economic, and ideological role of brands sure only to increase. As one economic analyst predicts:

One inevitable trend in the coming decades – now that rising costs and the end of easy money are forcing Chinese companies to become long term strategic thinkers and look for new revenue models – is that more Chinese companies will go abroad. Western consumers had better get used to seeing Chinese brands, not just the “Made in China” stickers, on the shelves of America’s retailers. Likewise, Western brands will have to start fending off competition from new emerging Chinese brands that will disrupt the world’s markets and the global pecking order, much as Japanese firms did in the 1980s (Rein, 2012, p. 12).

More specifically, China is gaining momentum in the fashion industries, which exert a powerful influence on many other sectors:

Fifty years ago, Italy benefitted from market growth centered in the United States, while today Shanghai benefits from growth centered in Asia. The sheer size of the numbers associated with China’s projected growth guarantees the arrival of Shanghai as a world-class center of fashion because fashion follows money (Mead, 2011, p. 563).

Thus, our three cases, emerging from the world of entertainment, sports, and fashion, provide a useful lens to view the continuing development of global Chinese brands.

Managerial perspectives on global branding

Key topics in the international marketing literature include global branding, global brand standardization and adaptation of brand names and brand strategies, and managerial perspectives on global branding. It has been three decades since pioneering marketing guru Ted Levitt isolated the notion of the globalization of markets (1983). Yet, the concept of “global brand” remains ambiguous, as demonstrated by discrepancies that exist between literature definitions and popular managerial rankings of global brands (e.g., Dimofte, Johansson, and Ronkainen, 2008; Quelch, 1999; Roth, 1995; Whitelock and Fastoso, 2007).

Our understanding of the term global brand derives from a position where multiple perspectives – including the marketing standardization and consumer perspective approaches – dovetail. Differences of opinion notwithstanding, common wisdom holds that global branding refers to global branding decisions and that these decisions apply around the world. Furthermore, the brand – as a concept, a cultural object, and a managerial tool – has shifted in its meaning and execution from merely adding name recognition and value to existing products and services (Askegaard, 2006). In recent years, the concept of global branding has exceeded the traditional implications of trademark to encompass complex decisions that affect the development of a brand on a global scale (e.g., Bently, Davis, and Ginsburg, 2008).

Elementary branding strategy assumes that global branding decisions should align with a number of other elements, including the brand’s core essence, the brand personality and positioning, and the brand’s execution, which may include media and advertising. Global branding therefore refers to a complex process of reinforcing and aligning multiple elements at an international level.

From the marketing standardization perspective, a key objective of brand development is maximizing economic profits, achievable by standardizing the brand globally and cutting the concomitant costs of marketing, research and development, sourcing, and manufacturing (Craig and Douglas, 2000; Özsomer and Altaras, 2008; Yip, 1995). Standardization, which involves developing a distinctive brand identity and reproducing this identity across differing cultural, historical and structural terrains, is a cost-effective means to target and fulfill those consumer demands generally shared by affluent and youth markets across the world (e.g., Borgerson et al., 2009; Griffiths, 2013; Hassan, Craft and Kortam, 2003; Kjeldgaard and Askegaard, 2006; Quelch, 2007).

Although scholars typically agree on which features make a brand global – the use of the same name worldwide and similar positioning strategies and marketing mixes in target markets – there exist some disagreements about the lengths to which a brand must go before it can be christened “global” (Özsomer and Altaras, 2008). Some studies maintain that absolute, undiluted standardization of brand strategy and marketing mix is essential (Levitt, 1983). Nevertheless, a majority of marketing experts argue that absolute standardization remains impossible to put into practice, as firms that own global brands often vary in the levels of globalization they aim to achieve and pursue. Specifically, the strategic thinking behind brands varies, and resulting decisions may affect how global brands ultimately develop (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 1999; Hsieh, 2002; Johansson and Ronkainen, 2005; Kapferer, 2012; Schuiling and Kapferer, 2004). In defining global brands, however, many look to the degree to which brands depend on standardized marketing strategies and programs across the global markets.

For their part, research firms measure global brands and their values on the basis of economic benefits. For example, Interbrand/Business Week, one such research institution gaining a sizeable reputation, issues annual awards, such as Best Global Brands and Best Chinese Brands, enabling the measurement of global brands using both financial and reputational indicators. Interbrand’s selection algorithms dictate that a global brand must derive at least one-third of its sales from foreign markets, be well recognized by individuals who may or may not be purchasing consumers, and engage highly recognizable marketing resources and publicly identified financial data. In this reckoning, global brand values are measured by sales volume, market leadership, sustainability, and global reach (Interbrand, 2012).

