Tech companies are China’s most valuable brands

Tencent, an internet service company, has been ranked China’s most valuable brand of 2015.

The newly listed online retailer, Alibaba, has rocketed straight to number two in The 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2015 rankings, ahead of China Mobile, owner of the top spot since the brand table first launched in 2011.

Tech brands are fast becoming the world’s most valuable brands. In The 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands rankings the technology sector has surpassed financial institutions as the category with the highest value; it contributes 23% of the Top 100’s total value.

Brands from private enterprises, or market-driven brands, are also dominating in terms of value growth. Whereas five years ago the top five brands were all state-owned enterprises, three of this year’s top five are market-driven. Those three; Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu, represent around half of the value of the top 10.

Overall, the rankings show that Chinese brands are increasing in brand value at a rate that outpaces global growth. The top 10 predominantly consists of tech companies, financial institutions and oil and gas companies.

The study was conducted by BrandZ, WPP’s brand equity database, and marketing and brand consultancy Millward Brown.

Doreen Wang, global head of BrandZ at Millward Brown, comments, “Consumers increasingly accept Chinese brands because they see them as meaningful and dynamic, not only because they’re well-known. The big question now is what brands must do to be accepted in international markets. Success will depend on understanding consumers’ behaviour and needs, integrating technology to improve the brand experience and playing on China’s unique identity to offer meaningful points of differentiation.”

The ranking combines financial data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel with consumer opinions gathered from interviews with 23,000 people in 2014.