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China’s brand revolution The great emulator has turned into a global innovator, finds Ben Walker
Ben Walker: How have the disruptors broken through? David Roth: The economic environment for
disruptor brands has never been as good as it is now. There is lots of money, lots of capital, and lots of investment going in. The disruptor brands are seriously challenging the status quo. Doreen Wang: In the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands, five years ago, almost all the top five were state-owned enterprises. Now the top five includes Tencent, Alibaba, Huawei and Baidu, so we are seeing a dramatic change where lots of entrepreneurial disruptive
We are seeing a dramatic change where lots of entrepreneurial disruptive brands have entered Dialogue Q2 2018
brands have entered. The consumer’s needs in the digital era has been met by these brands. BW: Beyond their ability to bend over backwards to meet consumer need quickly, does anything else link the most successful brands? DR: Learn fast, fail fast. Phenomenal good use of
data, beyond just measuring it. An abundance of energy. The energy and the excitement of the disruptors – you want to bottle it up. They have a purpose in life as opposed to doing a job. DW: Their business model has changed significantly. The companies that can leverage technology and deliver that consumer experience are going to win. They are very purpose-driven, they can balance long-term and short-term very well. BW: You talked last year about the difference between fundamental and incremental innovation… DR: I think Tencent is a really good example. If
you look historically over the course of the last few years, Alipay has been the market leader. But Tencent has the potential to be a market leader because it can create payment in a social sphere, and that’s been amazingly disruptive, completely
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The world’s second biggest economy has grown up on a diet of effective – and relentless – emulation. Yet the tide is turning. China is now a great innovator and disruptor, with huge companies such as Tencent (see table opposite) setting the standard by which their global rivals will be measured. Dialogue editor Ben Walker met David Roth, chief executive EMEA & Asia at The Store WPP, and Doreen Wang, global head of BrandZ at Kantar Millward Brown, at the WPP BrandZ Chinese Brand Builders reception at the House of Commons, London.