China News Service, Beijing, August 25 (Liu Huan) Recently, the Chinese fast-moving consumer goods brand MINISO apologized to the public for translating the Chinese cheongsam worn by the doll into a geisha costume by an overseas account.
Previously, the brand has caused heated discussions for shaping the image of Japanese companies to the outside world.
With foreign brands and pseudo-Japanese origins, why does Made in China use the guise of "foreign ancestry"?
How should domestic products tell their own brand story?
Fake foreign brands and real domestic products, "foreign-style marketing" has a long history
After the clothing incident, the issue of MINISO's pedigree once again attracted attention.
In September 2013, MINISO was officially established in Guangdong.
In the early stage of publicity, the brand launched the banner of origin in Japan, claiming to be a fast fashion leisure product designed by Japanese young designer Junya Miyake.
There are Japanese elements in many places such as brand logos and product labels.
In fact, MINISO only applied for a trademark in Japan in 2014.
The designer Jun Miyake was also questioned by netizens about the authenticity of his identity.
On August 18 this year, MINISO once again apologized, saying: "From the end of 2015 to 2018, it was promoted as a 'Japanese designer brand'. In the early stage of the company's development, it experienced wrong brand positioning and marketing behavior, and went through a detour. "
This is not the first time that domestic brand marketing has taken the "Ocean Road".
As early as 2007, the domestic skin care product Marubi was promoted as a Japanese brand, claiming that it was "founded in Showa 54" and "Japanese eye care expert".
After the disguise was exposed, Marumi publicly apologized for the false propaganda, saying: "I hope the public will forgive the children who admit their mistakes."
The first generation of Guochao, Metersbonwe, translated into English as "Metersbonwe".
Now the brand name is interpreted by netizens as: "beautiful and special here, raise the prestige of our country".
Also keen on the Japanese style on the packaging is the domestic beverage Yuanqi Forest established in 2016. Previously, not only did the Japanese word "気" replace the Chinese character "qi" in the brand name, but also the bottle was marked with white characters on a red background: "Japanese Produced by Genki Forest Co., Ltd.".
Chinanews.com found that in November 2020, when Yuanqi Forest (Beijing) Food Technology Group Co., Ltd. registered a new company, it named it "Old Menglao", and the controversial brand logo was also quietly replaced with Chinese characters, bottle The body packaging label was changed to "Vitality Forest" with white characters on a black background.
The number of domestic products accused of being "fake foreign brands" is more than the above-mentioned ones, and related products involve all aspects of daily life.
Data map: Photo by Luo Yunfei, a reporter from China News Agency, during the 2nd China International Consumer Goods Fair.
Why do domestic brand marketing need foreign elements?
Tang Wenli from the Semiotics-Media Research Institute of Sichuan University mentioned in the paper "Fake Foreign Brands' Brand Symbol Counterfeiting Mechanism and Its Reflections" that imitation foreign brands can be roughly divided into four categories:
The first is that a domestic company registers a trademark in China, but only takes a foreign name. Product design, research and development are all carried out in China, and they are packaged as foreign brands.
The second is to set up a "shell" company overseas, and product research and development is also carried out in China.
The third is to register a trademark abroad, introduce technology or raw materials from abroad, and produce products in China.
The fourth is to register trademarks overseas, entrust local enterprises to manufacture products, and domestic enterprises to introduce them in the form of general sales agents.
Chen Xinlei, a professor of marketing at Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said that the phenomenon of selling domestic products under foreign brands has a long history. On the one hand, because of the interests and preferences of young consumers, some domestic products will cater to their preferences in terms of design style.”
He believes that the reason why consumers have low trust in domestic products is that high-end brands have not yet appeared. Although some low-end products can get favorable retail channels, their overall sales are not as good as those of foreign brands.
Li Daila, who used to be engaged in the brand strategy of a 4A advertising company, said that in the early stage of brand establishment, doing so is more conducive to the brand opening up the market. "In the early days, some domestic products were packaged as foreign brands, and it was easier to achieve a breakthrough from 0 to 1."
Data map: Customers buy luggage at the duty-free shop in Haikou Riyue Plaza, China Duty Free Group. Photo by China News Agency reporter Luo Yunfei
What domestic products need is to tell their own brand story
According to the "2022 Domestic Product Market Development Report: New Media, New Consumption and New Culture" jointly released by the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in May 2022, Douyin e-commerce data shows that from April 2021 to March 2022 , the number of domestic brands on the platform increased by 508% year-on-year; the number of domestic brands in the popular list accounted for 92%.
Chen Xinlei told Chinanews that the market share of domestic products is not low now, and consumers have gradually built up brand confidence. "At present, domestic products are mainly concentrated in the low-end market, because the 'moat' of product technology is not high, and the quality of domestic products is improved at the same time. There is a price advantage.”
Lin Yi, a brand strategy consultant for a Fortune 500 company, believes that the rise of domestic products is partly due to the changes in consumption generations. The post-90s and post-00s have become the main consumers. "They grew up in an era when the country was developing and prospering. There is a strong sense of identity.”
Data map: Photo by Yu Xuan of China News Agency during the National Chao Hanfu Parade on Yulin East Road, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
Chen Xinlei analyzed that although domestic products are making progress now, most of them still can’t break out of the domestic market. “The real rise of domestic products still has to go abroad.” At present, products are improving on the supply side, but the sales side lacks brand soft power. Marketing is generally a bit monotonous, for example, the prevailing 'national tide' has weakened a bit."
He said that now domestic products should think about how to tell their own stories. "The brand value is very detailed, and it needs to be connected one by one."
Li Daila told Chinanews.com that some new domestic brand companies have come to her to ask how to build their brand image. She said: "This process is like a piggy bank, and you need to keep saving brand energy in it. And the current brand building It is a two-way process, and the brand side also needs to interact with consumers in both directions to create brand value.”
Lin Yi added that the success of some foreign brands lies in spreading brand concepts and providing emotional value, which is worth learning from: "Now domestic products should establish a global vision and refer to some methods of other brands to better understand brand values and concepts. spread." (At the request of the interviewee, some characters in the article are pseudonyms) (End)