Haier: officially a success story

economy - The branding game, McKinsey

Gordon Orr of the Shanghai office of McKinsey sounds rather sceptical when he writes in the Financial Times about the efforts of Chinese companies to invest in branding.

While aspirations are high, many Chinese chief marketing officers (CMOs) – when they exist at all - and their senior colleagues are very uncertain as to how to proceed. In a mirror image of multinationals’ arrival in China a decade ago, they lack cultural anchor points to steer their choices away from brand building investments that could be unwise in terms of near-term economic return and long-term brand-building.

Since his firm is making much of its money in selling the whole concept of branding, he has to limit his doubsts. Less TV-commercials or acquisition of existing brand and more strategic thinking, is his message. Maybe I should take if from there a push ahead. Watch my upcoming WTO-column.