acdcpinballmachine| Gu Bo, Chairman of Interbrand Brand Consulting China: Brand building should seek cultural integration and innovation

Every reporter Zhen Sujing, every editor Liang Xiao

On May 9, the Daily Economic News and Shenzhen Business Daily jointly held the "2024 eighth Brand value list of Chinese listed companies". The theme of this conference is "Brand vigor and New quality growth". The purpose of this conference is to explore the key role of brand vitality in China's current economic transformation and upgrading. The event will also bring together elites from the government, academia and business circles to share the experience of brand building and transmit brand value. Research and judge the new trend of brand development.

In the current critical period of China's economic transformation and upgrading, what is the significance of "brand vitality" to the growth of enterprises and even the economy as a whole? Listed companies as the leader of China's capital market, what is the impact of their brand strategy on the overall development of the company? How can enterprises achieve innovation while maintaining the core value of the brand? In response to these problems, the Daily Economic News interviewed Gu Bo, chairman of Interbrand Brand Consulting China.

Gubo said that brand vitality is of great significance to enhance the market competitiveness of enterprises, increase the added value of products and services, and build corporate culture.

Gu Bo proposed that enterprises should promote innovation and growth by changing the perspective of brands, systematizing brands and exploring new arenas. For listed companies, brand strategy is very important to the overall development, it not only shapes the image of the company, but also establishes a bridge with consumers. Listed companies should clearly define brand positioning, create a consistent brand experience, and strengthen brand communication at the group level in order to enhance market competitiveness.

Brand can increase the added value of products

NBD: in the current critical period of China's economic transformation and upgrading, what is the significance of "brand vitality" to the growth of enterprises and even the economy as a whole?

Gubo: "Brand vigor" can enhance the market competitiveness of enterprises, help enterprises better form their awareness in the hearts of the target audience, help to establish a long-term and stable relationship with the target audience, improve corporate revenue, and promote the upgrading and development of the entire industry. to achieve the goal of transformation from "made in China" to "made in China".

The role of brand vitality is also reflected in improving corporate image and reputation, increasing the added value of products and services, attracting investment and partners and so on. First of all, in terms of improving corporate image and reputation, dynamic and innovative brands can win the trust and loyalty of consumers.

Second, brands can increase the added value of products and services. Brands represent high quality, reliability and innovation. Consumers are usually willing to pay higher prices for brands, thus increasing the market share of enterprises and helping to increase sales and profits.

In addition, brand vitality can attract more investment and partners, and further improve the competitive advantage and market position of enterprises. At the same time, it can also help enterprises to establish a unique corporate culture, brand construction and development is from the inside out, from the top down. A good brand image helps to clarify the development goals and vision of the enterprise, help employees organically combine their daily work with the development goals of the enterprise, and make employees become brand ambassadors of the enterprise.

NBD: how do enterprises promote their innovation and growth through brand vitality?

Goob: first of all, companies can change their brand perspective from a business perspective that used to focus more on category division to a user perspective with underlying drivers and evolutionary needs as the core, and think more about what companies can do to help consumers. Instead of overemphasizing what you do.

Secondly, it is necessary to systematically sort out the brand, tell their own brand stories and core advantages clearly from the perspective of the audience, and continue to strengthen the cognition of their own advantages in the minds of the target audience.

In addition, take the initiative to explore new brand arenas, now the development of brands is multi-dimensional, and the competitors of enterprises do not necessarily come from the traditional areas of inherent cognition. Enterprises need to become closer to the needs of consumers and constantly explore new market opportunities to meet the needs and expectations of consumers.

Brand experience focuses on clarity and consistency

NBD: what is the impact of the brand strategy of listed companies as the leader of China's capital market on the overall development of the company?

Gubo: the brand strategy of listed companies has a far-reaching impact on its overall development. Generally speaking, the dimensions that listed companies need to communicate and spread will be broader, and brands can help listed companies form a consistent and clear understanding. The brand not only represents the company's image and reputation, but also establishes a bridge between the company and consumers. A good brand strategy can help listed companies stand out in the highly competitive market environment, enhance consumers' awareness and trust in the company, so as to improve the company's market share and profitability.

NBD: how should listed companies improve their market competitiveness through brand strategy?

Goobo: listed companies need to define their position in the market, including the target consumer group, the uniqueness of products or services, and competitive advantage. This helps the company to create a unique brand image and attract the attention of target consumers.

Second, create a clear and consistent brand experience. Because of the large size of listed companies and the extensiveness of the dimensions that need to communicate and spread, it is easy to cause the disconnection in brand communication and lead to the audience's one-sided understanding of the brand cognition of listed companies. Therefore, it is particularly important to create a clear and consistent brand experience, through the systematic planning of the core contact points to form the overall understanding of the brand impression of listed companies.

