Asian Brand Strategy

How Asia Builds Strong Brands

by Martin Roll
Palgrave Macmillan © 2005
224 pages

Focus Take-Aways
Leadership & Management • Emerging Asian economies are reshaping global business as they change their roles.
Strategy
• Asian corporate leaders are realizing that being low-cost providers will not turn
Sales & Marketing
their operations into global companies.
Finance
Human Resources • To emerge as global competitors, Asian corporations must become brand leaders.
IT, Production & Logistics • In 2004, four of the world’s top ten brands were Asian: Samsung, Toyota, Sony
Career Development and Honda.
Small Business
• “Reputational worth” is part of a brand’s contribution to a company’s market value.
Economics & Politics
Industries • Intangible assets, including brands, generate some 50% to 75% of the market
Intercultural Management capitalizations of firms on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
Concepts & Trends • Brands attempt to fulfill their customers’ emotional needs.
• Marketers expect more Asian images to replace American ones in Asian movies,
music and video games in the years ahead.
• Marketing in Asia is becoming more complex amid rapid modernization.
• People in Asia are trying to forge individual identities while remaining deeply
attached to their group cultural identities. Branding must straddle this dichotomy.

Rating (10 is best)

Overall Applicability Innovation Style

7 7 8 7

To purchase abstracts, personal subscriptions or corporate solutions, visit our Web site at www.getAbstract.com, send an e-mail to info@getabstract.com, or call us in our
U.S. office (1-877-778-6627) or in our Swiss office (+41-41-367-5151). getAbstract is an Internet-based knowledge rating service and publisher of book abstracts. getAbs-
tract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this abstract. The copyrights of authors and publishers are acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part of this ab-
stract may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying or otherwise, without prior written permission of getAbstract Ltd (Switzerland).

This document is restricted to the personal use of Rajesh Ranjan Mahapatra (h16096@astra.xlri.ac.in)

LoginContext[cu=3776962,aff=1536,subs=1,free=0,lo=en,co=IN] 2018-09-03 11:47:40 CEST

 Relevance

What You Will Learn

In this Abstract, you will learn: 1) What factors are reshaping Asian corporations; 2) How
to define the nine characteristics of a successful brand; and 3) How to develop a brand-
building program.

Recommendation
Martin Roll has written a very informative book, in fact, nearly two books: one that covers
foundational knowledge on branding and one that reports on branding in Asia. Amid the
explanation of branding basics, Roll depicts how emerging Asian corporations are finally
seeing branding as more than a name and a logo, and, thus, are making it a central part
of their strategies. He predicts that the next, new generation of Asian corporate brand
leaders will also become the next, new generation of global powerhouses. Roll deftly
explains what makes branding work, and he shares his first-hand experiences working
with major Asian corporations, he just doesn’t always pull the two together. Roll also
tends to treat developed Asian nations, such as Japan and South Korea, and emerging
economies, such as China and India, as if they are uniform. That aside, getAbstract
applauds Roll’s informed take on Asian marketing strategy, and recommends this solid
book on brand building and its global uses.