A consumer perspective defines global brands in terms of the degree to which consumers perceive the brand as being global when it reaches foreign markets (Özsomer and Altaras, 2008). In other words, the global status of brands is constituted by their multi-market reach defined by “at least a minimum level of awareness, recognition and sales all over the world” (Quelch, 2007, p. 560). Despite its well-rounded approach, research engaging a consumer perspective does not generally focus on multiple brand actors in the definition of a global brand. In our view, a global brand is one interpreted by brand actors worldwide, including managerial workers, consumers, and the media. Accordingly, global branding refers to brand actors’ discourses on a global scale. These discourses include advertisements, trade fairs, brand communities, consumers’ meanings, fan blogs, official brand websites, investment analyses, and media commentaries.

Global brand standardization/adaptation

In marketing scholarship, many of the main issues of international branding have developed via a debate regarding standardization versus adaptation of global branding by exploiting global branding opportunities in local markets. The debate concentrates on the standardization/adaptation of brand names and brand strategies at the international level, though more recent discussions include investigating the link between brand name standardization and profitability in the international branding practices of US companies (Alashban et al., 2002). The standardization of products, packaging, and communications at an international level has also been explored (Holt, Quelch, and Taylor, 2004). Other relevant concerns include the adaptation to local contexts of advertising strategy and brand execution elements in ways that continue to retain their international marketing mix content and remain aligned with brand characteristics (de Chernatony, Halliburton and Bernath, 1995; Kates and Goh, 2003). What is left to be done is to examine brand image strategies from alternative perspectives. Towards this end, we offer an analysis that examines brand images from the perspective of cultural brand actors.

Many consumer-focused studies of global branding have highlighted the interactions between brand globalness and localness. The relevant consumer segments provide the basis for constructing positioning strategies and valuing the depth versus the breadth of the effectiveness of brand image strategies (Roth, 1992). However, consumer preferences for global brands are often based on the questionable assumption that global brands offer not only prestige but also a quality that exceeds that of local brands (Steenkamp, Batra, and Alden, 2003). Indeed, local brands and their features have been compared with those of global brands, and while local brands enjoy a distinct advantage over global brands with regard to brand awareness and trust, there often exists little or no difference in quality and/or prestige between them (Schuiling and Kapferer, 2004). These insights encourage further investigations into the ways in which specific differences between local and global brands are perceived by consumers, and how brands create value and influence consumer choice. Armed with a cultural approach, this book enters the fray in an attempt to examine brand globalization through the discourses brand actors create around global brands.

The managerial perspective of global branding in the Chinese context

The Chinese translation of global brands and the ways in which global brands have standardized and adapted to China has been of great interest (Aaker and Williams, 1998; Greyser, 2008; Lu, 2008; Melewar et al., 2004; Wang, 2008; Zhang and Schmitt, 2001). Brand name standardization/adaptation strategies em ployed by Fortune 500 consumer goods companies in China and Hong Kong reveal how global brands successfully avoid unfortunate brand name errors and invest their brand names with distinctive features – cultural symbols, additional product benefits, and positive cultural associations – when entering the Chinese market (Francis, Lam, and Walls, 2002). Consumer researchers Xin Zhao and Russell Belk investigated Chinese consumer perceptions of global brands and the appeal – and foreignness – of television and print advertisements for global brands (2008). Their findings revealed two different reactions among Chinese consumers. The group that aspires to international cosmopolitanism and its imagined prestige (in Chinese, mianzi) identifies with global advertisements. The other group, which is driven by nationalistic feelings and the desire to maintain local prestige, identifies with the representation of Chinese values (e.g., Tian and Dong, 2011). We build upon existing studies of consumer perception of global brands and branding by expanding the range of brand acto...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Global Branding, Fashion Systems, and Historical Culture
• 2 Jay Chou, Pop Star: Chinese Aesthetics and Contemporary Trends
• 3 The 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony: Branding China for the World
• 4 Shanghai Tang: A Chinese Luxury Brand with Global Ambitions
• 5 From Chinese Brand Culture to Global Brands
• Appendix
• References
• Index