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P&G's president interprets 'Iconic Brands' in Shanghai

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-17 14:40

Shanghai:  What is an Iconic Brand? How could many of the Fortune100 brands maintain growth in economic downturn? How should China build its own iconic brands? At Fudan University, Shanghai, Chris de Lapuente, Group President of P&G Global Retail and Professional Hair, today shared his insights on branding, especially "iconic brands" marketing approaches, with more than two hundred college students.

This marks the first time for the theory of "Iconic Brands" to be systematically introduced to China, making this event not only to Fudan, a time-honored Chinese university, but also to the marketing community in China.

"Iconic Brands" is a hot topic in today's marketing community worldwide. In his lecture at Fudan, de Lapuente, a P&G veteran of 26 years who has been in the business of brand building, said that there are three elements essential to an iconic brand: a higher order purpose, a community centering on a higher order purpose, and an enduring iconic vocabulary.

Compared to an average brand, an iconic brand could bring its owner higher financial returns, and is better positioned against risks and uncertainties. The Real Madrid, Apple and Coca-Cola are all good examples of Iconic Brands, according to de Lapuente.

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De Lapuente shared his eight inspirational thoughts on "Iconic Brands", including brand proposition, continuity, visual identity, the public's enthusiasm and product design, as well as P&G Retail and Professional Hair's strategic approaches to build "Iconic Brands", based on which, the group adapts its new business goals and strategies and delivers a complete brand portfolio.

As Chinese brands push their way into worldwide markets, the local marketing community is showing increasing interests in "Iconic Brands". However, it is still in a nascent stage of development here in China, without adequate theoretical support including a scientific definition and real-world cases, even without a standard Chinese translation itself.

This time at Fudan, de Lapuente not only gave "Iconic Brands" a consistent Chinese name "Chuan Qi Pin Pai", but also shared findings of his own researches on it, offering thought-provoking ideas on r what shall be done to build China's own iconic brands.

"Given time, I'm sure China will see its own iconic brands." Said de Lapuente, "and P&G is willing to share its ideas and practices of brand building so that we can do our share of contribution along the way."

Founded in 1837, Procter & Gamble has been synonymous with brand building. Now it has more than 300 brands in markets of 160 countries and regions. Three billion times a day, these brands, including 23 billion-dollar brands , touch the lives of people around the world.

Procter & Gamble entered China in 1988. In 21 years, it has grown to be the largest daily consumer products company in the country. With its business development, it has played an instrumental role in developing related industries in China.

P&G has brought many "firsts" into China, including brand building. Moving forward, P&G is committed to bringing more insightful ideas about and best practices in building "Iconic Brands" to China.