Abstract
“As Asian brands Creating Value in Asia
strive to become Asia is on the road toward reshaping global business. By 2041, China’s economy will
global, they will
increasingly
be the world’s largest and, by 2032, India’s economy will surpass Japan’s. Aside from
need to look at population growth and economic expansion, Asia’s business environment is changing
what happens due to increased deregulation and more relaxed trade policies.
in neighboring
countries and how On the business side, major Asian corporations are improving their productivity and
that experience operational efficiency, introducing new product designs and adopting more creative
impacts the way
approaches to their overall operations. The large conglomerates that dominated the
people think
and feel about industrial landscape in many Asian countries are now focusing on building specialized
themselves and products, and developing and exploiting niche markets, instead of offering wide product
their neighbors.” lines that cater to all industries and buyers.
These changes are occurring because the leaders of Asian manufacturing firms have
come to understand that competing solely on the basis of low costs will not transform
their companies into global corporations. These leaders are already acting on the
understanding that branded goods generate greater profits than nameless merchandise.
“Companies For example, nonbranded “contract” mobile phone manufacturers who produce phones
striving to build for other companies can make a 15% profit, while the branded corporation that sells
successful brands
the phone under its own name can command a profit margin of around 30%. Similarly,
in Asia should
understand this Asian firms manufacture athletic shoes for about $5 and sell them to brand distributors
unique mosaic for about $10, although the U.S. retail customer may pay $100 for a pair. That helps
of cultures.” explain why half of all shoe manufacturers have entered the brand-building business in
the past decade. Branding dramatically affects the value chain – but a manufacturer can
disrupt the existing profit path by developing and leveraging its own worldwide brand.
Asian Brand Strategy © Copyright 2009 getAbstract 2 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Rajesh Ranjan Mahapatra (h16096@astra.xlri.ac.in)

LoginContext[cu=3776962,aff=1536,subs=1,free=0,lo=en,co=IN] 2018-09-03 11:47:40 CEST

 In 2004, Asian corporations owned four of the world’s top ten brands: Korea’s Samsung
and Japan’s Honda, Toyota and Sony. Many more Asian brands, such as Shiseido and
“Despite Asia’s HSBC, are also recognized globally. However, branding is still relatively underdeveloped
size and economic in emerging Asian economies because many of these nations remain in the early stages
growth, it has not of economic development and branding has not been a priority. The reasons that Asian
seen the emergence firms have not promoted a culture of branding include their traditional business structures,
of many strong
their loose intellectual property laws and their less-than-urgent approach to innovation.
and international
brands.” Many Asian corporations simply haven’t regarded branding as a strategic need. In the
past, their executives tended to confuse branding campaigns with simple, disjointed
marketing pushes that sometimes fit focused branding programs and sometimes did
not. Now, Asian firms’ branding must reflect the cultural influences reshaping their
consumers as they break their countries’ links with the colonial past. The markets for
movies, music and fashion clearly show this shift. This change requires adopting a new
paradigm and calls for strong guidance from the boardroom.
“Asian businesses
are slowly Branding Basics
becoming more People need to be connected with one another and to aspire to something larger than
attentive to themselves. Certain brands recognize this and hone in on the emotional needs their
the power of
brands can fulfill. Branding is a powerful force. Since ad messages continually bombard
brand identity.”
people, most of them filter out the information that doesn’t fit their worldview. Consumers
who become attached to brands that satisfy their needs do not seek information about
competing products. This inertia builds brand loyalty and filters out competitive messages.
A person who likes a brand’s positive traits, such as consistency, reliability and quality,
feels a stronger bond with the brand and that reinforces its message. Branding – and
agreement about a brand’s characteristics – also matters when businesses collaborate. A
good brand displays nine traits:
“The Singapore
Girl strategy 1. It drives shareholder value.
turned out to be 2. Top executives support the branding effort, marketing people manage it and everyone
a powerful idea involved has input.
[for Singapore 3. It permeates the company and is readily visible at customer contact points.
Airlines] and she
has become a 4. It has a specific financial value and a place on the balance sheet.
successful brand 5. It is an asset that can be bought or sold, and can be used as security against a loan.
icon, with an 6. It encourages customers to pay more for a product or service.
almost mythical 7. It creates an emotional relationship with the consumer.
status and aura.”
8. It builds loyalty, so people deem that they “need” to buy the branded product, rather
than a substitute.
9. It has a readily identifiable logo or specific signage.
To avoid risk, consumers tend to choose branded goods in hopes that they are more likely
to perform as advertised, despite the risk that the products will not meet their needs or
could be faulty in some way. A brand that fulfills its promise is a corporate financial
asset in that its “reputational worth” contributes to the firm’s market value. A strong
“India’s Bollywood
has an audience
brand name adds to a product’s pricing strength, since companies can charge a premium
of approximately for branded goods with less customer resistance. Brands are part of a corporation’s
3.6 billion globally, intangible assets, such as “intellectual property, systems and data, human capital and
compared to marketing relationships.” Increasingly, Asian corporations are realizing that branding
2.6 billion for activities and intangible assets flow directly to their bottom line.
Hollywood.”
Interbrand, a consulting firm, found that brands are the source of a lot of a company’s
value. Intangible assets, such as brands, generate 50% to 75% of the market capitalization
Asian Brand Strategy © Copyright 2009 getAbstract 3 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Rajesh Ranjan Mahapatra (h16096@astra.xlri.ac.in)