Listed companies also need to strengthen brand communication at the group level and actively spread their ideas and values at the group level, rather than just focusing on the promotion of their own products and services. Through advertising, public relations, social media and other channels to establish contact with consumers to improve the brand's sense of social responsibility, awareness and reputation, and enhance consumers' sense of trust in the company.

Innovation and tradition are not necessarily antagonistic.

NBD: how should enterprises strike a balance between innovation and tradition in the iconic measures of creating brands?

Goob: balancing innovation and tradition is a crucial challenge in the iconic initiative of creating a brand, but we want to emphasize that the iconic initiative of creating a brand does not mean a subversive change in every step of the brand. Instead, consider the significance that each step brings to the enterprise and the brand, through continuous iconic initiatives to help enterprises achieve the ultimate goal at the brand level. Therefore, innovation and tradition are not necessarily opposed to each other, and it is necessary to distinguish between innovation and tradition by combining the dimensions of industry, products and services.

NBD: what are the specific strategies or methods that can help enterprises achieve innovation while maintaining the core value of the brand?

Gupo: on the whole, the iconic initiative to create a brand needs to follow the principles of seeking innovation in inheritance, taking measures in conjunction with goals, and continuously monitoring market feedback and adjustment.

First of all, in the aspect of seeking innovation in inheritance, we should think about how to create iconic measures based on the brand history and core values of the enterprise, and make clear the elements that we need to retain and carry forward in the process of innovation. Brand construction is not to overthrow and start all over again, but to optimize and innovate step by step on the basis of maintaining the core value of the brand. These innovations should be consistent with the core values of the brand, not deviate from or subvert it.

Brand building needs to be combined with long-term goals and make landmark measures at every step. Brand is not achieved overnight, the establishment of mental cognition requires long-term persistence. Enterprises need to find a combination between long-term and short-term goals, bearing in mind that marketing is not all of the brand, and the short-term goals of the brand should be consistent with the long-term goals in order to help enterprises finally achieve their brand ambitions.

When creating iconic measures for brands, companies also need to pay close attention to market feedback and consumer demand and make timely adjustments or improvements. This helps to ensure that brands always maintain close contact with the market and consumers in the process of innovation.

Brand experience should be built in all directions

NBD: considering China's rich cultural resources, how should enterprises make effective use of these cultural elements in brand building?

Gubo: there is not a contradiction between local culture and internationalization. Consumers are becoming more and more open to the inclusiveness of different cultures. In the use of local cultural resources, we need to pay more attention to the essence, not to emphasize the local culture, which will make the expression of culture tend to the surface and can not really establish a deep relationship with the brand.

On the whole, the effective use of China's rich cultural resources in brand building can consider the following dimensions, study and understand the relationship between local culture and brand, and naturally integrate these elements into brand building from an appropriate perspective.AcdcpinballmachineExtract cultural elements and innovate their applications, extract representative elements related to themselves from traditional culture, such as characters, patterns, colors, etc., and apply them to brand identification, product design, marketing strategies and other aspects in an innovative way to shape the relationship between brand and culture in brand experience.

NBD: what do you think is the balance between local culture and international brand building in the context of globalization?

Gu Bo: in the context of globalization, the key to balancing local culture and international brand building is to maintain openness, respect cultural differences, and be able to complete cultural integration and re-innovation.

First of all, brands should pay attention to the needs and trends of the global market to ensure that brands are competitive on a global scale. Secondly, in respect of cultural differences, ensure the universality of the local culture to be emphasized in different regions. When integrating local cultural elements into brand building, we should pay attention to respecting the cultural differences in the target market and avoid misunderstandings or conflicts. Finally, in the combination of globalization and localization, brands should seek cultural integration and innovation to create localized brands with global influence.

NBD: what do you think of the role of brand consulting in helping listed companies achieve brand building and high-quality development?

Gubo: brand consulting is a shaping link between management consulting and advertising public relations. Management consulting companies focus more on helping enterprises sort out business strategy, organizational strategy, product research and development, and so on. Brand consulting focuses on building a bridge between logical analysis and creative development, describing the enterprise's business strategy clearly and easily in a contagious and different way, and guiding specific communication activities. to ensure that the enterprise's brand assets can form a positive accumulation and maintain a high degree of consistency.

From the perspective of specific support and strategy, brand consultation can provide specific support for listed companies from front-end brand definition to relatively late brand expression. Through research, analysis and insight, we will find the core definition for the brand from a strategic point of view, and establish the brand-specific expression on the basis of the definition. Expression is not only logo (logo) and recognition, but also can be implemented in vision and sound, online and offline, physical space and virtual space to build brand experience in an all-round way.