China's top brands see global profile rise

Tech poised to rival finance as most valuable business sector

China is showing global brand leadership in a wide variety of sectors, with many popular domestic favorites beginning to be recognized as quality brands worldwide, according to a new report.

Brand Finance, a London-based brand valuation consultancy, unveiled the 300 most valuable Chinese brands in its latest 2018 China 300 league table.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, known as ICBC, achieved brand value growth of 24 percent to $59.2 billion to remain China’s most valuable brand, just ahead of China Construction Bank, valued at $56.8 billion. The two banks are also the most valuable brands in the entire world banking sector.

Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei are leading the charge, however, as technology is poised to overtake banking as the ranking’s most valuable sector. The fastest-growing Chinese brands come from the auto and spirits sectors with BYD up 211 percent and Wuliangye up 161 percent.

David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said “This year has seen strong growth amongst the big Chinese brands.

“The unique modern history of the Chinese economy has produced huge, national brands on the domestic front. In coming years, Chinese brands have an opportunity to use this strong domestic foundation as a platform for global expansion.”

In the past, many Western brands told stories of going to China, but Haigh said he expects to see many Chinese brands expand to the West in the future.

While banking remains the most valuable sector, accounting for 24.7 percent of the ranking’s total brand value over the last year, the robust growth of the technology sector suggests it is likely to overtake banking. Tech’s overall share of the value of the 300 brands listed has increased from 20.7 percent to 24.4 percent.

Haigh said Alibaba, which is also the world’s fastest growing big retail brand in percentage terms, shows no sign of slowing as it plans to invest $15.2billion toward its global logistics chain expansion.

China Mobile, the fourth most valuable Chinese brand - up 14 percent to $53.2 billion - is the most valuable telecoms brand in Asia. China Mobile boasts the world’s most extensive mobile network and the world’s largest mobile phone customer base.

Outside the top ten ranking, a number of Chinese brands enjoyed exceptionally strong brand value growth, led by the two car brands of BYD up to $3.4 billion, and Haval, up 124 percent to $6.8 billion.

Alongside the car brands, baijiu brand Wuliangye was the second-fastest growing brand in the China 300 ranking, with the brand value of $14.6 billion.