LoginContext[cu=3776962,aff=1536,subs=1,free=0,lo=en,co=IN] 2018-09-03 11:47:40 CEST

 of corporations on the NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange. Brand equity
accounts for more than half of the market capitalization of such global leaders as
“Branding is
an investment
Disney, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Nokia. Strong brands translate into better stock
that must be price performance for investors. Studies show that a portfolio containing strong brand-
perceived as such name stocks will outperform the overall market, partially because brand recognition
and is required reduces sales volatility.
to deliver ROI
and shareholder
Rethinking Asia
value like any
other feasible Marketing in Asia is becoming increasingly complex as the region’s economies rapidly
business activity.” modernize, and barriers dissolve among and within its distinct cultures. Asian countries
are forging contemporary identities and leaving colonialism behind. As Asian firms
build modern corporate identities, they must identify the distinct cultural subgroups
they want to reach, while also addressing the value Asians ascribe to cultural conformity.
Consumers are forging individual identities, while remaining knit to their larger cultural
groups. Thus, firms must stop thinking only about a collectivist, conformist culture
– though that is still part of the picture – and develop new ideas about how to span
cultural barriers using images, music and other tools. For instance, a Motorola cell phone
“Brands give
consumers a commercial in India used a song from a famous Bollywood movie. This song subsequently
sense of identity, appeared in a Hollywood blockbuster, Moulin Rouge. It then became popular in India’s
stimulate their dance clubs, was made into a music video and became a hit all over Southeast Asia.
senses and
enrich their life Satellite TV and the Internet are creating new cultural bridges by linking an increasing
experiences.” number of Asian nations. Audiences in Taiwan, Korea and Japan frequently watch the
same soap operas and listen to the same music. Anthropologists call this phenomenon
“close distance,” a process through which people are attracted to things that are different,
yet reassured by things that are familiar. This explains the popularity of Thai singers
in Japan and of Japanese TV shows in Taiwan. Marketers expect to see ads with more
Asian images, as opposed to Western ones. Asians will be increasingly visible in movies,
music and video games. Marketers also anticipate that trends starting in Bangkok will
“Strategic
become more powerful than trends from New York.
branding and its Asian marketers have noted a resurgence of Asian nationalism, which will make it harder
implications for
Asian companies
to translate trends from the West to the East. The value that Asians place on individual
and governments relationships, interpersonal harmony and conformity leads to an interesting regional
is a much concept of “being different like everybody else.” In Japan, for example, the family is
debated topic.” regarded as an institution, complete with lines of familial succession and positions of
power. This affects how consumers buy luxury brands, since some families believe only
senior-level members should display signs of status.
Asia is also home to two-thirds of the world’s Muslims, with the largest demographic
groups in Indonesia, Pakistan and India. “This significant chunk of the world population,
it can be argued, has a distinct set of beliefs and needs [for example, conformance with
Islamic financial laws] that have been largely ignored by mass marketing.” Asia also has
“For modern a large population of rural consumers, many of whom are paid small wages daily. Thus,
companies, the marketers have to adapt their existing distribution and sales programs for many products.
creation of value
increasingly Some Asian nations, including India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, have initiated
depends on campaigns to brand their countries. The goal is to market a unique identity and a
the control of
intangible assets,
positive message to draw investors and businesses, and to attract tourists, shoppers
such as brands.” and students. Thailand and India are making a concerted branding effort in medical
tourism to attract patients seeking low-cost alternatives to expensive U.S. and European
treatments, including surgery.
Asian Brand Strategy © Copyright 2009 getAbstract 4 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Rajesh Ranjan Mahapatra (h16096@astra.xlri.ac.in)

