Asian Brand Strategy

By Martin Roll

Published by Palgrave Macmillan on Novemeber 10, 2005

Towards 2020, a rapid changing landscape will emerge in Asia where the opportunities for Asian companies to benefit from international branding efforts will be larger than ever before. The growing emphasis on shareholder value and brand strategy to drive value will move up the boardroom agenda and become one of the most prominent drivers of value in Asia Pacific.

Asian Brand Strategy offers insights, knowledge and perspectives on Asian brands and branding as a strategic tool and provides a comprehensive framework for understanding Asian branding strategies and Asian brands, including success stories and challenges for future growth and strengths. The book includes theoretical frameworks and models and up-to-date case studies on Asian brands, and it a must-read for Asian and Western business leaders as well as anyone interested in the most exciting region of the world.

The book presents the Asian Brand Leadership model illustrating the paradigm shift Asian brands need to undertake to unleash their potential.

First, mindsets and practices need to change in the Asian boardroom. The book invites a complete shift in the way Asian boardrooms think of branding: from a tactical view to a long-term strategy, strategic perspective, from fragmented marketing activities to totally aligned branding activities, from a vision of branding as the sole responsibility of marketing managers to branding as the most essential function of the firm led by the boardroom.

Second, this new perspective must be steeped into a more acute perspective on the consumer behavior patterns. Asia is not a homogenous entity. Even more importantly, Asian countries are more and more traversed by cultural flows permeating the region: cinema, music and fashion trends that are present extend beyond national borders to capture the imagination of millions. Brand strategy and brands do not operate in vacuum, but are closely linked to developments in society, to people and to cultures.

Third, managers wanting to succeed in Asia need to abandon the idea of an oriental Asia of the past. Asian consumers are all vying for an Asian type of modernity that has nothing to do with colonial imagery.

Fourth, to create iconic brands, Asian managers will have to become trendsetters. The perspective developed in this book is that, in order to be successful, Asian brands need to capture the spirit of the region, but they also need to lead the way by creating that spirit.

Finally, this shift can be achieved only if everybody in the company is convinced by the power of branding and if all strategies and actions are aligned around the brand. This strategy must be led by the Asian boardroom.

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