China brands favoured by domestic consumers in marketing, experts say

CHINESE brands are generally outperforming their multinational counterparts in terms of consumer preference as they’re quicker to catch up with latest media trends and bold with new marketing campaign formats, industry experts noted.

“Chinese entrepreneurs and marketers have a better understanding of local consumers and are quick to adapt to new marketing trends and Chinese brands will enjoy a golden age in the next 10 years,” Tian Tao, deputy general manager of market research firm CTR China, told the China Insight Summit in Shanghai today.

“Domestic brands are quicker to spot popular entertainment shows and they have a shorter decision making process than most multinational players, which gives them more opportunities to impress picky consumers,” general manager of CTR’s Media Intelligence unit Zhao Mei told Shanghai Daily.

In the first quarter, almost all of the popular TV program sponsorship was dominated by domestic brands, according to CTR’s media monitoring data.

Among the top 50 most frequently purchased consumer products of Chinese urban households, more than 30 of them are made by home grown manufacturers, according to data tracked by Kantar Worldpanel, CTR’s consumer research service.

In the first quarter this year, total advertising expenditure calculated by published rate cards in China shrank 1.9 percent, with TV ad spending declining 2.9 percent from a year ago.

Internet ad expenditure was the fastest growing segment, rising 33 percent from a year ago, while office building digital screen advertising added 16 percent and movie theaters’ video ads were up 31 percent.

TV will stay play a major role in helping build a brand name and popular TV programs as well as some better performing regional TV stations are expected to enjoy a higher premium in the coming year, according to Zhao.