LoginContext[cu=3776962,aff=1536,subs=1,free=0,lo=en,co=IN] 2018-09-03 11:47:40 CEST

 Climbing 10 Steps Toward Brand Awareness
To enhance your brand, audit its underlying strengths and weaknesses, market position
and customer acceptance. Auditors use qualitative and quantitative research to find
“brand differentiators” and establish a brand’s identity, which includes its direction, its
personality, its development and extensions, its associations and how consumers perceive
it. Firms that want to emerge on the global stage must exceed international benchmarks
“The type of
modernity Asians
as a prerequisite for competing worldwide. This includes exceeding financial criteria,
have created for expanding core strengths and having the right staff. Asian firms and governments that
themselves is want to build global brands should take 10 steps:
different from
that found in 1. Involve the CEO and board to provide top-down guidance – Branding is more
the West…most than marketing and signage.
countries in Asia 2. Build your own brand model – Incorporate your company’s unique heritage, culture
are adopting new
technologies, but
and worldview into the brand. Assign measurements at key points to gauge your
retaining their progress and make sure the effort fits existing corporate strategy.
identity at the 3. Involve your entire constituency in branding – Turn to employees, customers,
same time.” suppliers, investors and outside experts for an objective view of your brand’s strengths.
4. Use the process to focus everyone on strategic goals – About half of the success of
any brand-building strategy comes from internal employees, so involve them from
the outset. Use branding as an opportunity to teach your corporate goals to everyone
in your workplace.
5. Reach out to build the brand – Use the intranet, extranet, blogs and your Web site.
6. Train every employee to act as a company representative – Involve your staffers
in making your brand a living entity. In 2003, HSBC bank trained every employee to
understand and “live” the brand’s values and strategy, at a cost of $750 per person.
7. Build a system that delivers the brand’s promise consistently – Your goal is to
exceed your customer’s demands. Use customer data and feedback from the market
place to make continuous improvements.
8. Connect with customers emotionally and through their experiences – This
advanced form of communications exceeds plain print advertising. Brand
communications should be memorable, direct and concise. Try to distill your message
“Vision without into a short slogan, explaining what the brand is all about, such as “India Shining” or
action is a
daydream. Action
“Dynamic Korea.”
without vision is 9. Measure the results of your branding effort – Ways to do this include measuring
a nightmare.” a customer’s lifetime value. Coca-Cola estimates that an average customer will
[ – Japanese spend $1,200 over his or her lifetime, while BMW estimates that a satisfied, repeat
proverb]
customer will pay $143,500. Measuring is important, though one report found that
68% of marketers never measured their programs’ return on investment.
10. Adjust the branding campaign as needed – Preserve your brand’s core message.
Senior managers should not become too comfortable about branding. They should
check frequently to ensure that goals are being met and to make any needed changes,
particularly in rapidly evolving markets like Asia.

About the Author

Martin Roll is CEO of VentureRepublic, a branding strategy and advisory firm. A guest
lecturer at INSEAD and a visiting professor at CEIBS in Shanghai, he has more than 15
years of experience in international advertising and branding.
Asian Brand Strategy © Copyright 2009 getAbstract 5 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Rajesh Ranjan Mahapatra (h16096@astra.xlri.ac.in)

LoginContext[cu=3776962,aff=1536,subs=1,free=0,lo=en,co=IN] 2018-09-03 11:47:40 CEST