{"id":8430,"date":"2022-06-07T07:30:22","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T07:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8430"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:39:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:39:48","slug":"what-we-can-learn-from-chinas-top-up-and-coming-domestic-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/what-we-can-learn-from-chinas-top-up-and-coming-domestic-brands\/","title":{"rendered":"What marketers can learn from China’s top up-and-coming domestic brands"},"content":{"rendered":"

While brands like Nike, H&M and Adidas have taken a hit in China in recent months, 2021 was a phenomenal year for the growth of Chinese brands. Dao Insights<\/strong> describes how new trends like g<\/em>uochao<\/em>, aka <\/span><\/span>\u2018the rise of national brands,\u2019 and China’s plentiful shopping festivals have stirred up national pride, while many Chinese brands have developed unique strategies to meet consumer needs<\/span><\/h2>\n

With so many emerging Chinese brands cropping up, navigating the marketplace can feel overwhelming. But foreign brands looking to make it in China can learn a lot from these new consumer champions. Here, the team at Dao Insights<\/span><\/a> introduces three up-and-coming Chinese brands that you should know about.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sports apparel: Anta<\/span><\/h4>\n

Following the Xinjiang cotton <\/span>controversy in early 2021,<\/span>\u00a0Chinese sports brands have seized the opportunity to appeal to Chinese patriotic sentiments. After allegations from the West of forced labour in Chinese factories, Chinese consumers have in turn boycotted many western brands<\/a> such as H&M,<\/span> Nike, Adidas and New Balance that have previously made statements about this issue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anta Sports<\/a> \u2013 the world\u2019s third-largest sportswear company \u2013 has taken a stance to continue sourcing cotton from Xinjiang and has left the Swiss-based Better Cotton Initiative (BCI). Anta\u2019s firm attitude has won Chinese nationalist support and improved the brand\u2019s image.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Anta\u2019s focus on marketing and product quality should not be ignored either. In preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, Anta produced <\/span>the equipment and kit for 28 national Chinese sports teams.<\/span> This preferred status was not achieved overnight. The brand has invested RMB 3 billion (\u00a3338.6 million) in sports technology in the past 10 years. Their cutting-edge research and equipment have genuinely helped the Chinese athletes who went on to have a very successful run during the Tokyo Olympics. The hashtag \u201c#Love sports, China has Anta\u201d<\/span>\u00a0hit 1.12 billion views on Weibo, with many Internet users sharing their admiration for Anta\u2019s designs that incorporated Chinese elements. Anta\u2019s marketing strategy, coupled with its sponsorship of Chinese Olympic athletes, has unsurprisingly boosted the company\u2019s sales, which increased from 35% to 40% year-on-year.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Drinks and ice cream: Mixuebingcheng<\/span><\/h4>\n

Founded in 1997, Mixuebingcheng<\/span> is a China-wide brand dedicated to offering affordable tea drinks and fresh ice cream to young people. Although the brand has over 10,000 stores across the country, surpassing the two famous bubble tea brands HeyTea and Nayuki, Mixuebingcheng<\/span>\u2019s key difference is that most of its stores are located in small towns and universities, targeting lower-tier markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

The brand was not well-known until early June when its catchy song went viral on Chinese social media. With only two lines of lyrics, Chinese consumers didn\u2019t have a hard time remembering the song: \u201cI love you and you love me. Mixue ice cream and <\/span>tea.\u201d This was a key strategy for Mixuebingcheng to engage with consumers, even offering free ice cream or milk tea to customers who sang the song and shared it on social media. This clever strategy encouraged influencers to share their renditions of the song on Chinese social media and just like that, Mixuebingcheng was able to spread brand awareness and create user-generated content at marginally low costs. The campaign was successful, hitting over 3.9 billion views on Douyin, with several thousands of re-created songs<\/span> shared on Bilibili.<\/p>\n